<p>Museums can fill your day of course. For something really fun look up a segue tour (electric two wheel thingie) that is a tour of the mall, monument area. It lets you see a lot without walking (from the Capitol, the White House, Washington monument, a bit of downtown, the mall area.) You can cover a ton of ground really fast and have a great time doing it.</p>
<p>BTW it is supposed to be very cold this weekend (snow possible Sat night) so bundle up :)</p>
<p>The cherry blossoms are looking pretty great right now. Not at peak yet, but you’ll enjoy them! Closest Metro to American History is either the Smithsonian stop or Federal Triangle (Smithsonian stop is directly across the Mall from museum and Federal Triangle is a block away on the north side) – you can transfer to the Orange Line at L’Enfant Plaza. </p>
<p>Be aware that there’s some new marathon being run in town on Saturday, so metro may be a little crowded in the morning.</p>
<p>I’d spend the morning at the American History Museum, eat lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill near the White House (reservations aren’t a bad idea) and then walk around the Washington Monument and to the Tidal Basin, where most of the cherry blossoms are. </p>
<p>Holocaust Museum tickets are already booked for tomorrow; they do offer same day tickets but you’d have to get there first thing at opening and then you’d do the American History Museum in the afternoon.</p>
<p>Museum of American History - closest Metro Stop is Federal Triangle (Blue and Orange) How many days you spend there is really up to you. My last tourist only wanted to see the Civil War Exhibit and the First Ladies’ Dresses. We were in and out in about an hour and a half.</p>
<p>If you are only here for one day, and really don’t want to wear your feet out walking, it might be best to shell out for the hop-on-hop-off tour bus. For the cost of a one-day ticket you can ride it all around the mall with stops at each of the museums and the major monuments. Not that it will be traveling all that fast around the Jefferson Memorial due to the Cherry Blossom crowds, but for the rest of the Mall it might be a good idea.</p>
<p>We are just finishing up our last day of a week’s vacation in DC today. One thing we did today that I really liked was the FDR monument (on the way to the Jefferson, but not as far). It is a very interesting monument, and particularly pretty with the trees in bloom. If it is your first visit, I would also recommend the National Archives… there is nothing else like seeing the original documents.</p>
<p>But there is SO MUCH TO DO. This is our second one week trip in the past 2 years, and I just finished updating our spreadsheet for the trip planning with a whole list of stuff we didn’t get to this time or heard about/want to try in the future. And we didn’t have a lot of overlap this time with last trip! The National Archives and the Newseum were our only overlaps with the first visit, because we loved them so much.</p>
<p>there is a monument tour in the evening by bus or trolley, so beautiful. I am going soon meeting family. we plan to do this.</p>
<p>If you do the National Mall and if you like art, go to the Renwich Museum. It is a delightful little museum with some permanent collections (check out “Game Fish”) and some revolving exhibitions. It is small and manageable and very cool. Also, the sculpture park near the National Gallery of Art is a wonderful place to wander and maybe have lunch. Oh, I’m jealous.</p>
<p>Second the Monuments at Night. Beautiful tour. Our last visit, we saw the FDR monument as part of this tour.</p>
<p>Intparent, laughing at the second one week trip in two years. We never travel, yet son wants to go to DC over Grand Canyon, as he really wants to see the Museum of American History and the Dulles Air Museum. </p>
<p>My memory of American History Museum years ago is the Ruby Slippers, Kermit the Frog, Archie Bunker chair. I forgot that there’s actually going to be “history” stuff in there. Son will love that. I think we’re going to need at least a day and a half for that one.</p>
<p>Love this thread. Great for those with limited time or very brief return trips. Thanks also for the reminder about the Hop On Hop Off. Friends that went a few years ago and stayed in Virginia, came in on the Metro, used this option to go from one attraction to another.</p>
<p>For my S2’s & his best friend’s 18th birthdays (same day), we organized a digital scavenger hunt at the Smithsonian museums on the Mall. We divided 12 kids into 2 teams, each led by a birthday boy, and gave them a list of exhibits at the museums. They had to answer questions (ie. how much does the elephant weigh?) or take digital photos of themselves (ie. pose with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) at the exhibits. We put them on the Metro & into DC 3.5 hours before the museums closed. They returned in time for dinner (tacos), then we showed the digital photos on our TV. By the time we served cake & ice cream, they had uploaded & tagged each other on Facebook.</p>
