mjh8955 said:
Our first family trip to D.C. will be March 20 - 26 with DD11 and DS14. We are using Hilton Honors points to stay at the Embasy Suites Chevy Chase (the one over the metro station) for 4 nights and then switching to the Hampton Inn Old Town Alexandria for 2 nights. We contacted our congressman's office in hopes of setting up tours for White House, Capital and National Archives. Our list is ambitious: the memorials, Halocost Museum, Air and Space Museum, National Cathedral, Arlington, Museum of American History, Natural History and Arts and Industries, and the Bureau of Engraving. And we are very much into eating and looking for recommendations for interesting restaurants. We will have our car but plan on relying on the metro. Does anybody know D.C. really well and can make some suggestions? I know some things require tickets that you can pick up in the morning to use later, we aren't real interested in getting them in advance for a fee. thanks to anyone who can help!
We just took our kids to DC over Labor Day weekend, and we had a blast! Here are my very random thoughts:
We stayed at the Residence Inn on Vermont Street, and it was nice. It was a bit old, but the area was good -- we felt safe. They provide a very nice hot breakfast, which was great considering that food was very expensive in DC. We could walk or Metro everywhere we wanted to go. We had to walk through McPherson Park to get to the Metro; the homeless congregate here, and we saw people sleeping in doorways /under park benches, some were begging. It was an eye opener for our kids. Downside to this hotel: no pool; after a long day of walking, a whirlpool would've been appreciated. We won this hotel on Priceline for $50/night, so it was a major bargain.
You said you'll have a car but will rely upon the Metro. Be sure to include the price of parking in your budget. We flew into DC, but I think our hotel charged $20/day to leave a car in its lot. The Metro was wonderful! We bought $10/tickets, and after three days of heavy use we had .05 remaining on everyone's card. We always felt safe on the Metro. If, by any chance, you decide to fly DO NOT USE Bucki Towncar service; despite the fact that I'd confirmed our ressies only days before, they STOOD US UP at the airport and were completely unapologetic about it; they didn't even offer to come out and get us once they realized that they had left us stranded. Jerks. Instead, use the Metro Flyer bus, which connects to the Metro and takes you all the way into town. We did this -- with luggage -- and found it to be inexpensive and easy.
The White House was not nearly so interesting as I thought it'd be; however, the Capitol was much more interesting than anticipated. The White House Visitor's Center, which is NOT located near the White House, was fairly interesting. You only need the Congressman's invite for the White House tour. You walk up and wait in line for Capitol tours -- be aware that they had some major rennovations going on in September, and their system was somewhat disrupted. This may or may not still be true. You can walk right into the National Archives, though it wasn't any great shakes compared to everything else in DC.
When you do the memorials, you're in for some serious walking, and the Metro will be no help. We had tickets for the open-air TourMobile bus, which someone else already mentioned. This was a good deal, for the most part. The first bus we boarded was wonderful -- the guide was an older man, very knowledgeable and personable. Most of the other guides whom we encountered that day were good. At one point -- outside the Jefferson Memorial, which is way far away from the others -- we waited more than an hour for our bus to come, and when it did the guide was downright mean and surly. Our confidence was restored, however, by the final guide who was a young college student; he was funny and made everything in to a game show. The bus circles from Union Station, through all the memorials, and out to Arlington. Overall, the tour bus was a good choice, and I'd do it again -- but just for one day of the vacation. Order tickets ahead of time over the internet, and you can save a few dollars.
Do you realize you're going at the most popular time of year? You WILL encounter massive crowds. I strongly recommend that you take advantage of ordering timed tickets ahead of time; otherwise, you may not get into some of the ticketed venues; the fees are very low.
Most of the Smithsonian Museums are located close together in an area called "America's Front Yard". You can walk from museum to museum very easily. My kids (a little younger than yours) loved Natural History the most. American History was also loads of fun, as was Air & Space. Air & Space was quite crowded, but the others were comfortable. We also visited the National Botanical Gardens and the National Sculpture Gardens, which are minor museums, but we we enjoyed them. I wish we'd had time for the Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian castle (next time). I'm sure you know that admission to all these is FREE (the only thing you mentioned that costs money is the Holocaust museum). As another poster mentioned, be prepared to be searched at every entrance; we shared one small backpack between us for a camera, maps, and a bottle of water.
Are you aware that the National Zoo is part of the Smithsonian? You can ride the Metro out there, and it's a nice zoo. We saw them exercising the cheetahs, and we saw the pandas, though the newborn wasn't being displayed yet. The orangatangs were lots of fun.
The meal we most enjoyed was Hard Rock Cafe (located next door to Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was shot, and Peterson House, where Lincoln died). For really good budget meals, hit Union Station (close to the Smithsonian museums); the basement food court is very nice and is sure to please everyone in your group -- loads of ethnic foods from Italian to Greek, plus plain old American burgers and fries. You can ride the Metro to Union Station. We also bought gift certificates from restaurant.com before our trip. We ate at Bullfeathers' (excellent burgers, near the Capitol building) and Alero's (good Mexican restaurant). You can really save some bucks with these coupons. I forget the name of the hotel where the Terrace Restaurant is located, but I wish we'd had time to hit that one -- it's supposed to be really nice. You'll see vendors selling ice cream, hotdogs, drinks, etc. on every corner; these are not cheap -- figure $2.50 for a 20-ounce soda.
We really had a great time in DC and would love to go back again.
