<p>Also the East & West buildings of the National Gallery of Art, which are connected by an underground walkway.</p>
<p>Don’t forget the zoo! </p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to the National Zoo| FONZ website - National Zoo| FONZ](<a href=“http://nationalzoo.si.edu/]Welcome”>http://nationalzoo.si.edu/) </p>
<p>It really is a great zoo!</p>
<p>Always check online to see where there may be special exhibits at the Smithsonian during your stay. We saw a Jim Henson exhibit last year. It was amazing!<br>
You will want to get tickets online early for things like the Spy Museum, or movies at the Air & Space, or Natural History Museum. If you wait until the day of your visit you will be limited by the available times, or missing it altogether.</p>
<p>We went to the Spy Museum last summer and I found it cheezy, expensive for what it is (especially when comparing to the Smithsonian!), and not something I’d recommend.</p>
<p>fords lethre was just ok. Reagan is expensive to fly in to. I have flown into Dulles and Baltimore and taken the shuttle. My D goes to school there and does the same. Georgetown does not have a metro stop so you will have to take cabs, having said that cabs are easy to get. DC is a great city and I second the Mt Vernon idea.</p>
<p>Great suggestions. Two of our kids live in the DC metro area, and we’re looking forward to our annual visit next month. Excited this AM because I just read about a new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum: selections from the Steven Spielberg and George Lucas collections of Norman Rockwell paintings and illustrations. <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/arts/design/04rockwell.html?ref=arts[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/arts/design/04rockwell.html?ref=arts</a></p>
<p>There are great rates at many city hotels on weekends (the same rooms are more than twice as much on weekdays), but we’d rather spend our money on great meals when we visit, so we usually stay at a suburban hotel close to a Metro station. </p>
<p>Dittoing the posters above on the Newseum - my dh has never enjoyed a museum more. Planning to try some of the other great tips on this thread - thanks, folks! :)</p>
<p>We loved the free National Gallery Modern Sculpture Garden. There are benches to sit and enjoy a picnic lunch. It was very hot when we were there and I followed the crowd by dangling my feet in the fountain. I spent the next 2 days with a bright red rash from my ankles down!</p>
<p>[National</a> Gallery of Art - Sculpture Garden Information](<a href=“http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/sculptureinfo.shtm]National”>http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/sculptureinfo.shtm)</p>
<p>The Normal Rockwell exhibit sounds worth a trip Downtown (even for a native in the dog-days of summer! :)).</p>
<p>Here’s a direct link to the exhibit information from the Smithsonian. Thanks for sharing!!
[Exhibitions:</a> Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg / American Art](<a href=“http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2010/rockwell/]Exhibitions:”>Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg | Smithsonian American Art Museum)</p>
<p>If I were spending $20 on admission, I’d pick the Newseum > Spy Museum. But that’s just me and my family. ;)</p>
<p>Pay attention to plane fares. I just flew from National to Atlanta and it was cheaper than IAD or BWI (that is not always the case!). We are equidistant to all three so price is our decision point.</p>
<p>I second cap’s suggestion of the FDR memorial. One of my favorites. And of course the Vietnam War memorial is awe-inspiring. </p>
<p>For anyone interested in being near greatness, you can’t miss the National Archives, to see the originals of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I go to pay my respects almost every time I visit DC. If you don’t see more than a few people on the front steps, that means there’s pretty much no wait at all.</p>
<p>For anyone with access to a car, I also second an earlier suggestion of the Air and Space Annex, which is outside the District. If you like the Air and Space Museum, you can’t go wrong with the Annex. Wonderful place.</p>
<p>We usually stay in Crystal City. There’s a Marriott where you just through the underground stores to the metro. Easy, and weather resistant.</p>
<p>If you are going to DC during the cherry blossoms, take the walk around the Tidal Pool and you’ll run into the FDR Memorial as you make that circuit. It’s a good place to take a break on that walk.</p>
<p>The early AM walk I took my niece and nephew on was to Lincoln, Vietnam, Nurses’ Memorial, Korean War Memorial and WWII. This covers the area from the far end of the Mall to the Washington Monument. Took us most of the morning, but it is thematically cohesive and not too crowded early in the day.</p>
<p>[Georgetown</a> Hotels | Hotel Monticello of Georgetown | Washington DC Boutique Hotels & Lodging](<a href=“http://www.monticellohotel.com/]Georgetown”>http://www.monticellohotel.com/)</p>
<p>Here’s a hotel suggestion in Georgetown, near the metro. …Very nice ‘flavor’ — enjoyed our stay.</p>
<p>…And a wonderful seafood restaurant: <a href=“All Day Menu & Carryout | BlackSalt Restaurant”>http://www.blacksaltrestaurant.com/</a></p>
<p>Two other things…
Go see the World War II Memorial if you can…one of the best things about it is that the times that we’ve gone (we live locally), there are usually a few WWII vets there and gladly speak to you about their experiences. There are fewer and fewer of these vets left, so that living history that they share is a treasure.</p>
<p>The other thing - if you’re there at the end of March, there is the DC Kite Festival on the grounds of the Washington Monument. If the weather is good (a big “if” at the end of March - it could be beautiful or awful) it’s a fun event…seeing all the colorful kites flying around the monument is a spectacular sight.
