Going to Washington D.C.

[BigMikeinNY]

Hey everyone. BigMike's family is headed to Washington D.C. on this Memorial Day weekend. Any suggestions on things we should do, attend, or see? We are both into pretty much everything from sports to art. We love to eat! We will have our 14 month old with us at all times, so attending theater or anything like that is pretty much out of the question.

 

Any must do sight seeing?

 

Any must do restaurants?

 

Any hotel you can reccomend that is in a decent section of DC?

 

Anything must do that the little one will love?

 

 

Thanks everyone! Any input is greatly appreciated

Edited May 21, 2009 by BigMikeinNY

[BS Miscreant]

These are some of the fairly obvious but are either very cool or impressive nonetheless.

 

- The monuments/memorials. Pretty much all are impressive in architecture and scale at the very least.

 

- Any of the Smithsonian or National Museums of... Just pick your interests. Air and Space and Natural History are cool for kids and the 'rents.

[Chargerz]

I've never been to Washington, D.C. I was hoping to get James Harrison's airline ticket.

[DMD]

Probably best family trip we ever had.

 

Smithsonian Museums of course. Space and Natural Science ones were the best.

 

Vietnam Memorial for sure. The most simple yet powerful memorial I have ever seen. The Capitol Mall with the reflecting pond and Lincoln Memorial is right there too. So is WWII and Korea memorials.

 

Spy Museum if you have a boy aged maybe 8 to 15 for sure.

 

Arlington Cemetary was poignant as well and the changing of the guards was cool.

 

There is more to see there than you can. Cabs were always very reasonable and easy to get unlike NYC. If you guys get tired of walking, do not hesitate to take a cab.

 

You can get a great deal too with the tourist buses that go around town to the different sights. Check them out for sure.

 

You just have to figure out what you want to see the most. You will not have time to see it all.

 

Have a great time - we really did!

[T_bone65]

Probably best family trip we ever had.

 

Smithsonian Museums of course. Space and Natural Science ones were the best.

 

Vietnam Memorial for sure. The most simple yet powerful memorial I have ever seen. The Capitol Mall with the reflecting pond and Lincoln Memorial is right there too. So is WWII and Korea memorials.

 

Spy Museum if you have a boy aged maybe 8 to 15 for sure.

 

Arlington Cemetary was poignant as well and the changing of the guards was cool.

 

There is more to see there than you can. Cabs were always very reasonable and easy to get unlike NYC. If you guys get tired of walking, do not hesitate to take a cab.

 

You can get a great deal too with the tourist buses that go around town to the different sights. Check them out for sure.

 

You just have to figure out what you want to see the most. You will not have time to see it all.

 

Have a great time - we really did!

 

Pm sent but I agree with all of the sites listed above and added a few others for you as well. Subway system works very well and is much cheaper then cabs but alot of these are located pretty close to each other then Arl. Cemetary. I might alos suggest Mount Veron as well which is in Alexandria VA but is still farily close by.

[MojoMan]

Big Mike,

 

Feel free to PM but I think DMD and t-bone have it covered. I would try to stay near a Metro stop and the Segway tours are a blast.

 

I go to a lot of restaurants, PM me for suggestions, let me know what kind of food you like and the price range.

[Kid Cid]

Don't forget the National Gallery if you're into art. As I've mentioned before, call your local State Representative or Senator and see if you can get a tour of the Capitol scheduled through them. Well worth the time. The Odyssey is a lunch/dinner cruise that runs up and down the Potomac, a bit pricey but a different way to see things. Based out of Alexandria. Metro is the way to go. Don't drive downtown, you will only succeed in driving yourself crazy.

 

DC Metro

[McBoog]

One of the first museums on the left side of "the mall" (Aerospace museum side) as you stand with the capitol to your back and look toward the Washington Monument is the National Botanical Gardens. It is kind of small, but very modern and very cool! It does not take long to walk through it, but it is one of my favorite spots, specially as a rest stop on some of the benches inside. Also they have very clean restrooms and are not usually as crowded as other places.

 

The Changing of the Guards in Arlington Cemetery is a MUST see. My wife who after 24 years of marriage, became a US Citizen this year, and it gave her goosebumps and brought tears to her eyes!

 

The other lesser visited museum is the Aerospace museum near Dulles Airport. Parking is $15 and admission is free. Housed there is the Enola Gay and other fully restored aircraft. Also, in the space section is the Spaceshuttle Enterprise in its entirety and lunar moduals. It is looking only, but way cool and worth the time to go see it. There is a tower that you can see and hear the air traffic coming in and out of Dulles and an IMAX theater as well on site.

 

The field where The Battle of Bull Run or Battle or Battle of Manassass (depending on if you are a Northerner or a Southerner) is great as well. They have tours that take you all over the area. Now is a perfect time of year to go. Not too hot, skeeters are not a big issue yet and everything is green. This is just of of Rout 66 about 20 minutes from DC.

 

I have lived here now going on three years. It is a very interesting place to visit, but I HATE living here. I have appreciated being able to see a lot of the historical stuff and I can see DC as a great place to visit.

