Located just across the border from Washington, D.C., the town of Bethesda, Maryland is a fairly…read morewell-to-do suburb and one of the last places one might expect to find a fantastical novelty house. The house at 4949 Allan Road in Bethesda has become something of a landmark, known for the curved canopies that earned it the name "the Mushroom House." The bumpy edges and pointed tip give the house a shape slightly reminiscent of a Dr. Seuss doodle. As it turns out, though, the original design was not particularly child-friendly. See link of interview from couple who had it built. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ94C2IKSK6/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

I had no idea that such a unique piece of architecture was located right in the suburbs of…read moreBethesda. I only found this out after searching for activities to do in the area and was recommended this site. Definitely a really cool crafted home that looks like a smurf or flinstone home!

From here so biased. Miss residing here but am glad to visit. Is there traffic? Yes. Is housing…read moreexpensive? Yep. Yet this is the norm in the DC area. I will happily argue, that the city of Fairfax is one of the best places to live. The amount of services and parks, there's no community close by that can compete. Go to the Blenheim House, City Museum, or countless miles of hiking and biking trails. Also unlike the surrounding county, there are trees here! There are plenty of delicious restaurants here. I love its diversity, educated population, and overall small town feel compared to surrounding areas. The police and fire departments are number one. You'll enjoy a vibrant arts or recreation experience. This weekend will be the Asian festival. That is a lot of fun, along with the one for chocolate, fall festival, and the best 4th of July parade and fireworks. Absolutely love it!

Did you know it's the largest fair in the country? Did you know there are 250 types of fried food…read moreon offer? Did you know.. oh wait. That's the wrong review. Those are "Fair Facts", not "Fairfax." The predominant memory of Fairfax is the beautiful smell of trees around the George Mason campus. The new memory is that it is the only location of Sharetea on East Coast USA. This international chain rocks my bubble tea world... who am I kidding, Bubble Tea is my whole world. You must try the Whole Lemon Black Tea the Okinawa Milk Tea. I visit Fairfax more than once a year, every year. My Uncle lives in the next town over (Man Asses), and I also happened to go to University here in Fairfax for several years of my life. I did rather well, but for a lot of the time I didn't have a working car, so instead of parading around DC like a true scallywag, I was restricted to running around Fairfax, biking around Fairfax, and bussing around Fairfax, and all of the above were not so much fun. It's a posh, rich, stuffy town with way too much traffic at the best of times. The cops are brutal and are constantly pulling students over trying to get DUI busts to make $$$ for what is already one of the richest counties in America. Despite all that, I had some good times in Fairfax and met some good people, and a part of my heart will always belong to it. It's an eerie feeling going back now, which I often do. I don't really recommend any of the food places in Fairfax, but nearby Vienna has the awesome Pasty Shop, the even better Gyros of Plaka Grill (and maybe Amphora, which is 24 hrs), and best of all the amazing homemade custard at Nielsen's - which is currently heartbreakingly closed down. There's a brand new shiny H-Mart in town with good Korean. In nearby Manassas, El Rulas makes the best tortas. Even closer, in Centerville, Burger Stop makes the very best burgers in the region - by far. And inside the Fair Oaks Mall (way too busy and popular), Monster Roll makes good deep freeze rolled ice cream. DC food in general - Falafel Inc in Georgetown. In MD burbs, Sardi's (Peruvian Chicken), Max's (best Shawarma/Falafel pita anywhere, get it spicy), Silk Road Choyhona (chicken kebab), hot pretzel and banana shake at Sadieanne's inside Dutch Village Farmer's Market in Upper Marlboro. Gyros at Yia Yia and Plaka. Late night, these 3: Kabob Palace, Amsterdam Falafel, Hard Times (Alexandria - Terlingua Red). La Casita for Salvadoran. Mazadar for Afghan. Java Loco for Okinawa Milk Bubble Tea. Dessert at SnoCream in Annandale. Also District Doughnuts in Georgetown, York Castle - crazy tropical flavors. Fairfax is mostly chains and brand names, but it's far from the worst place in the world to live or visit, and it's very safe, now that the sniper is not at large. The worst thing about Fairfax absolutely horrendous traffic. The best thing is excellent ethnic diversity and some really cool places to eat including nearby Centerville and Manassas and Falls Church. Also, as I said, Fairfax has the only Sharetea location on the entire East Coast. And that is a huge highlight for me personally. But it's just too clean and stuffy and rich for me and the traffic is some of the worst I've ever been stuck in. Hence the low rating. Especially when you factor in the daylight robbers keeping our pockets empty... I mean police keeping our streets, ahem, safe. (1) Rich town is putting it mildly. (2) Awful traffic. (3) Mild winters, muggy summers, lovely smell of trees. (4) The only Sharetea location on the East Coast. There you go: Four Facts on Fairfax.

Took a walking tour of historic Falls Church, Virginia. Falls Church has a very interesting and…read morediverse history. It's a nice little walking city. The walking map could have been a little more user friendly.

Cyndy's Bottom Line: A wonderful tribute to the African American heritage in Falls Church…read more Start at the beginning to read all of the inscriptions on the sidewalk opposite of the monument.

We had such a fantastic historical tour of the property when we visited for one of Fall Church's…read moreice cream socials at Cherry Hill Park. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable of the history of this landmark, and thoroughly answered questions we had.

