Heading to NC and DC need help!

[rebwal98]

We're heading to Chapel Hill to visit family. Can anyone give us ideas of things to do with a 9 and 7 year old. We just usually hang out, but I want to get them out and about and find something new and different to do.

On the way home we're hoping to stop overnight in DC and visit the Air & Space Museum (at the least). Any recommendations for a good/affordable hotel. I'll be traveling with a 9, 7 and 6 month old. I don't need to stay in DC, but want to make it easily accessible with the kids and gear.

Thanks for your help!

Rebekah

[SnuggleBuggles]

When are you going? Durham Bulls' games are a lot of fun but they don't seem to have any home games till April 15th. We also really liked Duke Gardens when we lived down there. Nice place to walk around but not sure if kids would be wildly excited unless they are nature lovers. Grown ups like it though.

DC- how about the International Spy Museum in DC? It costs $ but looks so cool. Natural History and the Museum of the American Indian are great too.

I really like the Hilton Garden Inn in Arlington. metro accessible, drug store near by if your forget something, a bagel shop in walking distance as well as other restaurants and bars. Prices are reasonable (recently $99/ night though prices increase all over during the Cherry Blossom Festival) and parking is a lt cheaper than hotels in downtown. Oh, and they have chocolate chip cookies, apples and coffee in the lobby all day.

Beth

[LMPC]

Oooh, oooh, finally a thread where people are visiting my neck of the woods!!! Yippee!!!

There's a nice Life and Science Museum in Durham.
http://www.ncmls.org/
Has lots of hands-on kinds of things to do. Outside area with animals and a train and things to bang on
Near there is a place called Elmo's which is a nice place to grab a bite to eat -- and not very expensive. Very family friendly.

If you want something a little cheaper -- but almost just as fun...there is a museum of history and a science museum in Raleigh (right next to each other). Both are free. Lot's of cute places to eat down near them as well.
http://naturalsciences.org/
If you don't mind driving a little (5 minutes from downtown), the State Farmer's Market does a nice, cheap lunch. Again, very family friendly!

If your kids are into sports, I am guessing that one of the university teams will be playing *something* that would be fun to watch!

Alright, that's it for now... happy travels!!

[rebwal98]

My dad took us there a while back, loved that place! I forgot about the Museum, I think my parents are members. Definitely will go there. Thanks for the advice!

[WatchingThemGrow]

In CH: You can make an afternoon of walking at Duke Forest off Whitfield Rd., then eating ice cream at Maple View Farms on the porch and watching sunset is fun. There's sunset info on the page.

Kidzu Children's Museum may work, although it says 0-8. They have some interesting programs. Marbles in Raleigh would actually be a HUGE hit for the bigger kids.

The Planetarium has a Magic Treehouse Show that's supposed to be good. The author is from CH.

I'll second the Life and Science museum, esp the butterfly house and outside areas. The train ride is kinda fun, but there is soooo much cool stuff outside for the bigger kids. There's a lemur center, but it is being worked on.

Are you looking for inside or outside stuff? There's so much in the area available. The amount of cool offerings on the weekends blow my mind. There's likely some neat event going on during your visit, whenever it is. And probably a decent consignment sale of some sort as well!

[3blackcats]

Which Air and Space Museum are you going to in DC? There is in the one that is in Virginia, and the one downtown located with the rest of the Smithsonian museums?

[klwa]

Don't forget Morehead Planetarium at UNC-CH: http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org/i...seaction=shows

And depending on when you're going State, Carolina, & Duke shoudl all have baseball going on:
http://www.gopack.com/SportSelect.db...28&SPSID=41942

Oops: missed pp mentioning the planetarium

[lowrioh]

If you are going to be in downtown DC for the Air and Space Museum I would say the Natural History Museum and the Museum of American History, which are both right on the Mall. The new Museum of the American Indian is really close to Air and Space too. They have a pretty cool garden.

The Spy Museum is closer to Metro center so you'd either have a fairly long walk or have to take Metro. My sister is an elementary school teacher and her comment about the spy museum is that there is a lot of reading so it isn't necessarily great for kids under 10.

If your trip is when Congress is out of session, you can often get really good hotel deals. If not, you might want to look at hotels just off the Beltway but on a metro line. That way when you're ready to head home you don't have to navigate out of the city first. I know there are decent Marriotts in Greenbelt and New Carrollton which have shuttles to Metro. If you are on a serious budget, the Howard Johnsons in Cheverly has low rates and a Metro shuttle. They cater to bus tours.