A few days in our nation's capitol...

One of the best things about living in Richmond is all that there is to do around us! Washington DC is only two hours away but we had yet to go there since having our youngest kiddo. While my husband and I have visited a bunch without kids this was only the second time with our oldest and first trip with our youngest child. Here's a lay out of how we got there, where we stayed, what we did and more importantly, what not to do!

Travel:

As DC is only 2 hours away (2 hours with no traffic, which to be fair, is rare) we decided to drive. You can also take the Amtrak train from Richmond which we definitely plan to try in the future. If you are coming from the south on 95 and have an ez pass you can utilize the ez pass express lanes which cuts out ALOT of traffic. The north bound lanes are open Monday through Friday until 11 and the ez pass lane for southbound traffic opens at 1. (The weekend schedules are completely different and largely meant to benefit those leaving DC for the weekend and returning on sunday.) We got lucky and timed it perfectly which helped us make the trip in 2 hours. You can also fly as there are two major airports. If you are flying into Dulles and don't want to rent a car, you can actually take the metro (DC's fast train/subway system) into the city!

Stay:

We stayed at the Ritz Carlton, Washington, D.C. this trip. This is our first time staying at this hotel but we have stayed at the Ritz properties in Georgetown and Pentagon City. This one like the others was exceptional! We stayed in a suite which had a separate bedroom and a pullout couch. This was perfect and more than enough space for our family of 4. Having a separate bedroom is ideal so that way my husband and I aren't going to bed at 7pm like the kids (though most nights we didn't last much longer!). I loved staying in this part of the city as it felt less touristy and a little more quiet/relaxed. There were lots of coffee shops and restaurants within walking distance. Our hotel was 1-2 miles from the national mall and museums, attractions. We walked one day and took the metro the other days. If you want to avoid the train or driving (which I highly suggest avoiding driving and attempting to park), there are many hotel options closer to the museums. We have stayed at the JW Marriott on Pennsylvania Ave before and it too was wonderful AND within walking distance to everything!

Food:

OK, so here's the thing about traveling with kids, things will never go according to plan so always be flexible! (If you're a parent you probably already know that.) We had a dinner reservation each night we were there and actually only went to one. We ate at Bourbon Steak in Georgetown which was about a 10 min walk from our hotel, in the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel. It was good but ridiculously overpriced. (They did have a kids menu with quite a few options.) I much preferred a place we tried on our last trip, Il Canale in Georgetown, an Italian place with great pizza! The other two nights we were all so exhausted that going out seemed like far too much work so we ordered room service instead. However, one restaurant that is a DC staple is Old Ebbit Grill. I was disappointed we didn't make our reservation but I highly recommend (and they are kid friendly).

Fun:

Like most major cities, there is so much to do!! We stayed 4 full days, 3 nights and felt like we saw most everything that we wanted to see but could have definitely stayed a full week. Here are the highlights:

• Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Air and Space museum located in Chantilly, VA near Dulles, about 30 min from the city) was absolutely amazing. My kids loved all the jets, planes, and helicopters on display. The highlight is the space shuttle Discovery, along with the various satellites/rockets/rovers, etc on display. We liked this version of Air and Space so much better than the location on the national mall. Also no entry passes are required unlike the other museum.

• Natural History Museum was where we started our second day. There was a line when we arrived at 9:45am to get in (most Smithsonian museums open at 10am). There's so much to see inside, the highlight here was the Dinosaur exhibit; our whole family loved it. It was very crowded even though we got there at opening so it was hard to get close to some exhibits. My kids weren't super into the animal portion so we breezed through that fairly quickly. There is a really cool insect exhibit upstairs - both my boys are fascinated by bugs. If this is something your kids might be into as well I would advise doing that first if you arrive right at 10am. The exhibits are smaller so if it's less crowded you can probably see a lot more than we were able to.

• American History Museum was quite the surprise favorite. We got there around 11am and there was no line to get in (unlike the Archives and History Museum which both had lines that wrapped around the block). My kids loved the transportation exhibits and entertain exhibits. We also were able to swing by the Star Spangled Banner. Looking back I wish we would have been able to spend more time here as we all really enjoyed this museum.

• Air and Space Museum was our second museum stop after American History. You must get an entry pass and it is timed entry. Our time was 1pm and we did wait in line for 5-10 min and entered a few minutes before our scheduled time. So they are doing some major renovations at this museum and a big chunk of it is closed, including the IMAX (much to my husband's disappointment). I think we were all a little disappointed with this museum after spending time at the Udvar-Hazy location. The exhibits were much smaller and involved more reading. Until the renovations are done I would recommend skipping this one if you have little ones under 5. Elementary and older would probably enjoy this more.

• On our last morning in DC we went the the National Zoo. It's a must see for kids (and adults!!) of any age. There's a lot of walking so bring a stroller. An entry pass is required though you can enter at any time. It opens at 8am and we arrived at 9am which was perfect as it wasn't crowded at all. My kids loved the elephant exhibit and watching the orangutans climb right over our heads! You can take the metro to the zoo (it's like a 10 min walk from the stop) or reserve a parking pass.

• A must if you have good weather is walking around the national mall! It's beautiful and really cool to check out all the monuments and memorials. My kids enjoyed this more that I thought too. They loved walking up the steps to the Lincoln memorial, chasing ducks and squirrels near the Reflecting pool and were very impressed by all the fountains at the WWII memorial.

• Other places worth visiting are the National Archives, Gallery of Art and National Portait Gallery. It might be hit or miss whether your kids enjoy it, but worth a visit. As all Smithsonian museums are free, it doesn't matter whether you spend 10 min there or 3 hours! I've had friends visit the Spy Museum as well and definitely recommend checking that out if you have kids that are middle or high school age. If you have extra time, also recommend Arlington cemetery and the Botanic Gardens.

A few other things worth noting:

• The metro is a great way to get around the city. It feels safe and is very easy to navigate. We downloaded the Smarttrip app on our phones which made it even easier to hop on and off.

• The Ubers in DC have a car seat option as well! It only comes with one car seat so we weren't able to utilize this service but such a good option for getting around. Again, I do not recommend driving or trying to find parking.

• Bring a stroller!!! Even my 5 year old got tired of walking and ended up riding quite a bit (definitely recommend the Veer wagon for traveling).

• There was so much more that we could have done or seen this trip. But know that traveling with kids, sometimes it's good to build in rest periods. One to two museums or trips a day was more than enough for my two kids. Any more than that and I feel that we all would have been exhausted and cranky.
  

Please comment with any questions or feedback, including your own recommendations!!!