Wow - that was a quick but fantastic trip. Thanks everyone for your invaluable help.
Jet lagged, so will post more later.
As I didn't make the trip dates clear, nobody mentioned President's Day. Oops - quick change around of days needed on a daily/hourly basis. Will explain tomorrow!
Thanks again, all.

I'm glad you had a good time! I guess I didn't think about President's Day, since I had to work that day. I hope it didn't cause too many problems with your schedule.

Looking forward to hearing your trip report MRS_AR!

O.K. here we go:
Good flight over but long lines to enter the U.S. It took well over 1 hour to get out! (If you do not want to be stopped at each and every security checkpoint like Mr AR, then take careful note of the footwear you choose to wear)
Car waiting as planned, straight to L?Enfant Plaza Hotel. Great room eventually with amazing balcony view. Missed the museums as they'd closed so just had a walk around. We'd booked dinner at hotel restaurant before our journey as it was Valentine?s and we thought everywhere would be full. Dinner was late for us (with jet lag) but they had 2 menus on display so we thought we were OK for a quick light meal.
We were taken to our table and I was handed a red rose along with a special four course Valentine menu!
When I asked for the other menu, in front of entwined couples, the manager was called.
I then explained to the manager, in front of eagerly eavesdropping entwined couples, that I'd like to choose from the other menu.
He then explained, to ecstatic eavesdroppers, that there was only one menu available that night.
When we both decided that I should have been told this on booking, MR AR (whose face was almost as red as the rose by now - he hates a fuss) and I left minus the rose to eat at the hotel bar!
In our confusion and tiredness and with sloppy service there, MR AR neglected to leave a tip. Oh boy was he to regret that later!
Sleep soon followed our meal and there ended Saturday with no idea of a looming Presidents Day.
(Will post day by day if that's O.K. or there'll be too much to read)

Not the best first impression of DC is it? Not sure about UK, but here Valentines Day is the ONE day a year it's best to eat at home. Most restaurants have a fixed Valentines menu at greatly inflated prices and then rush people through to try and squeeze the most cash out of the holiday.

Glad to see the same names are back. Hello all.
Sunday:
Awake early and turned on TV to President Day Sales commercials. Checked with the desk that tomorrow would indeed be Presidents? Day, and sat at breakfast to revise our plans. (Monday being Capitol / Library of Congress / Archives)
Walked up to Union Station through the Sculpture Garden, marvelling at how quiet everything was compared to our Summer visit. (Forgetting that it was an early Sunday morning!)
Booked the Old Town Trolley night tour for Mon. and made our way to Hertz to see if we could change our car hire.
No problem there, very helpful, so we decided to do Mt. Vernon and Alexandria on Mon. (little did we know) and the Capitol etc when they reopened on Tues. We even had time for a wander around Capitol Hill before we got a taxi to the Cathedral for the morning service. The choir was amazing, the sermon thought provoking, and MR AR was impressed to receive communion from a female Bishop! Nipped up to the tower for a view of the City before we picked up another taxi (thankfully there to save us a long walk.)
Our next destination ? Ford Theatre, with a beautiful drive through Rock Creek Park, but our driver took us to the Four Seasons ( I suppose that I can see where my accent let me down.)
Being British and too polite to complain, we tipped him generously and walked into the hotel, quickly consulted the map and walked out down to Ford Theatre. The museum ? wow.
(On this whole trip, we have been amazed by what you have on display, with free entry.)
From there to the museum of American History to find Lincoln?s Hat amongst other things. This was the only line of any length, which gave MR AR the chance to feed himself.
I followed the advise of previous threads, and left my bag at the hotel, but still had wait for everybody else to have their bags checked. I always had to wait for MR AR anyway ? yes, his shoes again and the fact that he can cram more into his pockets than any woman can manage with the biggest of bags.
(Sorry - I?ll have to post the second half of Sunday a bit later. MR AR and daughter want to go out. We're still on holiday and not back to work / school until Monday.)

