Traveling to D.C., looking for some advice

[dhoge]

The family and I, are planning a trip to D.C.. We will actually be hitting some other spots on out east coast tour, but D.C. Is the first stop. Looking for some advice on what to do for 2 possibly 3 days we are there. I know there is plenty to do, just trying to get some must see stuff. 6 of us, 4 kids range in age from 8-10.
Also, we are traveling in a large suv with a 6 bike rack or possibly a small trailer. So my problem is where to park. I have thought about, staying outside the city and taking the train in. Maybe renting a small storage unit to put the bikes in? Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks, Derek

 

[kh54s10]

I've driven through DC twice. From the south if you are not watching you get exited off the highway right into the capitol district. Right outside that the neighborhoods are very seedy. I would not park with anything that can be stolen ANYWHERE in the area.

There is plenty to see in the mall area.

I suggest finding somewhere in the suburbs to stay and go in for the day.

Try to see the history and ignore the corrupt government that is in the area!

 

[chewse]

If you find yourself on a bike riding along the Capital Riverfront area, stop by the Blue Jacket Brewpub. This is one of the finest brewpub that I have ever been to.

http://www.bluejacketdc.com/

 

[DrunkleJon]

It is a very nice/pretty trip down the George Washington Parkway (just along the river in VA, just outside DC) down to Mount Vernon. Bike trails you can ride and enjoy the weather, though it does get rather humid around here, though compared to Florida, well, nevermind.

The museums are nice. The NW is the nicer part of DC, SW is an up and coming area (Nats Stadium, etc), I tend to avoid the East side entirely as it can be touchy. The downtown areas tend to be most tourist friendly. Take your bikes for a ride around DC, it is rather bicycle friendly, though not all bicyclists are friendly. Bring a lock and chain.

Hill Country BBQ is great food, and has live music in the bar downstairs. I hear that the Board Room boardroomdc.com is fun, think of it as a pub with monopoly and other board games like mousetrap.

Family stuff, is the touristy stuff in my head. The Mall, Segue tours, museums, experience the joys and smells of the metro, heckle the congressmen as they head to work, etc. There are some goof brewpubs in the area too, though all depends on where you are staying and how far you are willing to travel.

 

[autobaun70]

Do not miss the holocaust museum. Get timed entry passes a couple of months in advance. It is slightly graphic, but presented in a way that even kids can learn from the experience. I would personally go from there to the museum of natural history. It is a mellow museum to visit, an you will need that after leaving the holocaust museum.

I typically stay outside the city toward the end if a metro line. I you are there on the weekend this makes it easy to get in and out of town.

My favorite part about DC is you can tour year after year, for almost free, and always take in new experiences. You can eat fairly cheap, or as nice as you wish. Growing up I toured the city with my uncle via bike on many occasions, very good memories. Regardless of your political leanings, the administration at the time, DC is a good time.


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[novahokie09]

If you stay outside of DC, consider staying in Crystal City for easy metro access into DC. I would avoid the Red/Orange line like the plague. If you do go Orange line, you can stay in Fairfax, Vienna for the Nutley Street stops, it's the last stop west on the Orange line. Either way, limit metro rides to the weekdays because there's too many delays on the weekends with maintenance and limited train stops. You'd honestly be better off driving in town and parking than riding the metro on the weekend, especially considering having to buy separate tickets for you, your wife and kids.

Spend a night in Old Town Alexandria on King St. It's beautiful at night, and you guys can walk the waterfront. Several great bars, restaurants and shops on King St as well.

You should drive the George Washington Parkway for the view. The Teddy Roosevelt Memorial is off the GW Parkway too, and it has a nice hiking trail with several planes flying over every 5 minutes or so. Your kids will probably enjoy that, and it's not typically crowded.

Blue Jacket is a nice bar with great ambiance with really interesting/good beer, but crappy food, at least the last time I went. It's close to Nationals Park, so you can stop there before catching a Nat's game. If you go early enough to the game, you can get tickets for less than $10 if you don't care where you sit.

I'd probably site-see in Northwest DC outside of the general touristy sites on the National Mall/Chinatown area. You can walk around Georgetown in NW DC and up to the National Cathedral (not sure if it's open now). Also, 2 Amy's is a good pizza joint in that area with a good beer/wine selection.

