lynni

My boyfriend and I are taking my 14 year old son to a short trip of Washington DC and Richmond Virginia this week and I am planning my day in Washington DC and am locked into seeing Lincoln's Cottage at 10 am because I waited too long to purchase tickets. We are staying at the Americana hotel and planning to take the metro and circulator. I have a few specific questions but am happy for any additional hints you might have for me!

We arrive Friday evening at Reagan National at 9:30 PM and will take the metro or shuttle to the Americana. Would love to have a recommendation of nearby restaurants ( that you have enjoyed) that will be open after 10:00 PM. ( Because it will be dinner time for us, coming from CA.) Then we'll take the metro to the Capitol Mall to see the monuments at night and return to the hotel after.

In the morning, we'd like to see Arlington ( I need to check and see what time it opens) or the 911 Memorial at the Pentagon, which I understand is outside and accessible early in the am before it gets too hot. Will next head to our Lincoln's Cottage reservations at 10.

After that we would like to see Ford's theater ( tickets are still available most of the day), the National Portrait Gallery, the Francis Scott Key flag exibit at the Smithsonian Museum and Arlington if we didn't catch it in the early morning. Have tickets at 7 for the Nationals /Brewers game and we will go early to take the metro there.

Is this do able and in what order? My mind is swirling! Too much? Too little? Any and all recommendations and suggested highly appreciated!

Christina

When you say you want to see Arlington, you mean the cemetery, right? It opens at 8 am. How do you plan to get to Lincoln's Cottage? Easiest to do taxi or Uber. It's quite a hike from a metro stop, although there is a bus that goes near. But you don't have much time.

Sometimes I am tired after flying all day even when it doesn't seem logical because of the hour change. Your first day/night is really something, so I couldn't do it (going to dinner around 10:30 pm, then going to tour the Mall afterwards). But you can always see how you feel about that at the time.

There are lots of restaurants on 23rd St in Arlington which isn't right next to that hotel, but the only place around there I've eaten. There are several Thai and Italian restaurants, as well as sports bars. There's a fair Indian one (Taj) right near highway 1. I don't know of any of them open past 11, the one I liked (Greek-Athena Pallas) closes at 10.

Maybe someone else can think of something, here's a good list of all those in the area http://www.crystalcity.org/area/play/restaurants

I do really like Ted's Montana Grill. I've eaten at the other location, but it's probably same quality.
http://www.tedsmontanagrill.com/ There is one at 2200 Crystal Drive, but it's only open until 11 also, unfortunately. You'd have to find out if you can order at 10:30, I guess.

Are you aware your hotel is on a main highway? I don't know of any restaurants on that highway near your hotel. Ted's is over on Crystal Drive to the east, probably about a block north of 23rd, and your hotel is north of 15th. I'm not clear how you are going to do all this so late at night in that location (go to dinner and the metro isn't right next to the hotel, either). The metro isn't too far away (1/3 mile) but that's a major highway, not sure how you get to it.

sassy27

Ok, I'm not an expert on DC haven't been in years but I am going to be there this coming weekend too, starting next Friday. My friend has moved there for work so this is my first trip to visit her in the area. She gave me this link for restaurants http://www.ramw.org/restaurantweek as it is restaurant week.

I searched for some near your hotel and there aren't a lot but you might have some luck. You can make reservations through this website and some look to be as late as 11:30 pm (I think Epic Steakhouse might be near you). I've never eaten there but the link might be worth looking at and you can map it out for directions.

