After several years of walking by this property's advertisements at the Metro Center Metro station, my wife and I finally decided to take a weekend trip out here to see what it was all about. From downtown DC on a Friday afternoon, the drive took about one hour and forty-five minutes; the return to Arlington on Sunday afternoon was about the same.

We arrived on Friday around 530 and decided to check out the Regency Club as we were both hungry; there was a nice selection of cheese and fresh, marinated, and pickled vegetables along with some grilled Thai chicken wings which were pretty darn tasty. The fire was roaring and beer (Dogfish 60 Minute IPA, Corona, and Miller Lite) was available for $3 each, with wine and cocktails being $4 each.

After leaving the Regency Club we walked around the grounds and found that there were very few other people there - but the hotel is very cozy as there are multiple indoor fireplaces and a really cool outdoor fireplace by one of the pools. Mini-golf was available (it was pretty warm, so I did see a couple of people playing) and the indoor pool had a small crowd of families at all times. "Swim in" movies are shown in the indoor pool at night. There is also a game room near the indoor pool with air hockey, shuffleboard, pool, and a few other games. The fitness center was well equipped.

We had originally booked a one-night stay for $99 and used a suite upgrade to confirm a petite suite. The room was beautiful with two full bathrooms, two balconies (one large balcony off the living room and a much smaller balcony off the bedroom), and very high ceilings. The rooms were very comfortable and looked out onto the water - we enjoyed the views and the room very much.

We were going to go into town for dinner but got lazy and decided to eat at the main restaurant in the hotel - at checkin, we had received a voucher for 25% off of our food at any of the restaurants, so we thought we'd try it. I had pork tenderloin with risotto and it was quite tasty; my wife had crabcakes and also enjoyed it. The restaurant was dead and there was only one other couple seated in our section; service was very good and the chef came out to check on how we liked our food, which I thought was nice.

We ultimately decided to stay a second night because after dinner the first night, my wife was sick to her stomach non-stop (nothing to do with the food, I'm sure, as we split our entrees so we ate the exact same food and nothing happened to me.. more likely something that she picked up from the 22 first graders that she's surrounded by all day) and she was in no shape to handle the ride back to DC on Saturday. I explained the situation to the front desk and they offered me Saturday night for $169 -- higher than the $99 that I'd paid for Friday, but lower than anything available on the web site. I took it, but I was told that I would have to give up the second room of our suite for the second night.. I was in no mood to argue about it so I agreed, and housekeeping came up and shut off the second room. I did find that a bit odd since the parking lot was quite empty and, judging by newspaper distribution on our floor, there was hardly anyone else there.

Breakfast in the regency club consisted of breads, cheeses, fruit, meat, cereal, oatmeal, and hard-boiled eggs each day in addition to Belgian waffles with fruit compote on Saturday and bacon/egg/cheese english muffins on Sunday. The food was pretty tasty and the club was extremely quiet at all times.

While we were able to do very little this trip due to illness, I really liked this property and we want to go back in the near future to take more advantage of the amenities.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that there is a resort fee of $18, but I was given a discount of $10 so I only paid $8 per day. I'm not sure if that was due to being Diamond or some other reason.