<p>I have heard Mount Vernon is wonderful. I didn’t know if that was close to the OP or not.</p>
<p>Another monument that is “fairly new” and may not have been there when the OP visited before is the FDR monument.</p>
<p>The Library of Congress is also beautiful and not one that many get to. </p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>The FDR is a great monument, however from a walking distance, that one is really out there in relationship to the other monuments. It is past the Lincoln.</p>
<p>It is def. worth visiting, and one of the ones you just like to go to for the strolling purpose.</p>
<p>Agree, BandP. We saw it on the Monuments at Night tour. H and I have done this both times we visited, and we really enjoy it. So beautiful, and not too hard on the walking.</p>
<p>Found the crab bomb restaurant through a google search. Jerry’s Seafood in Lanham, MD. The crab bomb is over 30 bucks, but well worth it.</p>
<p>Both the Spy Museum and the National Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum are in a neighborhood called Penn Quarter (Gallery Place/Verizon Center metro stop) which is just brimming with great restaurants. It’s the most hopping neighborhood right now, but the restaurants aren’t cheap, and aren’t always kid friendly (although I dragged my kids to an Irish bar called Fado, across from the Spy museum and they loved it - rowdy soccer crowd, good food, and all). Jaleo’s is a great Tapas restaurant, but usually has a wait.</p>
<p>On the mall, the best food is at the Indian Art Museum or at the National Gallery. The Indian Art museum serves native food from the Western Hemisphere- salmon, potatoes, blueberries, etc., that are well made. The National Gallery has an underground cafeteria with a waterfall above that you can watch. It’s between the old building and the East wing and can be accessed from either. It has a really good espresso and gelato bar too. The other museum food on the mall ranges from OK to blech. For example, the food service in Air and Space is run by McDonald’s and Boston Market.</p>
<p>Georgetown, Adams Market, and Dupont Circle all have great restaurants. The U street corridor is quite up and coming and has Ben’s Chili Bowl and others. Arlington and Alexandria are great too. </p>
<p>If you’re in McClean and the weather is fine, you may want to check out Great Falls National Park. The Virginia side has the remains of a canal that was run by George Washington. The C & O canal is on the Maryland side. Both sides have extensive walking trails and great scenery.</p>
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<p>That’s by Rubens and it’s in the National Gallery, which has an extraordinary collection.</p>
<p>If you go to the Spy Museum and want a slightly upscale meal, diagonally across from it is one of the best lunches I’ve ever had. [url=<a href=“http://www.zaytinya.com/index.php/about]About”>http://www.zaytinya.com/index.php/about]About</a> Zaytinya — innovative Turkish, Greek and Lebanese cuisine in Washington, DC<a href=“small%20plates,%20Mediterranean”>/url</a></p>
<p>I love the cafeteria between the east and west gallery. And it is so relaxing to watch the waterfall. You can enjoy a quick but delicious bite and still have time to enjoy a good part of the museums on your short stay.</p>
<p>Yes, the National Gallery is indeed extraordinary. And there are different exhibits that come through, so you just might get lucky and catch a good traveling exhibit!</p>
<p>One thing to realize is that on weekends the Metro will occasionally shut down lines for repairs. We went in a couple of weeks ago without going on line to see if they were doing repairs, only to live through the most painful commute in, because we had to get off the orange, onto the blue, than onto the yellow.</p>
<p>Also some people are extremely afraid of heights, and there are a couple of Metro stations which are so steep it would make rollercoasters seem like dips. Green line has one, but I can’t remember which stop it is, but can tell you it is the stop by Chinatown. There are actually 2 stops there. I am sure somebody can tell you which of the two stops it is. I am not afraid of heights, but when I have to get on that escalator I can feel my heart race and I spend the whole time with my eyes straight forward so I don’t see the height.</p>
<p>Do not take your car into the city, take the metro from McLean. Last visit we parked on the street by the HUD bldg and had our car towed away by the city and they lost it. The city gave us a bum location where it was moved to (we asked them twice if they were sure about where they were sending us) and sent us on a wild goose chase retrieving it, we spent half the night on the metro, walking, riding in police car, no taxi–the taxis wouldn’t go there! After running around half of DC it turned out the car had been towed a half block from where we originally parked it…it had a $100 ticket on it too when we finally got to it.</p>
<p>OUCH!</p>
<p>The other reason not to drive in DC is because if you are unfamiliar and are going to live off of a gps system, you can get lost that way too, since the way roads merge around here. </p>
<p>For example, you can have 3 exits within 1/2 of a mile so when the gps lady says to you exit in 1/4 of a mile you will be going ballistic at her asking which one? Worse yet, 66 and 495 have major road construction right now, so it is literally a parking lot anytime of the day, plus if you don’t understand the inner and outer loop or HOV’s you will be very frustrated.</p>
<p>I am sure that your hotel has a shuttle service to the Metro…TAKE THAT and call it a day with the car.</p>
<p>I would also say depending on how long you are here for maybe you should look up the Kennedy Center and see if any great plays or performing.</p>