We had so much fun here at Cherry Hill Park! We stopped in on a Saturday morning just before 9am,…read moredrawn in by the farmer's market going on in the parking lots next door. And then we just kept walking into this incredible park. As we walked through the gardens, there was an explosion of baby rabbits hopping about everywhere. My kids loved it, and I admired the beautiful gardens. I don't know if this is a wedding or events venue, but it should be because it's beautiful. The house and barns look like they belong here, as though someone might be living in them, except there's no driveway, there are public benches, and a few commemorative signs nearby. But at first I questioned whether we were in a public space or someone's yard. On the negative side, there were homeless looking guys sleeping on several of the benches. They woke up and disappeared not long after we arrived. The park is great. There are logs the kids can play on, in what appears to be a colonial reenactment area. My kiddos liked walking along the logs and jumping from one to another. There's two distinct play areas but both are great for toddlers and little tikes so I wasn't able to distinguish them very easily. The swings were a hot item when we were there, but there just aren't very many of them for a Saturday morning toddler rush hour. There is also a tiny house structure but it is slightly too large to be fun and too small to be interesting, no kids played in it except to inspect it. The sand volleyball court was also popular, as our kids joined others in excavating the volleyball service area. Luckily they didn't get very far by the time volleyball players arrived, though it wasn't for lack of effort. The park also has tennis courts and a basketball court, and there's a really nice nature trail along the edge of the park nearest the houses that back up to it. We walked through these flowers and gardens to find butterflies, bees and more rabbits. Also a nice feature, although there weren't very many picnic tables, there was one barbecue pit for people to build a coal fire. There was a very small pavilion area as well. I liked this park for the "nature in the city" feel. We were only a block away from fancy pants coffee shops, but it felt secluded and beautiful as light filtered through the enormous trees adorning the property. Other park visitors kept telling us about live music and imploring we check the schedule, but we aren't interested in that. This park is great with or without those concerts for me, and would be a really awesome spot to stop by anytime. I do not know if they have restrooms around, but with the restaurants and coffeeshops nearby, you should be okay. I think we spent about 5 hours here on our first visit and we didn't even really play in most of the park, so it's good for a long or short visit.

Had a good experience last week!…read more The staff was friendly and the theatre was clean! We were the first movie of the day and it was nice and quiet! We only grabbed a drink, and that was easy! They did have some fun drink options downstairs - coffees and cocktails!

Angelika is a fun theater, even if it is a bit dated and rundown. Located in the lively Mosaic…read moreshopping district in Merrifield. We came here yesterday to watch "Brutalist". Brutalist is a powerful movie with great acting and some stunning scenery shots (I especially loved the scenes shot in Venice and the mountains of Italy). But beware, this movie is nearly 4 hours long! I'm curious about the inclusion of "Café" in the theater's name. There's a refreshment bar downstairs and one upstairs, but I haven't seen a café. Maybe there's one hidden around a corner I don't know about. You can get your tickets at a kiosk downstairs. I'm not sure if you can even buy one from a staffer. Matinee prices end at 2:00pm. Regular prices as of this writing are $17.50/adult, $14.50/senior and $14/child. That's notably higher than at other theaters in the area. We saw Brutalist in theater #2. In theater #2, the best view is in the third row from the top. Nice large screen and a very good sound system. But an ADA alert: the elevator was out of order on our visit yesterday. So if you can't walk up an escalator or stairs, you couldn't see a movie! And to go back down, there is not an escalator (the escalator only goes up).

What a great visit! The home is lovely and our tour guide was excellent. She had so many fun…read morestories and unique things to share with us. It's a little bit of a walk from the ticket area but pleasant if you are able.

While in town, and with a checklist of FLLW houses to visit, this was a short trip to Woodlawn. I…read morewill say it's kind of convoluted as to where to drive and park and check-in, but for a rare occasion we were a little early so we had time to figure things out. Smaller house, quick tour, but the tour guide was friendly and informative. You are allowed to take photos which is appreciated.

Cyndy's Bottom Line: Is hangman's tree a legend, or a myth…read more... You decide.. The tree is gone but there is a plaque that marks the spot behind a bus stop where the massive oak tree used to stand on the corner of W. Broad Street and North Virginia Avenue in the City of Falls Church.

Mount Murtaugh - the highest point in Fairfax County - at 556.9 feet above sea level…read more What is this mountain? What are it's geologic origins? Is it the result of two continental plates colliding? Is it similar to the fold and thrust faulting we see throughout the physiographic ridge and valley province of the Appalachians? No. Mount Murtaugh is a feat (if you can call it that) of human waste management engineering. It is the closed landfill site in Fairfax County - just off of West Ox Road. While the landfill has been closed since 1982, the County still operates the I-66 Recycling and Disposal Center at this location. Mount Murtaugh is named after and in honor of - County Engineer, Hugh Murtaugh, who worked diligently to site, develop and monitor the facility from concept to closure (lifted from the Fairfax County web site). The site has an athletic field built atop it - and methane and other gases generated by the site are captured and used to heat nearby maintenance facilities. When we were in high school - we used to sneak up onto Mount Murtaugh in our Four Wheel Drive vehicles - folks were not supposed to go up onto the mountain - but that just made it more interesting for teenagers. How does one rate a mountain created by the burial of trash? I decided to use the criteria of what I thought of the mountain at the time - that somehow it was mysterious and off-limits - as a teenager - that merits five stars. You can see Mount Murtaugh as you drive down Interstate 66 (I-66) in between Centreville and Fairfax. EDIT: If I were to evaluate/rate Mount Murtaugh in the modern day - meaning what I know now - my criteria would revolve around the environmental effects of the facility.

The best thing here is the free compost and mulch. In past years the mulch has been full of bits of…read moretrash but it seems pretty clean this year. They also have an automatic machine that dumps the mulch in to your truck for you. Not bad for FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!