gracie

Arrive in Baltimore Thursday (8/4) around 8:15 pm via Southwest. Pick up rental car and drive to Homewood Suites on Mass Avenue.
Friday morning--line up to get tickets to Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Is 8:15 am early enough to get tickets? Try to visit the National Portrait Gallery.
Friday afternoon -- Take a tour around DC. Probably do a hop on/hop off but will stay on to do the entire loop at least once.
Friday evening -- Maybe do one of the Monuments at Night Tour.
Saturday morning -- tickets for the Capitol tour at 9:15 am. Visit the Museum of American History, old Post Office.
Sunday morning - drive to Quantico for the Marine Corp Museum, then back to Baltimore for our 3:00 pm flight.
This is DH first trip to DC. I have been three times. We are in our mid 50's and can walk some but are not in great shape.
Appreciate any suggestions.

gracie

Just found out that we need to tour Marine Corp Museum on Friday afternoon. ALthough the main museum is open daily, we also want to tour the Raider Museum, and we think it is only open week days. My brother's father-in-law was a member of Edson's raiders and FIL in still living. We really want to honor him by visiting this particular museum.

pupchic

A few quick thoughts - Arlington Cemetery should not be missed for any first-timer. If you haven't been to the Holocaust Museum, it's a must...extremely sobering and an absolutely amazing place. It's probably too late to get a WH tour, but maybe worth a try. The old Smithsonian is fantastic. The monuments at night a must - my favorite has always been the Jefferson Memorial. I guess it all depends on your interests. If you can expand, I might be able to advise...lived there for over 10 years.

longhorn55

1. You might want to get in line for BEP tickets earlier than 8:15 am. It's still the busy tourist season here and you might encounter a lot of people wanting tickets on a Friday.

2. I would drive out to Quantico and the Marine Corps Museum as soon as you finish your BEP tour (which hopefully you can do early in the morning). It will take you a minimum of 1 hour to drive to the museum from D.C. and you could easily spend 3 hours or more there. The earlier you go out there and the earlier you can return to D.C., the less likely you are to get caught in traffic. (You will be driving against the main direction of traffic, but on summer Fridays you will encounter a lot of people heading in both directions.)

Since the Portrait Gallery is open until 7pm, you could visit it after you get back from Quantico.

NewbE

May I quibble about the Old Post Office? Is there something there that draws you, particularly? It's true you can get a nice view from the top, but it is otherwise not really a major attraction.

mrwunrfl

There aren't any tickets available for the Friday night Evening Parade at the Marine Corps Barracks but they do admit some people who wait in line. I suppose these admissions are made to take the place of ticketed people who are no-shows.

The line starts at 6:45PM and the parade is at 8:45 PM. it doesn't sound like you would want to wait in line for 2 hours in the DC heat to MAYBE get to see the parade, but given your interest in the Marines I thought I would mention this.

If you are interested, there is info here:
http://www.marines.mil/unit/barracks...etParades.aspx

Christina

I'm not clear on the old Post Office item, either, but maybe you were just throwing something in around there if you had time. It's just a place with a bunch of cheap fast food places in it (I was eating at one of them once with a friend when a rat ran over her foot, ugh). Yes, the building itself is historic and a landmark from the outside, but not sure what you want to see in it that would take any time. I guess you can go up the tower if you want.

From your interests, if you have extra time, I would suggest the Archives, it's not far from there. I would think that a real highlight (I love going in there).

gracie

Thank you for all your suggestions.
Was including Old Post Office because I had read on Fodor's to see the view from there, as opposed to the Washington Monument.
As far as itinerary, I think we will follow longhorn55's suggestion to get in line early for BEP tickets, then immediately after the tour (assuming we get tickets) drive to Quantico. Since we will be leaving from BEP to drive to Quanitco, it makes sense to go ahead and get the car out. Is there any parking near BEP?

gracie

I think I have answered my own question by going online to see the parking situation nearby. So, while there IS parking, and if we leave our hotel @6:45 am, will we likely FIND available parking, and will be in line early enough to get tickets to BEP?
Also, driving to DC from Baltimore airport -- mapquest takes one route and the directions from Homewood Suites another route. Southwest flight arrives in Baltimore at 8:15 pm, then have to collect luggage and pick up rental car. What do you think is the best route to DC for us at that time of night? Thanks again for your help.

vjpblovesitaly

Mapquest gives me the same directions as the hotel website.

gracie

Hmm. When I plugged in the addresses on mapquest, Mapquest sent me on Maryland 295. The hotel website says to take I-395 South. Maybe I am doing something wrong??

gracie

Let me just add something else. Since this is DH's first trip to DC, I am trying to accomodate his wish list more than mine. His "must see" items are the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, The Marine Corp Museum, the Capitol, Arlington Cemetary, and the monuments. I would like to tour the National Portrait Gallery and the Museum of American History. I understand we cannot see much else in the short amount of time we will be there. Hopefully, we can visit DC again and tour the White House, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Supreme Court, Georgetown, The Holocaust Museum, and more museums.

sf7307

gracie, I was curious, so I tried it on Mapquest too and got the I-295. route...but looking at the Homewood Suites site, it also says to take I-295 from BWI (395 is from Reagan).

vjpblovesitaly

http://homewoodsuites1.hilton.com/en.../directions.do

gracie

I must be losing it. I re-looked at the directions on Homewood Suites website and I don't know how I missed it. Maybe I need a break.

obxgirl

The wrench in your works, and I realize it's a must see, is visiting Quantico on a summer Friday or Saturday when the trek down I95 is more maddening than normal. Me? I'd go to Quantico on Saturday after seeing the Capitol. You'll have beach traffic and the normal cluster volume on I95 but not commuters. You can always flip to Route 1 South which isn't a pretty drive but normally moves. There is an entrance to the Marine Corps museum off of Rt 1.

Otherwise, Friday morning, I'd grab coffee and walk from the Homewood Suites down 14th St to the BEP (30 min amble) to queue for BEP tickets. Alternate: 5 ish minute walk to from the hotel to McPherson Sq metro to Smithsonian and 5 ish minute walk to the BEP. I don't quite get the value of moving your car from paid hotel parking to paid parking near the BEP (which is where?) when you're really not saving yourselves enough time to matter for the trip to Quantico. Cab or metro back to the hotel and drive to Quantico.

Consider seeing Arlington Cemetery on Sunday morning. It opens at 8 am and would be a very easy drive from your hotel early on a weekend day. You can see a bit and still have plenty of time to get back to your hotel, check out and head to BWI.

You are a good person for trying to make sure your husband gets to see what is important to him on a first visit. Taking the Quantico leg out would greatly simplify things but you gotta do what you gotta do.

have_to_research

We recently went to DC and did a night time monuments/memorials tour through Bike the Sites - Bike and Roll. It was awesome and I would highly recommend. The tour guides were so good and it was a great way to get around to all the monuments/memorials more quickly than walking.

kja

If at all possible, avoid renting a car for the majority of your stay. I can't imagine it being anything other than a costly and frustrating liability! Maybe you can rent a car just for your last day (Quantico and BWI)?

obxgirl

If your husband is a marine, don't miss Iwo Jima and the Netherlands Carrillion which is adjacent but not connected to Arlington Cemetery. There are frequent summer concerts and ceremonies there. Don't know the dates/times but the info should be easily found on line. The view of Washington from the carrillion is stunning, particularly at sunset and at night.

NewbE

<Was including Old Post Office because I had read on Fodor's to see the view from there, as opposed to the Washington Monument.>
That makes perfect sense, and it's true. I guess I'd advise not to make it a must-see over the monuments and other things on your list.