MRS_AR--I'm so sorry that we forgot to mention President's Day! It's one of those holidays that moves around to a different date every year. Normally it isn't quite that close to Valentine's Day so I guess I was focused in on that holiday and not thinking about the other. I hope you were still able to enjoy your trip despite the last minute changes. I'll bet Mt. Vernon was a zoo on that day, but hopefully they had some interesting things happening that made it worth the crowds! I look forward to hearing the rest of your report.

Thanks, Julie. (Was going to give up with the trip report ? thought no one was very interested!)
After American History, made our way to the Freer for the Whistler exhibition. (Enjoyed his portrait work, but not the landscapes!) On to the castle to see James Smithson?s tomb, and up to the Air and Space. (I?d been working on the history of flight with my class of 6 yr. olds and promised them photos of the Wright Bros.?plane etc. They had begged to come with me!)
Dragged our selves back to the hotel before dinner. I headed for a bath, MR AR headed for the bar. Big Mistake. The same bar person was working and told MR AR that he ?ate here last night, right?? As he confirmed this with a smile, she waved some dollar bills in his face, ?this is money ? you don?t leave me no money last night!? MR AR paid for his beer, left a large tip(!!) and drank up quickly, never to return.
We had decided on Red Sage for dinner and preferred the choices on the Café menu. We were seated and served quickly. (So quickly that I had just replaced my spoon into my Bisque appetizer when the main course arrived. MR AR?s nachos stayed on the table!)
A wonderful dessert - only meant for me - followed a fantastic meal, but after professing himself too full, guess who polished off half?
Ooh ? must mention the fresh mango marguerite (how do you spell that?). I don?t normally drink, but that was yummy.
To bed with plans for Mount Vernon and Alexandria ? still ignorant Brits. with little connection of these sites to the holiday!

Monday ? put on the morning news to be told that the wreath laying started at M.V. at 10 am, the Parade at Alexandria at 1pm, and to expect large crowds. Knowing what these festivities are like in the U.K., we made an early start at the car hire armed with a map of the whole U.S. (or so it seemed later)and all your directions to M.V.
We decided that we?d like to see the soldiers dressed in period costume, but would give the parade a miss.
Driving cars in different countries always brings us to the brink of divorce. Do we learn from this? No. Do we always hire cars? Yes. Was this time any different?!
We failed to find the George Washington Memorial Parkway and with exits left and right, ?the map was soon in pieces and marriage in tatters? (quote from MR AR?s text to my sister). My miraculous navigation eventually brought us into the middle of old town Alexandria ? the closest we were to get ? and out on the right road to M.V.
Hardly any traffic and loads of parking space amazed us! Entry was even free as well.
Had time to look around the house before taking our spaces for the military displays. We were even addressed by George Washington himself! Time for a quick wander around the grounds and see the President's wreath before lunch.
We decided to have a long leisurely lunch and arrive in Alexandria after the parade. Now this was more like the U.K. ? all the places we?d seen for lunch on the way down were full, with 25 min waits to be seated. MR AR and I have vowed to never admit where we ended up eating lunch!!! Needless to say we?d never seen the like at home.
Now 2.30 pm so we assumed we were safe for Alexandria. Once again, my superb navigation got us to within a block of where we wanted to be. A lot of traffic around, and each turn I suggested was blocked by a police car as the parade passed merrily on its way. Let?s just say that MR AR is not the most patient of people, and the car was returned early to Union Station. How we ever got back there, let alone without a scratch on the car, or a count of attempted murder against each of us is a miracle!
(Must say how impressed we were with Hertz. Very efficient and we had no problem changing the day of the car hire. Oh how we laughed when we thought of trying to do that in the U.K.!!)
When our legs had stopped quivering like jelly, we made our way to the Nat. Art Gallery East wing for the Pollock/Warhol work, then to the European stuff in the west wing. Wow ? what a long walk from East to West, and only an hour before closing!
Collapsed into hotel. (MR AR made use of the mini bar this time!)
Back up to Union Station to catch the night tour of the monuments with Methuselah ? the only guide with visual aids! (Would have loved some snow for this.) Great tour, but needed longer than 30 mins to take in the Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean memorials in one stop. Having seen Kennedy?s flame up close in the Summer, it was amazing to see it flickering brightly over Arlington as we left the Iwo Jima memorial.
Having had a big lunch, we decided to give dinner a miss and headed straight to bed! MR AR had locked us off and there followed a stand off where thr receptionist required picture I.D. (of course)and a fraught MR AR explaining that our passports were in the room's safe. All amicably sorted and as we made our way up to the room, MR AR remembered that he had his European Drivers Licence on him the whole time!
(As we?re definitely not night owls, the L?Enfant Plaza was a great choice of hotel for us.)
Our last day beckoned.

