I think the American Indian musuem building outshines the musuem itself. I have never been I pressed within. Have u been to the Newseum! Not free, but a great musuem.

If the Nationals keep it going, should be very fun games.

and yes, late Sept is generally lovely weather in DC.

Yes, we went to the Newseum last year and really enjoyed it. Its on our list of backups for this year too.

Nationals have been a great team so far (thankfully as I have a lot of them on my Fantasy Baseball Teams). I really enjoy that stadium and am glad for the team and city.

Where is your hotel - I may have some recs regarding restaurants/cafes/bars....

Its the Americana in Crystal City again. We will take any recommendations.

Thanks

I tend to agree with yestravel that the Museum of the American Indian' holdings are less impressive than the building. But hey, like all the Smithsonian museums, it's free, so you could stop in, perhaps during your monument walk or after the White House Tour, and move on if it doesn't grab you. I love this kind of thing, so I am usually happy in there for an hour or so.

A word about the WH tour: it's very, very short. Just FYI.

Like you, I love the Portrait Gallery. Other ideas: the Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle, or the Sackler (Asian art) on the Mall.

Or how about historic homes/gardens? Dumbarton Oaks, at the tippy top of Georgetown, is lovely, and you'd see a different neighborhood on the way. Tudor Place is right around the corner and also worth a stop and a tour.

We realize that about the WH tour. Its more just to say we have been in the WH. With this being our 4th trip, we figured it was time to do it.

Oh, I think it's absolutely worth it! You're right, it's a must-do. I overheard one person in our group say "gee, that's it?," and I understood what he meant as I recall the extensive WH tours one used to get, waaay back in the eighties. But I enjoyed the recent, short one we took; even the security rigamarole made me feel solemn and privileged. Enjoy!

No eating/drinking help for hotel area so will rec based on itinerary instead:

Friday/Monday/Tuesday:

Near the White House (1 block)for breakfast or lunch - http://www.breadline.com/

Near to both Art Museum & Portrait Gallery - http://www.jaleo.com/ and/or http://www.oyamel.com/(for longer meal) or http://www.paul-usa.com/ at 8th & Penn. Ave. for quick in/out) Jaleo also has a Crystal City location...

General places close to Metro and worth a trip:
http://dukemrestaurant.com/ (1 block to U St. Metro stop)
http://www.thepigdc.com/ (5 blocks to Dupont Metro stop)

Near Capitol Steps performance (i.e. the Ronald Reagan bldg):
http://www.centralmichelrichard.com ($$)
http://www.lepainquotidien.us/ @ 10th & F ($)

Near to Nationals Stadium:
Nothing - Metro to somewhere else 8th St. near Eastern Market Metro or U st near U St. Metro or 7th St. near Gallery Place Metro...

If you are going to Baltimore, go early and see the National Aquarium by the Inner Harbor. It is within walking distance of Camden Yards.

I love the design of the American Indian Museum building, but I was not impressed with the exhibits inside. There were many exhibits in which the items did not have signs or tags explaining what they were. Instead, you had to go to a nearby computer screen and look at the replica of the exhibit on the screen to see the description of the item. That was very off-putting to me.

American Indian Museum- gorgeous building and great food (although pricey for a museum cafeteria) but boring (and I love Native American history and crafts). I concur on the recommendation for the Sackler if you like Asian art. The Freer is great for Asian art too, plus they have the Whistlers. The US Botanical Garden is also fun for an hour or so.

If you like Udvar Hazy, you should come to DC in May one year for the Joint Service Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base, just east of DC. http://jsoh.org/ I'm not all that interested in planes and it was incredibly cool. My DH, Navy pilot's son and plane lover, is in heaven!

In Crystal City, Cafe Pizzaiolo is excellent for thin crust, brick oven style pizza. I love the grana padano and arugula. The owners are a very nice young couple. If you want to splurge, the Ruth's Chris in Crystal City is excellent, with gorgeous views of the Potomac and National Airport. There is also a Jaleo in Crystal City for tapas.

Crystal City is a 10 dollar taxi ride to my neighborhood, just south down Route 1- Del Ray, Alexandria. We have a cute, walkable main street, Mt Vernon Avenue, and lots of good restaurants, from BBQ to gourmet tacos, including our own fancy cheese shop, Cheesetique, and the Dairy Godmother, our frozen custard shop.

Have a great trip!

If you decide to go to Balitmore check out The American Visionary Museum. It is at the foot of Federal Hill just off the Inner Harbor. It took me about 2 hours to see the whole museum. I found it more interesting than the Aquarium but the Aquarium is very nice.

