Washington DC

[Katzateer]

We have spent an AMAZING few days in DC. Anyone going soon that would like a report?

[NJGIRL]

We love DC. It is one of our favorite cities. Please post a report. They are always helpful.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I agree! We're slowly "doing DC" a day or two at a time on our way to/from Florida, and would love to hear how your trip went, things not-to-miss, etc!

[Katzateer]

We are going home today and when I get my iPad in my hands I will post one. I am so tired this morning but we had a great trip

[Katzateer]

Just got back-we had 2 full days in Washington. The weather was great and we saw a lot and had a good time.

We came in by train and stored our luggage for a few hours - it cost about $10 for 2 bags for 3 hours.

Our first stop was the Capital Building. I had scheduled a tour online. The building and tour were a good start to our visit-beautiful inside the rotunda.

We walked back to Union Station, grabbed some lunch then tooka taxi to our hotel (Mayflower near Dupont Circle. Was about $12 for taxi.
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Checked in then took a taxi to National Zoo. I have wanted to see the pandas for many years and wasn't disappointed. Got to see both of them walking around and fairly close. A big thrill for me. We didn't go through the entire zoo but saw most of the animals near the pandas.

Next we went back to Union Station. I have been wanting to do a twilight tour and we got tickets for the 3 hour tour.

The tour was well worth the money. We made 4 stops and were able to get and walk around. The open top bus took us up right to the monuments so didn't have to walk far.

We got off at the Capital, WW2 memorial, Lincoln Memorial and Martin Luther King memorial. The MLK memorial was very crowded.

It was really beautiful to see Washington at night.

We got back to Union Station about 10:30 and took a taxi back to the hotel.

[Katzateer]

The next day we took the hop on and off bus to the Georgetown tour area. We did not get off at any of the stops but got to see the National Cathedral, Georgetown, and Embassy Row. That was a great tour.

Got off at the Museum of American History and walked around a few hours seeing all the exhibits.

Rode the bus to the American Indian Museum and ate at the food court. Lots of interesting choices. With main dish and vegetable, drink and dessert it ran about $15 a person.

[Katzateer]

My iPad has erased the end of my report twice now........

We went to the botanical gardens and then took the bus to the Museum of Natural History. Then took a taxi back to our hotel.

[Katzateer]

I would highly recommend the hop on hop off bus. We were able to rest while we made the loop and would have never been able to do so much in 2 days without it.

We got a great rate on the hotel and the only expense besides food was the taxi and bus (the hop on hop off bus and the night tour ran about $135 for the 2 of us.).

If anyone is going to dc soon feel free to ask questions

[NJGIRL]

Thanks for the report! I always tell people to take the tourmobile for their monument day. There are so many to see and while they look fairly close to each other once you start walking you see that there is alot of ground you have to cover to see all of them.

[Kairi_7378]

Rode the bus to the American Indian Museum and ate at the food court. Lots of interesting choices. With main dish and vegetable, drink and dessert it ran about $15 a person.

We've done DC many times and we think that this museum has the most interesting food court, hands' down. It can get a little confusing because the food is arranged by region, so it's good to read the menu ahead of time if possible.

thanks for the trip report!

[Bethanymouse]

Love DC! We went for a wedding last year around this time and it was so wonderful. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your report!

[BrowncatP]

The tourmobile unfortunately does not run around the Mall area of D.C. anymore. The tourmobile is no longer in business.

[NJGIRL]

The tourmobile unfortunately does not run around the Mall area of D.C. anymore. The tourmobile is no longer in business.

When did that happen? That stinks. They ran an interesting and needed service.

[BrowncatP]

The Tourmobile last ran on Oct 31 according to the local news reports. I did go to the Tourmobile website and it seems to be active. Give the Tourmobile a call if you are interested. Perhaps they found a way to stay in business?

[murphy1]

Can anyone suggest a good place to stay in the area for families around beginning of June? We want to see the monuments of course and a few other things also might stay over in wine country a day or two before heading into the city, my great grandfather is buried at Arlington, so maybe there too
Thanks!

[NJGIRL]

We like the L' Enfant Plaza. It's right across the street from the National Mall so you are within walking distance of most of the Smithsonians and many of the monuments. It used to be a Lowes Hotel so it is very nice. It also has a Metro station in the "basement" so you don't have to leave the property to take the Metro.

[murphy1]

I think we are going to stay in Fairfax, all the hotels in DC are more than I wanted to pay (really $500 a night some are??) that way we can be near Mt. Vernon, too.