Strider...train into DC

[flamingobabe #44]

Strider

When you and JP went into DC didn't y'all take a train????? Where did you catch the train??? Where did y'all leave your bikes??? I'm thinking about attending the "March On DC" Sept 11 & 12, with the 12th being the big march. Just want some info on how to get to DC without riding in. Anyone else planning to go to the "March on DC"???...fb

[Jess from VA]

Unless you are thinking of taking a Virginia Railway Express (VRE) or other real trains from farther out, most would use the DC Metro (subway).  Below is the DC Metro site and map.  You can park at an outer Metro station, buy a ticket and take the subway into town.  It's how I get to work every day.  Note that the Metro parking garages are not patrolled or cameraed, and few people park their bikes in them.  You'd probably be OK, but there has been vandalism.  Most Metro stations have outdoor motorcycle parking for free (in the 'kiss and ride' drop off points).  And this is in public view and more secure.  The spaces are limited however, and may be gone early.

http://www.wmata.com/rail/maps/map.cfm 

[Strider]

We took the VRE from Fredericksburg, Virginia into DC.  They also go from Mannasas (and all points in between).  We parked at the station the first day (dummy us) because you have to have a pass to park there (as with ALL OF DOWNTOWN FREDERICKSBURG for more than 2 hours).  You had to be a citizen of Fredericksburg to park there.  Both of us came back to a ticket on our tanks ($15 or something like that).

The next day, we paid the grocery store across the street $10 or something and he gave us a thing to hang on our bikes and we got to park there all day.

I think the train ticket was $10 round trip and was a little over an hour.  Since we hadn't been on a train since we were kids, even the train trip was cool.  Plus Fredericksburg has the battlefield (Gods and Generals) and Spotsylvania, the house where Stonewall Jackson died and Chancellorsville (where Stonewall Jackson's arm is buried where he was shot at) are all right there as well.

The only thing about the VRE is that it is a commuter train and I think the last one leaves Washington at 7:00 pm or something, so we never got to see DC at night.

Also, the hotels are more at Manassas but the train ride is shorter.

Here is the link to the VRE with schedules and fares.....

http://www.vre.org/

[Strider]

Here is the link to that day.... 

Sorry, it was $20 round trip.

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,5326.0.html

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,5361.0.html

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,5363.0.html

[flamingobabe #44]

Thanks for the info, us southerns have no clue about train and bus service, unless you live in the middle a big town, I've always lived out in the country, sorta  thanks...fb

[Strider]

And if you do happen to stay in Fredericksburg, GRANDMA'S GETAWAY!!!!!

AWESOME FOOD, the waitress was a MAJOR HOOT and cheap to boot........Don't look like much but all LOCALS!  Older locals that know what real, good food is were there.  The kind of place you felt welcome but everyone else knew everyone else by their first name and the waitress didn't even take their orders - it was the usual. While we ate, the waitress sat with us and told us about they were closing the diner for a week because the WAITRESS was going on vacation - most cool place!  

You know, come to think of it, reckon I gotta hit that place again.  Recommended by a guy about 20 miles down the road.  We were just about to turn around, because we figured we had missed the place - he had told us it was like 5 miles and we were STARVING!  Brunch there actually changed the rest of our trip.  We were going to head north-west and changed our route to north-east over brunch with a coffee and a map.

I think it is.....
Grandma's Getaway - (540) 710-9222
Address: 4010 Lafayette Blvd Fredericksburg, VA 22408
Cuisine: Misc


http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,5423.0.html

[Bob E.]

When I was in college, I worked a couple semesters in VA at the North Anna Nuclear Power Station.  Anyways, a couple times, we went up to Alexandria, VA and caught the Metro.  As I remember, it was relatively cheap, and you come up right in the Mall near the Washington Monument.  That was pretty cool...except for the Hare-Krishna's that were begging money off of everybody as you tried to exit.