We took a day trip from Baltimore to Rockville, Maryland to go hiking and eat Japanese BBQ.

If you’re stumbling upon this blog for the first time, welcome! I have a lot of regular readers that I know about and cherish from the bottom of my heart, but for those who are just stopping by for the first time: my name is Ashley. I work on this blog as a little outlet from my job and life as a writer, which is awesome, but I used to work professionally as a film critic and wanted a space to keep going with that practice.

I tend to write about lifestyle, movies, books, and television. Today’s blog post is in the travel category, as the theme of fall 2025 for me has been self-care and learning how to adjust to my new job. Throughout October my friend and I were making little friend dates before it got cold out, as Maryland winter can get a little rough sometimes in terms of the cold (but it has nothing on the Northeast).

There are going to be a handful of blog posts about our trips here and there, especially considering my blogging schedule, but today’s is dedicated to something we had planned way in advance and then had to change because of the government shutdown. We were originally planning on going to Great Falls in Virginia and Maryland, but when I saw online that the Virginia side was closed because of the shutdown, we made alternate plans before driving all the way down there.

We landed on staying around Rockville, as our lunch plans were going to take place in the Rockville Town Center. From there, we kind of made a rough schedule based on the vibes and what we wanted to eat or do. I never go to Rockville, so it was interesting seeing another Maryland suburb.

Let’s get into what we did on this day! It was such a cute friend date kind of day, and although my wallet was hurting a bit after where we ate, I would say that it was indeed worth it.

Without further ado, here’s what we did.

Rock Creek Regional Park is massive and a great place to stretch your legs after sitting at a desk for a week.

From Baltimore, we drove straight to Rock Creek Regional Park, and while we were afraid originally that it was going to be closed due to the shutdown, it was open. We went past the first parking lot, which was full, but the second parking lot had plenty of spots open. We parked in the shade, stretched, and then went on our hike.

There are quite a few trails to go on around Rock Creek, and we spent about three hours on the trails. We went all the way around to one of the big lakes, made it halfway, then decided to turn around. At the beginning of our hike there were a lot of people on the trails biking, walking, and running, but by the time we reached that lake no one was around.

It was really cool because there were Maryland blue herons down in the lake. We stood and watched it hunt in the water before continuing the hike. We both did like that the trails were largely covered by the trees, so the sun wasn’t beating down on us. If it were, I think this would have been a more miserable experience.

Considering this was free and not too terribly far, we had a great time. We both agreed that we wanted to come back and go to the other lake, but by the time we finished everything else on this day, we didn’t have the chance. That’s another excuse for a day trip!

Gyuzo Japanese BBQ is now one of my all-time favorite Asian BBQ spots.

Ten minutes from Rock Creek, in the Rockville Town Center, is the spot where we wanted to go to for a late lunch. We didn’t get a reservation and parked in the garage, which was only $3 for the few hours we spent in the area before heading out to our next destination.

When we arrived there was like a small business fair going on, so we made our rounds in the common space to see what people were offering. My friend specifically wanted to go and taste the local winery and distillery’s options, and I really liked the winery. She bought drinks from both of them, then we headed into Gyuzo.

We were able to be seated immediately, and I ogled at the decor. It’s really nice in there—like it’s the perfect date night spot. There are multiple sets you can choose from, as well as ordering a la carte if you don’t want to do the AYCE options. We picked the premium AYCE set, which was $70 a person, and we ended up ordering 10-ish rounds of all the expensive meats.

The meat quality here was really good, and the premium set comes with a bunch of side options. We started off with four appetizers, and the beef fried rice was actually fantastic. I ended up ordering a Kirin beer, which was perfect with this meal and cut through the richness of the wagyu cuts perfectly. My friend also really loved her yuzu cocktail situation with a truffle salt rim.

My favorite cuts overall were the wagyu beef chuck, the filet mignon, brisket, and their pork belly was really good. The only think I thought was mid was the beef brisket ramen—I wouldn’t recommend ordering it. We finished off with the included dessert (she gave us an assortment of ice cream mochi), and then we got free sake shooters (which were delicious) for leaving a review.

This meal is going to be one I remember for a while. It was good, but we paid $100 a person, which was fair for the quality of food we received. We also ate enough for like four people and definitely got our money’s worth (those four apps alone would’ve been $50 at a regular restaurant), but it was definitely a once-in-a-while thing.

Teso Life and Rockville is great for shopping around for Asian goods.

Rockville is known for its Asian population and the good eats because of that (or at least in my mind!), so when we headed out here I knew I wanted to hit up Teso Life. This is the only place we had the chance to go to while we were here, but if you need Asian groceries or household items, definitely shop around at the local grocery stores like Lotte or Great Wall.

From Gyuzo, we drove about another ten minutes down the road to get to Teso Life. I knew about this store because I tend to go to it in Flushing/New York City, and the last time I was in Houston I went to the biggest one I’ve ever been to. This was a happy medium in-between those two sizes, but we definitely did some damage.

I like Teso for their Asian style slippers, which my friend bought two of, and the myriad of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean snacks. I specifically picked up some peach/jasmine tea Oreos, hojicha with cherry blossoms, some drinks to try from China and Korea (including a mojito flavored Pepsi, which I personally thought was awful), and a konjac jelly to try out since I need to lose a little bit of weight.

Once we paid and checked out, we headed to our final destination: Gwenie’s.

Gwenie’s is one of the best Filipino bakeries in the DMV.

I’ve had desserts from Gwenie’s before, as my sister brought home their ube cheesecake once when she was in Rockville. I remembered how I liked that dessert when she brought it, so when I realized it was only six minutes from the Teso Life, it was time to chow down. I’ve never been in person, so I was surprised at its location—my friend thought it was a little sketch, but I was fine with it minus the lack of parking.

Anyways, at 5:30 PM (AKA: right before closing), they were out of quite a few items, including the donuts that have ube and mango cream. They had a little sign saying they had to raise prices because of the eggs, so I only grabbed an ube pie and an ube cheesecake slice. Both were $8. My friend didn’t get anything because of how stuffed we were from Gyuzo.

I ended up splitting both of them with my mom later when I got home, and I think I preferred the ube pie. The cheesecake was good, but the pie crust was fantastic and it was less sweet than the cheesecake. I like my desserts to be less sweet nowadays I think.

After that though we drove an hour back to Baltimore, then parted ways. I passed early that night, as we had such a fun day. I think that I’d do it again for sure! Or at least just to eat Gyuzo again—I absolutely loved that place.

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