1 day in WashingtonD.C....

[XYSRUS]

Since I got such a great response and great ideas for my 1 day in SF, I want to put out a 1 day in Washington D.C. question...what are your ideas? This trip we have to take the 4 listed in my siggy! I already asked for White House tour tickets months ago and have been turned down.

 

[cassiez76]

my in-laws live in baltimore (about an hour or so away), so we drove down to D.C. for a day. it was cold and nasty weather. but we did park and walked to the natural history museum to see the hope diamond. it's out of it's setting now. beautiful!

walked around for about 2 hours in there. saw fossils and i wanna say butterfly garden. since it was a tuesday, it was free

after that we headed to the other museum to see dorothy's red slippers, archie's chair, the first lady's exhibit. there is an original dumbo car in there (it's purple too!) i could have stayed in there all day, but we couldn't.

the sculpture garden is really cool too.

we drove around to see a few of the monuments and that was our day.

took us 4 hours to get back to baltimore. now that wasn't fun.

 

[golfgal]

I would take the older kids to the Holocaust museum then pick one or two of the Smithsonians-I would suggest the Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. Depending on how late you want to be there I would then take a Monuments at night tour.

 

[Luvchefmic]

As a Marine Mom I am biased and suggest seeing the USMC silent drill team presentation on Avenue I

 

[Nik's Mom]

If you want to see a lot in one day, then I suggest an open top tour. You will see so much in just one day. Plus you can hop on and off throughout the day.

If you would rather not do a tour, then you can easily hit 2 museums in one day. Natural History and American History museums are great.

 

[kaytieeldr]

walked around for about 2 hours in there. saw fossils and i wanna say butterfly garden. since it was a tuesday, it was free

Um, isn't it free every day? I'm not arguing with you, but I didn't know there was a charge for admission to these museums?

 

[cassiez76]

Um, isn't it free every day? I'm not arguing with you, but I didn't know there was a charge for admission to these museums?

the museum is free, but the butterfly garden had an admission price. it's on one of the floors of the natural history museum. i don't remember what it was, but it was free on tuesdays. we just happened to get lucky that we were there on tuesday.

 

[LaraK]

The Butterfly Garden is in Natural History and they do charge.

The tour bus is a good idea if you're doing one day...you can hit all the major monuments. The other question is how long can your family go?

If you can go for many hours (and has a lot of stamina), I'd start early, take the metro to Union Station..grab some breakfast there and walk around (it's cool there). Then walk over to the Capital...don't go in, you don't have time. Walk down the capital steps, admire the Mall and then hit Air and Space. Everyone seems to love Air and Space (except me...been trapped there too many times). Anyway, after Air and space (opens at 10...go through fast and try to be out by noon) walk down and go to the Natural History museum. To save time and money, grab a hot dog from a vendor on the way...just don't think about sanitation and things like that...they taste good. The vendors are on the "outsides" of the museums. Go to Natural History from 12:30 to 3ish. If you are there during the school day, save dinosaurs to the end when the school groups have left. The Hope Diamond also gets really crowded. The bug zoo is cool and my kids love it there. The 8 and 6 year olds will love it. I don't like the renovations to American History...maybe give that two hours from 3-5. The Star Spangled Banner exhibit is a "don't miss" there. By 5 you will be tired, but hike over a few blocks to China Town for dinner...it will make up for the crappy lunch. There area a number of really good places there (take a cab if you're really tired) and then go back over to the Washington Monument and pick up a tour bus as soon as it gets dark. You can do the nighttime monument tour...I've always thought they look better at night.

You will be intensely exhausted by the end of that day, but you'll hit a lot.

 

[MomofKatie]

The last time we went to DC for 1 day, we took the Metro from our hotel in the AM- got off at the Mall stop (near the Smithsonean Castle). Took a quick stroll around the Natural History Museum, then walked the length of the Mall. Went all the way down alongside the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial, came back and enjoyed the WWII memorial, Viet Nam memorial, Washington Monument, and saw the White House from a distance. Went all the way up to the Capitol building, then took the Metro to Chinatown and hung out a while- had dinner there. In the evening, took the Metro out to RFK stadium and took in a DC United MLS soccer game.

DC is so fun to visit- we could spend a whole week there!

 

[kaytieeldr]

the museum is free, but the butterfly garden had an admission price. it's on one of the floors of the natural history museum. i don't remember what it was, but it was free on tuesdays. we just happened to get lucky that we were there on tuesday.

The Butterfly Garden is in Natural History and they do charge.

Well, that's just silly. Don't we - or donations - already pay for the whole Smithsonian? Now, I admit I haven't been to Washington DC in a while, but when I was there? The butterfly "garden" (at least the one to which I was directed ) was a strip of land outside the Natural History Museum. It took me 45 minutes to find it, and... no butterflies.

 

[cassiez76]

there were a bunch of butterflies when we went. it was hot and steamy in the little "tent". if we had to pay, we'd have definitely have skipped it!

