What to do?! My best friend and I have been crunching numbers, and it's looking like we'll be going to DC next summer (probably late July/early August) for a three day weekend; arrive on a Friday morning, leave on a Sunday night.

We want to see the best of the best. A few things we know we want to see; outside of White House, Smithsonian (will probably spend a good bit of time there), Lincoln memorial and the Washington monument. My mom has told me some things I should see (some unknown soldier tomb whose name I don't remember, Arlington national cemetery), but beyond that, we're lost. Best friend went for a school trip in 8th grade, I've never been.

We are big into (cheap) food (heh) and museums. We absolutely want to hit any important monuments/buildings, we just don't know where!

Of course, cheap or free is preferred, but we will absolutely splurge for something that's worth it.

Personally, I'd spend 100% of my time at the Smithsonian. You do know it's not one museum, right? You have to do Air & Space to get some astronaut ice cream. And natural history to see the dinosaurs and the Hope Diamond. And most people recommend American History, but I think that one's a snooze fest. One of the art museums would be more entertaining IMO.

Whatever you do, don't bother going inside the Washington monument (is it even open?). Total waste of time considering everything else there is to do. Arlington National Cemetery is very overwhelming if you're in the mood to be completely depressed. The National Archives is a very cool (and kinda quick) tour. So is the FBI and the Treasury.

I'm ashamed to admit I did not know that, so I checked it out. Wow! Most of the museums are open 10-5:30, we'll be spending at least 2 full days there if not 3.

Lived in DC for 19 years, love it there! When you find a place to stay, make sure it's on the Metro (subway). So much easier to get around. I always tell first-time visitors to take the Tourmobile tour the first day. You can get on anywhere along the Mall (where most of the Smithsonian museums are located). There's a narrated tour which gives you a quick summary of each site you approach. You can get off and on as much as you want. If you're tired or something doesn't interest you, sit back and relax until the next point of interest for you. In addition to the Smithsonian Museums (which are all free admission, by the way) the Tourmobile stops at National Archives, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the Vietnam Wall, the White House visitors center, and so much more. You can also go to Arlington National Cemetery on it, if you like. I have been a few times and it is always very moving. Particularly the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Tourmobile: www.tourmobile.com . . . .
There's way too much to see in 2 or 3 days, but the Tourmobile gives you a good overview so you can pick and choose what matters most to you.

The Washington Monument has been closed since it was damaged in a recent earthquake. A lot of people like the National Zoo on Connecticut Ave, NW which is accessible by Metro (Cleveland Park or Dupont Circle stops on the Red Line, then walk a few blocks).

If you're interested in tours of the White House or the Capitol Building, contact your congressperson well in advance for tour tickets. My sister visited DC this summer with her family and they really enjoyed those tours.

Georgetown is fun for people watching as well as lots of shops and restaurants. It's not on the Metro line, but you can walk from the GW stop.
My 22 yr old son visits DC frequently. He and his friends like to eat on the cheap. They go as often as possible during each visit to Ben's Chili Bowl. Inexpensive late-night food and great for people-watching. www.benschilibowl.com . . .
His other longtime favorite is Guapos Mexican restaurant www.guaposrestaurant.com . . .
Hope this helps.

Kekoa wrote:

I'm ashamed to admit I did not know that, so I checked it out. Wow! Most of the museums are open 10-5:30, we'll be spending at least 2 full days there if not 3.

It's ok -- I didn't know until I got there, either. Everyone just says "The Smithsonian" so of course it sounds like it's just one gigantic museum.

Panic outlined the best museums, I think, along with the reasons for seeing them. I agree with Tansey about Tourmobile. In fact, my parents and I ended up doing like three tours in two days and it was GREAT. We saw a ton of monuments, 3 or 4 of the Smithsonians, and some other historical spots. It made for a couple of long days but it was really nice considering we only had 2 days there.

When we went this past summer we discovered that the FBI is no longer open for tours (not since 9/11). You've got plenty of time, though, before you go, so why not contact your local congressman's office and ask to be approved for a tour of the White House? It typically requires 6 months advance notice to the congressman's office, but it's very cool and its free! Also you can request a tour of Congress (also needs advance notice, but also free). Requesting the tours is really easy, just log onto your congressman's website, they usually have a link. Answer a simple questionnaire, and that's it - they do all the work for you!

The Smithsonian Museums are amazing (and FREE) - by all means do the Air & Space Museum, and I'd suggest you have lunch in the Native American museum if you can, the museum itself doesn't have much to see, but the food there is well-known to be outstanding, a lot of the locals go there. National Archives are really neat (especially if you've seen the movie "National Treasure") and the Rare Books collection in the Library of Congress was surprisingly entertaining. The Washington Monument is closed indefinitely, but the Martin Luther King memorial has just been unveiled. The World War II Memorial is beautiful, and the Lincoln Memorial is breathtaking, especially at night (cooler and less crowded, too!)

there are always things to see just walking around the Mall (that's the big grassy expanse in the center of all of the Smithsonian museums).
I really hope that you and your friend enjoy your visit there, I think you'll probably run out of time way before you run out of things to do!

