Over the weekend, I visited the U.S. Botanical Gardens with one of my summer roommates. I had heard pretty good reviews and was excited to see it, but didn't expect go in with my expectations too high. During my study abroad experiences I had visited some world renowned gardens, so I'm not going to lie, I didn't think Washington DC could really compete. I mean, who comes to DC thinking they need to rush over to visit the botanical gardens over national treasures like the Washington Monument or the various memorials scattered across the National Mall? Let me set the record straight: this attraction should immediately be put on everyone's list.

A sure sign of my love for this garden is that my roommate and I gladly put up with DC's suffocating humidity to keep enjoying the gardens. What we had planned to be a super quick trip to snap some Instagram worthy pictures turned into a much longer excursion as we explored each room. But a little sweat was worth catching a photo like this one.

Each room in the complex was like discovering a new beautiful little world. We became world travelers as we explored the plant life of Hawaii, the Tropics, Africa, and even DC's own East coast. I hadn't even realized that there was this expansive world of beautiful plants that I had been missing out on.

Amidst all of the rich DC history lies this fantastic little oasis. If you weren't looking for it, you might just miss it. If you were too worried about the humidity and the sunburn, you might just skip it. But if you really wanted to find a true DC treasure, you would be sure to make a stop at the U.S. Botanical Gardens.

I can't promise that you won't get a bug bite or two. I can't promise that you might not get blisters from walking around. I can't promise you won't want to hit the nearest shower immediately after leaving the grounds. But I can promise that this attraction will exceed your expectations. It will be the DC learning experience you didn't even know you needed. It will give you social media pictures 1000 times better than the ones you took from the roof of one of those drop-off tourist buses. It is the underrated DC attraction that I promise you won't want to leave off your list again.