Planning a Trip to Washington, D.C.

[CaliforniaChief]

The kids have never been, they're old enough to enjoy it and hang with the insane amount of walking we'll do.

Going in June.

Flying in from Southern California, probably into Dulles. Looking to Airbnb a place so we can cook our dinners and have our own breakfast, saving money.

The Metrorail gets you almost everywhere, but we would need car access to get groceries, see Mount Vernon, maybe a day trip up to Gettysburg, etc.

Any other insights? Things I should do that can save me money? Going for a week, probably.

[scho63]

I just relocated from the DC area this week after 10 years. I lived all around the Dulles airport area and know the DMV as well as anyone.

I'll send you a PM tomorrow to ask you questions about your family, ages, likes, time frame, budget, etc to give you advice that matches your family's needs, not mine.

I have NEVER let anyone down with my travel advice and you will not be the first.

[DaFace]

In my opinion, the Air and Space Museum at Dulles is even better than the one on the National Mall. Don't miss it.

And all of the Smithsonian museums are free, so you can save a lot by just taking advantage of that.

[lewdog]

I got food poisoning from a bison burger at the Native American Museum.

Which left me blowing out the bathroom when I arrived at the Holocaust museum.

[Meatloaf]

Lots of bus/tram tours available. Do those to break up all the walking.

[scho63]

In my opinion, the Air and Space Museum at Dulles is even better than the one on the National Mall. Don't miss it.

And all of the Smithsonian museums are free, so you can save a lot by just taking advantage of that.

DON'T GO STEALING MY ADVICE! :D

THE STEVEN UDVAR HAZY AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM is unlike anything you have ever seen. It's at the southern end of Dulles Airport off Mclearan Rd. My old office is very close.
https://airandspace.si.edu/udvar-hazy-center

The ACTUAL Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb is there, Gary Powers Blackbird, Space Shuttle, Apollo Mission capsule and suits, all kinds of planes. Incredible place.

[Meatloaf]

A couple of ideas here:

https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/plan-visit/suggested-itineraries

[scho63]

Sent you a pm

[Hoover]

I'm a nerd, and I have yet to travel to DC with the kid, but I enjoy a evening in Georgetown. And frankly I go to DC to wine and dine, so if you were looking for some kick ass eats I'd have plenty of suggestions.

That said, the National Cathedral is free, and cool. You can check out embassy row on your way there. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Catholic) is cool too if you are into that stuff.

Nothing beats a cigar on the Speaker's Balcony looking down the Mall at the Washington Monument, but you kinda need a hook up for that. Having drinks with the Speaker at the Capitol Hill Club (Republican) is pretty cool. Its the ultimate smoke filled room experience you will ever have.

[scho63]

I'm a nerd, and I have yet to travel to DC with the kid, but I enjoy a evening in Georgetown. And frankly I go to DC to wine and dine, so if you were looking for some kick ass eats I'd have plenty of suggestions.

That said, the National Cathedral is free, and cool. You can check out embassy row on your way there. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Catholic) is cool too if you are into that stuff.

Nothing beats a cigar on the Speaker's Balcony looking down the Mall at the Washington Monument, but you kinda need a hook up for that. Having drinks with the Speaker at the Capitol Hill Club (Republican) is pretty cool. Its the ultimate smoke filled room experience you will ever have.

:D

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[CaliforniaChief]

You guys are awesome. I seriously appreciate each and all of you!

I thought we had a house set up on Airbnb but it got rented out, so back to square one...but I can't imagine not doing that. More space, ability to make meals like breakfast/dinner to save money, more amenities.

[Rain Man]

Before you do anything else, anything at all, go to the National Archives. It's where the really cool stuff is. Obviously, it's got the Constitution and Declaration and Bill of Rights, but it has all sorts of other famous historical things. One that I particularly remember is the first note sent back from the front lines in WWII that Americans were in Paris.

To me, a big differentiator between the National Archive and other museums is that other museums will have cool specimens that are representative of stuff (e.g., here's a pilgrim hat), while the National Archives will have stuff that actually was history making (e.g., here's the first draft of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech).

