OT Help needed planning DC trip

if I am not planning a real vacation I have fun planning pretend vacations.  I have the urge to pack up the troops during spring break and possibly head to Washington DC.  This would be driving from WI.  We would stay just a few days and do some of the sights around DC.  A few of the museums.  I by no means want to cram in a ton of things, since my plan is to visit again when the younger kids are older.
I have a 4 boys ages 4, 6,10 & 13.

I don't want to break the bank for the hotel stay, but I want to make sure I stay in a safe area.  Any suggestions?  I know parking is bad and public transportation is the way to go, so any info would be helpful.

Since losing the weight I have walking distances and then walking all day isn't an issue.

thanks!

Sarah

The last time I stayed in DC, I used priceline name your own price and got a 4 star hotel two blocks from the white house for $125/night. It was very swanky and I didn't have to pay for metro tickets for all of us. The only thing I would suggest doing that costs money is taking in a IMAX movie at the smithsonian. My favorite is the 3D of the space station.

DC hotels are much cheaper on the weekend as all of the politicos leave for the weekend.  also, you may try a suburb like Alexandria.  I stayed there steps from the Metro and it was super convenient.  Just minutes to the mall and other attractions.  I highly recommend that you contact your congressmen or senator and let them know you are visiting.  Advise them of the ages of your children and ask them what tickets they can supply.  Your boys would probably enjoy the FBI tour.  My senator provided me with tickets for that and I was in a group of just two families instead of about 25 people on the regular tour.  The two  museums at the Smithsonian we liked the best was American History and Air and Space.  I personally enjoyed Arlington.  I hope this helps.

I lived in Alexandria VA right outside of DC and worked in DC.

Let me suggest you stay in King Street Area they have a Embassy Suites probably expensive but I think that they have another lesser brand hotel in the area. We moved 5 years ago.

Also Crystal CIty Hotels look for those they have lots in that area and Crystal City and King Street are on the Blue/Yellow Line for the metro. They all take you into the city but these lines stop at the Smithsonian so you will be around all the Museums.

I would suggest the Air and Space Museum and Natural History. They are fun for all ages. Also go to the Tidal Basin the Cherry Blossoms might be in bloom and the boys can rent paddle boats and paddle around.

Check out Pentagon City Mall that is a really nice mall with lots of shopping a great food court and I hear they added a ice skating rink in it.

Also Arlington National Cemetary although the boys might not be into that it is something worth seeing.

I love of course the Lincoln Memorial, MLK Jr. the new memorial is up, Vietnam Veterans Wall, and walk down to the Capital along the mall. I love to make that walk it is a long walk but so nice on a bright sunny day.

They do have a children's Museum in DC it is off the beaten path but it is fun for the kids. I can't remember the address but look it up and you can get off at the closest metro and take a cab or you can walk to it if it is close enough. We always drove to that.

Ohhh and Union Station that is fun too. They can see the trains, they have a awesome food court too and shopping. I am mentioning food courts because I have 4 kids too 3, 7, 10 11 all girls but the youngest is a boy and they love when we go back to go to these food courts I mentioned because they can all get something different and unique.

By the Huntington Metro end of the yellow line in Alexandria they have a Red Roof Inn on Jefferson Davis Highway that might be a good deal for you. You can hop on a bus to the metro or you can drive and park at the metro. Just be warned you will have to be at the metro by 8 to get a spot.

Good Luck send me a message if you are curious about certain areas I am more than happy to help.
Michelle

Oh yes I forgot about that the "New" FBI Tour museum. It is not in the FBI Building I used to work at the FBI and it is about 1 or 2 blocks up but the boys would love that. It does have a cost to get in but it is worth it and you can make at least a half a day out of it.

I also want to add not sure if you will pass thru Maryland but Baltimore Inner Harbor is fantastic and they have a great aquarium you might consider staying in Baltimore for a night.

Love going to DC!  We've brought the kids several times.  We also "hotwired" hotels and did fine.  Many museums, monuments, the national zoo, etc. are all free.  You may want to pay convenience fees for things like the Washington monument as it saves you from waiting in line for them... they are free if you wait in line, but tickets are limited and they run out.  I think I got them on the National Park Service website, I could be wrong.  Touring the capital is great, our senator has a day of the week when he has an open house at his DC office and anyone can go in to talk, take pictures, etc.  I haven't done a White House tour as that requires getting tickets though your representative and a fair amount of notice, I would love to though.  The Supreme Court is a cool place to visit too. 

So many options!  Have a great trip.
Laura

 My husband and I have stayed on Dupont Circle at The Inn at Dupont South.  It's in a great location and you get breakfast:   http://www.thedupontcollection.com/availability.html?gclid=CO7Q2uz7164CFYoDQAodqHbweg

We used to live in Northern Va.  I would park at the spring field station and take the metro into DC.  Parking can be hard to find during peak tourist times.  The cherry blossom festival is going on the end of March through April.  They are absolutely beautiful.The parade is the 14Th of April.  Expect heavy crowds during those weekends.  As someone else suggested, if you contact your senator or Representative they can get you tours of just about everything.  We did the supreme court, white house, and congress.  The best part is that it was a private tour with a staff member rather than a large group tour.  The white house tour can be hard to get as well as the pentagon, FBI, and Treasury.

The spy muse me is tons of fun.  We also enjoyed the air and space museum, history, and muse me of natural history.  My girls still talk about seeing the hope diamond.  I did not take my kids to the Holocaust muse me simply because I wanted them to be old enough to understand it. 

In the spring you can attend concerts by the iwa jima memorial by the marine corp band and silent drill team.  You can also get tickets to attend a concert at 8Th and I (Marine Barracks in Washington)  This is very impressive and worth the time especially if your boys are in band.   This can take awhile to get tickets as well, but the ones at the memorial do not need tickets. 

The WWII memorial is also very moving.  We went on Veterans Day.  There was an older gentleman there standing above the memorial waving an American Flag for several hours.  It still brings tears to my eyes.  Don't forget Arlington National Cemetary. 

I absolutely LOVE going to DC. I have stayed at the State Plaza Hotel which is within walking distance to the White House and the Lincoln Memorial. It has a full kitchen so we brought juice, milk, cereal, yogurt, eggs, etc and was able to eat breakfast in our room every day. If I remember correctly we paid around $200.00 per night for a room with a full size kitchen, living room/dining room combo with a pull out sofa and a bedroom with two huge beds. The hotel used to be apartments for State Dept employees so they are really huge. The decor is kinda old but really really clean. There is a restaurant in the hotel but we never tried it. Check out the DC forum on Trip Advisor. There are some major DC experts there that can help you with everything. Another hotel which is cheap and has good reviews (I never stayed  there) is the Americana. By the way, your feet are going to absolutely kill you. Make sure you bring very comfortable foot wear and bring pain medication and something to soak your feet in. I wish I was going. You are going to love it. Oh, if you go to the Spy Museum there is a Subway a block away where you can get the kids some cheap eats. Food in DC is very expensive but good. I was so happy when my nephew spotted Subway.  Also pretty much all of the museums allow you to bring food in so carry your own water, nuts, grapes, cheese sticks, crackers, etc for the kids to munch on. Like I said, food is very expensive. Also, like you I also like planning pretend vacations.