Puleeeez, MRS_AR, tell us where you had lunch on President's Day. I am just dying to know!

Driving in and out of DC (which bridge, which road, which exit) can be a nightmare. Glad to hear the AR dynasty prevailed in the end.

Am loving your trip report. Please continue on.

It's nice to hear of your MV excursion - never been on President's day, but lan to next year. Enjoying your report.

It sounds like an interesting trip!

I think Mr AR should send a complaint letter to the hotel manager about that bartender. To scold a customer for not leaving a tip is just plain rude.

Firstly, my dear wife is writing her report on MS Word and then pasting - and it's changing all the punctuation into ??'s.
Even though the hotel was great, it did leave a little to be desired when it came to the usual American consumer efficiency. We booked and paid in advance with Quikbook and were offered a King room by them. When we arrived, there were no King's available and we were given a very inferior room with no view. I told them that the size of the bed was unimportant but that the view from the superior rooms were what we wanted. Eventually they changed us.
Secondly, the confusion over the Valentine's meal was due to the fact that they displayed both the Valentine and usual menus. The manager apologised but suggested we were better off in the bar area. It was here that the service was rude and slow. I know the bartender was busy, but I never got my second drink and had to ask several times for the check. I just decided that the whole evening smacked of inefficiency from start to finish. Beppe Severgnini says in his book "Ciao America" that the US "thinks discretionary tips are mandatory". Boy, did I find that out!
Lastly, I was glad that I kept my Quikbook printout as, prior to checkout, I was presented with a request for payment at the hotel - even though I had pre-paid. It was only beacuse I was able to prove that I had already paid Quikbook that I didn't have to pay another room charge.
I'll let dear Mrs AR tell you where we ate lunch on President's Day because I've vowed never to admit to anyone, and besides - it was scary!

Am LOVING the play by play of your vacation to the states!

I have been following your discussions with great interest as my family and I are planning our trip to DC the third week in March. We are driving out from Minnesota and are struggling with the best solution for hotel right now. Ours is a blended family with two teenage girls and a teenage boy, so I am thinking a suite with a roll-away cot is needed. The hotels in Arlington & Alexandria are considerably less expensive, with free parking for our van, but I don't want to sacrifice easy access to our primary destinations: the monuments, museums, etc. Is walking distance really a priority, or will the Metro/taxis be used regardless of where we stay? We don't have taxis or public transportation here in the rural midwest, so I am ignorant about costs and ease of use. I just want to be smart with our dollars so we can eat well!

I appreciate as MUCH advice/info/recommendations as possible!

stbarry---You'll need to use Metro no matter what, so I'd pick a less expensive hotel in Arlington that has good Metro access (i.e. walking distance to a Metro station). Metro is one of the best subway systems in the country (if not the best) for cleanliness, safety, convenience, etc. The ride from Arlington to downtown DC is generally 15 minutes or less. Just about anything in the Rosslyn or Crystal City area would be a good bet.

Agree totally with that, Julie. The Metro is definately the cleanest we've found. It would be wonderful if the London Underground banned eating and drinking too, let alone not leaving newspapers on seats and busking on the trains.
Washington D.C. also has to be the cleanest city we've ever visited. We saw not a piece of litter anywhere. Amazing!