[Buehler445]

Wifes sister and brother in law lived in Newport News and we went to DC. Somehow we managed to find parking right outside the plaza for free. We went pretty early in the morning, maybe that was it. But the traffic wasn't bad and we found free parking. Apparently that's the unicorn, but we didn't have any trouble. Might be worth a look if you're renting a ride anyway.

We did the normal touristy stuff. If you don't plan on watching the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier, do it.

If you want a tour of the whitehouse, your congressman has to schedule it.

Get excited. Do as much as you can. There is a lot of great shit in that area.

[Jenson71]

I would definitely go to the Georgetown neighborhood and especially walk up the Exorcist steps at night.

You can arrange to meet your Congressman for a photo and handshake. Depending on how old your kids are, they might think that's cool. Tour the Capitol at that time.

[Buehler445]

You guys are awesome. I seriously appreciate each and all of you!

I thought we had a house set up on Airbnb but it got rented out, so back to square one...but I can't imagine not doing that. More space, ability to make meals like breakfast/dinner to save money, more amenities.

We ended up staying at a nice hotel in Maryland for like $75 a night. We all shared a room so it ended up being super cheap. Obviously a BNB would be better, but just a few miles out there were good hotels for crazy cheap.

[Reerun_KC]

DON'T GO STEALING MY ADVICE! :D

THE STEVEN UDVAR HAZY AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM is unlike anything you have ever seen. It's at the southern end of Dulles Airport off Mclearan Rd. My old office is very close.
https://airandspace.si.edu/udvar-hazy-center

The ACTUAL Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb is there, Gary Powers Blackbird, Space Shuttle, Apollo Mission capsule and suits, all kinds of planes. Incredible place.

I can spend days inside there. Amazing place.

[CaliforniaChief]

Great stuff!

We booked our place through Airbnb today. Staying in Springfield, just a few miles from the end of the blue/yellow lines in VA.

Turned in ticket requests to our congressman's office today for the White House, Capitol, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress.

Scho sent some great stuff over to me...looking forward to moving forward!

[wheeler08]

I'm married with children and one of the best vacations I ever went on was going to DC by myself. The kids were too little and the wife thought it would be boring. I stayed at a Holiday Inn just south of the air and space museum. I waked every where. I was wore out every night and slept like a baby. I rode the metro to Arlington and walked around that whole thing with an audio tour by myself. I took a bus tour at night to see the monuments. Walked every where else.
Good job contacting ur local gov office. My state representative got me into his office and gave me a private tour of the capital building. That was the best part of the trip. Walked right past the 1000 people standing in line just to get in to take a lesser tour.

Can't wait to take the kids when they grow up! Have fun!

[scho63]

Great stuff!

We booked our place through Airbnb today. Staying in Springfield, just a few miles from the end of the blue/yellow lines in VA.

Turned in ticket requests to our congressman's office today for the White House, Capitol, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress.

Scho sent some great stuff over to me...looking forward to moving forward!

Happy for you. I would be shocked if everyone doesn't have a great time at most places. If you plan right, you can really knock out a lot of sights in a week.

STAY AWAY FROM NATIONAL HARBOR and the new MGM CASINO! Tourist trap and no real value there whatsoever except the ferris wheel.

Depending on where you are in Springfield, it's a big geography, a great place for pizza and subs is Bozzelli's. Their prosciutto, roasted red peppers, and fresh mozzarella sub on a tasted roll is phenomenal.
http://www.bozzellideli.com/

In the same small plaza is another great restaurant called the Afghan Bistro. Great food!
http://afghanbistro.com/

Lastly, there is a restaurant called Mike's that is part of the Great American Restaurant group that I eat at many of their restaurants and they have FANTASTIC food including the best pork chops, great chicken and my favortie dish, Filet Mignon Tips over Penne Pasta in a lime tequila sauce. Their bread and honey glazed small rolls are legendary.
https://www.greatamericanrestaurants.com/mikes

It's not high end or very expensive. Normal prices for a decent meal.

I can supply my pictures of everyone of these from my dining experiences.

[scho63]

Share the details with everyone

[NJChiefsFan]

Our school does a trip there every year and I love it. Love the history, the layout, ect. I know the layout is terrible for traffic but it looks great to my eye.

