My son and I are vacationing in Washington, DC next month and I need some help planning our trip. This item is about that.72 responses total.
First of all, I've heard it's a bad idea to try to drive in Washington, DC, but also that it's not really necessary. You can use public transportation and easily get to everywhere you want to be. That sounds good to me. But... that's assuming you stay in a hotel from which you can get to the public transportation. How far away from the city can I stay, and still get to the buses and subways? Or can I drive easily from a hotel, park somewhere, and then ride the buses or subways? The further away from the city you stay, the cheaper the hotel rates... inside the city they look really horrendous. If I can stay someplace for $60 per night, I'll be fine. If it's $80 per night, I'll get by. If it's $120 per night, I might want to change where we're going on vacation. So... help me out here if you can? I'd sure appreciate it. I've lived in Michigan all my life, and have no experience with public transportation.
The public transportation thing really has me concerned. I assume if I can get around the city, I'll have no trouble finding everything I want to see. I mean, I'm not the only person who's ever wanted to see Washington, DC for the first time. Quite a lot of people have done it and even enjoyed it. But that was them. This is *me*. I'm completely inept at public transportation.
Things to see... heh. I don't know much about Washington, DC. I figure on having maybe 4 or 5 days to spend. I know I want to see the Smithsonian (and understand it's really big, like multiple-days big), National Zoo, and stuff like the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. I'll be towing a 7 year old boy. What are some things I gotta see, and that he's gotta see? How much does it cost to see things? I'd rather not run out of money... I can always sell the kid, but I guess I'd rather not. I've heard it takes like half a day, standing in line, to get to the White House. Is that true? If so, we'll skip it. Is there other stuff that, really, it'd be great to see, but it's too much effort to be worthwhile?
Find out if you can make an advance reservation for things like Washington Monument, White House, etc. /tpryan cue up Cledus Maggard and The $300 vacation.
Most of the museums are free which is nice. check out hotwire.com. They have some good deals in DC.
Include a visit to the Capitol. You might be able to get your picture taken with your representative or senator - especially with a child in tow.
take him to meet spencer abraham and tell junior that he is the anti-santa clause and eats children
Hotwire.com, priceline.com... they make me nervous because you're always picking blind. Hotwire says they can't even guarantee a non- smoking room. I guess I have a few weeks to check my nerve supply, but buying things blindly from a WWW site isn't easy for me. re resp:6: Do you need reservations to meet your government officials?
orbitz.com you don't pick blind, and can cancel if plans change.
Not so much 'reservations', but appointments would probably help; they _are_
busy people. They may also be home in Michigan while you are in Washington.
When I lived in the area, I never had much trouble finding parking.
The last time I was there, the National Zoo had lots of parking, so
driving to it wasn't that difficult. Same for Arlington National Cemetary.
The various museums that make up the Smithsonian Institution are along
the National Mall, all of which is in 'walking distance': places to sit,
when you get tired, with the Capitol at one end and the Lincoln Memorial at
the other. The Jefferson Memorial is not far from the Lincoln Memorial,
to the south, and the White House is on the north side of the Mall,
roughly across from the Washington Monument. (The Ellipsis is on the
south side of the White House, between it and the Mall.)
If you enjoy pagentry, the Marine Barracks holds a Sunset Parade at the
Marine Memorial on Tuesdays. The Sunset Parade includes music by the
Marine Band, which also performs there on Thursday evenings and at the
Capitol on Wednesday evenings. They provide the music for the Evening
Parade at the Marine Barracks at 8th and I, SE on other evenings. You can
get more information about the Barracks at
http://www.mbw.usmc.mil/newmbw/default.asp
and about the Marine Band at
http://www.mbw.usmc.mil/newmbw/default.asp
The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is also
worth watching.
I love marching music, so the Sunset Parade is something I'll want to see. Thanks! "Appointments". Right. One does not reserve a person. (-: Orbitz.com looks like a Good Thing. All I want from a place to stay is the ability to sleep and take a shower. My son requires a swimming pool. I'm definitely not interested in paying a lot for a room.
