Vacation idea : Washington D.C.

[LoneStarGirl]

GoldenEagle and I were planning on going on a week long trip this summer. We had looked at numerous places, DisneyLand, DisneyWorld, St. Louis (he's a huge cardinals fan) and Washington D.C.

We finally decided on going to Washington D.C. during the last week of July. None of our family has ever been there so we were hoping for any advice or touristy places we should visit. We are starting to do research ourselves but some of y'all helped us a lot with our NYC trip last summer and told us places we never would have found online.

Thanks for any help

[Noop]

Take a trip to Georgetown and check out the school(I kid) but Washington D.C. a lot of little places to eat.

[Tasan]

I was there in October. A week is just about right to see all the main sites. Bring good shoes and buy a week long subway pass. I'll dig out some places we ate at and post them later.

[panerd]

I think I may have offered the same advice last year but you made a good decision not to go to St. Louis for a week. What could you possibly do as a tourist in this city for more than one day? Go up in the arch and watch a baseball game. And believe me the trip up the arch is not exciting at all. Similar outcomes could be made going to the tops of large buildings in major cities and looking out. Plus there is at least something to look at there, not rapid urban decay. There is also no local flavor at all so all of St Louis’ “hotspots” could be found in just about any metropolitan area in the country.

(This views of this message are not those of the St. Louis tourism board)

[Flasch186]

drink lots of water....hotter than hell.

[SackAttack]

Avoid Greyditch.

The fire ants there are death.

[Toddzilla]

Stay away from Burke...nothing but right-wing wackos and DFHs.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Avoid Greyditch.The fire ants there are death.

+1

[JPhillips]

Don't worry about the Washington Monument. Go up the old Post Office tower instead. Roughly the same view with far less wait.

The Duck Tours are a little cheesy, but surprisingly fun. My Mom really wanted to take that tour against my objections, and I'm glad she won out.

If you have a car and go to a Metro lot know that you need a plastic fare card to get out of the parking lot.

If you want a close, but out of the city experience I loved Potomac Falls park. You'll have to have a car for that.

The new Air and Space is cool, but hard to get to. If you don't have a car I'd suggest a cab.

If you're on Capital Hill, there aren't very many places to eat. Tortilla Coast is close by if you like Tex/Mex.

Don't take the free personality test.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

D.C. in July? Yikes. Buy a few Shamwows to deal with the copious amounts of perspiration.

Oh, and a definite +1 to getting a subway pass. Driving anywhere in D.C. is a horrible idea, especially in the summer.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

The Duck Tours are a little cheesy, but surprisingly fun. My Mom really wanted to take that tour against my objections, and I'm glad she won out.

My wife & son also gave that high marks, was probably in his top three things from a couple of days in DC and I imagine my wife would put it in her top 3-5 too.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

The new Air and Space is cool, but hard to get to. If you don't have a car I'd suggest a cab.

It's actually pretty easy to get to via the Metro. You just take it to Dulles International and then hop on a bus to go to the museum.

National Air and Space Museum - Transportation - Public Transportation

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Noop

Take a trip to Georgetown and check out the school(I kid) but Washington D.C. a lot of little places to eat.

Georgetown is actually a pretty cool campus. If you go, look for the "Exorcist Stairs."

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Georgetown is actually a pretty cool campus. If you go, look for the "Exorcist Stairs."

My wife refused to walk on that side of the street when we passed that location. I mentioned that the actual case didn't even happen in Georgetown, but it didn't matter. I think she watched that movie when she was very young and it scared her pretty badly.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

For a for-profit museum, the Newseum was pretty cool if you're into history and journalism.

http://www.newseum.com/

Liked it much better than the Spy Museum (which is also for-profit). The National Gallery has a lot of nice pieces (including Dali's stunning "Last Supper").

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

D.C. in July? Yikes. Buy a few Shamwows to deal with the copious amounts of perspiration.

Oh, and a definite +1 to getting a subway pass. Driving anywhere in D.C. is a horrible idea, especially in the summer.

Here's the single best piece of advice you will get in this thread (except maybe from lordscarlet who might know some super ninja stuff that none of us can touch): stay at a hotel within walking distance or with a shuttle to a Metro stop. It doesn't have to be deep in the city or anything like that- just near a Metro stop.

Pretty much everything you want to see in DC is within walking distance from a Metro stop, which is to say about a half mile or less. For instance, there's a Metro stop right on the middle of the National Mall so any monuments or museums are close by. Heck, there are about 5 stations near the Mall. Want to go to a Nats game? Navy Yard Metro stop. The Zoo? Metro stop. Arlington Cemetary has its own Metro stop. It's one of the best mass transit systems of anywhere in the world and you won't have to fight traffic or find parking in the tourist-y areas.