<p>They had an absolute blast! As they were leaving to go home that night, the kids told me that they didn’t know that going to the museum could be so much fun.</p>
<p>Many Many thanks to everyone! We’ve had a great day. We found a metro station and arrived around 10. Other than a stop at the Ebbetts Grill, we have walked without setting foot indoors. We’re waiting to hear the Taiko drummers, then we’ll limp back to the metro! Thanks again CC!</p>
<p>We have gone many times over the years and I have to say that hands down our best DC experience was spur of the moment tickets to the National Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar a few years back. I’m not a huge theater buff but that was one of those amazing experiences. The theater is just the right size, the acting was superlative and . . . Shakespeare! It was just so unexpected and wonderful after a long day at monuments and taking in museums to sit back and get pulled in to the live drama.</p>
<p>Glad you had a good time, bills.</p>
<p>April 2011 issue of Frommer’s Budget Travel has a feature article on the [20</a> best-kept secrets of Washington DC](<a href=“http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/the-20-best-kept-secrets-of-washington-dc,7110/]20”>http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/the-20-best-kept-secrets-of-washington-dc,7110/).</p>
<p>^^^Wow, thanks for this link! I’ll definitely be referring to this for our family trip, and if I ever get to accompany hubby on a business trip, now that the nest is empty!</p>
<p>While we are on the subject of DC, can someone tell me if they have been to the Spy Museum? We will be in DC this weekend for an event and my daughter wants to go to the Spy Museum. While not on the top of my to do list, I am willing to go for her.</p>
<p>I was going to order tickets online, but they are every hour, on the hour. We are not sure what time we will be done Saturday afternoon with our first event, and have another event Saturday evening. Any idea if we can safely just buy tickets on the spot instead of ordering online? My guess is we can arrive on the half hour and don’t want to buy a later ticket and have to wait to get in, or buy the earlier ticket and show up late and be told we can’t get in.</p>
<p>Any suggestions are welcome.</p>
<p>We were just there a few weekends ago and bought tickets on the spot and went right in. However, it might be tougher to get in at the ticket counter this weekend, just because it’s a very touristy and busy time of year. They don’t let it get too crowded at one time, so that is a plus. By the way, we all loved it, and I wasn’t expecting to -it is NOT just about spies, but a fascinating and well executed (no pun intended) glimpse into the history of law enforcement, from earliest times to the present. It also profiles some of the most infamous criminal minds, forensic and crime solving techniques etc. They mix up interactive activities with museum type displays - very well done.</p>
<p>We were just there a few weekends ago and bought tickets on the spot and went right in. However, it might be tougher to get in at the ticket counter this weekend, just because it’s a very touristy and busy time of year. They don’t let it get too crowded at one time, so that is a plus. By the way, we all loved it, and I wasn’t expecting to -it is NOT just about spies, but a fascinating and well executed (no pun intended) glimpse into the history of law enforcement, from earliest times to the present. It also profiles some of the most infamous criminal minds, forensic and crime solving techniques etc. They mix up interactive activities with museum type displays - very well done.</p>
<p>We visited the Spy Museum in early March. We had bought the tickets online beforehand. We were able to bypass the line of people waiting to buy tickets and just walked right in. The attendant never bothered to check to see if we were there at the right time. This weekend might be different. Its cherry blossom time and the city and museum will be more crowded. Like Roshke said, its a great museum. Even the skeptics in our group loved it.</p>
<p>Lincoln Memorial. It is open at night, unlike most of the rest of DC. It is incredibly moving and as an American you need to go there and read his words on the friezes, at least once in your life. </p>
<p>Not to mention stand where MLK did.</p>
<p>I was able to speak to someone at the Spy Museum this morning; problem solved. You may enter any time after the posted time on your ticket, just not before. I went ahead and ordered tickets online for the early hour we might arrive; if we get there later, no problem!</p>
<p>I just hate that they charge $2 per ticket for me to order online, but most ticketing places do the same.</p>