I grew up outside Washington DC, but that was before the subway was built, and I haven't played tourist there in some time, so don't rely on anything I write without doing research. The Smithsonian is a collection of large museums, and you will want to do some pre-trip planning to get some idea of how you want to allocate your time. My guess is that John & John's top interest is likely to be the Air & Space Museum, followed by either American History (which used to be called History and Technology, and which may still have lots of gadgets) or Natural History (the Hope Diamond, meteorites, lots of stuffed animals, model life-sized blue whale). The National Gallery of Art is the best of the Smithsonian's art museums, the others are more specialized. Basic admission to the Smithsonian museums is probably still free; special exhibits might cost extra, and Imax movies at Air and Space cost extra. My vague recollection was that the best way to see the White House was to have your congressperson arrange for tickets, or passes, or whatever. I've never done that. The Capitol was completely free and open when I was a kid -- my family would go to military band concerts on the Capitol steps and we would dash into the building to use the restrooms. I expect those days are long gone; while I doubt there are any admission charges, I'd contact your congressperson to find out about any security procedures for visitors. Once we went to Treasury to watch paper money being printed, that was neat. Again, check 21st century security issues. The FBI had a tour which was a famous hit among kids, which included a visit to their firing range.
I've visited Washington DC, one trip I relied on public transport, the other I drove. Public transport seemed pretty good, and the cab-fare wasn't too horrendous, at least for the places I wanted to go. Our hotes was pretty centrally located, and didn't seem too expensive. We walked to most places. I didn't find driving around too bad either. And I do believe they have park and rides at most places.
This response has been erased.
When you visit W-DC, you should / must be prepared to walk. A lot. A GREAT DEAL! If you can step up to that, so to speak, you'll be OK. With a kid in tow, you definitely need to go up the Washington Monument. And of course go see Abe sitting, too. You might try to arrange a visit to the Mint, too - I'm sure junior would be interested in seeing that.
Mr. krj was correct about the FBI and the Bureau of Engraving. Those were our children's favorite tours. As we recall, they did not appreciate places such as the White House or the National Archives. We suggest that you investigate the need for tickets/reservations wherever you go. Last summer we attempted to visit the Denver Mint. We called for same-day tickets and were told that one needed to do so at least two weeks in advance in order to allow time for a security check. Not even a call to the local congressman helped. (Thank you, al Qaida.)
When I was out west, I was disappointed to find that you can no longer tour the Hanford Site. Nor can you tour the inside of Hungry Horse Dam, like I did when I was out there in 1994.
Probably the best way to get a photo-op with your legislator is a nice bribe. Since the Republicans are in power this would best take the form of some shady business deal. ;) Hey, it's summer, it's DC, it's freakin' hot. Hotels can't be *that* expensive. Some of the web sites should let you sort by distance to public transit, which would be nice. Last time I was in DC (business meetings) our hotel was connected through a building or two to a subway stop. The subways are modern, safe, and clean, too.
I think I was about 7 when my family visited DC and went to the FBI building. I was absolutely thrilled to be fingerprinted! Little did I know.....
lol
This response has been erased.
Last time I was there, the Main Reading Room was open, but the stacks weren't. To read something from the Library of Congress, figure out what you want and submit a request. It helps to have something to read while waiting for the object of your desire to be delivered. Yes, my brother and I enjoyed the tours of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and of the FBI when we were there in '73 or '74.
We're going in mid-September, so I'm hoping it won't be in the 90s then. Thanks for all the advice on things to see! I think my son will be interested in seeing money being printed, if we can do that. I'll check into advance tickets. I think the Air and Space Museum is a must-see. I don't care if he hates the idea, dangit; I'm going and I'm not leaving him behind. I would imagine something at the Smithsonian has dinosaurs. This will be a hit with any 7 year old boy. Regarding the White House... they schedule tours for school kids and military groups from 7:45 to 10:30 Tues-Sat. There's no information on whether you can just walk up at other times, or can't get in at all. Anyone know? The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has a page titled "Locations and Tours" which says you can only tour the site in Washington, and that on a tour you'll see millions of dollars being printed. There's no word on hours, days, reservations... Oops. There's more information under some of the links. Sigh. Oh, wow. Through my congressman's WWW site, I can request tickets for a bunch of things, during the range of days I'll be in Washington. I'm asking for Bureau of Engraving and Printing, House Gallery, US Capitol, Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, and Supreme Court tickets. So there's probably our whole trip, right there. (-: We may not get all the tickets we request; we might not get any, but we can try. We can also stop by the congressman's office, according to the WWW site. There's no information at all about actually meeting him, but if we wanted to do that, we could probably go to one of his local meetings here at home. According to Senator Levin's page, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and also the Treasury, are currently cancelled. Senator Stabenow's office agrees with that. Oh, well, maybe they're out of date or the cancellations will end by the time we're there.
I have my doubts. 9/11 seems to have been used as a convenient excuse to cancel tours of all kinds of things where tours were popular but seen as an annoyance or potential embarassment. (Does anyone really think terrorists will get useful information from touring a reactor that's been obsolete for 50 years? Or a hydroelectric dam that's been there even longer?)