Plus, the beauty of it is that you don't have to stay deep in the city, either in sketchy locations or really expensive ones. When we drive up from Richmond, we usually stay in Springfield. Last time we went, got a good deal on a 3.5 star hotel for $75 a night in Dunn Loring with a shuttle to the Metro. The only difference is that it takes about 45 minutes to get into the heart of the city instead of 30.

The Metro will be busy during rush hour but if you're anything like us when we visit, we're not looking to hit the ground running at 8am on vacation. You can do that, it will be busier, tho. But if you wait until after 9:30, fares are reduced and traffic is pretty much gone. They have two sets of rates: the "regular rates" runs until 9:30 in the morning and also 3-7 but the rest of the day, you typically save a buck (and that rate is from when you get on the Metro, so if you get on at 9:29, you're paying full rate even if you get off at 10:15).

Many of the further out Metro stops have Park-and-Ride. During the week, it's $4, iirc. Weekends are free. If you don't have a hotel that has a shuttle to the Metro, that's your other option.

Pretty much everything can be found on the wmata.com website- just look at the rail stuff. When you're planning places to visit, just check out their website or Google map and see what's the closest Metro stop.

Oh, and a couple of notes for the stuff you have to reserve in advance:

Washington monument- If you go to the park service website for the monument, you can pay something like $2 and get advance tickets. But those sell out a month or two ahead of time so if you know what days you want to do that, get them now.

White House- You have to schedule 4-6 months in advance, otherwise, you're not getting in for the tour. We tried to get in 3 months in advance of late March/early April- no luck. You are probably out of luck this late in the ballgame.

Capitol building- Email your congressperson and you can get tickets a couple of weeks in advance most times of the year. Offpeak times, you can just walk up- but summer times are peak times so I wouldn't chance it. Again, might as well get those now if you know what days you want. This is going to depend on how well your congressperson responds.

[Dr. Sak]

Just my 2 cents...I took a tour of both the White House and Capitol last year...the Capitol was WAY more interesting.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It's actually pretty easy to get to via the Metro. You just take it to Dulles International and then hop on a bus to go to the museum.

National Air and Space Museum - Transportation - Public Transportation

There's no Metro out to Dulles- it's the one place that you can't get to. It's in the works but it's going to be a while. There's a line being built past Tyson's Corner, ETA 2013. And then that one will extend to Dulles but that won't be until late next decade.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Avoid Greyditch.

The fire ants there are death.

It's that damn Dr Lesko's fault!

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Don't take the free personality test.

I haven't seen this yet, so I'll bite. What's the "free personality test". It sounds like some euphemism that will end up with you getting mugged.

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

There's no Metro out to Dulles- it's the one place that you can't get to. It's in the works but it's going to be a while. There's a line being built past Tyson's Corner, ETA 2013. And then that one will extend to Dulles but that won't be until late next decade.

SI

I guess I should have clarified. The bus system is called MetroBus. That's technically part of the Metro system, although it's not a train line. I know that most locals don't consider the bus line part of the Metro. It's a good clarification.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I haven't seen this yet, so I'll bite. What's the "free personality test". It sounds like some euphemism that will end up with you getting mugged.

SI

Scientologists.

[Tasan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

There's no Metro out to Dulles- it's the one place that you can't get to. It's in the works but it's going to be a while. There's a line being built past Tyson's Corner, ETA 2013. And then that one will extend to Dulles but that won't be until late next decade.

SI

There's a bus to Dulles that you take, then transfer at Dulles to a special shuttle. I did it in October. It takes about an hour or so, but the museum there is awesome. Cost was 3 bucks a person, I think.

[grdawg]

Looking for some help as I don't know DC too well. We are going to visit some friends in Baltimore next weekend and are planning on spending a Monday day/night in DC. We are deciding b/w 2 Embassy Suites hotels in DC, one is near the convention center, the other is around Dupont Circle. Which is a better location in terms of seeing as much as possible? We will have an 18 month old with us so we'd prefer being able to walk to things more so then taking metro.

Thanks for any help.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by grdawg

Looking for some help as I don't know DC too well. We are going to visit some friends in Baltimore next weekend and are planning on spending a Monday day/night in DC. We are deciding b/w 2 Embassy Suites hotels in DC, one is near the convention center, the other is around Dupont Circle. Which is a better location in terms of seeing as much as possible? We will have an 18 month old with us so we'd prefer being able to walk to things more so then taking metro.

Thanks for any help.

TRUST ME. You want to take the Metro. You can roll the stroller right onto the train quickly and easily. We had a 18 month old in a stroller when we went out there for 3 days last year. We used the Metro for everything and got to see a ton of places.

[JPhillips]

I'd stay in Dupont. It's a better area and the Metro is very close.

