Best things to see in DC

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lswhitecivic

Senior Member
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I'll be visiting my family's lake house in western Virginia May 6th-14th and then will be DC from noon of the 14th through the evening of the 17th.

Having never been to DC before, its seems there's an overload of things to see. For those of you that have been there what are your favorite sites to see?

I tried to schedule tours of the White House and Capital building through our state representative, but those were already booked.

Here's the list of places I'd like to go:

National Archives
Capital Building
Air & Space Museum
National Museum of Natural History
National Museum of American History
Washington Monument
Lincoln Memorial
Library of Congress
World War II Memorial
Jefferson Memorial
Marine Corps War Memorial
National Spy Museum
Holocaust Museum

As you can see I need to get this cut down as I can't imagine I'll be able to see all this.

Also someone mentioned to me that the DC Duck tours are great. Anyone have any experience on those?
 
Vietnam memorial
4-vietnam-memorial.jpg
 
I've been to DC a few times. I think the top 5 would be
Vietnam memorial
spy museum
holocaust museum
air&space museum
and leave DC for a bit and go to Arlington national cemetery

there's not a lot to do at the lincoln or Jefferson memorials... can be seen in a half hour or less. i don't recall the marine memorial, but it's likely a statue/similar quick pass event.

the library wasn't open when we went. renovations or something so i can't say if its worth it or not.

Washington monument is just a 'view' opp, there's nothing really in it (is it even open now?)
 
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I thought this was pretty cool.
tmp_32424-2015-04-30 14.57.432064536346.jpg

You can probably see all the museums at the Smithsonian in a day as well as the reflecting pond, Lincoln memorial and a bunch of the other memorials as they are all really close. That's what I did.
 
Alright if that's the case maybe we will be able to see most stuff. I was thinking each of the main Smithsonian museums could need an entire day to see.

I figured some of the memorials are pretty much just a photo op session so that does help.

Marine memorial is the Iwo Jima statue.
 
I spent the most time in the air and space museum. I admit I didn't go to all of the museums but I went to a few that peaked my interest and some that I picked at random. I walked everywhere which wasn't bad but it is spread out a little so be prepared. The memorials are pretty much just photo ops unless you are searching for something in particular. I didn't spend the entire day which is why I said you can probably see everything in a day, I guess it just depends on how long you spend in each one. It might be a little difficult if you're the one that likes to sit and watch all of the videos and read every plaque.
 
The museums are time depended on the person.

Think of a shopping mall, a man might browse a bunch of random shit and be done with 5 stores in about 15 minutes. a woman might browse every single rack in every single store and those same 5 stores takes 3 hours.

Museums are the same way, if they peak your interest they can take a long time, if its just a quick walk thru you'll be done in no time.

Spy museum isn't free FYI, not a bad place to check out if you are into spy stuff its worth checking out. I forget what we paid to get in.
 
it's worth it. cool james bond type shit in there.
 
Yeah, my gf went to the spy museum and thought it was the best part of her trip.
 
I'll definitely go the spy museum. I figure I'm probably going to be holding us up at the museums more than my wife. I don't stand around and read all the plaques, but if I see something super interesting I can definitely get held up for a little while.
 
DC zoo is free if you feel like checking out some animals.
 
DC zoo is free if you feel like checking out some animals.

Be warned that if you come in from the Metro, the Zoo is all downhill. Which means you get to walk back up the hill to get back to the metro. The 7-11 there across the street is a nice place to stop after that uphill hike though.
 
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