Take the FBI tour, your kid will love it. Assuming it's still going on, as the last time I was in DC was pre-9/11. Air and Space Museum is also a great place for Jr., as many have pointed out.
This response has been erased.
The FBI tours are no more.
Air and Space is way cool, though the dedicated geek is going to want to linger longer over each exhibit than a 6-yr-old would. (I can't imagine many people taking detailed pictures of the U-2 the way I did, or staring in awe at one of Goddard's own creations.) Natural History is pretty neat too; the mineral exhibit has all kinds of shiny and sparkly things, and then there are the insect and mammal sections.
(It occurs to me that the Sunset Parades probably end at Labor Day. But the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is guarded year 'round.) The Museum of Natural History is the place to look for dinosaurs.
Right, I did some more checking on-line, and found that the Museum of Natural History has a whole section about dinosaurs. We'll definitely be going there! The Smithsonian doesn't charge for admission., The National Zoo doesn't charge. What a concept!
Oh you pay admission....every April 15....;-)
The National Cathedral is a nice place to go. And the one place I want to go, adn you should go if you are an aircraft fan, is Silver Hill. It is part of the National Air and Space Museum. http://www.nasm.si.edu/nasm/garber/direc.html http://www.nasm.si.edu/nasm/ext/status.htm Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at the Dulles International Airport, VA. is the new facility they are going to open in December. This will have the Enola Gay on dispaly along with many of the other aircraft as tehy get moved in over the next few years.
I'm not an aircraft fan, but my son is. Thanks! Why visit the National Cathedral?
If you are at all in seeing really, REALLY big churches, that would be why. You aren't going to see them that big unless you go to Europe. If that interests you (not likely to interest a kid), you could also drive out to see the National Shrine, whether you're Catholic or not.
Taxicabs in DC are extremely cheap compared to other cities. They have a zone system, so the cabs have a map instead of a meter. In other words, there is a set fee for traveling from any point in zone 1 to any point in zone 2. Or within a zone. Zone 1 includes the Capitol and major tourist destinations. My favorite monument in DC is the Einstein Memorial. It's on the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences, just across the street from the north end of the Vietnam war memorial. It features a much larger than life size statue of Einstein, wearing jeans and sandals and a rumpled old sweater, sitting on a circular patio which doubles as a star chart, with little metal nubs of different sizes indicating stars of different magnitudes. It's surrounded by trees and shrubbery, so you follow a little path to get in and come upon it all of a sudden.
Aren't there some Really Big Diamonds and such, like the Hope Diamond, at the Museum of Natural History mineral exhibit?
Last I heard, the Hope Diamond was visible at the Museum of Natural History. I kind of doubt they've sold or lent it.
(Was that before or after the Clinton administration left town?)
How much does a taxi ride cost if you're going, say, 2 miles to your hotel? Or 5 miles? Can you give any examples, Larry? I don't think John knows what a diamond is, other than a hard rock. Maybe I'd be surprised, though. I'll have to remember to ask him.
I haven't been to Washington in several years, but I remember the taxi fares being surprisingly low compared to taxi fares in Ann Arbor or Lansing. The absence of a meter makes it a different experience: the driver gets no extra money from going out of the way or dawdling.
..and room for haggling!
I've been bopping around sites such as orbitz.com, looking to reserve a hotel room. It's quite interesting. The prices go up and down on orbitz.com, even if you enter the same search a 2nd time. I have no clue, but just re-entered my search, and the lowest priced hotels within 2-5 miles of Washington, DC jumped from $60 to $126. I've gone through this several times. Maybe the WWW page is getting tired of me. I've called a couple of hotels, and found their outdoor pools closed at Labor Day, just as they would in Michigan. Oh, well, my son will be disappointed but I'm not interested in paying $300 per night for a hotel room so there's an indoor pool. Aha, I just noticed something. The rates are lower if I say there are two people. What's up with that? That's why the prices are going up and down, anyway. I keep forgetting to check the box that says "2". Heck with this. As soon as I find something that says it's close to the Metro or has a shuttle, with complimentary breakfast (because it's one less thing to fret about in the morning), and from a recognizable national chain, with free parking... A refrigerator can substitute for a free breakfast... A cooler can substitute for a refrigerator... Annd the winner is, Day's Inn of Alexandria, Virginia "a convenient 10 minute walk from the closest Metro-DC's subway system (the cleanest & safest in the world)." (That's a definite selling point for me; "cleanest and safest" I mean.) 'Tis done, now I can try to make sure I see as much as I can of Washington in 4 days!
