Havent flown commercial since 2006. Going to the In Memory ceremony from the Vietnam Wall Memorial Fund people. Its for the Vietnam Vets who have died after the war due to Agent Orange and PTSD. My dad is being added to the honor roll this year. Hopefully I can get to the Smithonian's Air and Space museums. Never been to DC.
Where you flyin' in? BWI or Reagan? How long you staying? Take the Metro rail to get around the city. Everything's accessible via the Metro. It's well laid out, convenient, and relatively inexpensive. Air and Space is close to the Smithsonian stop. https://www.nps.gov/vive/planyourvisit/publictransportation.htm Looks like Foggy Bottom is closest to the Vietnam War Memorial. Essentially, the Natural History and American History museums are directly across the Mall from Air and Space....and theirs the Air and Space Annex out by Dulles. There's a shuttle bus between the DC Mall Air and Space museum and the Annex as well. Natural History just reopened their Dinosaur exhibit after being under revamp for 5 years. I heard it's over 30,000 square feet. I'm gonna take Alex back down there soon hopefully. We haven't been there since he was 3. He wanted to see "Rex" one Saturday after we watched Toy Story...so I took him down there. Also, if you have a chance...stop at the Archives and walk the 2 blocks to view the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It's really cool to see the real deal that started it all. I'm near Annapolis, MD so my launch point on the Metro are usually the Greenbelt or New Carrolton stations for all my DC adventures. Enjoy.
The DC bus system is pretty good around the memorials and museums, I believe that it's called the circulator? Buy a rechargeable card and use it all day over multiple days. It's like $1 for two hours, and you can get on and off as many times as you want. Check to see if you need reservations for any of the museums that you want to visit. We went over Thanksgiving and only had two days, which wasn't enough time. But I hit everything that I could and walked probably 5 miles each day.
Fill up a cooler with beer and go see all the sights at night. No crowds. The air and space museum is great but apparently there is another one outside the city somewhere? The natural history and american history museums are also awesome.
Udvar hazy, out between Chantilly and Dulles Airport. Parking is like $25 (with as many people as you can stuff into your car) but admission in is free. Worth the trip but not really close to DC and no public transportation to it.
What the second guy said plus a Spanish Restaurant called SER. Order Tomatoes Verdes. One of the best things I’ve ever had.
For museums, I was most moved by the Smithsonian Archives. Next was the Holocaust Museum (overwhelming), and then the Natural History for my favorites. I wasn't that impressed by the American history museum, but it might be because I didn't get to see a lot of the exhibits, but what I saw was not that impressive. Didn't get a chance to see the Udvar Hazy, but that's for the next visit.
Wish i'da seen this sooner.I can give you a personal tour of the "domed building".......far better than what you'll get as a regular tourist through the visitors center.
If you’ve never been to the Holocaust Museum, you should go. Don’t plan anything for the rest of that day though. It will stay with you, and you won’t be able to think about anything else.
He speaks the truth.... Everyone should go through that at least once. Very powerful and you will be done for the rest of the day, no lie...
Udvar rocks. Have never been to the Smithsonian stuff in town. Did hit some of the art museums one very short trip that were cool around the WH and monuments in that area.
Yeap. and a MIG15, F86 sabre, a concorde, the enola gay, a p 38 and a ton more kick ass stuff. I don't know if it's still out but they had an F-14 that a buddy was the backseater in.
The perfect time for this thread. The wife and I are spending 3 days in DC over 4th of July weekend after spending 10 days in Italy.
Flew in to Reagan. Staying at the Crystal Marriott Gateway. Disappointed in not being able to get to Chantilly for their air and space. Not renting a car. Tomorrow we are going to Arlington Cemetery then to the mall area for the smithonian and monuments. Friday the zoo. Brother and his kids are going to a show friday night. Dunno what I'm doing. Saturday is the Wall ceremony. Sunday may be for stuff we didnt have time for. We leave monday.