Anyway, feel free to message me with any questions.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I tend to avoid the touristy areas (monuments, the Mall, etc) like the plague, but most of the museums are worth seeing. There's some private ones out there that are worth seeing, but sometimes have an entry fee. The Smithsonian ones are absolutely worth seeing (especially Air and Space and Natural History) and are free, but can get VERY crowded during high tourist traffic times (most of the summer) so be prepared for it. I also avoid Crystal City like the plague, however it's definitely good for metro and there's lot of hotels there (the neighborhood is basically an underground chain store mall, a bunch of hotels, and a whole bunch of DOD contractor office buildings).

As far as beer, I haven't been to BlueJacket yet but have been meaning to. Across the river in Falls Church there's Mad Fox Brewing Company that makes some AMAZING beers, although food is usually on the "miss" side of hit-or-miss. There's Franklin's over in Maryland. There's a few other chain brewpubs around (Hops, Gordon Biersch) that are kind of meh. Sweetwater Tavern in Sterling or Fairfax VA makes some passable to sometimes really good beer, but really good food. Good beer selections at a LOT of places in DC, due to grey-market being legal. But you'll usually get the rarest stuff at a major premium. Pizzeria Paradiso has locations in DC and in VA, and they have a good beer selection. ChurchKey in DC has a phenomenal selection, but the prices are high. Rustico has two locations in VA, and is also on the pricy side, but the food is really good and so is the beer selection. Bilbo Baggins in Alexandria has a great selection, but the food is way overpriced. Other decent beer bars are RFD near the Verizon Center/Chinatown, Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan, Meridian Pint in Columbia Heights, and there's definitely more I can't think of off the top of my head.

Cheapish streetfood style stuff:
District Taco, either downtown or in Arlington. Not much as far as beer, but the best Mexican food in the area.
Rocklands BBQ in Arlington or Alexandria. Decent beer selection, and some great BBQ.
Döner Bistro in Adams Morgan or Leesburg VA has both some great schnitzel and döner, but also has a good German beer selection.
Nando's Peri Peri does some fantastic South African chicken, with a few locations around (Arlington, Alexandria, DC, and I think a few in MD). A pretty big chain in other parts of the world, but as far as I know the DC area has the only locations in the US.
Eamonns' Dublin Chipper, either Arlington or Old Town Alexandria (the Old Town location is far superb). Best fish n chips I've had since I left the UK.

Midrange stuff:
I haven't been in a long time but Domku up in Petworth had some really good Russian/Scandinavian food, and beers to match.
Pines of Rome in Bethesda makes some decent Italian food (their white pizza and veal marsala are delicious), but their beer selection is awful.
Dogfish Head Alehouses (two in VA, one in MD). If you like their beer, check em out. They're not very consistent with food quality though.

High end stuff:
Zaytinya near Chinatown makes some of the best Mediterranean food I've ever had.
Birch and Barley on 14th st NW (sister restaurant to ChurchKey)
Brasserie Beck (great Belgian-oriented beer selection too)

+1 on driving the GW parkway. But also drive the Rock Creek Parkway. You could also head to either side of the river and go to Great Falls. It's a really cool waterfall, and a pretty drive to get out there. Skyline Drive out in the mountains to the west is a nice drive too (albeit a 1.5-2 hour drive).

 

[dhoge]

Wow guys, that is great info. Got in touch with a cousin that lives in Alexandria. She has said wet can stay at her house 20 min outside city. From there we will take the metro in. Looks like it will be midweek for s couple days. The nice thing about this trip is that we really don't have a schedule, we can stay as little or as long as we like.
Derek

 

[Crucial-BBQ]

I live just above DC, in Murl'in.

The obvious thing to do would be to check any one of the Smithsonian museums. They are free, your tax dollars pay for them, so you might as well take advantage of that. The Air & Space Museum is a must see, in my opinion. The Natural History Museum is also a must see, in particular if you want to check out the Hope Diamond. The U.S. Botanical Garden, which is not a part of the Smithsonian, is also free and worth checking out. It is right next to the American Indian Museum (Smithsonian). The National Archives is also free and usually has a cool, changing, main exhibit. I was there a few months ago when the Magna Carta was displayed. I found it interesting that a document that was written some 500 years or so before the Declaration of Independence is in a heckuvalot better condition.

