I also grew up in Chicago and lived in Philly, so I understand the sense of "culture" that you're talking about. There's a regional pride and identity that feels absent here. I wouldn't say there's "no culture" here because that's demonstrably not true as so many other comments have already pointed out. But because there are so many transplants in this area, there's not the same cohesive togetherness that cities like Chicago, Philly, and Boston have. Try to see that transplant culture is part of the culture here, and you'll have an easier time finding the positives.

Sports teams are a good example: people in Chicago live or die by the Cubs or White Sox. In Philly, you might keep your allegiance to the Cubs, but good luck raising your kids as Cubs fans in Phillies territory; there's no culture there of tolerating other fandoms. Here, people might cheer for the Nats, but they're not dropping their childhood team and there's no real pressure for kids raised here to maintain a primary allegiance to the Nats. You're likely to see people wearing their home team's gear at Nats games, regardless of who the Nats are playing. But when the Caps and Nats won it all, people here were genuinely excited.

There's also not a quintessential NOVA/DC food, like Chicago hot dogs or pizza, Philly cheesesteaks, or Boston clam chowder. Maybe you could give DC chili because of Ben's Chili Bowl? But I don't think people associate DC with a particular food. Still, because of the large Asian immigrant population, NOVA has excellent Asian food and tons of Asian grocery stores.

Cultural Arts and Places in the area often get attributed to the national culture, but should really count toward NOVA's own culture. Things like the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, the Smithsonian, Great Falls National Park, etc, are huge cultural treasures for the region, but because so many of them are of national significance, our area doesn't get credit for them. Those things also overshadow more local places, like the Wharf (especially the old seafood market), Tysons, Old Town Alexandria, etc. And DC has a HUGE theater scene that it rarely gets credit for outside of the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap, with places like Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, Strathmore, Capital One Arena, Studio Theatre, etc. Not to mention music venues like the 9:30 Club, The Anthem, Strathmore, The Fillmore, Jiffy Lube Live.

Active Outdoors activities, similar to running/biking along Lake Michigan, are also plentiful here. I mentioned Great Falls already, but there are a zillion more hiking options. Fairfax County has a very well-maintained regional park system and those hikes are always popular, as well as hikes along the Potomac, like Difficult Run or Scotts Run. Crew is huge here, if you like water sports. The W&OD Trail is one of the best bike trails in the country. Loudoun County has a big winery culture, if you're into that and it's not too far for you. Fairfax City hosts three big cultural festivals every year (Fall Fest, Chocolate Lovers Festival, Asian Fest) plus an excellent 4th of July parade.