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    kboyle's Avatar
    kboyle is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Default Washington DC in a day and a half? Medieval Times?

    We are hitting DC on our way home from the DE beaches. It's only 2 hrs from where our beach house is so I figure if we leave at 7a we'll have plenty of time all day to see the sights. The next day we had planned on driving home after doing Arlington Nat'l Cemetary, but I'm wondering about doing Medieval Times in Baltimore for Charlie's 10th bday which is the next day. It's only a 5hr drive home, so between dh and I we can do that and get home by 2a at the latest.

    Can we hit Spy Museum, Air & Space Museum, Nat'l History Museum and the nearby monuments/Capitol Bldg/White House (just for pictures, no tours of bldgs) in that one day? My kids aren't really museum kids, so it's not like we'll be spending TONS of time at each one.

    Can we walk and do all that in a one day time frame? Or can we use metro to get from place to place quicker? Or would we benefit from getting tickets to the Old Town Trolley and just stopping at the places we have listed, visiting, and then waiting to hop back on? I had originally planned on getting trolley tickets till i saw that we wouldn't be getting off at lots of stops.

    The best deal I'm seeing for a hotel with outdoor pool and convenient location is L'Enfant Plaza Hotel...mixed reviews, nice price. Reviews say it's clean, just old. But location is PERFECT especially with metro so convenient.

    Is there anything else that is a must see? DSs are 9/7/5, plus me/dh & my parents.

    So the next day would be Arlington Nat'l Cemetery and it's sights and Lincoln Memorial and if we decide to do Medieval Times we'll have a bit more time before we have to be at dinner at 330p. Anyone been to Medieval Times? Is it horribly cheesy? Not worth it at all?

    I hate vacation planning.
    Last edited by kboyle; 04-13-2013 at 04:28 PM.
    Kristine, Supermommy to
    Charlie (6/2003), Max (8/2005) & Ernie (5/2007)

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    Quote Originally Posted by kboyle View Post

    Can we hit Spy Museum, Air & Space Museum, Nat'l History Museum and the nearby monuments/Capitol Bldg/White House (just for pictures, no tours of bldgs) in that one day? My kids aren't really museum kids, so it's not like we'll be spending TONS of time at each one.
    We did DC last spring. I think that sounds like too much. I'd plan for Air & Space and Natural History (they're very close to each other) and nearby monuments (maybe from a distance.) You can see the Capitol Bldg from the mall.
    Green Tea, mom to three

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    kboyle's Avatar
    kboyle is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by Green_Tea View Post
    We did DC last spring. I think that sounds like too much. I'd plan for Air & Space and Natural History (they're very close to each other) and nearby monuments (maybe from a distance.) You can see the Capitol Bldg from the mall.
    thanks! maybe we'll try for the spy museum if we have time after Arlington cemetary before we head to baltimore.
    Kristine, Supermommy to
    Charlie (6/2003), Max (8/2005) & Ernie (5/2007)

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    I live in the suburbs of DC and I agree that is a lot in one day, especially with kids. My kids get cranky after 1 museum. Also, just keep in mind, if you decide to walk around the monuments, its 1.6 miles from the capitol building to the white house. I would just do one or two museums and a couple of the sites.

    I've never done Mediveal Times, but it about 50 miles from DC. Traffic can be a bear depending on the time of day. A couple of times its taken me almost 2 hours to get from Northern Virginia to the Baltimore area because of the traffic. So, give yourself plenty of time to get up there.

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    isn't arlington cemetary a bit of a hike from the mall-- i mean you'd have to drive or take the metro and i'm sure the time is more than you think...then to go back to the spy museum you'd have to come back into downtown and then deal with the traffic issues in getting to medeival times...

    that all sounds like a lot-- especially if you spend the whole day before wandering the mall looking at museums and monuments-- all that stuff looks close together, but in my experience, any DC trip (i've been there many many times) involves more walking than you expect--even if you use the public transportation

    we were just in DC for the easter egg roll and i reallyreally wish i'd listened to my intuition AGAINST any museums. DH thought it would be nice since we'd be "in town"-- ugh. it was not nice. what would have been nice would have been getting to DC later and spending less time exhausting ourselves before the "main event." i'd pick a couple things-- a couple museums (close together) OR walking the monuments (this is good if it's a nice day, can be misery if it's too hot, cold, rainy)

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    SnuggleBuggles is offline Black Diamond level (25,000+ posts)
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    We did the spy museum plus short visits to other museums. The spy museum is $$$ though so that would be your highlight, take your time visiting activity. It was really cool for me but only kind of for the 9yo and the (then) 4yo pretty much had me running to the end bc it was just too old for him. I was bummed to be missing cool stuff and didn't feel I got my $s worth. You know it's timed entry and tickets sell out too, right?

    I'd skip Medieval Times. Not worth the drive...plenty if cool stuff in DC to keep you busy.

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    kboyle's Avatar
    kboyle is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by lovemydeals View Post
    I've never done Mediveal Times, but it about 50 miles from DC. Traffic can be a bear depending on the time of day. A couple of times its taken me almost 2 hours to get from Northern Virginia to the Baltimore area because of the traffic. So, give yourself plenty of time to get up there.
    thats what the medieval times person i spoke with on the phone, but when i mapquested the addresses it showed only 29 miles and 45 min tops... so i'm stuck on what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by Seitvonzu View Post
    isn't arlington cemetary a bit of a hike from the mall-- i mean you'd have to drive or take the metro and i'm sure the time is more than you think...then to go back to the spy museum you'd have to come back into downtown and then deal with the traffic issues in getting to medeival times...
    we will be driving to Arlington cemetery that next day so that's why i had thought about visiting another museum that same day.

    Quote Originally Posted by SnuggleBuggles View Post
    We did the spy museum plus short visits to other museums. The spy museum is $$$ though so that would be your highlight, take your time visiting activity. It was really cool for me but only kind of for the 9yo and the (then) 4yo pretty much had me running to the end bc it was just too old for him. I was bummed to be missing cool stuff and didn't feel I got my $s worth. You know it's timed entry and tickets sell out too, right?

    I'd skip Medieval Times. Not worth the drive...plenty if cool stuff in DC to keep you busy.
    i was wondering if the Spy Museum would be WAAAY over their heads. I'll keep that into consideration. Especially for the cost, since there are 7 of us going it'll be pricey.


    Thanks ladies.


    I am just trying to think of something FUN to do for ds1's 10th bday. He's not a museum kid, he HATES walking, and he hates beaches (loves pools) and he'll be coming back from 1 wk on the beach. I wanted to do WIlliamsburg and Great Wolf Lodge on the way back, but DH is insisting on DC as are my parents. It's frustrating when i KNOW my boys aren't going to enjoy and appreciate it.
    Kristine, Supermommy to
    Charlie (6/2003), Max (8/2005) & Ernie (5/2007)

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    Baltimore is 45 minutes with zero traffic. If you go in the middle of the day or at night it could be 45 minutes. With traffic it has taken us 2-3 hours.

    That's really too much in 1.5 days. I would pick 2 museums and that's it.

    Also the DE beaches are 2 hours with zero traffic. With traffic it can easily take a lot longer. What day of the week and what times are you talking?

    It would make more sense IMO to do Baltimore on the way back from the beach, then DC and then home. Or just Baltimore. There is a lot to do there.
    Beth, mom to older DD (8/01) and younger DD (10/06) and always missing Leah (4/22 - 5/1/05)

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    Medival Times is about 15 min south of Baltimore. We've been a couple of times with the kids (7 and 4) and we all love it. I think it would be a good option for a 10 yr old birthday!

    Arlington Cemetery is amazing, but not a quick visit (can't drive it--must take the tour bus) and not for those that hate walking.

    Not knowing what your actual itenerary is, I'd leave the beach, do MT that afternoon, then stay in DC that night, spending the whole next day in DC.

    Not familiar w/ the L'Fanant plaza hotel you mentioned, but you can easily metro/walk to the monumental corridor from there.

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    SnuggleBuggles is offline Black Diamond level (25,000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by egoldber View Post

    Also the DE beaches are 2 hours with zero traffic. With traffic it can easily take a lot longer. What day of the week and what times are you talking?

    .
    I forgot about that. The only time we sailed out in that kind of time is when we left on a Thursday from the beach to get back home for Friday. But that Saturday and Sunday traffic is a bear. If you get an early start in the day of departure, it's ok too. Like by 9-10am.

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