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A Weekend in Washington D.C.

June 14, 2018 /

Over Memorial Day weekend, Sean and I took a trip out to our nation’s capital. We were able to book a place super last minute in Baltimore. We would have loved to book somewhere a little closer, but we were happy just to have a place to stay that didn’t cost us a fortune.

I had visited Washington DC before with some of my 8th grade class as part of a school trip, but Sean had never been, so I was excited to share this experience with him.

We had a full two days in the city, and with a limited budget, we found this was one of the best places we could have visited – especially for a family. If you are thinking of visiting Washington D.C., we recommend following this itinerary. We tried to hit up the major monuments and museums, but if you think we missed something, please feel free to let us know!

48 Hours in Washington D.C.

Day 1:

On Saturday, we chose to start the weekend with some of the museums. All of the Smithsonian National Museums are free to visit and are open from 10-5. We started at the Air & Space Museum, which had lots of interactive activities for kids. We stopped by their planetarium and watched a short film about Space, stepped inside airplanes and hot air ballon baskets and admired historical planes like the one the Wright Brothers built. Seeing the movie did cost money, but it was a really cool experience as it is shown in a dome and the screen takes up the entire ‘ceiling’.

Sculpture_garden_fountain

From here, we made our way over the the National Galley of Art Sculpture Garden. This is a great place to come to sit and relax or take a walk and enjoy the peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. You’ll find many different sculptures along the walking path, so if you’re interested in art, this is definitely a must see. There’s a fountain in the center of the garden, and you’re sure to find lots of people sitting around it reading and catching up with friends. Don’t be surprised if you also spot a squirrel or two (or more!). They are all over the park and will often come up close to you.

From the garden, we enjoyed walking over towards the Washington Monument. Coming from the park, you get a unique view, different from when you stand by the reflecting pool. You can get a lot closer to it, which made for some great photo ops. 🙂

Here, there is also a wide area of lawn space that you can chill out and relax on. Grab a bite to eat from one of the many food trucks that line the street and enjoy the view. Just be careful which one you choose. We ate from a Greek food truck and were looking forward to their gyros. The pita bread was okay, but the rest was seriously lacking, and we felt a little jipped. We steered clear of them the rest of our trip and chose to go with snacks we brought with us or restaurants with good Google reviews.

Another good museum to check out, especially with kids, is the Museum of Natural History. I honestly found their gift shop fascinating enough, but the museum itself was pretty cool too. Here you’ll find statues of cavemen and dinosaurs and facts about fossils. The museum is incredibly interactive and one you could easily spend hours in.

Day 2:

Sunday, we started off by taking the metro to Arlington National Cemetery. Make sure you make it up to the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier where they hold the changing of the guards every half an hour. We weren’t sure how Aria, or other kids for that matter, would handle having to stay silent for that long but she actually did really well. If you’re up for it, a great idea would be to bring flowers and let your kids help you lay them by some of the graves. We saw a couple different Boy Scout Troops doing so and it looked like a great idea for those with little ones.

From the cemetery, we metrod back and made it our goal to hit up the rest of the major monuments. Start with the White House and try to catch a glimpse of the President if you can. And take note of their neighbors to the left – we thought that house was even more impressive!

From the White House, head towards the Veterans War Memorial. This route took us by the Constitution Gardens Pond, and we got to see ducks swimming around and catching fish. Aria loved this and thought the ducks sticking their butts in the air was hilarious! As you walk along the path, stop at the war memorial and walk along the black wall filled with names of those who fought in the Vietnam War.

Keep walking, and you’ll make your way to the Washington Monument again, this time from the opposite side. Take a few photos by the reflecting pool, then turn around and climb up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial.

This was my favorite by far. The statue of President Lincoln is absolutely huge, and to me, was comparable to the Statue of David. Both strike you with a sense of awe for the work it took to make them as well as the history and significance behind them. The Lincoln memorial has a cute little gift shop hidden in it as well, so if you haven’t picked up a souvenir yet, this is the place.

Grab a Bite:

If you’re looking to grab a bite to eat, we recommend stopping by GRK Fresh Greek. If you follow us on Insta, you know we’re obsessed with Santorini and love anything to do with Greece. We’re always thrilled to find a good gyro and this place has them! Even better, they have greek yogurt  froyo topped with baklava. I chose to have honey drizzled on mine, and it was perfection!

Outside of this Greek restaurant and a stop at Starbucks, we chose to bring snacks along with us when we weren’t in and out of museums.

Getting Around:

We stayed in Baltimore and didn’t want to have to worry about paying for parking anywhere, so we chose to metro around the city. This is one of our favorite options because it allows us to sit back and relax between destinations. You do have to pay to park at the metro station, but it was a minimal charge. I think we ended up paying $2 on Saturday and Sunday was free. As far as the metro tickets themselves, we paid a total of probably $40 for the three of us for rides out to Arlington National Cemetary and back, and around Washington D.C. itself.

If you do choose to drive, Washington D.C. looks like one of the better cities to drive in. Unlike major cities like san Francisco or New York, the roads are very flat and organized, and even on Memorial Day weekend, they weren’t too crowded.

You will find bike racks everywhere as well, and had we not had a 3 year old with us, we would have enjoyed biking around the city.

 

 

That’s how we spent a weekend in DC. Have you ever been? Did we miss anything? We’re looking forward to visiting again soon, this time just the two of us. If you have any suggestions, especially for night life, let us know in the comments! 🙂

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