Long Weekend in D.C.
 

Hi everyone - first time post for me. I'm taking my son to D.C. in May, and we will really only have three days there so I know we can't even begin to see everything. This is my plan though.

Day 1 (Sat) White House Visitor's Center, Mall (Tourmobile-good idea?), & Air and Space Museum.

Day 2 (Sun) Mt. Vernon (via Greyline?), Arlington (again, Tourmobile-good idea?).

Day 3 - (Mon) Tour of Capitol Building (already arranged), and whatever else we can see that day before we fly out at 4 pm.

I'm not sure if Tourmobile would be helpful in seeing the Mall or not(Obviously, I'm not sure how big the Mall really is). Also, is the Greyline thing OK for Mt. Vernon - will we get to see enough?

The mall is big but would be best seen by foot so you could stop ponder and look at your will. Depends how young your son is, but walking gets my vote.

Most of the narrators on the Tourmobile do a good job, but I cannot see doing it two days in a row. You could catch a Blue or Orange line from near the Whitehouse over towards Air & Space. Your son might like American History Museum too. (If you have time, check the Smithsonian Postal Museum too, next door to Union Station, a good stop for both the building and the food court downstairs). Maybe use Tourmobile one day or the other, but not both.

The Tourmobile has a lesser ticket price for JUST within Arlington Cemetary (would save a lot of walking if you're going to see Tomb of Unknown and Lee's Arlington House), or the full price ticket goes east of the Capitol. You could walk from Arlington to Lincoln, Viet, Korean, FDR, & Jefferson sites (we did) or take Tourmobile.

Like "Brando", I enjoy taking time, pondering, and I prefer to NOT stick with a set schedule, but to make the most of those things I do see.

After your tour of the Capitol, walk across the street and at least look at the outside of the Supreme Court and Library of Congress buildings. If you have time you can go inside, but since they are right there you should at least see them from the outside. The other thing I would try to fit in, which won't take much time, is the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They are a short walk from each other and you could even see them at night (in May it will be light out until about 8 or 8:30).

After the White House visitors Center, walk down Penn Ave to the Old post office pavillion. You can get a free ride up to the top of the tower for a great view of the city. There is usually no lines here. Also there is shops, atms located inside. I also think the tourmobile 2 days is a bit much unless u get a package or some kind of deal. its great to see all the monuments cuz it can be hard on your feet if you dont do much walking. The mall from the lincoln memorial to capitol is around 2 miles or so long and not all the memorials are on the mall. The blue line on the subway has a stop at arlington cemetary if thats where u want to go on sunday. its great to see the visitors center and JFK gravesite cuz its near the entrance, however if u want to see the tomb of the unknowns its can be quite a hike w/o being on the tourmobile. perhaps after your capitol tour you can check out the holocast musuem or american history museum.

The general Tourmobile is a good idea for an overview and if you don't want to do loads of walking between the sites --- it is over two miles from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, with many miles of museum corridors in between.
If you choose to go to Arlington Cemetery (whether you get there via the general Tourmobile, Metro, taxi, or on foot from the Lincoln Memorial), the separate Tourmobile tour there is really worthwhile for covering the highlights inside the hilly cemetery.
Also, I suggest you see the Air and Space Museum after your Capitol tour -- it is at the Capitol end of the Mall and will likely be less crowded on Monday than on the weekend.
Enjoy

Thanks for the responses. This is really helpful!