This was the second trip to DC for our kids but that honestly didn’t impact our planning at all. They were 4 and 6 when we went last time so I wasn’t worried about repeating things. They were young enough then that they wouldn’t remember enough details for it to seem repetitive. And even if they did, they are old enough now that they would look at things with a new perspective. I figured we’d do some repeats and some new things.
Our first time around we went to the National Zoo, walked the monuments, and visited both the Air and Space and the Natural History Museums. We didn’t make it to the zoo again this trip (although we would have loved to if we had been able to fit it in) but did repeat the others. We also added a few – Ford’s Theatre, The White House Visitor’s Center, and Mount Vernon.
We met up with my sister and her family. With four boys (ages 7 to 11) in the mix on this trip, we kept the schedule kind of loose so we could react to their moods and interests. The only official thing on the schedule was Ford’s Theatre, which requires a timed ticket for entry. Other than that, we had a general idea of things we wanted to do and worked out the specifics as we went.
Our itinerary ended up like this:
Day 1 – Ford’s Theatre, The White House Visitor’s Center, National Mall and Monuments, National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden
Day 2 – Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Day 3 – George Washington’s Mount Vernon
The one thing that we didn’t fit in that the boys were especially interested in was a visit to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing so they could see money being printed. We had some initial confusion between the Bureau and the US Mint. We found out the hard way that the Mint’s DC location is their headquarters and a coin store, but not a production facility with tours. By the time we realized that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was what we really wanted, we were too late to get tickets for that day. So we’ll just add it to the list of things we can do on a future visit to DC.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn Washington Downtown – Convention Center. This was a nice hotel in a good location. Everything was walkable from there, although not necessarily super close. But it was a clean, safe neighborhood with good restaurant options close by. A 13-story hotel in the heart of the city, I liked having the predictability of a Hampton Inn with the uniqueness of an in-city building and location. The staff was friendly and helpful, and the kids loved the indoor pool and waffles for breakfast. The only cons for us were the price of parking ($50 a day) and the fact that the breakfast area was way too small for the crowds. But we would definitely stay there again.