This place is within walking distance of the Americana - maybe half a mile? Obxgirl recommended it to us last year and we loved it. http://www.kabobpalaceusa.com/

Lee Ann

Thanks for all the great recommendations. Will make for some interesting decisions.

Just saw that there is a wine-tasting (Grapes with the Apes) at the Zoo the night we get there. We may rearrange our schedule to go to that. May just come down to how much time we get at the zoo beforehand - realizing we have to go to the hotel first.

If you do get your White House tour, read the fine print. Briefly: It's not the same as the security even at the Capitol, where you can check in your camera etc before watching the House or Senate in action. There is nowhere to check anything. And not even a small purse such as a teen girl would wear is allowed.

Just bought our Brewers @ Nationals tickets for the Friday night game. We ended up with the same exact seats as last year. Straight away CF and 2 rows off of the Field. This is right in front of the Red Porch Restaurant. More importantly, its close to the Exit and to Metro...Nationals Park has become 1 of my favorite places to see a game and with such a great young team, I cannot wait for the game.

5alive, thanks for the reminder about the fine print about the WH tour. Thats why we hadn't done it but my feeling is that at 1 point, you need to bite the bullet and do it. Depending on what time we get, we may use the lockers at the Portrait Gallery or check a bag at Union Station. Alternatively, I may just end up buying a disposable camera that day to use at the Museum and at the stadium.

Sorry for the double-post. For the Capitol Steps at the Ronald Reagan Building, are there any seats to avoid or are they all good?

Those are all good solutions to the bag storage problem. I felt like on our first visit we should go if we could get a spot, given that are opportunities are slim. We actually really enjoyed our tour. We found that the staff were more than happy to answer questions as we walked through.

There is a fairly decent souvenir shop quite near the exit of the White House, and they MAY have disposable cameras there. Not sure.

They just released the prices for the Wine Tasting at the Zoo and it is more than we wanted to spend (as I had anticipated). We are back to going to the game on Thursday night and again on Friday night. Just bought cheap seats for Thursday night.

Probably wise to skip the zoo. My family ended up going to the zoo without me because I wasn't feeling well. My husband drove and thought it was probably a hike from either metro stop. The main reason to go is the pandas.

Going to the Library of Congress and just looking around on your own would be a relaxed thing to do instead of the zoo.

Just a note on National Archives--you had mentioned at the outset that it was too much for a relaxed trip. Have you already been? If you haven't gone, just seeing the main three documents takes about a half hour. Also, one of the few copies of the Magna Carta is in a case right nearby. If you book a timed entrance, this is not necessarily a major time investment.

The kids went to the Video Game exhibit while I held down the blanket on the 4th of July. They really enjoyed it. I think there may also be a Matthew Brady exhibit (the Civil War photographer) going in the same building which they did not find.

5alive, we went to the National Archives in February and really enjoyed it. Thats why its not on this list.

LOC is a hopeful for Monday morning.

We have been to the Zoo a few times but had read about the wine tasting so thats why it was an option.

5alive, I can see why they missed the Matthew Brady exhibit. Its on the Portrait Gallery side of the building. This museum was on our "Maybe List" on our first trip to DC and we ended up there on our first day. It was a highlight of our trip but its easy to get turned around and be in the opposite museum.

This museum should be a must-see for visitors to DC especially with how great of a building that it is in.

In regards to the White House tour, my tour was first thing in the morning so I left everything back at my hotel and went back for it after. While on the tour there were several people taking pictures with their cell phone. Nobody stopped them. If I remember correctly, the literature you receive at the door states that you can take pictures. I was very disappointed.

Then they were lucky. We were told that we could call my husband to tell him he could still come on the tour, but if they saw us taking pictures they would take our phone. I had a camera that I was not allowed to bring on the tour.

At the end, as we walked out the door, the guards told us, you can take pictures of the front of the house. But without my camera and the shade it was a challenge to get a decent shot with a cell phone.

Btw, the guards at the National Archives announced that all cell phones and cameras need to go away, and if they saw a cell phone in anyone's hand they would take it and fine them $600.

Tchoiniere, glad you had done Archives. I would have liked to make it to the American Art Museum, but they were done with that by the time we traded places. We went on the trip with the approach that we wanted the kids to have some good memories and we would be back again some day.

I know when I'm by myself I will do all the art museums in DC. I really wanted to see the Phillips Collection up by Dupont Circle as well, but it didn't happen either.

5alive, thats a great way to look at it. Its how we started after our first trip to DC and are now close to our 4th trip. Its become tricky to balance new stuff with just outright repeating everything (especially since our first trip, a friend of mine had a broken leg and skipped a lot).

