Washington, District Of Columbia Area

If you've been to the Washington D.C. area, what are your favorite places to visit? What less popular ones have you found that are worth visiting?

There is, of course, the White House and the US Capitol buildings, and the Smithsonian museums, such as the American History Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the National Air and Space Museum, each of which you could spend several days in without getting bored.

Everyone ought to see the Holocaust Museum, although it's not exactly a fun trip. I'm not particularly enamored with the monuments, but have been to many of them. There are several galleries, if you're into that sort of thing - and even if you're not, you'd probably be attracted to some of what are there.

The Museum of the American Indian is one that I thought I'd enjoy but there wasn't much there. I think it's fairly new so perhaps it'll get better as they acquire more stuff.

A great one is the International Spy Museum. It's particularly fun when you go there with a kid or two, because they have a lot of interactive stuff for the kids, but there's a lot for adults to see there, too.

Fairly new is the National Museum of (liberal) African American History and Culture, but they have pointedly left out any prominent conservative black Americans, while elevating liberal black Americans, so it's pretty much a propaganda piece.

Also, federal departments have tours and museum displays. We went through the US Mint tour a few days ago, and that was good, and there is a postal museum beneath the old Main Post Office near Union Station, which was interesting.

 

I'm interested in your experiences, not only for the sake of discussion, but because we go at least twice a year, and we're always looking for something new.

We made the long walk to the Davis Mansion overlooking Arlington Cemetery but they are packing everything up so there wasn't much to see other than the house itself. We were told that they are preparing to renovate the mansion (which isn't really so large of a mansion) so, once they start, it will be closed for a couple of years.

The Museum of the Bible is supposed to be opening this fall, so we'll probably go there in December.