[National</a> WWII Memorial](<a href=“http://www.wwiimemorial.com/default.asp?page=home.asp]National”>http://www.wwiimemorial.com/default.asp?page=home.asp)
[“44th</a> Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival, Sat., Mar. 27, 2010, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.”](<a href=“http://kitefestival.org/start.htm]"44th”>http://kitefestival.org/start.htm)</p>
<p>There is so much to see in DC that you and your family members should each make a list of priorities so that no one misses out on his top two or three. I strongly suggest getting the Washington Monument tickets as soon as you’ve booked your trip, and go there on your first full day. It’s a great way to get oriented, and can help you fine-tune your plans.
We liked the Foggy Bottom/GWU/DuPont Circle neighborhood for easy transportation and a great assortment of restaurants.</p>
<p>Can’t miss Arlington. It’s tough to visit, but worth it.</p>
<p>We have been there during the Cherry Blossom Festival. Absolutely beautiful.</p>
<p>In Maryland, there are hotels within one block of the Twinbrook, White Flint, and Bethesda stations on the Red Line. This is further out than Crystal City in Virginia (Yellow and Blue Lines). If you stay in Crystal City, take the Yellow Line into town at least once. The train runs above ground and offers a view of the mall as it crosses the Potomac River.</p>
<p>It’s been mentioned before, and it is worth repeating: the very best food on the Mall is at [National</a> Museum of the American Indian](<a href=“http://www.nmai.si.edu/]National”>http://www.nmai.si.edu/) I take all of my tourists over happy-meal age there. [The</a> John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts](<a href=“http://www.kennedy-center.org/]The”>http://www.kennedy-center.org/) also has an excellent restaurant and cafe on the roof. You can take in one of the free performances at the Millenium Stage at 6, and then pop upstairs to dine.</p>
<p>If you have a full carload, and fearless driver and navigator, sometimes it is less expensive to drive into town rather than take the metro. Just check for parking lots near your destinations. If you drive to the zoo, park in the lower lot off Rock Creek Parkway. That way your trip into the zoo will be uphill, and your return from the Pandas will be downhill. If you take the Metro to the zoo, remember that the Cleveland Park stop is uphill of the zoo, and Woodley Park/Zoo is downhill from the zoo. They are roughly equidistant from the zoo entrance, and there are many small restaurants near the Cleveland Park stop.</p>
<p>If possible, stay in an area where you can wander around in the evening. Staying by the Mall is convenient for tourists during the day, but there’s nothing there at night. Dupont Circle has lots of shops and restaurants, but will be pricier. </p>
<p>Don’t bother with a rental car. For the few times when you need to drive, it will end up being cheaper and less stressful to take a taxi. The one exception might be the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum at Dulles. When taking the metro, stand on the right side of the escalators so that the harried commuters can rush past on the left. 
</p>
<p>If you haven’t joined the Smithsonian (by subscribing to the magazine), do so before your trip. You get a discount at the gift shops and you get to eat at the member’s restaurant, which is usually crowded but not as much as the nonmember restaurants. </p>
<p>The Mount Vernon visitor center went through a major renovation about 4-5 years ago, and is well worth a few hours in addition to the time you’ll spend looking at the house and grounds. The restaurant there has special historical meals in the evenings that fill up rapidly; check these out and book early if your family is interested. You’ll need to take a taxi from the nearest Metro station to Mount Vernon. </p>
<p>Definitely do a night time monument tour. Check Yelp or search for reviews on the company you choose, since some are better than others. I also loved the Spy Museum and found its gift shop very entertaining. </p>
<p>You can eat very well in DC. Look at chowhound and yelp for suggestions, depending on your family’s preferences. When I took D1 on her first trip when she was in 8th grade, she really enjoyed going out for Ethiopian food in the Adams-Morgan area and browsing the aisles of Dean and Delucca in Georgetown.</p>