Washington DC

[midtown 3345]

Planning to take my kids this summer vs another beach trip.  11 & 8.  I've been several times but never with kids.  I know the typical stuff.  Smithsonian, Lincoln memorial, etc  My grandfather/grandmother are buried at Arlington so probably try to do that again.    Anything especially good for kids?  Also a hotel recommendation in proximity to the action would be appreciated.  

Edited April 4, 2018 by midtown

[orange dream 1246]

Mandarin Oriental is very nice.  It is within reasonable walk of the National Mall, Washington Monument, Smithsonian, etc.

[G650 14229]

The MO is good for the Smithsonian, but not much else. 

 

There's a cluster of hotels in the 15th St corridor though. What's your price range?

[midtown 3345]

3-4 Star.  I don't plan on being in it much.  I have gold status with SPG, Hilton, and Marriott. 

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

Kids seem to enjoy the Air & Space museum and seeing the pandas at the National Zoo. Your mileage may vary.

[G650 14229]

51 minutes ago, midtown said:

3-4 Star.  I don't plan on being in it much.  I have gold status with SPG, Hilton, and Marriott. 

The Madison is a Hilton property now, and usually reasonably priced (200/nt). There is a Westin immediately behind it that is one of the better ones I've stayed in. They are on the corner of 15th and M. There's also a Courtyard on Scott Circle. I think these locations are the best for general purposes.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Ben’s Chili Bowl just to say you have been.

[Yesh 911]

1 minute ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Ben’s Chili Bowl just to say you have been.

It is delicious but not in the best part of town

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

It is delicious but not in the best part of town

You should have seen it 17 years ago. From the google street view, it looks like rodeo drive compared to how much of that area used to look.

[elfenix 34223]

there's a trader joe's around the corner from there.  can't be that bad.

 

speaking of that bad, i let a friend be in charge of the lodging for our trip next month after he said something about his using his parents private club.  bad move.  hojo on NY NE.  probably going to get bed bugs.  not even easy walking distance to a bar.

[G650 14229]

1 hour ago, Yesh said:

It is delicious but not in the best part of town

There's nothing wrong with there. It's not like Southeast in the 80's.

[txhorns 2409]

Check out the Spy Museum and the Newseum.  Skip going up into Washington monument.  Also skip the Holocaust Museum with kids that age even though it's my favorite.  The Ford Theatre was great.  As far as a hotel, just find something in a decent area close to a Metro station.

[G650 14229]

30 minutes ago, txhorns said:

Check out the Spy Museum

This is a great spot.

Deny everything.

[Txzen 498]

Udvar-Hazy. Surprising how many don’t know about this awesome place. 

[Bateshorn 9927]

Ben's Chili bowl sucks.  And U street actually has hopping night life theses days. I'm up there pretty regularily for shows at the 9:30.  The younger guys will be out picking up trim there before the Maryland game this fall.

If you are going to do the African America musuem you have to reserve tickets.  I like the Hirshhorn but modern art may not be your thing.  The cafeteria at the Native American museum is the tits, but the museum itself is kinda meh. If you are going to tour the hill, call your congress critter and arrange a tour, otherwise you have to stand in line.

[Bateshorn 9927]

1 minute ago, Txzen said:

Udvar-Hazy. Surprising how many don’t know about this awesome place. 

It's out at Dulles.  That's almost an hour away from city center in no traffic.

[G650 14229]

11 minutes ago, Bateshorn said:

Ben's Chili bowl sucks.

I agree, but it's something people want to say they do.

 

If you are still hitting the 9:30 you have more energy than I do. Last time I went there Sublime was playing and it was on F St.

[G650 14229]

Also, the Eastern Market is something I would check out.

[Bateshorn 9927]

Geezer

2 minutes ago, G650 said:

If you are still hitting the 9:30 you have more energy than I do. Last time I went there Sublime was playing and it was on F St.

Geezer. 

J/K big props to getting to see a show at the old location.

Second Eastern Market.  Also, if you have a car, check out Union Market and hit up Rappahannock Oyster.

 

Edited April 4, 2018 by Bateshorn

[G650 14229]

I feel like one. I was a teenager then though, so I'm not too ancient.

[txhorns 2409]

Oh one thing I loved was seeing the monuments after dark.  There was just something special about it to me.

[Txzen 498]

25 minutes ago, Bateshorn said:

It's out at Dulles.  That's almost an hour away from city center in no traffic.

