Girl Meets City: Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. was not originally our plan for Fall Break. Originally, it was Disney World- because I’ve never been there (cue all the shocked faces).
However, once the new air service in Macon was announced and I realized how inexpensive the tickets were- I had to jump at the chance. For one, I might never have that chance again. Two, kiddos had never been on a plane before! And the idea of taking them through Hartsfield is scary to me. Three, I hadn’t been to D.C. since high school when I got to serve as an acolyte and lay minister at the National Cathedral for the National Acolyte Festival. (Which was so incredibly cool in so many ways.)
So I bought the tickets for all of us, started planning, and off we would go!
It was an easy drive in the early morning hours to the Middle Georgia Regional Airport. I was told by friends that we didn’t really need to get there until 30 minutes before boarding, but I just couldn’t do that. We left the house an hour before boarding and got there 45 minutes ahead of time.
Kiddos were super pumped about the whole thing, and my son drew in his journal the entire trip- even starting on the plane:
I’ll also say, I was super impressed that Contour served freshly brewed coffee on the flight! Sometimes, it really is the little things. Especially for a 7:00 am flight with two overly excited kids. And they let the kiddos get in the cockpit once we landed!
Once we landed in Baltimore, I already knew it would be a fairly easy drive into D.C. We opted for taking an Uber into town, but there’s many transit options. (Go to this post for more details on that.) With one kiddo being ADHD, I just didn’t want to chance having to potentially wait on the train. Plus there wasn’t a huge cost benefit since there were 4 of us.
We also got lucky with some very kind Airbnb hosts who let us check in early, as the previous guest also left early. So straight to our Airbnb we went!
Day One
I generally manage to cram a lot of activities into my trips, but wasn’t super sure how that would go with two kids. This was the first BIG trip I had taken with them, and I created a carefully outlined Google Drive sheet with everything lined up to the last detail. I even used Google Maps to calculate approximately how long it would take to get to each spot, and where we would need Ubers, and how much it would cost. Yes, I’m a dork. But I’m able to do these things because of lots of planning and budgeting! Perhaps there will be another post on that later….
I had budgeted about two hours at each attraction, also accounting for long lines as such. Our flight landed and we easily found our luggage, the restrooms, and on out the door to order an Uber.
By the way- we also loved our Airbnb hosts. They even set out candy for the kiddos and decorated for Halloween! (They did ask first if it was ok to do so.) And games for them, B was so EXCITED that his very favorite, Battleship, was there.
About 30 minutes later we were at our Airbnb well before the kiddos were hungry, as we made them eat a large breakfast before the flight, at about 10:00 a.m. So- flight took off around 7:20 a.m., landed somewhere after 9, and settled in Airbnb around 10. Not bad timing. Took another short 10-15 minute Uber over to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Walked right in, no issues, no lines. But they do check your bags.
In hindsight, I wish I had gone ahead and just used my backpack and not cared about looking like a tourist. I didn’t see many people having to actually check their bags in lockers, also, and it would have been easier on my back. Lesson learned and passed on to y’all.
We saw mummies, The Hope Diamond, all kinds of gems and jewels, and a live tarantula feeding event. I’m thinking weekdays are a good time to visit because there were LOTS of school groups there, and it didn’t seem to be terribly busy.
One thing I learned was that my kiddos didn’t need as much time in the museums as I assumed, and even though I too speed through museums- so do they. And museum fatigue can be real.
This is probably why they loved the carousel on the National Mall so dang much. Be prepared to spend $2.50/person per ride for this, which really isn’t so bad. Especially given that all of the museums we went to were- wait for it- FREE.
From the carousel, after only being in the first museum for an hour, I realized we had plenty of time in our schedule to do more.
(Note my original Friday schedule which would end up shot to hell:)
We chose the Natural History Museum first once we got there so the kiddos could see the dinosaurs, and since we were done with that around 11-ish we went on to the Air & Space Museum.
We literally, ha no pun intended, flew through it. One kiddo was in a bad mood at this point, and the other was- I think- dragging us all around just to annoy him.
We didn’t spend too much time here, just another hour, and they were starving by the time we left.
