Inauguration Day this year falls on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend. Some Northern Virginians will stick around for the January 20 swearing-in of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance on the west front of the U.S. Capitol at noon, while others may head out of town for the long weekend as Trump, only the second president in history to win a comeback bid, takes office.
Planning to Stay
Who’s on Stage?
The platform where the inauguration takes place holds nearly 1,600 people, including everybody from Trump and Vance and their families to past presidents, foreign dignitaries, and congressional leaders. The stage is held together by roughly 50,000 nails. Five flags will fly above the ceremony, including a 27-star flag for Trump’s home state of Florida.
If you’re going downtown for the inauguration, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Leave home early and expect lots of security, including security checkpoints to get through.
- Roads around the White House and Capitol will be closed.
- Take Metro but expect delays. WMATA has guidance on what routes are open, closed, or modified on its website.
- Uber and Lyft pickups will be outside of the security perimeter.
- Expect the northern part of Lafayette Park, north of the White House, to stay open for planned protests. Fencing in the area will be in place until February.
- Get to the inaugural parade route early. The 1.5-mile parade should kick off around 3 p.m. on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Planning to Leave Town
Here are a few weekend options outside of NoVA if you would rather get away for the weekend.
Love Road Runner, Porky Pig, and Pepe Le Pew? Head to Lynchburg for the 2025 Academy Animation Festival featuring works by Chuck Jones, the legendary animator behind many of your favorite cartoon characters. The Saturday, January 18, festival at the historic Academy Theatre runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Spend the rest of the weekend snowboarding or tubing on the artificial slopes at Liberty Snowflex or take a tour of Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, his private retreat.
Go to the Delmarva beaches. Hit up the outlets in Rehoboth, Delaware, and feast on off-season specials in the area. Try Fins Ale House & Raw Bar (locations in Bethany, Fenwick, and Rehoboth) and Nantuckets in Fenwick ($29 entrées on Sundays). You can see War, a Billboard-topping band that mixes rock, soul, and funk, in Ocean City, Maryland, on Sunday, January 19.
Spend the weekend in Norfolk, where you can visit the Chrysler Museum of Art. See the museum’s collection of glass works and the abstract cast glass sculptures of Peter Bremers. The Peter Bremers: Ice to Water exhibit ends on January 19. Take in a Norfolk Admirals game at Norfolk Scope Arena. On January 18 and 19, the minor professional ice hockey team (affiliated with the Winnipeg Jets and the Manitoba Moose) plays the Trois-Rivières Lions, the team the Admirals defeated last spring to advance to the North Division finals.
Make it a weekend of relaxation at a spa resort like Nemacolin in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. Try whole body cryotherapy, vibrational sound and energy therapy, walk the labyrinth, reflect in a meditation garden, get a customized massage, and more in a hotel that sits on more than 2,000 acres.
Feature image, public domain
