# United States & Canada Vacations Forums > General Discussion >  >  Washington DC

## MIke R

so somehow I got sucked into planning this week long DC trip for 21 kids ( we leave  right after I get back from SBH! )

I decided on the  Marriot Residence Inn right in the heart of the town,  a few blocks away from Smithsonian etc...

Is that the best choice???..or did I miss something maybe better>?

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## KevinS

Better?  Ritz Carlton Pentagon City, LOL, the views from the Club Floor include the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetary, the National Cathedral, and the Capitol.  And if your budget covers that then I'll sign on as a chaperone.  Or maybe not - week long?  That would be a looong time for me to stay sober in DC, and I don't think that I could find a way to legitimately fit Eddie's bar into the agenda.

Joking aside, a week long trip to DC?  Way cool!  There's a lot to see.  Me, I would love a chance to walk them through the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and tell them about a few names on the wall, but my time may have passed for this generation.  There's not an inch of any of the various Smithsonian Museums that I wouldn't want them to see.  Between the White House, the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Washington Monuments, they'll have more than enough to see.  

Hopefully, Arlington National Cemetery will be on the agenda.  The Tomb of the Unknowns sends a powerful message.  So does picking a few tombstones at random and reading about real people.  (I've found some impressive things written on the tombstones of "neighbors" of family and friends in various National Cemeteries, from Beaufort to Arlington to Eagle Point).  

After the fact, I would love to see what your agenda was.

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## MIke R

I will share  the agenda with you.....once I figure it out!.....we do a week long trip for the middle school kids every year....Cape Cod, DC and Montreal is our routine.....Cape Cod was last year, so now its DC's turn....I normally just do the Cape Cod trip, for obvious reasons, but somehow got bamboozled into this one as well....

and I hoping to sneak away to eddies bar one night when no one is looking....

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## amyb

I found Daniel's Room at the Holocaust Museum very powerful and moving-many children on that tour.Also impressive is the Museum of the native American

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## MIke R

we are doing both..

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## amyb

Just the teacher in me coming out-I meant well.

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## MIke R

nothing wrong with that

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## katva

Just saw this!  What Kevin and Amy said,  plus try to do a walk out to Roosevelt Island,  the Treasury, and the Natl. Arboretum.....  I'll sneak away from work and meet you guys at Eddies too.....

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## MIke R

yeah the  agenda I sort of have and its most of what you guys all mention....but my question is about Marriot Residence Inn....ok  place??...looks it...I need suites with separate bedrooms so adults can have some  buffer space from kids they are rooming with...and I need free breakfast..and this place gives me both

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## katva

I will do a drive- by Sat. am....never stayed there but will let you know what the neighborhood is like.....I might be talked into doing a real site check ----- just not sure which one this is exactly.....send me a link.  I'm in Dc 4-5too days per week.

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## MIke R

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...on-dc-capitol/

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## katva

I think there are a couple of Residence Inns downtown ......that's why I ask for a link

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## MIke R

I like it because we can walk to almost everywhere...I dont want to use mass trans if I can avoid it

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## katva

> http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/wascp-residence-inn-washington-dc-capitol/



Came up as a mobile app for Marriott in general (I'm on my "smart phone".... ).  Will look in the a.m.

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## MIke R

ok...thanks

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## JEK

Not a bad location and if the price is right, go for it. A few long blocks from the Mall.

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## MIke R

thanks...a few long blocks is good....I want them sleeping at night...LOL

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## JEK

Don't miss the Museum of the American Indian. The newest on the Mall. The food in their cafeteria is also the best on the Mall. All native american -- no beef, but buffalo. No lettuce -- but watercress.

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## MIke R

yeah you are the second person to tell me about that....sounds good

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## katva

I'll be the third!  It really is good.  
The location isn't bad, like JEK said....I worked on and off for over 10 years exactly one block north of there---at 300 D St., SW.  (Washington Design Center), so I am super familiar with the area---although it likely has changed somewhat.  It has a lot of the large Fed agencies in the area---NASA will be across the street from you, I think, and USIA, and some others.  There isn't a lot of shopping/restaurants in this area, though.  Subway, McDonalds, etc.  There is a large indoor shopping mall at L'Enfent Plaza---the kids might like to go through it for fast foods, etc.  You could sneak upstairs to the fairly nice hotel above it, and hang at the bar!  It's a very different neighborhood from the other side of the National Mall, and will be a good walk to the sights----but not a bad thing!  Not a bad walk to Capitol Hill, either---just cross over the 3rd St. tunnel, go up the hill---then you will get to some of the great little bars, restos on Cap. Hill.
All in all, a convenient location--just don't be expecting a cozy DC historic neighborhood.  You're near the Metro, which is good---super easy to navigate.  You would probably want to cab it if going to Georgetown.  You could walk to Main Avenue, the DC fish market, and get the weather report   :Wink:

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## amyb

Metro will take you right to the zoo!

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## katva

Yes, it will!  But he will be on the Orange line, and would need to change to the Red line at Metro Center...easy!

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## JEK

Good printable map  here.

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## amyb

It is a very kid friendly destination-the zoo. Glad it is an easy Metro ride for them. Just thinking of our trips and school trips our kids took there. Always a highlight destination. They also liked trips to Philadelphia-a chance to run up the steps a la Rocky Balboa!

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## katva

I LOVE the zoo in DC!  I used to live on Connecticut Ave., at the Kennedy Warren, and could hear the animals----loved hearing the elephants!  Great jogging route, too, what with the gradual, steady hill through the park!  It's a beautiful zoo.....I shall have to go back soon---been too long!

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## MIke R

zoos are nice and all but these trips are heavily academic....with worksheets and homework due at the end of each day....lots of science and social studies and political science here....anything less than that and I woudln't be involved in it at all.... the can do their fun trips in the summer with their parents...this is school...where one is supposed to learn.....it was a condition I insisted on before I came on board with these trips, having had to endure far too many "fun trips" which turned into major babysitting   :cool:  

sorry..but I am ol school in that sort of way...

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## JEK

What do you have against a zoology  assignment?

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## amyb

Politics-the Panda Bears were gifts from China-international diplomacy in action

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## katva

> Politics-the Panda Bears were gifts from China-international diplomacy in action



 :) right you are!!!

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## MIke R

all good ideas!!.....

you guys are funny....

ok..off to a game..ciao

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## amyb

Good luck!

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## Dennis

> What do you have against a zoology  assignment?




_"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr._

I guess animals don't matter.

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## JEK

Let's leave the pedagogy up to the pedagogue.

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