Guess I've been lucky as it's never taken more than 45 min. If you, or your children, are into planes or space it's still worth the trip as it's very easy to spend most of the day there. 

[Bateshorn 9927]

1 minute ago, Txzen said:

Guess I've been lucky as it's never taken more than 45 min. If you, or your children, are into planes or space it's still worth the trip as it's very easy to spend most of the day there. 

I love it, but I don't want people planning for it thinking it's close by.

[ROFL BOX 6647]

Agreed re: Air & Space, not the one on the Mall... that's an easy full day due to the amazing volume of stuff. Got to talk to an F-4 pilot who had written a book about his Vietnam tours & was set up with a small table right by the same kind of plane he used.

 

I also 2nd seeing the monuments @ night... something special about Jefferson, Lincoln, Korean, etc. with all the shadows.

 

Spot on re: cafeteria @ Native American. Look @ the schedule & see what might be going on in that space while you're there... interesting dances, displays, etc. Disagree about the entire space /MNAI in general, but then I'm interested in Native American culture in general.

 

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[Mojo Hand 4580]

If you've never tried it before, go to an Ethiopian restaurant.   For quality, consistency, and accessibility, I recommend Ethiopic, but there are many good ones.   

If your kids do well at really nice restaurants, try Kinship or Fiola.

I'd recommend the Penn Quarter area for a home base. 

If you do go to Arlington and have a car, get lunch at a Peruvian chicken place, either El Pollo Rico or Crisp & Juicy. 

[Txzen 498]

1 hour ago, Bateshorn said:

I love it, but I don't want people planning for it thinking it's close by.

It's a commitment, for sure. Similar to the ROFL, when I was there last I got caught up talking to an SR-71 Blackbird pilot there. Could have spent an hour just with him, as he had a lot of interesting stories. 

3rd seeing the monuments at night. At night, if lucky, you run around and find parking nearby allowing you to see more than you would otherwise. The Korean one in particular is great. 

[miguelito 11254]

Any thoughts on the Adams Morgan area, restaurants in particular?

[PhillyD 1257]

9 hours ago, Yesh said:

It is delicious but not in the best part of town

It's been 8 years since Ben's was in a questionable part of town

[yoladu 4090]

can't recommend Holiday Inn Washington Capitol enough.

Great location - one block south of the Mall/Air and Space Museum - C Street

Reasonable priced and perfect for families. Nothing fancy, but safe and nice hotel.

[ROFL BOX 6647]

If you're near the "front L" corner of The People's House (if viewed from inside the bkdg, front R if you have the bldg in front of you), take a moment @ the Boy Scouts of America statue.

 

A collection of dimes was undertaken by Scouts from all across America to pay for it & the names of all the Scouts who collected are written on scrolls that are inside the monument.

 

I think this was in the 1930's.

 

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[G650 14229]

17 hours ago, miguelito said:

Any thoughts on the Adams Morgan area, restaurants in particular?

What sort of crowd are you taking? It's a younger scene in general.

[G650 14229]

16 hours ago, yoladu said:

can't recommend Holiday Inn Washington Capitol enough.

Great location - one block south of the Mall/Air and Space Museum - C Street

Reasonable priced and perfect for families. Nothing fancy, but safe and nice hotel.

Similar to the MO, it's really good for the Smithsonian, but isolated from other stuff. It is closer to the Capitol though.

[midtown 3345]

16 hours ago, yoladu said:

can't recommend Holiday Inn Washington Capitol enough.

Great location - one block south of the Mall/Air and Space Museum - C Street

Reasonable priced and perfect for families. Nothing fancy, but safe and nice hotel.

I stayed there back in 2006.  I remember it being a perfect spot.  Also found a Fairfield in up near the spy museum which I went to that same trip. 

[Mack Tripper 696]

Kimpton has a bunch of reasonably priced hotels all over the place. 

The Line hotel in Adams Morgan just opened. It's in an old Christian Science church. I stayed there recently and enjoyed it. 

[Chewbacca 7766]

On 4/4/2018 at 12:19 PM, txhorns said:

Check out the Spy Museum and the Newseum.  Skip going up into Washington monument.  Also skip the Holocaust Museum with kids that age even though it's my favorite.  The Ford Theatre was great.  As far as a hotel, just find something in a decent area close to a Metro station.

Holocaust Museum was the quietest place I've ever been with a bunch of people.  That place was rough but amazingly well done.