<p>If you don’t go onto the <a href=“http://www.washingtonian.com%5B/url%5D”>www.washingtonian.com</a> site, go onto <a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com%5B/url%5D”>www.washingtonpost.com</a>, the Friday prior to visiting because they will have in their life style section things happening around town, such as street fairs or free concerts. Too bad you weren’t here earlier this yr, WOlf Trap does movies in the park series with orchestras playing the sound track…my geeky hubby dragged our DS to the Lord of the Rings with the national orchestra. Wolf Trap announced that out of all their shows (including main line concert performers…big ticket names) that was the one show they sold out for with 25K people.</p>
<p>I forgot another chain that is in the Fairfax/Herndon/Arlington area is Red, Hot and Blue. It is southern bbq. <a href=“http://www.redhotandblue.com/virginia/menus/fairfax_menu.pdf[/url]”>http://www.redhotandblue.com/virginia/menus/fairfax_menu.pdf</a> I believe the Herndon one would be on your way if you decide to go to the Air Space Museum out by Dulles. You will need to drive.</p>
<p>ALSO, if you are coming from a state that has an easy pass and going out that way, take it with you because the Dulles Road is the only toll road I know in NoVA. It accepts easy pass.</p>
<p>The Sculpture Park is also a nice place to relax to rest your feet. I believe it’s by the National Archives.</p>
<p>I’m enjoying reading all your helpful ideas!</p>
<p>I’m using them to put together an itinerary. </p>
<p>We’ve reserved a car, but I’m now wondering if we could do without one and just use public. ???</p>
<p>Where are you flying into? Does the hotel have shuttle service and how frequent?</p>
<p>Overall, if the hotel has shuttle service than don’t get a car it is just going to collect dust in a parking lot. </p>
<p>McLean is a funky situation, because really it is a suburban community it is not city at all. McLean is where most of the Real Housewives of DC (Bravo) live, along with Cheney, and Powell. It is a town filled with McMansions. If you said you were staying in Old Town, I would say don’t take the car because that is more city and the Metro has a stop there. </p>
<p>It really is about the hotel and their shuttle service before anyone could say ditch the car rental.</p>
<p>Also realize that certain metro stops close early and you are way out there. I don’t know West Falls Church’s schedule, but some close by 7-8 pm at night during the week, that means if you wanted to see DC at night you would need a car. The Metro exists for mass transportation, stops like Vienna exist for commuters and commuters alone, there is no need to run it after 7 on a weekday.</p>
<p>My family now counts our DC trip when our car got towed as one of our favorite trips to laugh about. We got to ride in a police car, learned the Metro system inside out, visited the coop apartment bldg that is #2 for crack arrests in DC, got to know all the cops at “The Rock” precinct station, waved down a “jogger” for directions that was not jogging but was actually getting chased. Our DC visit was a riot!</p>
<p>Thanks, bandp, for the info about stops ending at certain points. I was going to recommend the Vienna stop as a “park and ride” option, but if that stops early, may not be a good choice for the OP.</p>
<p>Also, the VRE and MARC trains are great connectors to the Metro for weekdays, but do not run, at least when we visited, on the weekend.</p>
<p>I wonder if it might be best for the OP to find a parking garage near a round the clock Metro stop that she can park her car and then take the Metro wherever she wants.</p>
<p>To the OP, glad you’re making an itinerary. The ladies and gentlemen on Parents Cafe were so helpful when we did our trip to Washington State this summer. We got so much done in a short amount of time based on insight from this group.</p>
<p>Good luck and enjoy!</p>
<p>On unionstationdc.com, there is info about parking. Looks like the rates are not too, too bad, considering the alternative of getting your car towed. Since you’ll be staying in McLean, it might be worth paying for all day parking at Union Station to take the Metro wherever you can, then come back to home base of Union Station to retrieve your car and head back to your hotel at the end of the evening. There’s plenty of places to eat at Union Station, as stated before, if you want to grab a quick bite before hitting the attractions. With free admission to most of the attractions, paying for parking should fit into your budget.</p>
<p>I live in New Orleans and have had my car towed on occasion and had taxi drivers unwilling to bring me to the impound lot, so having your car parked in a secure lot is definitely worth the money.</p>
<p>Vienna is open way past 7 on weeknights; you can still catch trains after 11 pm from there. Getting back would not be possible though that late. We lived near that one and used it all the time. It even stops at the Smithsonian stop that late.</p>
<p>The weekend closures are for track work and the expansion by Tysons and they are not every weekend. </p>
<p>Schedules and closure information are available on the website.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen the Old Post Office mentioned. It is a great place to view the city without the ticket hassle of the Washington Monument and has a food court.</p>
<p>Where is the Old Post Office? I’m guessing that’s different from the Postal Museum, which is just catercorner to Union Station.</p>
<p>[Old</a> Post Office Tower (U.S. National Park Service)](<a href=“http://www.nps.gov/opot/]Old”>http://www.nps.gov/opot/)</p>
<p>Old Post Office Tower</p>
<p>[Metro</a> - Home page](<a href=“http://www.wmata.com/]Metro”>http://www.wmata.com/)</p>
<p>Metro trip planner</p>
<p>The Udvar-Hazy campus of the Air & Space Museum out in Chantilly is great.</p>
<p>I think many areas of suburban northern VA are underrated and ignored by visitors, which is a shame. Tyson’s Corner shopping area and the Manassas battlefields are both worth a look.</p>