^ We did a family trip to DC and actually stayed at the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City right at the Fashion Center. (The hotel often has good packages on sale) It worked out great as its right on the metro line which provided very easy access to most of the tourist sites, the kids enjoyed access to the mall, and it was easy to pick up a quick bite to eat - especially handy when we didn’t feel like taking the time to eat breakfast in the hotel.
Thanks to everyone for their valuable advice!
We returned from the trip yesterday, so I wanted to share how the trip went. Our grumpy tween didn’t have a super great time, but she tolerated most things, and hopefully she will come to appreciate some of the things we did in retrospect. She spent a lot of time wearing earbuds and a Smithsonian hoodie. Sigh. DS17 wanted to do and enjoyed most everything, as I’d expected. The kids and DH took a couple hours off most afternoons to rest in the hotel, and I used that time to do some things on my own.
Things we did included:
– We did an evening tour of the sights on the Mall and the monuments that are lit up at night. That gave us a good orientation to what was where. It was a smaller bus with a nice sized group, and the tour guide was good. We did it the 1st evening we were in DC and were still somewhat on Pacific time, so ending around 10 didn’t seem that late. Our hotel was close to the Capitol, so we went out for evening walks other evenings.
– We rented bikes one afternoon and rode around the mall and tidal basin and visited the memorials that aren’t lit at night. I particularly enjoyed the FDR memorial. Other than bikes, we got around by walking, a couple Metro rides, and Uber (between DC and Baltimore).
– We got a nice tour of the Capitol building and the House Gallery from a staffer in our congresswoman’s office. The House was on recess, so our congresswoman wasn’t there. We ate lunch afterward in one of the Senate office building cafes. That was interesting, because there were several conversations going on around us with lobbyists lobbying staffers, including a SpaceX lobbyist.
– The Library of Congress was just beautiful. I’d never seen the inside of the building before. DS and I could have spent an hour looking at all the titles of the books in the recreation of Thomas Jefferson’s library. Loved finding Newton’s Principia there.
– We didn’t go into the Supreme Court, but we talked briefly with a press guy who was waiting for people to come out for interviews after a patent case involving Marvel Enterprises.
– Air & Space Museum on the Mall. Didn’t head out to Udvar-Hazy, since DS is all about space and breezed by most of the airplanes except the Wright Flyer and the Gossamer Condor. DD liked the simulator rides and some of the interactive things downstairs.
– Sculpture Garden for National Gallery of Art. This was enjoyed by all, and the cafe in the garden is nice if you hit it for lunch before the noon rush. DH and I did the sculpture garden for the Hirschorn separately.
– National Gallery of Art. Did the impressionism section and the temporary modern exhibit downstairs and the atrium of the East Wing (open during remodeling) with the kids. Grumpy DD found some things she liked in the American furniture section we walked through to get to the modern art. I came back one afternoon while DH and the kids were resting to see the da Vinci, Rembrandts, American art, and temporary exhibits.
– DS and I did the gems and geology section of the Natural History museum. It was crowded enough that DH and DD wouldn’t have liked it. Too bad about the fossil hall being closed. We did go through the human evolution and oceanography wings, but kind of skimmed those.
– Newseum. Great museum! Spent a lot of a day here.
– Spy Museum. We’d saved this for the day DH was working at the NSF (since he’s already been a couple times), but DD was sick that day (too much touching handrails, I guess; ick) and stayed in the hotel. DS and I enjoyed it. We took DD back the next morning–glad we went early, because when we came out, the line was halfway around the block (Good Friday holiday).
– I did the Botanic Garden on my own, since I’m the plant person in the family. Nice and warm.
– DH and I visited the Hirschorn. The exhibits are much more sparse than I recall from my childhood visit, but I guess they rotate what’s on view a lot.
– DH went running out by the C&O Canal, and said it would be nice once spring arrives. I only saw one tree in bloom the entire trip. Felt sorry for all the stores with their Cherry Blossom merchandise all out.
– We toured the National Cryptologic Museum, which is closer to Baltimore. It was great! Having 4 people in our group qualified us for a docent-led tour by a retired NSA employee (something in linguistics was all he could say). They were also nice about letting us store our luggage in their coatroom, since we were between DC and Baltimore hotels at the time. Lots of interesting stuff, including a free brochure on the mathematics of the Enigma code for DS and a letter that John Nash (of “A Brilliant Mind”) sent to the NSA in 1955 about computational complexity. Besides Enigma machines, they had a US decryption machine for Enigma similar to the ones the British built, various machines related to Japanese cryptography (“Purple” code) and US cryptography from WWI through Vietnam. Also an old Cray and old mass storage systems with robotic tape retrieval still working (~10 terabytes total).
– We saw Wicked in Baltimore the last evening. That’s a fun show, and DD enjoyed it.
We didn’t visit the National Museum of American History, but between the Newseum, Air & Space, Spy Museum, National Cryptologic Museum, all the memorials, and the Capitol tour we got a lot of angles on US history. DS17 is taking APUSH next year, and I think the things we saw will help with that. He was the only one on the Capitol tour who remembered what the Caning of Charles Sumner was about, so he still remembers some of his 8th grade US History.
Didn’t do any college tours with DS17. That’s next spring break, and the colleges in DC and Baltimore don’t really match up with his current intended major of physics/astrophysics and some CS thrown in.
Restaurants:
– Zaytina (Greek place) was great, and we were able to increase the number of people for our reservation to include some friends from home we just happened to run into at the FDR memorial.
– Bombay Club was tasty, but too posh for the kids.
– Pavilion Cafe in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden was delicious.
– Gelato downstairs under the National Gallery of Art causeway was delicious.
– Senate office building cafe was fun.
– Our vegetarians didn’t have trouble finding food that worked. (DH eats fish and DD eats mostly bread, fruit, and cheese.)
Stuff I wish we’d had time for:
– National Archives (the line was always daunting)
– National Arboretum (probably just for me)
– National Building Museum (DD was sick the day I’d planned to drag her there)
– Supreme Court
– Restaurant at the Native American Museum
Thanks again for all your advice!!
I’m glad you had a good time at the National Cryptologic Museum. One of the hidden gems of the DC area.
I’m glad to hear back from you and that the trip went fairly well. I’m especially glad you liked the LOC and the night tour of the malls because I suggested them…of course, other people did too, but still.
You did great! I’ve lived in the area for 35 years and still have a couple of those sites to visit.
It was a great time for the metro. I used it yesterday to go from Alexandria to the Zoo stop, and the trains and transfers went really smoothly.
The fact that the Cherry Blossoms won’t be in full bloom for a week probably helped.