[txhorns 2409]

2 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Holocaust Museum was the quietest place I've ever been with a bunch of people.  That place was rough but amazingly well done.

Oh yes it's amazing, I just wouldn't recommend taking kids that young there

[Bateshorn 9927]

I've posted this on multiple DC threads on the old site:

The Holocaust Museum is easily one of the most thoughtful and well curated museum experiences I've ever done.  It's emotionally shattering and life changing. And it's not good for young children, and tbh, it's kind hard to do even as adults, from a timing perspective.  People have to do it at their own pace.  Some people will do the permanent exhibit in 2 hours.  Others will take 5.  It's an intensely personal experience, and usually you need time after to process what you just went through.

Edited April 5, 2018 by Bateshorn

[Chewbacca 7766]

My kids were 9 and 12 when we went to the Holocaust Museum.  While I don't think the 9 year old necessarily processed everything there, I wouldn't say he was too young.  Depends on the maturity of the kids.

[miguelito 11254]

1 hour ago, G650 said:

What sort of crowd are you taking? It's a younger scene in general.

It would be me and my wife and maybe another couple about 40ish years old.  We'll be at the Marriott Wardman Park for my wife's conference.  The live music scene and row of restaurants in Adams Morgan intrigued me when I was researching the area. 

[G650 14229]

16 hours ago, miguelito said:

It would be me and my wife and maybe another couple about 40ish years old.  We'll be at the Marriott Wardman Park for my wife's conference.  The live music scene and row of restaurants in Adams Morgan intrigued me when I was researching the area. 

Yeah, you could have fun there for sure. It's not like a bunch of shithole college bars or anything.  Another place not too far you may want to check out is around Dupont, the Big Hunt and Mad Hatter are similar crowds, more young professional and folks in our age bracket though.

[midtown 3345]

16 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

My kids were 9 and 12 when we went to the Holocaust Museum.  While I don't think the 9 year old necessarily processed everything there, I wouldn't say he was too young.  Depends on the maturity of the kids.

I'm all for giving kids a window in the realities of real life and of history and each parent should what they think it best but IMO there is no reason to expose kids of this age to something like that unnecessarily.  

[Chewbacca 7766]

I'm all for giving kids a window in the realities of real life and of history and each parent should what they think it best but IMO there is no reason to expose kids of this age to something like that unnecessarily.  

So don't take your kids there. Mine handled it really well.

[midtown 3345]

31 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

2 hours ago, midtown said:

I'm all for giving kids a window in the realities of real life and of history and each parent should what they think it best but IMO there is no reason to expose kids of this age to something like that unnecessarily.  

So don't take your kids there. Mine handled it really well.

Thinking scrip club and making get some crack instead. 

[G650 14229]

7 minutes ago, midtown said:

Thinking scrip club and making get some crack instead. 

I know a guy if you need a hookup.

[ROFL BOX 6647]

I know a guy if you need a hookup.

I think he meant "I know a hookup if you need a guy."

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[G650 14229]

12 minutes ago, ROFL BOX said:

I think he meant "I know a hookup if you need a guy."

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whynotboth.jpg

[Bateshorn 9927]

Depending on your 9 year old's height, you may not have noticed that the disturbing exhibits are designed in such a way that shorter people can't actually see the really upsetting parts.  Again, it's an incredibly well designed museum.

Again, it's a personal experience.  It impacted me very deeply and I would not take a 9 year old there, even with the clever design, but that's just me.

DuPont Circle isn't nearly as young and hip as it used to be.  The Big Hunt and Lucky Bar are fine.  I work a few blocks from there.  But there more dive happy hour joints than hip places. You should look on U Street, 14 Street, H Street, and Shaw/Petworth for that now.

I honestly can't speak to Adams Morgan these days. It used to have more than a bit of Dirty 6th to it, but I haven't been there in a decade.

Near the Waldeman Park, New Heights used to be pretty good, don't know now, but the downstairs bar has pretty good drinks.  There's a good neighborhood bar across from the Zoo called Zoo Bar, and some decent stuff up in Cleveland Park.

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Bateshorn

[PhillyD 1257]

Second H Street if you can get to that part of town. That area has a lot going on now.  

[G650 14229]

29 minutes ago, Bateshorn said:

 

DuPont Circle isn't nearly as young and hip as it used to be. 

 

 

Exacty.

[Mack Tripper 696]

Adams Morgan is the new DuPont. I wouldn’t call it dirty Sixth.