Hugs!
Irish Mom

Old Post office for food! Love that place!

Try to avoid going during "rush" hours though it gets packed in there. I also second the stay near a metro but it might also be more expensive to do that as well. You may find it cheaper to get a hotel in Northern Virgina or NOVA or even parts of Maryland rather than directly in the city. Definitely shop around!

Airports....there are 3 in this area. BWI, Dulles, and Reagen National. BWI (in Maryland closer to Baltimore) and Dulles (Out near Chantilly Virgina) are outside the city and require a drive in BUT they also can be much cheaper than Reagan. Again shop around!

The Tour mobile is an awesome way to see the city! You will see so much just by doing that and save tones of time! Once you are down by the National Mall you can walk to see most of the monuments and the White House.....bring GOOD walking shoes though because THERE will be a lot of walking!

PM me if you want.....maybe we can meetup and I can show you around a bit.


OH and before I forget.....if you want to take a tour of the Capital let me know.....I might be able to get you tickets since my Husband works for USCP.

American History, but I think that one's a snooze fest.

I actually liked that one. They have a great new Lincoln exhibit and they restored the flag that was flying when Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem. It's amazing.

I second "Tour Mobile"!! Best way to get around, and I love the procession at the Tomb Of the Unknown Soldier. I also loved Arlington. While some of it is depressing, the guides are so knowledgeable and I love history so I could have listened to their stories for hours if my hubby would have let me.

There is a lot to see, but we managed to do DC in about the same time frame, and were on a budget too. I'd suggest packing snacks or even peanut butter sandwiches on the days you are at the Smithsonian. The food there is CRAZY expensive and not very good.

I agree to not waste your time going into the Washington Memorial. You can't go all the way to the top, and a friend that recently went there said it was closed after they had the earthquake.

The FDR memorial is one of my favorites along with the Korean memorial. I'd buy a guide book so you have some information about each of the memorials. It really is interesting to hear WHY some they were constructed the way they were, how they were built, the problems they had building them or set backs etc. That part was probably the most interesting part of the trip for me. I learned so much by listening to the staff that was working at the monuments.

IMO, no Lincoln exhibit can compare to a Space Shuttle or the Hope Diamond or a dinosaur skeleton. I mean, ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM!!! That's way cooler than some tatty old flag.

What makes astronaut ice cream different than normal ice cream?

You've gotten a lot of great advice so far. Don't forget the goofy DC stuff like the exorcist stairs in Georgetown (from the movie- good for photo ops) and Georgetown cupcake (from the DC cupcakes tv show).

For museums, I love the National Gallery of Art and the American History. The Air and Space bores me to tears but maybe that's because I grew up here and have been forced to go to it like a million times...Natural History can be interesting. Check the calendar for the American Indian museum- I've gotten to see some really neat dance and music performances there.

Have fun!!

Kekoa wrote:

What makes astronaut ice cream different than normal ice cream?

It's freeze-dried so the astronauts were able to take it with them. It makes it almost weightless, a little powdery. The consistency is weird but the flavor remains. Kids love it, as do a lot of adults. en.wikipedia.org . . .

Meant to add earlier that the Hirshhorn is one of my very favorite museums in the Smithsonian system. hirshhorn.si.edu

The American History Museum isn't boring to me, but I am a history geek.

The ice cream is absolutely disgusting, but it reminds me of being a kid so I have to get it every time I go. Don't get your hopes up though. You know what I remember about the American History museum? Dioramas. LOTS of dioramas.

My mom has told me some things I should see (some unknown soldier tomb whose name I don't remember, Arlington national cemetery)

I'm still laughing at this..UNKNOWN soldier whose name you don't remember? HA HA

You've gotten so many great suggestions it would be almost pointless to mention more, but I would make this suggestion. Contact your local congressional representatives and see if you can visit their offices. It is just fascinating to see the inside story of how your representatives work for the folks back home. There are a ton of interns whose job it is to show you around. As mentioned before, their offices can also arrange tickets for the other seats of government.

Also, plan, plan, plan. I too could spend two weeks going through the Smithsonian buildings but no matter what you want to see, you can spend way too much time walking and waiting if you don't have a good plan in place to maximize your time.

I hope you have a great time.

Keep On Dancing*

As a former congressional intern, contact your representatives office and get an intern tour of the Capitol. You don't appreciate how hard congress works until you see it all in action. There are walk up public tours too that you can get without a reservation, but then you'll only get the Capitol Building, you won't get to see the offices, meet the people that work for you or see the House or Senate floors where they debate and vote. The public tours are also huge. With an intern tour it will be just you and maybe one other family. The intern should also know about where the statues, paintings etc. that are significant to your state are.

