Washington DC

[Greg44]

My DW is traveling to DC at the end of the month with her DS. She is piggy backing on the room she is getting for work and has used her miles for a free ticket (score)!

The unfortunate part -- they arrive Sunday afternoon and leave Wednesday early evening.

Any tips for tours, getting tickets, etc.

She wants to go to Mt. Vernon, Jefferson's home, monuments, white house, arlington national cemetery, Ford's theatre, etc. She is not much of a museum person - she says that but she is always the last one out!

She will be touring a lot by herself -- as DS will be in conferences most of the day.

Any recommendations she will appreciate I am sure.

Thanks!

[bunnys]

Monticello (Jefferson's home) is in Charlottesville, a full hour's drive from DC. She'll have to rent a car to do that and also Mt. Vernon which is also very nice but much closer to DC.

[redfox]

White House tour requires applying ahead of time & with a form filled with ID, and possibly sponsorship by one's Congressperson... Cannot recall all the details. I applied 12 weeks ahead of time, 5 years ago. May be different now.

I highly recommend the Smithsonian Native American Museum.

[catherine]

She can't miss the Smithsonian. It's amazing. It's more than a museum. I go just for the First Ladies' exhibit and then go on to enjoy everything else about it.

She should meander around Georgetown. She should go to the Mall and enjoy all the monuments. i think there are really cool tours after dark, which might be fun with DS.

The National Zoo is fun. Rock Creek Park is nice for a stroll.

And how can you go do DC without visiting the Capitol and the White House? The National Archives are fun, and Fords Theatre would also be good, although I've never been there--even though I'm a huge Lincoln fan plus a theatre major.. go figure.

My DD went to American University and I never got tired of hanging out in DC the 4 years she was there.

[Greg44]

Wow lots of good ideas - suggestions already! She will love this - Thank you. Keep them coming!

[fidgiegirl]

I would forget Monticello if she is short on time. It is awesome, but if I remember right, it was an entire day between getting the rental car, driving there, seeing the site, etc. Mount Vernon can be visited by city bus. Perhaps if she or DS already will have the rental anyway, it might be worth it and she can get there more efficiently than we were able to do.

You can go to the top of the Washington Monument (at least we could in 2008!). SO COOL! But get up EARLY to get in line for your tickets. Worth it.

Of course, The Mall, which is all free.

The Smithsonian is many museums. I also highly recommend the Native American museum. Air & Space is pretty cool, too. We liked the Portrait Gallery a lot. American History is cool but not as big as we thought. Kermit is worth a peek, though, and he lives there :).

National Archives is cool but be prepared to wait in line.

White House will have to be gazed upon from afar, but is very easy to combine with a Mall visit.

One neat thing she could pick up is the National Parks Passport at any of the gift shops. There are tons of sites administered by National Parks Service, and she can get free ink stamps at the different sites for her passport book.

Not to be missed also - Jefferson Memorial and FDR Memorial. I believe MLK Memorial recently opened on that same side of the Tide Pool.

I personally wouldn't be sad if I missed the National Zoo. It's just a zoo in my mind, and the poor pandas were so hot . . . it was sad. Swarms of people there.

Beware the heat!! DC is hot this time of year. Lots of water!!

Oh! Arlington is easy to get to on the metro.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Actually, if I had to choose only ONE museum, it would be the Holocaust Museum. There is a fee to get in, and she should plan something low key for afterward if she goes. Very emotional and extremely moving.

Hope she has fun!!! We LOVED our trips to DC.

[Rosemary]

We went to D.C. in March; I lived in the area for many years, but this was our first trip there with DD.
We got tickets for a tour of the Capitol... not worth the time, in my opinion. They have decreased the spaces that the tours visit. It is nearly impossible, I think, to get tickets for the White House tour (unless you've planned 6 months in advance). We applied 6 weeks in advance and did not get it.

Monticello, as noted, is a 2-hour drive from D.C., and you really need a few hours to visit. And if I recall correctly, once you get there, you get a tour time based on how many people are ahead of you, so it's difficult to plan. As a UVa grad and a gardener, I really enjoyed touring Monticello, but sounds like she may not have enough time for this excursion. Personally, since it's just 3 days, I'd just use the Metro and skip the hassle and expense of a vehicle (D.C. area traffic is intense).

I have always enjoyed the American History museum, but right now about 1/3 of it is closed for renovations, including some of the more famous exhibits. Still, we spent several hours there; DD's favorite was the First Ladies exhibit. I also really enjoyed the Archives, and have heard that the Mint tour is outstanding. I'd skip the zoo, too. The Library of Congress has an exhibit of the Jefferson book collection and is worth a visit if you're on Capitol Hill.

[Tradd]

I went to DC twice in college for college journalism conferences. We went to the Smithsonian, and near the old "castle" building (the original Smithsonian building), I was amused by what I call "ornamental cabbages" in the planters where I'd have thought flowers should be. :)

[Mrs. Hermit]

Because of the earthquake last year, the Washington Monument is closed, but you can view it from outside. Second the recommendation on using the Metro instead of trying to drive: DC is a maddening maze of one way traffic clogged streets! There are SO many neat venues and museums in DC. Washington.org is an interesting site that lists a lot of information about the city and its attractions. Monticello is neat, but it does require a whole day to drive there, complete the visit, and drive back. She might enjoy the "walking tours" of DC. Many of the hotels have brochures. They sometimes cover some of the not so well known but still neat areas of DC.

Please be careful in the heat!! Washington is not only HOT, but outstandingly humid. No one wants to tour the DC hospitals, so take precautions!

[Tussiemussies]

Too bad they won't be there when the cherry blossoms are there.

You can also do a search on the Internet for the visitor's bureau there, they will have quite a lot of information and maybe some great tour ideas.

[Weston]

Not to be missed also - Jefferson Memorial and FDR Memorial. I believe MLK Memorial recently opened on that same side of the Tide Pool.






Actually the MLK memorial is on the opposite side of the the tidal pool from Jefferson and FDR. The FDR memorial is my 2nd favorite monument (after Lincoln memorial). However, the walk around the entire tidal basin is very enjoyable assuming that it is not too hot.

I spend a lot of time in D.C. (my daughter moved there about 4 years ago) Fidgiegirl has made a lot of really excellent suggestions.

I love D.C. Have fun. I hope the weather (and the power outages) cooperate.

[redfox]

The Vietnam Memorial undoes me every time I see it. I happened to be there last year on Father's Day, and it was lined with roses, and there were scores of letters to deceased fathers & sons describing how much they were missed propped up against the wall. It's a stunning, intense, very moving place.