Some of my enjoyment of the trip is with the students but I love going from the Jefferson over to FDR and MLK memorials. It must be even more incredible during the cherry blossoms. My favorite is the Lincoln Memorial though. No matter how many times I stand there and look at him I get goosebumps.

WW2 Memorial also doesn't get enough love.

Military history exhibit in the Museum of American History is also one of my favorites.

We do Arlington National Cemetery using the trolley tour. Can't imagine walking the entire thing. If you do it and go to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which you really should, I suggest waiting through whatever sequence is going on. Schools are always dedicating wreaths and once it's over they leave and you can move up and have an actual sight line.

[NJChiefsFan]

Side story...

We were outside the White House letting the students take pictures. One of the kids from a bus that left was still with us and asked me to contact his chaperone. I put my backpack down to get the chaperone's number and after 3 seconds realize "oh shit I probably shouldn't leave my bag unattended". When I turn back around a member of the Secret Service already had my bag in his hand. It was incredible how fast he was.

[CaliforniaChief]

Share the details with everyone

First of all, thank you for all your help. We had a fantastic trip. Better than I ever imagined. I'll run through the days as best as I remember them.

Wednesday:
Capitol Tour (arranged through my Congressman, much better because she was able to bypass long lines and get us through faster. Also informative.)
Union Station Walked around, enjoyed lunch.
Supreme Court We waited to sit in on a lecture. So worth it. You get to sit in the court and ask any questions you want.
Library of Congress Loved going through Jefferson's Library as well as an exhibit on courtroom artists.
Air and Space Museum This was ok. My son's planning to become a pilot so he loved this.

Thursday
White House Tour Dude. This was amazing. You have to go through your congressman, but that's what we did. The secret service agents also are available to answer questions. Self-guided tour, got to meet one of the White House butlers on staff. Fascinating stuff.
Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Slight inconvenience but we couldn't take anything into the White House other than a cell phone/wallet, so we took the Metro back out to Franconia-Springfield where our car was, got our stuff, and then went back in. It was super super hot/humid that day, so we were feeling it by that point, but it was still really awesome. Cool memorial, weird to see the slight variation in color on the building where it was re-built.
Newseum One of our favorite places. The 9/11 stuff was amazing. They have the mangled antenna from the North Tower on display plus the perspective of journalists who covered it. The Pulitzer Prize photographs were pretty cool, too. Great views of the Capitol as well for pictures.

Friday
Started back at the Newseum to finish up. Loved this place.
Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial We recently had an LASD Sergeant killed in the line of duty, so we found his name and walked around.
Ford's Theater One of our favorites. We got the museum and the ranger talk in the actual theater. Highly recommend this.
National Archives We got in at the end of the day. Got to see the Charters of Freedom, which was pretty nifty.
Dinner at Union Station Numero Uno Pizza. Muy bien.
Capitol Walk We walked from Union to the Capitol South Metro. It had just stormed, so it was really beautiful to check out.

Saturday
Gettysburg We drove up to Gettysburg and spent the whole day there. Wow! We did the museum, walked over to the general area where Lincoln gave the Address, then did the self-guided auto tour around the town. Highly recommend.

Sunday
Arlington Cemetery I used to work in hospice, and one of my patients was a WW2 W.A.S.P. She was interred at Arlington, so we found her place, then walked up to the Kennedy site, and over to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to take in the ceremonies. So cool.
National Mall We walked over the Arlington Memorial Bridge, took in the Lincoln Memorial, WW2 Memorial, and Washington Monument.
Then we took Metro back home (we stayed in an awesome Airbnb house in Springfield) where I fired up the grill and did burgers. According to my Fitbit, we did 25,000 steps that day.

Monday
Holocaust Museum Very powerful, but way too many people to really enjoy it. We just crowded through it and left. Tried to get over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, but it was full.
African-American Smithsonian This is the newest Smithsonian. So awesome. Enjoyed the sports and music section. Coolest displays and use of technology. The building is really beautiful as well.
Potomac Sunset Monuments Cruise So worth it! We boarded at the Georgetown Waterfront, took a cruise down towards the Pentagon/Jefferson Memorial, then back. Great memories with this!