I honestly wouldn't bother with the the White House tour. You only get to see a couple dining rooms and it's a pain that you can't bring anything with you (wallet, keys turned off cell phone only) so you'll have to go and then go back to your hotel to get your purse and stuff before you can go on with your day. You also have to make the reservation 6 months ahead of time through your congressional office, but the White House won't tell you if you were approved until the week before your tour. It makes it very hard to plan.

Most things in DC are free, so if you can splurge at all I'd recommend on doing the Newseum. It's really awesome and not only has newspapers from major historical events but artifacts from those events too like the antenna from the World Trade Center. And yes, the Washington Monument has been closed since the earth quake and is closed indefinitely.

Definitely Smithsonian Museums...I agree with panic, the American History one wasn't that great, but there was a section of stuff from arts history, Dorothy's shoes from Wizard of Oz etc, that stuff was pretty cool. But the Natural History one was where me and my sis spent the most amount of time. So many animal models!!! And dinosaurs, and pretty crystals. It's a must.

I'm going from memory here but Smithsonian Museums include
American History
Natural History
National Gallery of Art (2 Buildings)
Air and Space Museum
Sculpture/Modern Art Museum (forget name, next to Air/Space)
Freer Gallery of Oriental Art
American Indian Museum (Not been there)
Not sure if the Holocaust Museum is part of the Smithsonian
but it is near there, on or just off the Mall.
To the North of the National Gallery of Art is the National Archives [Declaration of Independence/ Constitution among many other things.] Also nearby is the National Portrait Gallery.
A car is useless in downtown Washington but all airports have some form of public transportation if you are flying. If you are coming by car, suggest you stay in the MD or VA 'burbs at someplace near the Metro (subway). National Airport does have a subway stop. BWI airport (usually the cheapest because of Southwest airlines) has a shuttle to the Redline Greenbelt station. The further out you stay, the cheaper the rates. Example
there are Motel 6's in Gaithersburg with shuttles to the Shady Grove Station. If you come by car, you can leave your car either at the hotel or at the metro station (if you are there early enough.) Send me a PM when you planning is more firm. There are areas best to avoid ... example motels on New York Ave which aren't close to much of anything and are in rather tough areas.

Also be aware that Washington in July/August can be hotter than hell and extremely humid, but of course virtually every building is air conditioned.

Research the Metro so you understand were it goes and where and which tourists sites are nearby.

Various memorials are pretty much on the Mall e.g. Lincoln, Jefferson (which is a bit south of the mall), MLK, WWII, Vietnam.

Arlington Cemetary has its own Metro stop.

The locals can tell you when/if the Washington Monument will be reopened following the earthquake damage. Engineers have been rappelling off the side of it lately to assess the damage. I suspect there will be a push to get it back in service.

For nighttime action, Georgetown (to the west of downtown) is the place to go. It does not have its own Metro, but is within walking distance of the GWU/Foggy Bottom station...a ten minute walk. It is the "bar scene". Maybe we can arrange a DDN meetup as many DDNer's are in the area.

Jon

Oh, I loved American History! I'm a huge nerd for pop culture stuff, though, so Julia Child's kitchen and the ruby slippers and the inaugural gown exhibit were really interesting to me.

Agree on skipping the Washington Monument (just almost typed "Nomument"...), but you could probably do all the monuments/memorials around there in a day if you're interested in seeing them. When I went to DC with my family this summer, we hit the WWII, Korean War, Lincoln, Jefferson, Vietnam, and FDR memorials in about half a day, and I still felt like we had time to actually take each of them in.

DEFINITELY do the Newseum. Definitely, definitely, definitely. It's a little bit of a splurge, but I think you'd really like it. It took us 2 days to go through everything, but your tickets are good for 2 consecutive days, so that makes the cost a bit more worth it. Of the DC museums, I'd say Newseum was probably my all-time favorite.

I'd also put in a good word for the zoo, but I really like zoos.

Have you figured out where you're staying yet? We stayed in a Holiday Inn in Arlington, and while it was outside the city, we were only a few blocks from a Metro station that took us right into everything. Something like that will probably be your best (cheapest) bet, if you're still looking for places to stay.

I'm overwhelmed by all this, in a good way! When I figure out dates, I'll let all you DC DDNers know

We'll be staying in Arlington (my dad stays in the same hotel for work a lot), right on the metro.

Added thought... "The Spy Museum" While I haven't been there yet
(natch...I WAS as spy for 35 years...sorta) I have heard good things about it and I've heard that after the Newseum it is the most popular non-governmental, e.g. Smithsonian, museum.

Arlington or Alexandria (both on the Virginia side of the Potomac River immediately opposite Washington would be very fine places to stay as long as you are within walking distances to the Metro.

