I am taking a group of 40-60 high school seniors on the following trip at the end of March. We leave from NJ on Thursday, spend the night in DC Thursday, spend Friday in DC, eat dinner and depart for the Williamsburg, VA area. Saturday will be at Busch Gardens, Sunday morning in Colonial Williamsburg, and leave for home around noon. (Just so you have an idea of the whole trip.)

What kind of itinerary do you think the kids would enjoy from Friday morning to dinnertime? Museums? MOnuments? White Huse? place for dinner?

Thanks for your help!

Forget the White House; it's a nuisance to schedule, and not a good use of your limited time. That's quite a whirwind trip! I'd pick a couple of monuments (Lincoln, FDR, Vietnam) and a couple of Smithsonians. If necessary, divide the group and take some to the Air & Space and others to Natural History. The musem of American History is closed for renovations. For dinner, the food court in the basement of Union Station has something for everybody.

It looks like you only have one full day in Washington. That's too bad, especially if the majority of the students have never been. Will you be using a tour company with bus service to the monuments, etc.? This is such a time saver. My children's school takes the 7th graders each year for 4 days, including Mount Vernon and Williamsburg but they fly into DC from Louisiana.

Since your time is limited, they should take the Capitol tour, allowing time to visit the House or Senate if they are in session. Maybe Thursday night you could arrange a monument tour on buses. Pick one museum on the Mall and/or the Holocaust Museum (allow at least 2 1/2 hours) which is a must-see in my opinion. Your congressman can arrange the Capitol tour but call today.

Good luck! I hope you have lots of chaperones lined up.

I've noted all of the suggestions so far and will do further research. Does anyone else have any suggestions? I like the idea of splitting the kids up between the Air and Space museum and the Natural HIstory museum. Any other ideas for food?

Well I'd definitely take them to the Mall area (Washington, Lincoln, WWII and Vietnam Memorials). other options are the Spy Museum and the Holocaust Museum.