Im going on a trip to washington dc. very very soon! what should i bring?! HELP!?

• ok so obviously im going on a school trip to dc like WICKED soon. and im not completely sure on what to bring. any ideas?! any help would be like wicked appreciated! THANKS!! :)

• Answer:

  Be prepared for it to be hot or not. The weather has been unpredictable this year. Check on Yahoo weather to get some idea, but lately within one day it's gone from chilly to hot then back again. Comfortable shoes because you will be walking a lot. I mean something like athletic shoes, not sandals or flip flops. You can save those for the hotel, but when you are walking around the museums and monuments, there are a lot of gravel walkways and closed shoes really work much better. You'll probably spend time outdoors, looking at monuments. I recommend sunscreen, a hat, maybe sunglasses, because there are lots of wide open spaces on what we call the Mall. (Be aware that this is not the sort of "mall" that has stores. It is wide open space scattered with museums and monuments, covered in grass. Over on the edges there are vendors who sell t-shirts and food.) Washingtonians who work downtown dress up, so we can always tell the tourists by the shorts and t-shirts, but don't worry about that. When we go somewhere as tourists, we dress down too. But you might want to bring along something a little nicer (a dress or an attractive pants outfit) if you will be going to a real restaurant.