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Touring Our Nation's Capital, Family Style

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Do you ever associate the words cheap and vacation? Sound like a fantasy? The fact is our family has discovered that touring Washington, DC, makes for a fantastic and affordable getaway. Our nation’s capital boasts tons of free museums and monuments to explore, and we can share some tips to simplify planning a vacation to this national treasure.  So here are my top picks, as well as insider insights for a family who wants to see our nation’s capital.

In the past three years, we actually have visited DC twice. I’d suggest a minimum of four days for the trip—a full week is more ideal. Because public transportation is readily available to most venues, and many hotels charge a premium to park a vehicle, skipping a car rental will save you a significant amount of cash.  

The best-kept secret for touring DC is that your senator will plan MOST of your trip! Between four to six months before your vacation, do an online search of your senator’s name and “tour DC.” This will lead you to the online DC tour request form that your senator’s office provides. Complete this form, and the office will schedule several free tours for your family. Currently you can select any or all of these attractions:

A week or two before your trip, the senator’s office will contact you with a detailed itinerary of your trip, including exact days and times of your scheduled tours, what you can and cannot bring, meeting location within the building (these places are huge) and nearest subway stops. It really is as good as it sounds, and it’s all absolutely free—your tax dollars at good use! Plus, for the Capitol tour, you will meet at your senator’s office, and a staff member will give your group a personal tour of the Capitol building, escorting you to the iconic landmark via the special subway connecting it to the senators’ office buildings. In both of our trips to DC, these special tours our senator has scheduled for us have certainly been the focal point! Most of the senator-arranged tours last between one-and-a-half and three hours, and they will book two or three tours per day from the list of venues you selected.

Next on your pre-planning itinerary is to schedule a Pentagon tour. Log onto PentagonTours.ods.mil 90 days before your trip and request a tour. The Pentagon’s tours fill up quickly, so it is essential to mark your calendar 90 days prior. Your kids will be amazed at how our nation’s finest tour guides, uniformed military personnel, walk backwards the entire Pentagon tour, even boarding escalators backwards. They also impeccably communicate a 26-page memorized script sharing significant moments in military history during your 60-minute tour! Visitors can view the Sept. 11 crash site and memorial; the Hall of Heroes, which lists all recipients of the Medal of Honor; and a display on the role of Native Americans in the U.S. military.

No trip to DC is complete without touring our nation’s celebrated monuments and memorials—and, again, they are all free! I suggest taking at least one day to view the monuments, or you can sprinkle them throughout the tours your senator arranges for you. The Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials are must-see attractions, and all three can be seen, in addition to others, on a two-mile walk, making it doable in a half day.  Another free attraction to consider weaving into your itinerary is a tour of the National Cathedral. Check out USA.Cathedral.org to find a schedule for their public tours. 

Unlike our first foray into DC, this trip we did pay for two attractions: the International Spy Museum and Mount Vernon. The International Spy Museum (SpyMuseum.org) is the only public museum in the nation dedicated solely to espionage. It features the largest collection of international spy artifacts, helping bring alive the strategies and techniques behind some of the most secretive missions in world history. Teens and tweens love this completely interactive museum as they get to adopt the identity of a spy and learn about a spy’s life of lies.

Getting to Mount Vernon, generally about a 30-minute drive from DC, was our only transportation challenge the whole rental-car-free week. We found a six-passenger taxi (actually Uber) that was rather affordable.  Seeing the home, gardens, views and farms that George and Martha Washington loved so much was memorable. The high point of our day there was the $5 National Treasure tour that takes guests behind the scenes of the filming of the National Treasure: Book of Secrets movie. Many of these add-on tours at Mount Vernon sell out, so purchase tickets prior to your trip at MountVernon.org.

If you can, find a hotel that serves a complimentary breakfast and is close to a subway stop. You will be walking miles every day, so using DC’s Metro system to get to your first stop or between attractions will be a coveted respite for those weary legs. Unlike New York City, where our family struggled to decipher the web of subway maps, DC’s Metro system is definitely manageable and certainly less expensive than taxis. I’d suggest getting a feel for the subway maps before your trip at DCTransitGuide.com.

With a complimentary breakfast to start the day, all you really need to feed the troops is a hearty late afternoon meal—and those lunch prices are cheaper too! Three family-friendly restaurants have become our favorites: Founding Farmers (farm-to-table American inspired food), We the Pizza (serious pizza plus a homemade soda bar right near the Capitol) and Good Stuff Eatery (best burgers in town, multiple locations). And for a treat, stop by Georgetown Cupcakes from the hit TLC show DC Cupcakes—lines can be long on the weekends so consider going on a weekday.

Feel tired already? This itinerary is just the beginning! What about the 19 Smithsonian museums (all are free—and don’t miss the National Air and Space Museum), Arlington National Ceremony (watch the hourly changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) and our National Zoo (also free—remember to see the adorable pandas first, as lines get long).

Whether you spend a few days or a week or more, dive into DC with your family. Digging into our nation’s history and experiencing the grandeur of a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” will enrich each of you. 

 

Susan Gimotty, mother of four in Overland Park, enjoys planning trips for her family and making memories with them.

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