All the advice about staying near a metro stop is key. DC has the greatest (aka easiest) train in the world. My 10yr olds job was to pick the right train and which stop to get off every day we went out. He was never wrong. By comparison it took the whole family to figure out NYC trains and we still kept asking for help.
We stayed in crystal city/pentagon city. A little cheaper than DC proper.
Most of the museums/monuments can be taken in by just showing up. However, you should probably get reservations ahead of time for the National archives (declaration of independence) and the Holocaust museum. The holocaust museum was very powerful. And my kids were younger than yours but they do an exceptional job of masking the sensitive stuff from younger kids. As long as you feel ok explaining stuff to the younger one they will be fine. Gotta learn it some time.
Monuments were all fantastic. Vietnam memorial breathtaking. It's a long day of walking but gotta go from Wash mon. To WW II to Korean to Lincoln to Vietnam memorial.
Your kids may be a touch old, but we rented paddle boats and cruised around the tidal basin in front of the Jefferson memorial. It can be a grind for kids to do museum and monuments every day so things like this broke it up. Segway tour is more pricey but same idea of breaking things up.
Another GREAT thing was instead of taking bus to mount Vernon (George Washington house) we took train down to a pier (decent walk too) and took a ferry down the Potomac river, docks at mount Vernon, take the tours, take the ferry back. Very fun day.
If you go to the capital, go on a weekday and go to your states senator or rep office. They will give you a kick ass tour of the capital that you could never get by yourself. Just drop them and email a week or two before you go. Seriously cool. You're voters and they will treat you special.
Spend some time writing down at all the things you want to see and then prioritize them. Then lay out a schedule. Don't try to do too any things in a day or you won't appreciate it and wear the family out. A prioritized list will help. Let the kids have some input but don't let them "own" it or they will pass on some good things.
Walking by the white house is good enough. The tours have been really restricted since 911 and just not worth the time.
On our 8th day (last day) we rented a car and drove a little over an hour out of town, to a place where you could rent tubes...we went tubing down the Shenendoah River. Like 3 hours. Fantastic end to what was a "city" vacation. Plus Shenendoah is like one of the only rivers in the country that flows south to north. Hot, sweaty, swimming, was just awesome. But probably too much time if you have less than a full week. On the way back, we hit some civil war battlefields.
Make a list...seriously first step. Just to get you started....
Wash monument
Lincoln memorial
Jefferson memorial
Vietnam memorial
Arlington cemetery
National archives
American history museum
Simthsonium
Air/space museum
Capital
White House
Spy museum
Ford theatre (Lincoln assassination)
Newseum (news museum) - I found this very solid
Ben Franklin first post office
Hope this helps. I'm a little passionate about this trip as it was one of our families best.
This post was edited on 1/31 6:51 AM by Hawkeyemc
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