 

[PlutoPony]

LaraK has good suggestions. Basically, start at one end of the Mall and walk down to the other end, stopping at those places you want to hit. You can spend as much or as little time as you want in each place, depending on your family's interests and tolerance for walking.

Couple other places you might want to stop briefly on the Mall, depending your your family's interests
* Botanic Garden is right next to the Capitol, neat building and plants, lots of good places to sit and rest/look.
* Museum of the American Indian - between Botanic Garden and Air & Space. Fantastic display of arrowheads and hand made beaded items. Cafe is one of the better places to eat on the Mall.
* outdoor sculpture garden of the National Gallery of Art. This is a great place for kids, some of the sculptures will definitely appeal to them. Large fountain in the middle with lots of nice seating, another place to rest or eat those hot dogs LaraK mentioned. Also has a decent bistro, albeit kinda pricey. Right in front of the Archives...
* Archives IF the line to see the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence is short. Wouldn't wait too long for this given the ages of your kids.

Definitely hit the monuments. Good suggestion to see them at night. Other than a bus tour that drops you off relatively close to them, there's no good way to see them other than walking.

Wouldn't use your limited time to see either the Zoo or Holocaust Museum, they just take too long to see or travel to.

Walking is the best way to get around the area, and you'll probably walk as much or more than a day at WDW. Strollers are not nearly as common as at WDW, they really slow you down going into buildings and using Metro.

HTH and you have an enjoyable but exhausting day in DC.

 

[castleview]

L
* Archives IF the line to see the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence is short. Wouldn't wait too long for this given the ages of your kids.

.

Curse that movie, National Treasure. I could walk into the archives building without any problems before that.

 

[golfgal]

LaraK has good suggestions. Basically, start at one end of the Mall and walk down to the other end, stopping at those places you want to hit. You can spend as much or as little time as you want in each place, depending on your family's interests and tolerance for walking.

Couple other places you might want to stop briefly on the Mall, depending your your family's interests
* Botanic Garden is right next to the Capitol, neat building and plants, lots of good places to sit and rest/look.
* Museum of the American Indian - between Botanic Garden and Air & Space. Fantastic display of arrowheads and hand made beaded items. Cafe is one of the better places to eat on the Mall.
* outdoor sculpture garden of the National Gallery of Art. This is a great place for kids, some of the sculptures will definitely appeal to them. Large fountain in the middle with lots of nice seating, another place to rest or eat those hot dogs LaraK mentioned. Also has a decent bistro, albeit kinda pricey. Right in front of the Archives...
* Archives IF the line to see the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence is short. Wouldn't wait too long for this given the ages of your kids.

Definitely hit the monuments. Good suggestion to see them at night. Other than a bus tour that drops you off relatively close to them, there's no good way to see them other than walking.

Wouldn't use your limited time to see either the Zoo or Holocaust Museum, they just take too long to see or travel to.

Walking is the best way to get around the area, and you'll probably walk as much or more than a day at WDW. Strollers are not nearly as common as at WDW, they really slow you down going into buildings and using Metro.

HTH and you have an enjoyable but exhausting day in DC.

For us the Holocaust Museum was the one museum that we ALL "liked" the most-it's hard to put a word on there but it is WELL worth going.

The National Archives has timed entry passes now.

 

[PlutoPony]

For us the Holocaust Museum was the one museum that we ALL "liked" the most-it's hard to put a word on there but it is WELL worth going..

My concern with the Holocaust Museum is that it isn't a great fit for all members of the OP's party, i.e. the grade school kids. Yes you could split up and just take the older 2 but for just one day in DC with the family imo it's not worth it. Plus you'd have to coordinate when to meet up again and where (there's not much really close to that museum other than memorials), add to that needing timed entry tickets and I see a lot of potentially wasted time for one party or the other waiting around for the other group. It's a great museum, but not something I'd recommend for one day in DC with this group.

 

[PlutoPony]

Curse that movie, National Treasure. I could walk into the archives building without any problems before that.

Yep . We haven't been in it lately but hear it's still possible to get in and out easily in the off season.

 

[Christine]

I just went to the Newseum this past Wednesday. It's pretty cool. Not free but kids are free with a paying adult until September 2nd or something like that. It's pretty much across the street from the Archives. It takes about 2 hours to do a full going through but you can be quicker about it if you avoid things you're not totally interested in (for me it was Sports).

 

[~Brandy~]

My husband is an airline employee and we like to take these day trips when time (and open seats) allows. We did a day trip to DC last month with our 4 and 6 year olds. We took the train to the Mall area and did some walking around (it was very, very hot!) and then spent a few hours at the Natural History Museum and then the Air & Space Museum before returning home.

I figured my kids would only be interested in what I think of as "E-ticket" exhibits - the dinosaurs, the lunar modules, etc, but they stopped at each and every display and inspected it and asked questions. After 10 minutes of looking at the mollusks I had to try to shuffle them along. Between the quality and free admission of the museums, and the ease of the public transit system, I think it was my favorite day trip for the kids.