Now, a big part of my grand plan to save money was to pack snacks. Which I did. But they decided they didn’t want granola bars and such once there. They wanted hot dogs from the kiosks- which are everywhere, thankfully.
$40-freaking-dollars later we had 4 hot dogs and 4 waters. Had I stuck to my plan of making sure I had everyone’s reusable water bottles it would have helped. Lesson learned early on, I kept those suckers in my bag afterwards. And another reason why I just should have used my backpack.
On to the next stop!
I didn’t have the U.S. Botanic Garden anywhere on my list at all, to be honest, but Nathan said let’s walk in that direction because the kids might like it and we have a big block of time until we go to the National Cathedral.
So walk towards it, we did.
We also ended up pausing in front of the U.S. Capitol Building for a few photos and to let the kiddos look at the ducks in the pond. And we got one of my favorite shots from the whole trip- which we almost lost forever due to reasons I’ll explain later. It wasn’t amusing at the time, but in hindsight- it is.
And then it was time to run around inside the botanic garden- literally. This was the only spot which I felt ok letting go of my kids hands for any length of time. Remember- I had a recently ADHD diagnosed kiddo who was not medicated yet (we just hadn’t gotten that far in the process) and he likes to take off running. And he’s fast.
I highly recommend this spot, especially for children! Not only is it beautiful, but there’s a spot where they can actually dig in the dirt and plant plants. They LOVED it.
From here, we got an Uber to go towards the National Cathedral. I’ll take this moment to explain that while we could have easily taken public transit, it didn’t seem to make a lot of sense financially at the time. First, we would need to walk to bus stops. Then keep cash on us. And also pay the fare for 4 people. So unless I missed a part where kids under the age of 10 ride for free, it could many times cost as much as the Uber- if not even more. And again, I was nervous about needing to pay attention to my Google Maps app to get to the bus stops while also watching two kids- even though I did have my boyfriend there to help.
This was one of the longer drives we took towards a site, and also we had to pay admission. Roughly $50 for all of us. We did get there in time for the last tour but we shouldn’t have even attempted it because both kids were DONE. It was roughly 4:00 pm at this point, and while I loved seeing all the windows and going up to the tower- well, we were all done. So we took the kids through the Bishop’s Gardens and then headed back to the Airbnb.
We rested here a little bit while Nathan ran to a nearby store to pick up food to cook. We had one last event on our list for the evening and that was the Night Monument tour. I knew I wanted the kids to see the monuments, but wasn’t sure how walking friendly it would be for them- especially since my daughter has a bad habit of whining and saying she’s tired because she’s not a big walker.
I found a Groupon ahead of time which saved me about $30! I thought the night tour would be good because it would allow us time during the day to do things, and give us an evening kid activity other than going out to eat.
Ordered another Uber and off we went. Now Uber lets you see people’s ratings and such when you’re riding with them, and I noticed one about how this guy returned someone’s phone and how grateful they were. Perhaps it was a bit of foreshadowing, because as we got out of the car- Nathan realized his phone had fallen out of his pocket in the car.
With no time to catch it, and boarding a double decker bus with two kids INSISTING WE SIT ON TOP EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SPRINKLING OUTSIDE…. well, the moods of the adults were a bit dampened. Literally and figuratively.
**Nathan will kill me for telling this story but I think it’ll be helpful if you ever find yourselves in this situation. A few things ended up being our saving grace in this matter and I’ll try to make it short. Pardon me as I sidebar.
One- before we left, I had Nathan put his phone on low battery mode, because we didn’t have enough time to charge it all the way and I knew the tour was a hop on hop off type- just in case we got separated.
Two- everyone needs to make sure they have the “Find My iPhone” app activated. I signed into his account from my phone and took screenshots as it hopped all over D.C. with the driver. Eventually, he stopped. And I compared that stop to where he was Saturday morning to figure out where he lived. In case we needed to show up there.
Three- Uber has a way for you to call the drivers, but if they don’t answer you can let Uber know. They ask that you give it 24 hours but in my mind we didn’t have that kind of time, since this was Friday night and we left Sunday. It left us only Saturday to get the phone. I, however, saved his number from his voicemail- since he didn’t have a personalized one- and then texted him. No answer.