Tuesday
Steven Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum So so so glad we did this. They have the Enola Gay on display as well as a Concorde, and Space Shuttle Discovery. Missiles, Neil Armstrong's moon helmet/gloves, and an amazing Observation Tower that looks over Dulles Airport.

After that we drove back to drop off the car, hopped on Metro, went to Reagan Airport, and flew home.

Amazing trip. Thanks especially to Scho63 for the insights. Need to recover from my vacation though. LOL

[Randallflagg]

I'm married with children and one of the best vacations I ever went on was going to DC by myself. The kids were too little and the wife thought it would be boring. I stayed at a Holiday Inn just south of the air and space museum. I waked every where. I was wore out every night and slept like a baby. I rode the metro to Arlington and walked around that whole thing with an audio tour by myself. I took a bus tour at night to see the monuments. Walked every where else.
Good job contacting ur local gov office. My state representative got me into his office and gave me a private tour of the capital building. That was the best part of the trip. Walked right past the 1000 people standing in line just to get in to take a lesser tour.

Can't wait to take the kids when they grow up! Have fun!

I worked just outside DC for a couple of years (Bolling AFB) at the DIA. I passed many of the monuments daily but paid them no mind.

The reason? I had actually been there as a teenager - before I went in the Army. Stayed at a girls townhouse in Du Pont. Her folks were out of town. Needless to say, I didn't see many of the "sights".

So, I took a day off - took a LONG walk around DC - it was an experience - to say the least. Sort of made me proud. This, after coming stateside from Germany (Berlin and Heidelberg) and seeing castles and whatnot all over Eastern Europe.

[scho63]

Holy cow you had one hell of a vacation! That may be the most sights hit up for anyone I know who visited DC. You maxed out your time to the limit. Did you stop in Reston to eat when you visited Udvar Hazy?

Glad to have helped. :D

[CaliforniaChief]

Holy cow you had one hell of a vacation! That may be the most sights hit up for anyone I know who visited DC. You maxed out your time to the limit. Did you stop in Reston to eat when you visited Udvar Hazy?

Glad to have helped. :D

I suggested it, but the kids saw Chick Fil-a on the way into Udvar Hazy and that was the end of that.

[NJChiefsFan]

A few of the teachers were talking about adding or switching out to include the newseum. Can you go into a little more detail about that one? Thanks in advance.

[CaliforniaChief]

A few of the teachers were talking about adding or switching out to include the newseum. Can you go into a little more detail about that one? Thanks in advance.

We loved it. Exhibits do change, but you start by going up to the top where there's a panoramic view of the Capitol and downtown. You see all kinds of things about journalism, current events, how media shapes opinion, ethics in media, 9/11, the FBI (with exhibits of all kinds of cases they've been in on). It's hands-on and great for groups.

[gblowfish]

I just relocated from the DC area this week after 10 years. I lived all around the Dulles airport area and know the DMV as well as anyone.

I'll send you a PM tomorrow to ask you questions about your family, ages, likes, time frame, budget, etc to give you advice that matches your family's needs, not mine.

I have NEVER let anyone down with my travel advice and you will not be the first.

Scho knows DC. Take his advice.

[DC.chief]

National Harbor is a cool little area. Got the new MGM casino there and Bobby Mckey's dueling piano bar. But it's not a place for kids so forget that.

I'd suggest hitting up the Smithsonian and the Air and Space museum as others mentioned. Could check out the Zoo also.

[scho63]

The cruise down and back on the Potomac is also one of my favorites. Glad you took that. Probably felt good to have a little breeze on the water. Did they serve beer and wine and soda aboard?

[NJChiefsFan]

We loved it. Exhibits do change, but you start by going up to the top where there's a panoramic view of the Capitol and downtown. You see all kinds of things about journalism, current events, how media shapes opinion, ethics in media, 9/11, the FBI (with exhibits of all kinds of cases they've been in on). It's hands-on and great for groups.

Thanks for the info!

[CaliforniaChief]

The cruise down and back on the Potomac is also one of my favorites. Glad you took that. Probably felt good to have a little breeze on the water. Did they serve beer and wine and soda aboard?

They did. It was such a fantastic suggestion...it was only $65 for the 5 of us, too.