 

If you find yourself in Chinatown (and I'm not sure you will, nor should you) , there is an awesome "hole in the wall" joint called "CHINA EXPRESS" at 746 6th St NW Washington, DC 20001. It is not the greatest atmosphere, but the chef is hand making the noodles in the window and the food is great no matter what you order. Also a great value due to generous portions! I have seen mixed reviews, but if the lunch crowd and number of the "local ethnics" are an indication of how good it is, it speaks for itself. I love their eggrolls with whatever else I get.

 

DMD's post hit the majors, I just wanted to give you some other, less obvious yet good choices as well that would get you into outlying areas to see what the whole area looks like.

 

As far as a Hotel, I would consider Crystal City or Pentagon City, both have plenty of places to eat. Both are in Virginia, right across the river and an easy metro ride to all the major spots. Both of these have metro stops that will take you either directly to Arlington Cemetery (blue line) or right into DC (yellow line). I HIGHLY recommend using the Metro instead of driving and parking. The biggest problem (learned from experience), is by the time you have walked and seen what you want to see, it is a LONG way back to you car. Stay at a place near a metro station, and you are always close to your ride back to your room! Here is the to DC Metro.

[i_am_the_swammi]

I might alos suggest Mount Veron as well which is in Alexandria VA but is still farily close by.

 

Mount Vernon is about 30 minutes south of Alexandria, and about 45 minutes south of DC....but still very much worth the visit.

 

Here's a link to the Smithsonian Website outlining all the current kids exhibits.

 

The National Zoo is also a great way to spend an afternoon.

 

You said you were into sports....I urge you NOT to see a Nationals game (though tickets are easy to come by).

[BigMikeinNY]

Guys, thank you so much for all the useful information so far!!! I am in the midst of making hotel arrangements and sharing with my wife what you have all shared with me. This is really helping us out alot, thank you so much!!!

 

I'll keep checking in and I will post Monday night when we return.

Edited May 21, 2009 by BigMikeinNY

[TimC]

Stop by the Treasury. T_Bone is giving out money like it's candy. Literally trillions of dollars.

[T_bone65]

Stop by the Treasury. T_Bone is giving out money like it's candy. Literally trillions of dollars.

 

[darin3]

T_Obama?

[MikesVikes]

Is this you?

[peteteacher2001]

I go every year with some of my students and, hands down, Mt. Vernon is an overwhelming favorite.

[Swiss Cheezhead]

I'd opt for the whirlwind version, as opposed to choosing a few things to spend a lot of time on. Unless you'll have an opportunity to return there in the near future...

[BigMikeinNY]

My family and I had a blast!!

 

We stayed in Arlington, VA at a hotel that was 2 blocks from the subway sytem. It was very easy to navigate through the subway sytem and get to DC quickly. We hopped on a tour bus and got off at 5-6 amazing places in the DC area. The Linclon Memorial is the absolute most amazing thing I have ever seen. To be feet away from Ford's Theatre, The White House, Watergate, etc.... are memories I will deff. never forget.

 

We ate at Velocity Sports Rest. on Saturday night.

 

Sunday we ate like Royalty in 3 different rest. for breakfast, lunch, n dinner. I am too tired to post 'em all, we just got home from 6 hours of Memorial Day traffic.

 

Thank you so much to those that gave us great helpful hints, you saved us a ton of time and energy.

 

BigMike

 

P.S. - It was amazing to see, no joke, about 10,000 motorcyles in Washington DC this weekend as part of Rolling Thunder. It was so great to see so many Veterans getting together to celebrate such an amazing day.

[Skippy]

This is a great thread. Any of those PM's that you guys sent to BigMike that could be of use to me and my family at the end of June would be much appreciated.

 

We have not been to the DC area for nearly ten years but now that my youngest is old enough to really get something out of it, we are headed down for a road trip shortly before July. We are still in the planning but are pretty wide open. I do know that we plan to visit during the week and not over the weekend but that is about the only thing we have set in stone at this point.

 

KidCid – that is a great idea and something that I never heard of. Is that easy to achieve? I mean I just call Spectors office and tell them we are vacationing and wondered if we can have a tour of the Capitol? Is that all I need to do?

 

BigMike - did the place you stayed have a nice pool? We are not to picky about a room but my family likes to hit the pool at night once we get back to the hotel if there is still time.

[BigMikeinNY]

BigMike - did the place you stayed have a nice pool? We are not to picky about a room but my family likes to hit the pool at night once we get back to the hotel if there is still time.

 

 

No pool

[Kid Cid]

KidCid – that is a great idea and something that I never heard of. Is that easy to achieve? I mean I just call Spectors office and tell them we are vacationing and wondered if we can have a tour of the Capitol? Is that all I need to do?

 

Yeah. The Senators and reps like to do this because it makes it seems like they care about their constituents. Most of the time you get some staffer giving you the tour but if someone is trying to avoid a meeting or vote, a senator or rep has been known to give the tour. They will most likely take the time to meet with you if only for a hand shake.

 

Yes, you should be able to just call Specter's office to arrange it. I would imagine he be happy to hear from any supporter about now.

 

Just say that you and your family are going to be visiting the capitol and would like a tour. It's really the tour that they used to give to everyone before 9/11 but this is the only way to get shown the spot in the rotunda where you can hear whispers from the other side or to get down into the tunnels any more.