We just bought our tickets for the Thursday night game - Dodgers (for my 3rd time this year) @ Nationals. Got them for $10 apiece but are first row of the 3rd deck in the LF Corner. This trip is becoming more and more all about baseball as we may add a 3rd game and a Nationals Park tour on...We may see the Nationals clinch the division with how close to the end of the season that it is.

Our White House tour was finally confirmed for 7:30 Friday morning...Hopefully the Thursday night game is a quick game so we can get back to the hotel to crash early. Our intentions are to go to the WH then circle back to the hotel and grab our cameras. We will have time to do this as our plans are to go to the Portrait Gallery that day which opens late. Depending on our turnaround time at the hotel, we may try to sneak into the Air and Space Museum at the Mall for an hour or so for just a few highlights as we are going to Udvar Hazy too (mainly Spirit of St Louis, etc). Or we may just hurry back to go to Paul or the Corner Bakery for breakfast.

We also bought Capitol Steps tickets for Saturday night at the Ronald Reagan Building which I am looking forward to.

Its going to be a busy trip.

tchoiniere, Just ot help you plan, the White House tour only takes about an hour, including security. Your trip back to your hotel will be during rush hour.

tchoiniere, when did you "apply" for the White House tour?

Gardendiva, i realize that but we have no choice....

Sf, we applied back in March or so

Some of you may remember a few years before my first trip to DC, a friend of mine that was going broke his leg and it slowed us down (http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/trip-report-washington-dc-for-red-sox-games.cfm)

Combine that with me hurting my left knee while in Chicago the year before, we always laughed. Yesterday, the 3 of us were playing Frisbee Golf and my friend threw the frisbee completely ignoring the tree next to him (Arm vs tree, tree usually wins) and smashed his arm against the tree. We finished the round and then his arm swelled up. He broke his arm and is having a pin put in today. Obviously this isn't going to hinder him walking but its just laughable at this point how 1 of us is always getting hurt.

The National Postal Museum is right next to Union Station.
It is one of the Smithsonian museums not visited as much as some of the others. http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1a_visiting.html
I have even walked from Union station past the Senate office buildings to the Capitol building (and back).
If you can't get the tickets to an Orioles game, you can go see the Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium. Camden Yards is within walking distance of the Inner Harbor.

Tom, Baltimore is not on the agenda for this trip as we spread our itinerary for DC out over the whole time. As much as I love the Inner Harbor, we just couldn't fit it in.

Looking at the forecast, its going to be a great weekend in DC. I hit a football pool for $300 so its already been a great week. Tomorrow cannot come soon enough.

Have a great trip, tchoiniere, and report back! Speedy recovery to your friend after his collision with a tree...

The weather today is great. I hope it stays that way for your trip.

tchoiniere, I just realized that I did not finish my thought. You may want to grab breakfast or go to the Air and Space Museum before going back to your hotel. That way you will not be on the Metro at rush hour.

What ever you do have fun and be careful. LOL

They just had some terrible weather in the area. Let's hope that is over with for awhile.

Just got back to the hotel from the Nationals game. What a game!!! Got to see them clinch the first playoff birth for a DC team since 1933. We had a blast. Few beers at the Red Porch then up to our seats. Decent crowd tonight but way too many people left before the end of the game when it was clear the team was going to clinch. This makes me sick being a Sox fan who will not leave early.

1 thing I found at Union Station today was the SmartTrip dispenser was not accepting Credit Cards nor $20 bills. Had to throw a $10 in then go to another dispenser to add value to it. Talking with a Metro employee there, they said that this is a common issue and being rectified but no timetable. More of a nuisance than anything.

That is so awesome you got to go to a fun game!

I wasn't really a fan of the Metro ticketing or scheduling. The trains themselves were great.

For the White House Tour...we took just wallets and our iphones. NO pictures allowed inside, and we were told we had to be ON THE DRIVEWAY, not even under the porte cochere (fancy carport), before we took out our iphones. Fortunately, there were plenty of nice people hanging around willing to take our pictures right there. Those pictures are the ones more people are impressed with.

On our trip, we took over 700 pictures! We deleted the total crap ones, hid the "meh" ones, and cropped/adjusted the good ones. About 250 pictures resulting. About 100 of them REALLY good!

Want some irony? I always try to advise people not too pack too much into their trips. Then I tey to pack a Whote House tour, Portrait Gallery and Art Museum and Air & Space plus a ballgame into 1 day...thankfully beer prevailed at District Chophouse and we skipped the Air Museum for now...am back at ballpark now. Audibles coming tomorrow due to forecast

You might have enjoyed the game more if you had left before the 9th inning.