Ended up that he called us the next day and said it wasn’t in his car, but maybe he accidentally threw it out with a bunch of other things people would leave. Because he was in D.C. driving and didn’t see it. So I told him that I saw certain landmarks where the phone was, and that I had tracked it with the app. This is when he said oh ok yeah that’s where I live, and told me which apartments they were. This is how we got the phone back.
Back to the rest of the story!**
I had checked the weather before we left Macon, and it was predicted to be in the 70’s to 80’s. Luckily I grabbed the kiddos school fleeces on the way to the airport, thinking it might get colder but also- how many people would there be from St. Joe’s there? Kiddos should be easy to spot in these. (Turns out we would run into some school folks at the cathedral- ha!)
But they were still cold. As we stopped as the White House, which we couldn’t get right up next to because the roads were closed- kiddos beggggggggged for fleeces and ponchos- even though Nathan and I had shared our raincoats.
Another $40 later… they had a second fleece on and ponchos available if the rain got worse. Which it didn’t. Note: pack pocket ponchos, even if they do look touristy. Although I will say, I remember being on a school trip when I was little and it was freezing that day. I begged my mom to get me a sweatshirt at the museum store. I remember it being expensive, likely more than my mom & dad could really afford, but it was my favorite for years because she did that for me. And the attraction? The Little White House.
The monuments DO look amazing at night….
Day Two
This second day of D.C. would start with breakfast in our Airbnb and taking Uber to the National Museum of American History– and a ride with our most interesting Uber driver of the trip, hearing him talk about getting to meet Senator John McCain & spending time with his family. Let’s just say I’ll be watching out for a documentary he says will be coming out on the family!
Here we enjoyed exhibits on the development of transpiration, food history- and Julia Child’s kitchen!- as well as the First Ladies Inauguration dresses. Which were pretty awesome to see! As well as various election memorabilia. The Political Science nerd in me loved it. 🙂
There was also this live performance happening on the floor below us that the kiddos got to see. It was around that time that we got the call from our Uber driver from the evening before saying oh wait, sorry missed your calls, Uber reached out to me, the phone might be in this spot behind my house where I dump things out. (Super shady in hindsight.) So we set out for Laurel, Maryland, in another Uber to retrieve it. Kiddos napped on the 25 minute drive and ate the snacks I brought. They likely needed the break as it was.
Once we got the phone we headed back to D.C., not all that far away, to the Smithsonian Zoo. Nathan really wanted to go, and LK hadn’t been to one. But before entering- we stopped at Duke’s Corner across from the park to grab burgers & such for lunch. And…. the adults had some adult beverages.
We probably should have made the Zoo an early morning stop, as it requires a lot of energy. But it was still really fun to see the kiddos reactions to the various animals- especially the pandas.
After this, another break was needed- although we spied Macon Bistro along the way! We were set to have brunch there on the last day. We got to our Airbnb, encouraged the kids to nap (they didn’t) and went ahead and started cleaning up. We had early reservations for Old Ebbitt Grill– a place I had been told was classic D.C.
All I really knew about the place was that it had been around forever. I didn’t realize that it would be THAT BUSY later on- we arrived around 4:30 and still full from lunch, but it was packed even then and even more so once we left. I also didn’t realize that oysters were their thing. So we got kids meals for the kids and took advantage of the early bird special on the oysters.
I’ll add that LK got it in her head that she wanted to try them. As someone who didn’t have their first oyster until I was an adult, I was impressed. She may not have been able to finish it, but she tried. Good on her.
From there we walked and walked and walked- looking at everything all around us.
We made another, closer, stop at the Washington Monument. You can’t go inside of it now- but I would have been way too scared to ride in that elevator anyway!
After this it was more walking, exploring the National Mall, stumbling across a festival, and the kids found the carousel- again- and had to have one more last ride.
As it turned out, it was the last ride of the night. Perhaps serendipitous.
Day Three
On the third day we rose for a breakfast at Macon Bistro & Larder, for a few reasons: one of the owners is from Macon (my hometown), they follow me on Instagram and the food looks AMAZING, and three my mother wanted me to go and get photos of the last piece of artwork her dear friend Joy created before her death.