There's an article in the newspaper that says you can tour the White House again starting September 16. I'll be in Washington from September 13-18. I e-mailed my congressman's office to ask for reservations; never heard back from them on my previous e-mail but maybe they believe in silent service. (Heh.) You have to have reservations from a congressperson and pass a security check. If we get the reservations we'll worry about the security check later.
This response has been erased.
re: "#43 (jep): You have to have reservations from a congressperson and pass a security check. If we get the reservations we'll worry about the security check later." According to our news source, it sounded as if the security check occurred prior to the issuance of tickets.
The congressman's office sent me an e-mail; they're not sure what's needed for the security check either. They took some information from me and will get me tickets if they can, they said.
First off, to clear something up said back there, it has been my understanding that your tax dollars DON'T support the Smithsonian - at all. Your $10 lunch of a hot dog and fries and soda however . . . . After having cabbed in NYC, I wish DC would go back on the meter. The problem with zones is that the zones seem open to interpretation depending on the driver. And John, if you really want to get into the Air and Space Museum, I'll take John for a few hours and give you some time there.
Heh. Brooke, John is fascinated with airplanes since he flew to New Orleans a month ago. He wants to see airplanes. I want to see space stuff. We'll need a lot of time for Air and Space!
I heard from my congressman's office today. They didn't have time (due to staffing issues) to send me tickets to any of the things I'd requested, but made reservations for me for some of them, and e-mailed me the information I'll need. I guess I'll have to stop by the Congressman's office to pick up the tickets I'll need. We will be able to visit the Supreme Court and Kennedy Center on Tuesday, and then take a US Capitol tour, then visit the Library of Congress on Wednesday. We don't get a White House tour. As they said, we can just do that one later, next time we visit Washington. The Congressman's office also recommended the Spy Museum. We'll have to buy tickets for that, but they assured me it's well worth the trip. Hmm, looking over their WWW page, it looks like it might be a little old for John (they recommend it for ages 12 and up) but I'll discuss it with him and we'll see. I'll be back in a week! You may dread my report, which I will place in this item, when I return.
Just as we were ready to leave on vacation I found my cell phone missing from my car. I left it in there overnight -- I've done it 100 times before. So, I'm pretty sure it was stolen. I put in a police report and called Cingular to report it stolen. So, if I was coming to visit you while I'm in Washington -- Rick, I have your phone numbers. Denise -- I have yours too. Brooke -- I don't have yours but I have your address. Call the hotel, please!
Actually, skip the Spy Museum, there is not much there and a lot of it is inaccurate. I suggest the following: The Federal Reserve (not sure if they currently offer tours), check out the City Museum (in DC's original Carneige Library), and the Kennedy Center.
And go to jp2's house! Smoke tobacco from his hookah!
Yah man. Hookah party! I checked out the Fed and they start offering tours of their art collection on the 26th.
jp2's house is cool, though I've never had a chance to try th hookah :9
Jamie has a new house. I saw John and John yesterday for breakfast, kinda gave them a rundown on the metro (how to use it) and am having them over tonight to have dinner.
This response has been erased.
We do what we can. It was fun trying to find something that both John (the younger) and I could eat. Solution? Homemade macaroni and cheese.
Heh. I didn't know about Jamie's new house.
Yes you did.
I knew about your new JOB. You didn't tell me about the house.
That too!
No you did'nt. Is it an apartment or a house? Where you moved to? MD/VA/DC/other? Does it have hard wood floors and a bathtub?
He's in MD, farther north. Rumor has it he even has a woman living there. John and JOhn were over for dinner last night - had a very nice time and John (the younger) was very helpful (in other words, I ordered him around a lot - what else are you supposed to do with a 7 year-old)?
Aaah, a woman.. that would explain the hush-hush ;)
This response has been erased.
Mine too! It's like we are twins.
I'm moving in with cross or slynne. I'm a sucker for hardwood floors. And a bathtub is a must in any place I stay
How are John and John getting along with Isabel?
They fled to West Virginia.
And she chased them down there?
If you're really, really interested, I put around 400 pictures on-line on my picture site (on tonster's WWW site): http://jep.tonster.com/photoalbum/vacation_2003 I've got some captions and links there. Many, many of the pictures are dull and boring; I'm weeding them out but it takes time. Here's the Spud and I in our congressman's office if you're dying to know what we look like: http://jep.tonster.com/photoalbum/album10/IM001009
Nice photos :)
You have several choices: