Washington DC in a day and a half? Medieval Times?

[westwoodmom04]

Hmmm ok. Maybe we'lat and stay in Baltimore vs DC and then just visit Nat'l History museum, a couple pics by the monuments and then Arlington as we head out...

Not sure if Medieval Times is still in your plan, but it is at a mall about 30 minutes outside Baltimore. Plenty of good restaurants in the Harbor East, Federal Hill, or Fells Point area of Baltimore, all of which are a short water taxi ride from the science musuem/aquarium.

[kboyle]

Not sure if Medieval Times is still in your plan, but it is at a mall about 30 minutes outside Baltimore. Plenty of good restaurants in the Harbor East, Federal Hill, or Fells Point area of Baltimore, all of which are a short water taxi ride from the science musuem/aquarium.

i think we are still planning on it after we leave the beach that saturday vs sunday like i'd originally planned. so we could head to Baltimore from beach in AM and driving time won't be as big of an issue. we could do something during the day and then head to the 4:30 MT show/dinner. stay the night, and then drive early sunday to DC and do monuments and arlington for sure and if there is time we'll do a quick walk thru the dinos at the nat'l history museum before driving home. everyone will be exhausted and can sleep since it'll be night time and dh and i can split the 5hr drive home.

where to stay in Baltimore? Any place with outdoor pool?

[westwoodmom04]

You want want to stay in the inner harbor/harbor east area. There are a ton of hotels there in different price points. I don't know if any have outdoor pools, but it sounds like you won't have much time for one anyway since you will only have few hours in the city after the drive from the beach and the drive to the restaurant.

[m4nash]

You could stay at one of the hotels by MT/Arundel Mills if you wanted. They would be much cheaper. The Residence Inn has an outdoor pool. We lived in the Residence Inn for a month when we first moved to MD.

[kboyle]

You could stay at one of the hotels by MT/Arundel Mills if you wanted. They would be much cheaper. The Residence Inn has an outdoor pool. We lived in the Residence Inn for a month when we first moved to MD.

i was just going to ask if that would be an ok area to stay. i don't really know if we'll be doing much sight seeing in Baltimore, i think after a wk of staying on the beach they'll really just want to see chlorinated water lol. i'll check the RI in that area. i was just pulling up website to check out the hotels to stay at.
thanks

[westwoodmom04]

i was just going to ask if that would be an ok area to stay. i don't really know if we'll be doing much sight seeing in Baltimore, i think after a wk of staying on the beach they'll really just want to see chlorinated water lol. i'll check the RI in that area. i was just pulling up website to check out the hotels to stay at.
thanks

They just opened a big casino, Maryland Live, at Arundel Mills so you will get that crowd. Arundel Mills itself attracts a bit of sketchy crowd at night, fair amount of parking lot crime (muggings, a murder or two). http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news..._mills_ma.html Not bad during daylight hours.

If you want to stay in the suburbs somewhere, I'm sure there are places near BWI airport, just a short distance from Arundel Mills, or Columbia, which will put you a little closer to DC

[westwoodmom04]

Double post.

[kboyle]

They just opened a big casino, Maryland Live, at Arundel Mills so you will get that crowd. Arundel Mills itself attracts a bit of sketchy crowd at night, fair amount of parking lot crime (muggings, a murder or two). http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news..._mills_ma.html Not bad during daylight hours.

If you want to stay in the suburbs somewhere, I'm sure there are places near BWI airport, just a short distance from Arundel Mills, or Columbia, which will put you a little closer to DC

ok, so further away from mall or toward Columbia...got it! i was just looking at the towneplace suites marriot which is apparently right next to mall. i'll look a little further away.

[kboyle]

How does the Homewood Suites Columbia sound? says it's 4.7 miles from mall... safer? closer to dc, not further, right?

[m4nash]

I live in Howard County very close to Columbia. I know that people get mugged and cars broken into at The Mall in Columbia and throughout Columbia occasionally too. There have even been armed robberies and shootings at the mall, but I don't feel unsafe there even at night. I have never thought of Arundel Mills as unsafe either, although I haven't spent much time there recently. There are parts of Columbia that I don't feel safe in after dark, but the Homewood Suites is not in a scary part of Columbia. It is on a street with hotels and chain restaraunts across from a big shopping center with a Costco, Trader Joes, etc. I would think the Homewood Suites and Arundel Mills are the same distance from DC. One is just off of 295 and the other off of 95.