BetsyinKY

A tip about the Ford's Theatre tour…we were in DC two weeks ago and I bought tickets online for the tour. I paid the $5 for the audio tour, which was definitely worth the small cost, because the digital audio clips gave you so much more information than if you just wandered around. I noticed online that there are tickets timed on the hour and half hour. I randomly picked the 10am tour, which turned out to be a good thing. I didn't realize this from the website, but the ranger talks in the theatre occur around 40 minutes after the hour. This means that if you have on the hour tickets, you get 30-35 minutes to explore the museum in the basement, which has some really interesting exhibits about Lincoln's presidency, life in Washington at the time, plus the clothes Lincoln was wearing when he was shot and the gun that Booth used. If you have half hour tickets, you don't really get to explore the museum. It took us about 1.5 hours to visit by the time we explored the museum, sat through the ranger talk, and walked across the street to the house where Lincoln died (included in the ticket), which also has a nice museum attached to it.

longhorn55

1. I live fairly close to the Crystal City area where the Americana Hotel is located. Christina's link to the Crystal City restaurant should be helpful, but I can think of only two which would be open late enough for you to eat -- Jaleo (which is a little pricey and not a place most 14-year-olds would appreciate) and Chili's (with which you are probably familiar).

2. I would not recommend trying to visit Arlington National Cemetery before going to the Lincoln Cottage. You should allow at least 1.5 - 2 hours to visit the cemetery and since it doesn't open to the public until 8am, you just won't have time. You could go to the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon, however, since it is open 24/7.

3. Getting to the Soldiers Home (where the Lincoln Cottage is located) from the Pentagon Metro station requires a 20 minute Metro ride followed by a 20 minute walk OR a Metro ride, a bus ride and a shorter walk (which would take about 40 minutes). A cab or Uber ride would take about 25 - 30 minutes. So be sure to allow yourself enough time to get there for your 10am tour. If you plan to take Metro, you can see the routing and fares on the Trip Planner feature at www.wmata.com Enter "Soldiers Home" for the Lincoln Cottage.

4. You are probably going to have to prioritize your list of things to do after visiting Lincoln's Cottage. After the tour (which lasts 1 hour), you may want to see the exhibits in the museum which would take another 30 - 45 minutes, at least. Then you've got the journey back to the city or Arlington National Cemetery. So, I wouldn't plan on any activity before 1pm (or later, if you plan to eat lunch).

Ackislander

Detailed and useful answers like these are what makes Fodor's worth coming to (even if it might not be what we want to hear!)

Local knowledge, no snark! It doesn't get any better than this!

doug_stallings

I don't think you'll have time for everything on your list, but you can try. I'd probably drop the National Portrait Gallery and spend a bit more time in the Museum of American History. There are a lot of great things to see there and it's well worth your time. Just getting into the museum can take a while, and expect tourist crowds to be pretty heavy. I have a feeling you're not going to get nearly as far along in that list as you might have hoped.

obxgirl

... but I can think of only two which would be open late enough for you to eat -- Jaleo (which is a little pricey and not a place most 14-year-olds would appreciate) and Chili's (with which you are probably familiar).

There are other good restaurant options open late on Friday:

Good Stuff Eatery (gourmet burgers) open til 11
We The Pizza (same owner as above) open til 11
Kabob Palace - open 24/7, been around forever, and authentic turkish kabobs. It is my go to place for take out when I arrive late at Reagan from the west coast.

Jaleo is is on the pricier side but it is tapas so there's probably something there a 14 YO would like or tolerate. I know they have a burger slider plate. The menu is on line.

I think your actual issue is whether or not you can land at DC, drop you bags at the Americana, eat, and get downtown to the National Mall with enough time and energy to get something out the visit -- even given that you wil be on west coast time. (and I don't envy your west coast body clock trying to get to Lincoln's Cottage by 10 the next morning!)

If you do make the Friday night trip downtown, take the Blue Line to Foggy Bottom. When you come up the escalator you will be on 23rd Street. Go right until you get to Constitution Ave. and you will be at the National Mall. The Lincoln Memorial will be visible to you another block away. NPS Rangers are on duty until 11 or midnight and while the monuments & memorials are open afterwards, visitors tend to thin out after that.

One alternative: Go to the memorials after the baseball game Saturday night. The game should be over by 10 but if you leave the game early (sacrilege to some I know) you'll avoid some of the post game crowds on the train. Get off at the Smithsonian station. Walk towards the Washington Monument visiting the memorials until you get to the Lincoln. Head back to the Americana from the Foggy Bottom metro station.