We had a little bit of time to kill before actually catching a ride up that way so we walked up the street a bit- and stumbled on quite the find.
Nathan had sent me a National Trust for Historic Preservation article on Blagden Alley a few days prio to our trip- a place the author called “a preservation fantasy land”. I thought about going but it was definitely on the back burner as I had so much planned for the kids and I wasn’t sure they would enjoy a historic alley as much as we would. Turns out, it was literally down the street from us! Once we figured that out, I knew we would explore it once done with brunch.
Macon Bistro did not disappoint at all. We were the first ones there, which was by design since I wasn’t sure how the kiddos would do there (and we did feed them beforehand just in case). However our server was great with them and let me take plenty of photos without feeling silly.
The food was amazing. Kiddos ordered waffles, whereas Nathan and I went for more adult items- including coffee & mimosas. And I won’t lie- it was really nice to have my mimosa before the requisite 12:30 p.m. like at home.
After this, we had no real plans. I did know I wanted to stop by Blagden Alley on the way home, but at this point we had a good few hours to kill. Our flight wasn’t until 5:00 pm, and I wanted to leave around 3:00 for our 30 minute drive to the airport. We also needed about an hour to get checked in and what not. We decided on the National Gallery of Art. It ended up being a very good call, because I realized once there that they had some Van Gogh’s.
My son LOVES Van Gogh- and has ever since he saw the Van Gogh episode of Doctor Who. With B’s recent, full diagnostic diagnosis of ADHD, I felt like he identified with Van Gogh in that episode. It was super special to take the kids here, and it wasn’t even on our original schedule.
There’s also a da Vinci that people stood in line for what felt like forever for.
This was honestly one of the prettiest art museums I’ve been in- and I’ve been in many. NYC, Atlanta, Chicago… many. But this building was beautiful and it wasn’t super crowded.
We walked across the street and stopped at a fountain, then looked over the exterior of the Newseum and reviewed the front pages of the newspapers displayed.
We walked and walked some more- grabbed yet another Uber and headed to Blagden Alley. The plans for the two blocks of this alley- actually consisted of more than just Blagden Alley itself- were drawn up from 1792-1794, and developed by the 1830’s. Developement would grow during the time of the Civil War but by the 1880’s it was a greatly black neighborhood.
I’m greatly summarizing, but this was a neighborhood plagued by crime and problems. As you can likely guess, the neighborhood has had a turnaround. The article states that several types of architecture are still present: Second Empire, Federal Revival, Gothic Revival, Queen Anne and more.
It was really cool to get to see all of that, and they had tons of murals in the alley.
I wish we had explored all that was right around the corner a little more, and on our next trip we will- I’m thinking one for just the adults should be planned soon. It would be a different experience for us. Less of the tourist things that I felt we needed to do for the kids- more of just what locals do in D.C.
From here, we went ahead and finsihed packing and made our way to the airport early. Likely a good call because our Uber driver let us know that sometimes there’s heavy traffic when there’s a sports game.
The Baltimore Airport was super easy. There was one counter for our airline, and when we went through security we were- wait for it- THE ONLY ONES IN LINE. And security was super nice.
The flight was so easy- so so easy. I highly recommend Contour – also, this was an awesome family trip. And an awesome trip to take the kids on for their first big trip. AND very budget friendly. As long as you’re careful about food costs, it’s very very budget friendly. Almost all of the museums and attractions are free. The Airbnb was right about $135/night, $150 with taxes. Our biggest cost was likely transit, and to be frank, I haven’t added up mine and Nathan’s shared expenses yet. When we go back for our adults trip, we will take public transit a lot. I would say transit was likely around $300.
The Smithsonian websites also provide information to help plan your trip, along with info about peak times for visitors. I found that this was helpfuk when planning our trip, although my kids moved through the museums quickly.
Note: I’ve had a TON of people ask me questions about transportation to and from D.C. and the Baltimore airport- as well as just getting around D.C. I used the same tactics as I have for planning to get around other spots- check out my tips here in Girl Meets City: Transportation Tips!
One thing I realized at the end of our trip- my last time in D.C. was also my first time on a plane.
My kids first trip to D.C. was also their first time on a plane.
Pretty cool, huh?
Love to all y’all,
Molly