And it's only a few blocks from my previous family doctor.

edit: What MBBF said. Neither hotel location is convenient to most of the site seeing.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

MBBF is totally right, but betwen the convention center and dupont, the convention center is much closer to the main attractions downtown but (IIRC) is in a worse part of town.

[chesapeake]

You may still have a shot at White House tickets. It is best (and probably easiest) to go through your Senators or House Member. Their websites will have details about the process.

The Capitol Visitor Center just opened up this year. I wandered around there just a couple of weeks ago to check it out, and it is pretty cool. Of course, for $600+ million it should be. You can get a free tour of the Capitol from there. I imagine it will be busy that time of year, so earlier is always better. You should also check with your House member/Senator for passes to get into the galleries to watch the floor debates. Both Houses will be in for the entire month after returning from the July 4th recess. Your best chance at getting a modestly interesting bill on the floor, at least in the House, would be Wednesday, Thursday or Friday morning.

If you like planes and spacecraft, the Udvar-Hazy Center (aka the new Air and Space Museum) out by Dulles is incredible. But as others have noted, it is a major pain to get there. They have lots of parking. You can take a Metro train/bus combo to get there. The metro website has a decent trip planner to help you figure out how to do it.

I think Tasan is talking about the Washington Flyer.

With all due respect to JPhillips, Tortilla Coast gets a big thumbs down from me. It aspires to one day reach "meh." La Lomita at 3rd and Penn SE -- next to one of the Library of Congress Buildings -- has much better food. I strongly recommend the fajitas.

If you are on the Senate side and want a pint and some decent Irish food, the Dubliner by Union Station is good. That is where my wife and I met.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs2

MBBF is totally right, but betwen the convention center and dupont, the convention center is much closer to the main attractions downtown but (IIRC) is in a worse part of town.

There is nothing at all wrong with the part of town where that new Embassy Suites is, so I wouldn't be too worried about that. They're both pretty good locations and within a few blocks of the Metro. I'd go with whichever is cheaper.

[chesapeake]

BTW, most Metro stations have elevators. I have a toddler, and we use them a lot. It is very easy to get around with a stroller.

[Subby]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It's actually pretty easy to get to via the Metro. You just take it to Dulles International and then hop on a bus to go to the museum.

National Air and Space Museum - Transportation - Public Transportation

lol

GREAT ADVICE, CHAMP!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Subby

lol

GREAT ADVICE, CHAMP!

What? You going to suggest that they should run there instead?

[Subby]

If you can swing it, I would definitely stay in Dupont. It is a beautiful neighborhood, there is great food and there are several accessible metro entrances.

I would echo about not driving in downtown DC - it's a nightmare to find parking. However - if you want to venture out into some of the beautiful Northwest neighborhoods, Embassy Row, Georgetown (or to the outer suburbs to go to places like Udvar-Hazy or Great Falls Park) then it wouldn't be a terrible idea to rent a car for the day.

[Subby]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

What? You going to suggest that they should run there instead?

Well it will get them there faster than taking the metro.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Subby

Well it will get them there faster than taking the metro.

You're a mighty fast runner. Downtown to Dulles in less than an hour? Impressive.

[Subby]

Maybe this is semantics, but when DC folks say metro, they mean rail. Metro does not extend to Dulles airport.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Subby

Maybe this is semantics, but when DC folks say metro, they mean rail. Metro does not extend to Dulles airport.

Yes, and I clarified that point earlier in the thread as I lived in the area for a couple of years and realize the discrepancy between the technical definition and the local definition after sterlingice pointed that out.

[lordscarlet]

I'm the resident DC snob, so any specific questions let me know. As someone (too lazy to look back, I think SI) said, stay somewhere metro accessible. Being the DC snob I am, I would say stay inside the city, but you can certainly stay in MD or VA. Just check out how long it will take to get to the mall on wmata.com.

As for museums, there are actually a few great threads on FOFC about that. I will try to take a look around for you, but I think one of them is from when Tasan went.

The Holocaust museum is another place that you need to get tickets in advance but is worth it. I also hear (unfortunately I haven't been) that the Native American Museum is fantastic.

As someone alluded to above, I would definitely suggest you spend a day (if you're staying for a week) just visiting some of the DC neighborhoods. There is a large variety of architecture and neighborhoods inside the city. Many of them are metro accessible, all of them are metrobus accessible. Even the famed Georgetown (which, from a "I'm not a snobby DC person" snob, is overrated. It's where the snobby people live and have fancy clothing stores) is only metrobus accessible (wouldn't want to make it too easy for the poor people to get there).

Anyway, I'm rambling. You'll probably spend at least two days just doing smithsonian museums if you want to go to more than 2. Depending on your tastes you'll also want to hit Iwo Jima and Arlington Cemetary. Then it starts to depend on what you're looking for. There's the zoo, there are night spots, the neighborhoods I mentioned, civil war stuff out in Manassas (about a 30-45 min drive from downtown DC when it's not rush hour). There's a ton of stuff. I have also heard good things about the duck tours.