BTW you may hear some people talk about how dangerous Washington can be. Like any big city there are areas of Washington that are not so nice, but these areas are far off the beaten path for tourists. Crimes against tourists are extremely rare. Most of the tough areas of Washington are well to the east of the Capitol Building area (which also includes the Supreme Court, where even I haven't been, or the Library of Congress [both places I would say could be skipped on a long weekend tour] and the congressional offices.) There is absolutely nothing of touristic interest in the eastern extremities of the city. The Capitol area is really the easternmost area of interest to visitors. The entire Mall and the Smithsonian complex are all to the west of the Capitol Building.

While there are some nice restaurants in the downtown area of DC, I would say that shopping in downtown DC (the area North of the Mall) is rather blah and can be duplicated in any large city. There are a few blocks up Connecticut Avenue with some unusual shopping, but the really trendy or unusual shopping would be in Georgetown on either M street or Wisconsin Avenue. Most of downtown DC is offices (K street, for example is where all the lobbyists are) and while there are shops on the street levels, most are really serving the office workers e.g. it seems like there is a Starbucks in nearly every block. Locals go to the suburban malls, most of which are nearly identical to malls throughout the country though Tysons Corner in VA (with several malls in that area) and White Flint and Montgomery Mall in MD are more upscale. (Tysons and White Flint are near Metro, Montgomery Mall is not.)

If you are flying to DC and staying in Arlington, National Airport is right next to Arlington and just to the North of Alexandria and has its own Metro stop and a shuttle to it from the terminal. We've just walked to it the few times we've used National. We usually use BWI because that is a Southwest Airlines Hub (SW doesn't go to National) and we live in MD. Your additional local transportation expenses from either Dulles (in far out VA) or BWI would outweigh any savings you'd get in airfare. Also look at the fare schedule for the Metro and be prepared...it is NOT cheap. There are two tiered fare schedules for Rush Hour and non-Rush Hour. Most of the places you would be likely to go are within a few stops of one another and the fare structure is based on distance.

Jon

Jon

I wasn't a big fan of the spy museum. Unlike the Newseum which is big open museum and you can go wherever you want, the spy museum you follow in a sequence and I found that to make it seem quite cramped and crowded despite the fact that it's a lot of space with many exhibits. It has some interesting things like all sorts of everyday things with hidden cameras and microphones but if your between Newseum and Spy Museum I'd def go for News. Also note both museums have student discounts if you bring your ID card (and mine doesn't expire until 2015 and I graduate in 2012! 3 more years of discounts!). And Jon, I would so do News with you if your interested. I've been twice already and can't get enough of the place, but I also study communications!

It's kind of funny how Jon mentioned the Capitol is really as far east as tourists go since the building itself was made to be the geographical center of Washington DC (thats no longer accurate as the city expanded and such), and now it's no where close to the center of the historical and tourist attractions, more like the end!

Washington, DC is probably one of my top favorite places to go to. I absolutely love the Air and Space museum, and I could spend hours in there. I also like the American History museum, especially because you can see Dorothy's slippers from The Wizard of Oz. The American Indian museum is also one of my favorites, partly because I am American Indian. They do have really good food there, so take irish_mom's advice and try it out.
I went to the top of the Washington Monument at night, and it was beautiful, but I don't think it is very easy to get to do that. You could always try to get tickets to go up. I think it's rather exciting, but that's just my opinion.

It will probably very hot when you go, so whatever you do, make sure you stay hydrated! I went last July for a day and was so miserable because I didn't have enough water with me when I was out walking around the city.

Have fun!

On the note of staying hydrated note that the Capitol Building does not allow any food or liquids, including empty containers so don't bring your expensive water bottle, they make no exceptions unless it's a medical issue and it must be cleared through the Sergeant at Arms ahead of time (your congressional office can do this). Those items are allowed in congressional offices and you can ask if you can leave your stuff there and then go back to get it after you go into the Capitol Building, but ask ahead of my time. My office was accommodating to this, others were not (and we were told in training not to let people do that, o well). The capitol also discriminates back packs vs. purses, backpacks aren't allowed. I don't know what the difference is. Basically point being, look on the websites of all the sites you are planning to go and see what the security rules are. White House and Capitol are by far the most strict that I've been too.

Three days is REALLY not a long time in DC. Don't over-schedule. You're going to want at least 2-3 hours in each museum.

Go to the mall - Orange line, Smithsonian exit. Go to the museums. Walk around the mall.

That's two days right there

White House is a decent walk from Smithsonian and not all that interesting.

Seeing the monuments at night is lovely & a ton of fun.

Arlington Cemetary is amazing and sad but it is a ways from the city and if you're short on time, I don't really advise it... the museums and the mall are more interesting & fun.

PM me if you want specifics or restaurant rec's.