Our final day.
Reeves Bakery for breakfast. How right you all were about that one. Looked after beautifully, but could someone please tell me exactly what 'Grits' are? MR AR assured me that they were fried potatoes, but I could tell from the Waitress's puzzled expression, and 'you want grits with your potatoes?' when I ordered bacon and eggs, that I'd done something wrong! My bacon, egg and potatoes duly arrived with a bowl of grits, which looked like porridge. I gamely stirred in the accompanying butter, but Yuk!! (Do all breakfasts, as my experience on this trip tells me, arrive with potatoes and toast, even when not mentioned on the menu? If so, beware that in the U.K. that all you get is what you ask for!)
Over to the Capitol by 8.45am to join a very short queue for tickets. As we'd left our bags at the hotel, MR AR thought it safest to keep our passports with us. (That and something to do with being locked out of our room without any I.D.) As we got our tickets for the 9am tour, I spied that with I.D., international visitors could pick up a pass for the chamber of the House of Representatives. Just what we did, and beat your U.S. people who had to exit the building and cross over the road to find their Congressman for a pass! Surprised to find that MR AR (albeit a general know it all) answered more questions asked by the guide than the natives - or is it that you always know more about the places you visit than the ones you live in?
After leaving via the steps that your next President will appear from (MR AR also managed to stand in the exact spot, as was pointed out by a tour guide), up to the Library of Congress -Jefferson Building. Beautiful reading room in the great hall, and saw the Guttenberg Bible and a Wright Bros. exhibition - more for my 5 yr olds, but was disappointed not to see the 'I have a dream' speech, which is apparently on a rotated 6 month display? (Sorry U.K., but we skipped the Churchill exhibition!)
Straight over to the Supreme Court, where my very British voice caused heads to turn when I asked a question. No, the court was not in session, but it sounds good at home... 'I even asked a question in the Supreme Court!'
Took a taxi to the Vietnam Memorial, as I hadn't seen it properly on the night tour, and to the old post office for a final view of the city from the tower. We arrived at the lift to be told that there was a problem, and no tours were going up. Big disappointment. We ate lunch there realising that it would be our last meal before the overnight flight home. On our way out, the same Park ranger was lifting the closed sign and said that we could be the first ones back up! From there it got stranger. As we chatted about the weather being colder than in the U.K., he said that he'd seen photos of deep snow in the town where both my husband and myself were born! Now we are used to people in the U.K. not knowing a lot about Wales, so imagine our surprise when he continued to say that he was a caving expert, and loved the caves around the area where my Mother's family live, and even named the Pub that I drive past every time I visit them!! Too spooky for words.
Our final cram-it-all-in was a visit to the Archives where the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights astounded us. Returned to the hotel by 3pm where a car was waiting for us, and had an empty flight home, which meant that I was able to take up a whole row and sleep!
This second visit confirmed what a beautiful city Washington is, and how friendly, polite and helpful the people are. (Well, all maybe except one.)
A very big thanks goes to all of you who played such a huge part in helping to plan this wonderful trip! Thank you.

Thanks for posting your trip report. Even though I live in the DC area I enjoy reading other peoples perspectives of what's here. You managed to do and see a lot in such a short time.

It's amazing who you meet on your travels. On my first trip to London the hotel guest in the room next to mine was from my home town, and lived just two blocks away!

I'm glad that rude bartender wasn't typical of your encounters during your trip.

Mrs. AR - Thank you for the terrific trip report. We're planning a trip to DC in July and so I've followed your planning posts and this report with a great deal of interest.

But inquiring minds want to know exactly where did you have lunch that you won't admit too. I'm guessing it was McDonalds - I find them all to be pretty scary!. Don't keep us in suspense - we promise not to tell anyone.

Grits are a corn-based product, similar to polenta. I'm not sure if DC is the best place to try them, come to the south to try them next time. Also put a lot of butter on them (butter makes everything better).

I like the format of both people giving the trip report. When my parents return from a trip, mom says dad should give the report, but she always interrupts with more tidbits.

So, where did you have the lunch you won't admit too.