There is the Newseum and Spy Museum, both are around $20 per perscaccon. The Spy Museum is worth it.

You can always find free parking around the National Mall, but you might have to "circle the block" a few times. People come-and-go all day long but not sure if you will find a spot big enough for an SUV and a trailer. You can possibly find a place to park at a Metro, MARC/Amtrak station, but I dunno. Getting a storage space is probably your best bet.

You may or may not be able to park in the Congress/Senate "parking lot" for free on the weekends. I've done it all day long and never received a ticket as well as others but I've also heard it is a no-no without a permit. If you find a spot, keep it. I personally would try to walk/Metro around town as much as possible as the farther you get from the National Mall the more parking becomes a PITA.

Everything else I know about DC has to do with nightlife.

As you may or may not know DC is expensive, even in non-toursity parts.

I have never been to the Holocaust Museum but from what I hear it is worth it...and sad.

The U.S. Marines Museum in Quantico is also worth checking out, in my opinion.

The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis is worth checking out if you are over that way.

If you are going up the East Coast you might want to stop at the NSA (about halfway between DC and Baltimore) and check out their Cryptological Museum. It's really cool.

The National Zoo is...I dunno. The only time I have been there was at a time when they first opened for the season. Not much was going on and many of the animals must have still been in hibernation.

The National Aquarium is in Baltimore/Inner Harbor. It is worth checking out. The B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore is also worth checking out. You can also do a self-guided "The Wire" tour: just drive around east of Johns Hopkins Medical Center. You can check out the Union and Clipper City/Heavy Seas breweries. Or Brewer's Art or Maxx's Tap House.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I live just above DC, in Murl'in.

The obvious thing to do would be to check any one of the Smithsonian museums. They are free, your tax dollars pay for them, so you might as well take advantage of that. The Air & Space Museum is a must see, in my opinion. The Natural History Museum is also a must see, in particular if you want to check out the Hope Diamond. The U.S. Botanical Garden, which is not a part of the Smithsonian, is also free and worth checking out. It is right next to the American Indian Museum (Smithsonian). The National Archives is also free and usually has a cool, changing, main exhibit. I was there a few months ago when the Magna Carta was displayed. I found it interesting that a document that was written some 500 years or so before the Declaration of Independence is in a heckuvalot better condition.

There is the Newseum and Spy Museum, both are around $20 per perscaccon. The Spy Museum is worth it.

You can always find free parking around the National Mall, but you might have to "circle the block" a few times. People come-and-go all day long but not sure if you will find a spot big enough for an SUV and a trailer. You can possibly find a place to park at a Metro, MARC/Amtrak station, but I dunno. Getting a storage space is probably your best bet.

You may or may not be able to park in the Congress/Senate "parking lot" for free on the weekends. I've done it all day long and never received a ticket as well as others but I've also heard it is a no-no without a permit. If you find a spot, keep it. I personally would try to walk/Metro around town as much as possible as the farther you get from the National Mall the more parking becomes a PITA.

Everything else I know about DC has to do with nightlife.

As you may or may not know DC is expensive, even in non-toursity parts.

I have never been to the Holocaust Museum but from what I hear it is worth it...and sad.

The U.S. Marines Museum in Quantico is also worth checking out, in my opinion.

The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis is worth checking out if you are over that way.

If you are going up the East Coast you might want to stop at the NSA (about halfway between DC and Baltimore) and check out their Cryptological Museum. It's really cool.

The National Zoo is...I dunno. The only time I have been there was at a time when they first opened for the season. Not much was going on and many of the animals must have still been in hibernation.

The National Aquarium is in Baltimore/Inner Harbor. It is worth checking out. The B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore is also worth checking out. You can also do a self-guided "The Wire" tour: just drive around east of Johns Hopkins Medical Center. You can check out the Union and Clipper City/Heavy Seas breweries. Or Brewer's Art or Maxx's Tap House.

I have to totally disagree about the Spy Museum. I was furious after paying for that. If it was free, I wouldn't have cared as much, but I don't recommend it. Just my personal opinion. Others (obviously) do recommend it, so do what you will.