As a follow up to my question about amusement parks near DC, I am wondering if we should be planning to spend the night in Baltimore on the night of an Orioles game or is it reasonable to think we can get back to our hotel in DC at a reasonable hour. We are planning on a night game with a 7:00 start time. Assuming the game gets over at 10:30 we'd like to be back at the hotel no later than midnight. Is this reasonable? Also what time would we have to leave DC in order to get to the game with time to walk around the park and enjoy the atmosphere given the infamous Beltway traffic? I'm thinking sometime between 3 and 3:30? How long a drive would it be without traffic? Assume we are staying in Foggy Bottom.

Thanks for your help.

I think you will be fine. Even in the worst traffic, you don't need more than two hours to get to Camden Yards. Leaving at 3:30 will probably get you there by 5, which means you will have to kill two hours at in the Inner Harbor. And the way back should only take about an hour and 15 minutes.

You can also take the commuter train to get to the game and take a bus back to DC, which will save you the traffic issues and driving on the 95.

The commuter train you want is MARC. You would want to take the "Camdem Yards" line, which travels from Washington's Union Station to the Yards.
I don't have url handy, but do a search on MARC + train and you should locate it.

Thanks for the quick responses. The game is not for 6 months but its never too early to plan. ;-0. I'm sure my husband will prefer to drive.

Will your husband be persuaded not to drive by the fact that taking the train/bus lets you avoid most of the traffic and is what most people who live in the city would do because driving is kind of nuts?

Of course not. We're from Boston. How much worse could the driving be?

Actually, MikeT, driving will make sense because I'm sure my kids will fall asleep as soon as they get to the car. I can't see hauling sleepy kids around on public transportation - especially when you are unfamilar with it. If it was just me and my husband it would be a different story. I realize that you had no way of knowing that there were kids involved. Thank you for yor suggestions and I appreciate your response. Too bad its not an afternoon game. The kids would get a kick out of the train.

I say stay near or in Baltimore! I live in Northern VA and work in DC and my husband and I have gone up for night games twice. The first time - we just went up and came back but the second time - we checked into a hotel near BWI airport (cheaper) around 2pm and then took the Light Rail into the Inner Harbor/Camden Yards area (even the cheapo hotels have shuttles to the Light Rail). We had tons of time to stroll around the Harbor and have dinner before the game and then after the game we went back to the hotel without the worry of traffic or a long/late ride home. We even went back to the Aquarium, Fort McHenry, and Fells Point the next day.

I would further warn on doing this during the week. Unless you plan to drive up to Baltimore during the day, you do not want to make this trip by car. It will take you 2 to 2 1/2 hours if you try to drive during rush hour. Believe me, I have done it, several times, and have vowed never to do it again.

However, if it is the weekend or if you go to Baltimore in the late morning/early afternoon, driving is fine. You can park very close to Camden Yards.

Karen

Maybe staying overnight is the right thing to do. Hate switching hotels though. Well we've lots of time to figure it all out. Thanks for the suggestions.