Oh, and "Last week of July"is not entirely specific, but the Nationals are on the road July 27 - August 3 .

Make sure you go to Ben's Chili Bowl. The lines are longer since Obama went a few times, but it is one of the only true places that locals love and tourists hear about.

[LoneStarGirl]

Originally Posted by panerd

I think I may have offered the same advice last year but you made a good decision not to go to St. Louis for a week. What could you possibly do as a tourist in this city for more than one day? Go up in the arch and watch a baseball game. And believe me the trip up the arch is not exciting at all. Similar outcomes could be made going to the tops of large buildings in major cities and looking out. Plus there is at least something to look at there, not rapid urban decay. There is also no local flavor at all so all of St Louis’ “hotspots” could be found in just about any metropolitan area in the country.

(This views of this message are not those of the St. Louis tourism board)

goldeneagle is a HUGE St. Louis fan because his family went on vacation there often when he was a child. In fact I think that is the only place his family ever went to on vacation and since I have never been he wants to show off some of his good memories to me. I just want to go to watch a Cards game!

[LoneStarGirl]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

D.C. in July? Yikes. Buy a few Shamwows to deal with the copious amounts of perspiration.

Oh, and a definite +1 to getting a subway pass. Driving anywhere in D.C. is a horrible idea, especially in the summer.

okay... really? What is this about perspiration. Is July/August a bad time for D.C.? It is still early in the trip planning stage for us to go somewhere else. But D.C. just seemed like a great place.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

It's muggy.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by LoneStarGirl

okay... really? What is this about perspiration. Is July/August a bad time for D.C.? It is still early in the trip planning stage for us to go somewhere else. But D.C. just seemed like a great place.

D.C. gets pretty humid. It partially depends on what you're used to -- the whole east coast gets pretty humid, really. The mid-atlantic at least.

weather.com seems to only graph temp and not humidity:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/events/weddings/wxclimatology/compare/20005?sfld1=Washington,%20DC%20(20005)&sfld2=Little%20Rock,%20AR,%20US&clocid1=USDC0001&clocid2=USAR0336

here we go:

Washington Relative Humidity - CityRating.com
Little Rock Relative Humidity - CityRating.com

so according to those two sites, Little Rock and DC have the same humidity and DC is slightly hotter.

[LoneStarGirl]

Guys, thank for all of the advice. We were looking at stayin at the Washington Plaza Hotel, and we moved the trip up to July 15th - 19th because not only are the Cubs in town but there is a DC United Game the 18th as well. I am afraid that the 15th-19th is not enough days to really enjoy DC though, especially if two days are spent watching sports!

[LoneStarGirl]

Wow that is a great site lordscarlet....I am originally from Houston, TX so I know humidity, so since DC is comparable to Little Rock it shouldn't be a problem.

When we went to NYC in july last year we were shocked at how sweaty we got so quickly. I was very surprised to find such high humidity in the northeast.

[lordscarlet]

That is a stone's throw from my house.

Both games are easily accessible via metro. I'm not sure what time United games are, but assuming the Nationals game is a 7:00 one, if you don't care about getting there for BP or anything, you don't have to leave the mall until 6:15 or so.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by LoneStarGirl

Wow that is a great site lordscarlet....I am originally from Houston, TX so I know humidity, so since DC is comparable to Little Rock it shouldn't be a problem.

When we went to NYC in july last year we were shocked at how sweaty we got so quickly. I was very surprised to find such high humidity in the northeast.

It's probably like NYC only hotter. And because it's a city, there's very little shade, particularly on the mall.

[JPhillips]

I forgot to mention the Korean War monument. It's a little hidden, but IMO it's one of the best sites in DC.

[lordscarlet]

If you go to the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Memorial the Korean one is basically between the two.

FDR is also very good, and off the beaten path.

[sterlingice]

Heck, I haven't been here over a summer yet but I can guarantee someone from Houston will be just fine with DC

Woo! Road trip! FOFC meeting to crash the Cubs-Nats game that week!

Btw, LS, I'll be up (actually down) for the Nats-Pads game on the 26th with my wife and a friend of mine as part of our summer baseball trip so I might bump into you there.

SI

[grdawg]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

There is nothing at all wrong with the part of town where that new Embassy Suites is, so I wouldn't be too worried about that. They're both pretty good locations and within a few blocks of the Metro. I'd go with whichever is cheaper.

Thanks for the info, the one in Dupont was slightly cheaper so I went with that one. Since we only have one day/night there, are there any things that you all would recommend more so then others. The last time I was in DC was 17 years ago, when I was 17 and my wife has never been so probably want to hit the main sites that we can do pretty quickly. Of course my wife and I did the Louvre in like 2 hours so we can be pretty quick.