Laura in STL Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 We are planning a trip to Washington DC and Colonial Willamsburg next fall. We will be flying out and renting a car. The trip will probably be about a week long. If you have done this trip or live in the area we would love any advice about what shouldn't be missed. I know we can't do everything in this timeframe, but we want to make the most of our week. We are also trying to decide how to split our time. Right now we are thinking about heading to Willamsburg for a couple days when we arrive, then driving to DC for the rest of the week. Our kids are dd10 and ds12 and are both good travelers with plenty of stamina on trips, so long days are fine. Thanks for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustybug Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I grew up in the NoVa/DC area. Are you looking for specific sites to see? Have you ever been there before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I like to spend about three days in Williamsburg. You must see the movie in the visitors' center. :-) You must go through the Governor's Palace (which costs extra ). The rest of the time, we just hang out. That is, we stroll from place to place, staying as long at each one as we like (or not at all), moving on when we're all ready...all very casual and relaxed. We always have one meal at the Old Chickahominy House, which is only open for breakfast and lunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZooRho Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 This gets asked frequently here do some searches. I posted a thread in October so you can search for it. about my time in DC. We had been several times before so did the things we hadn't done. I do think going to Williamsburg first is best too. You probably won't need a car in DC. What other things do you want to see? I'm in this neck of the woods. I would get your kids to do some research too. so they see the things they want to see too. There are also lots of Civil war sites in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 We did a week there a couple of years ago. Our trip was more focused on Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown and we only did one day in D.C. Not enough to consider it a real D.C. vacation, but enough to give dds a taste of it. We loved having historic triangle passes that get you into Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown any time during the week that your pass is good. We were staying in Williamsburg and with the pass we could go in for a couple of hours in the morning, go back to the timeshare during the heat of the day, then go back for more in late afternoon/evening. We also loved our day visiting Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. Like the historic triangle, these sites are all a short drive from each other and on the same National Parks map. Fantastic rangers explain everything that happened during those battles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 (edited) We did it for homeschool week at Williamsburg - it was very inexpensive. We stayed at the Woodlands and walked over to CW every morning. Great trip. We didn't pay extra for anything while we were there, including tours of Governor's Mansion, and there were many extra events for homeschoolers. We stayed for 3 days, but could have done it in 2 to save more time for D.C. but there was a snowstorm. We went to D.C. for 4 days. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriot near Chinatown. Our Senator's office arranged tours of the White House, Capitol and Library of Congress. We toured Congress with just our family and a congressional aide. We walked down many corridors the public tour didn't have access to. It was so great. We also did a Old Town Trolley tour to hop on/hop off at many sites I didn't want to walk to. We did walk to most things downtown and around the mall. We had so much fun. We never used the metro... We went to Mount Vernon our last morning and drove home from there after lunch. It really wasn't an expensive trip. The Woodlands was inexpensive during that week, homeschool week in March. About $69a night - including breakfast. We used Marriot rewards for the Courtyard in D.C. which also had a free breakfast. We carried protein bars and fruit/water in my backpack for lunches - which I was allowed to take into everywhere bc my son's type 1 diabetes. We ate out once per/day in late afternoon... Our hotel in D.C. had an indoor pool - the children swam every night before bed. It really was an ideal educational trip. I'll look around for our itinerary to cut and paste. HTH! Edited June 18, 2012 by LNC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in STL Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 Thanks so much for the ideas so far! I will do a search for past threads, too. I always forget about that until after I post:tongue_smilie:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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