My husband and I are taking my parents to Gettysburg this September (we all live in Minnesota and this will be the first trip east for my parents). Dad is 80 and Mom is 77. Walking will be an issue. We plan on spending 4 to 5 days in the area and we are thinking of heading to Washington DC for a day. Is there a train to DC from Gettysburg or somewhere near there? Are there DC bus tours once we get there?

I am fairly fearless when it comes to driving but I am not familiar with DC. Am I crazy to think I can drive in DC if public transportation is not an option?

Any ideas or suggestions will be much appreciated.

There is no train from Gettysburg. The easiest way is to drive, but then you will pay quite a bit for parking in DC.

Why are you centering your trip in Gettysburg? You should center your trip in DC and stay awhile. What do you imagine seeing in a day trip? You could walk around to the monuments but that would be a bit much for your parents. There are lots of day tour options to the monuments from the hop on/hop off bus type ones to escorted tours but they all require a lot of walking.

I think you and your parents can have a great day trip from Gettysburg to D.C.
Since you are "fearless" when it comes to driving, you'll do fine driving yourself to D.C., which is about a 2-hour drive from Gettysburg. I'd recommend driving to Union Station and parking there. See the following site for driving directions and parking rates at Union Station: http://www.unionstationdc.com/about.aspx

From Union Station, you can pick up a hop on/hop off bus tour that will take you around the monuments/sights of D.C. It takes around 2 - 2.5 hours to see the D.C. sites from the bus if you don't get off anywhere.
You have several choices, but the two most popular are:
Tourmobile -- www.tourmobile.com
Old Town Trolleys -- www.trolleytours.com

Note: If you want to tour Arlington National Cemetery, you can get there on Old Town Trolleys, but you will then have to buy a ticket for the Tourmobile tour of the cemetery as Tourmobile is the only tour bus in the cemetery. If you go to Arlington National Cemetery, you will definitely want to do a tourbus since it's hilly and it's a long distance between the major sites (Kennedy Gravesite, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, etc.)

I don't imagine you will want to go far for lunch. All of the museums have some sort of food court/cafe, but when we go museum hopping on the Mall, we like to eat at the National Gallery of Art where you can choose from several cafes. We find the food here fresher/more appetizing than the fast food found in the other museums. (We like the Cascade Cafe, which is somewhat like a food court in that you have a lot of choices of food.) You can check their menus at: http://www.nga.gov/ginfo/cafes.shtm
The cafe at the Musuem of the American Indian also gets good reviews, but I understand it serves mostly Native American-type food which may or may not appeal to your parents. http://www.nmai.si.edu/subpage.cfm?s...=dc&third=plan
Finally, if you are planning to tour the battlefield at Gettysburg, I highly recommend that you arrange for a tour with a Licensed Battlefield Guide. These guides will drive your car and give you a personal tour geared to what you want to see (and they will take into consideration any mobility issues of your parents as well.) These tours can be arranged at the Gettyburg National Military Park Visitor's Center or online. See the following for more information: http://www.gettysburgtourguides.org/

We loved our trip to Gettysburg but IMO 2 days is enough. We drove around the Battleground and Little Round Top. Harper's Ferry is close but you park at the State Park and a bus takes you into town. You then walk until taking the bus back to your car and it might be to much for your parents. I think I would spend more time in DC and less in Gettysburg.

If your parents (or you) are real Civil War buffs, you might also drive to Antietam.

Just FYI--the cafe at the Native American Museum has become our family's favorite place to eat on the Mall. They have a large cafeteria with many choices, varied cuisine--something for everyone. Very fresh food.

Are you coming to DC on a weekday or weekend?? It is much easier to drive into the downtown area/Union Station on a weekend. If on a weekday, I'd recommend taking public transport part of the way. An alternative to driving all the way into Union Station would be to drive into one of the suburban metro stops near 270 and take the Metro into town. Shady Grove RD stop in Rockville has a large garage; best to arrive early to ensure a spot.

There is also a MARC commuter train from Frederick, MD that goes directly to Silver Spring Metro, on the red line. So, you could drive to Frederick, take the MARC, then Metro into the city. MARC only runs on weekdays (M-F). This is a bit more complicated though since you asked about public transport, I'm including it here.

If it were me, I'd drive to Shady Grove and take the Metro into the city, especially if coming on a weekday.

Once downtown, there is a bus that does a loop of the Mall for only $1.00 (.50 for seniors)--DC Circulator. You can pay a lot more for one of the other "tours" but this will take you where you want to go on the Mall, and it runs frequently.

http://dc.about.com/od/transportatio...culatorBus.htm

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I would prefer to spend more time in DC than Gettysburg but I am outnumbered. We are planning to visit a couple more Civil War battlegrounds while staying in Gettysburg - Antietam included.

When I threw out the idea of DC since it is fairly close, my Dad liked the idea so I am trying to accomodate him and keep Mom and husband happy who are not so keen about DC. I guess the one day excursion made everyone happy.

I love coming to these forums because I know I'll gain good inforamtion from people in the know. Thanks again.

You might want to remind the Civil War buffs about all the related sights in DC - the Ford Theater, Robert E. Lee's mansion in the center of Arlington Cemetery (including the original Union soldier graves surrounding the mansion which were the beginning of the cemetery). The advice about the Shady Grove metro stop is spot-on. Easy access from 270 with good parking.