Planning a trip to Seattle Washington, and I need help?

Planning a trip to washington dc and need a bit of help?

• I am planning on going to washington dc in 2 weeks, just for the day. i'm wondering how much money i'll need to go. I live in south jersey and plan on stopping in VA for the arlington nantional cemetary. Here's what I want to do: leave about 7 am and get there about 10 am. visit: FDR and Lincoln memorials. Smithsonian air & space museum, natural history, american history. vietnam vetern's memorial wall, national zoological park, supreme court (maybe), us holocaust memorial and washington monument. I'm thinking i'll spend about $60.00 in gas and i don't know what else. I don't plan on seeing anything that isn't free but i don't know about parking or food or anything. thanks for the help!

• Answer:

  Before you read my answer I want you to know I'm not discouraging you, just giving you the facts I know from living here all my life & loving all the museums & being a volunteer for visitor services at Smithsonian for over 15 years. You can definitely visit everything you mentioned in one day if by "visit" you mean drive by so can say "I've seen it." There is no way to visit all those places, go inside, walk around exhibit halls, stop & linger at things that interest you & so on. The 4 museums you mention take at least an hour to whiz thru w/o paying attention to anything. The zoo is huge and in a completely different part of the city than the other places you mention. The Holocaust Museum requires a timed entry pass to go to the permanent exhibits & they recommend allowing 2 -3 hours to go thru. They do have temporary exhibits that don't require a pass tho. Passes are free but you may not get the entry time you prefer (unless you get the pass in advance on-line for a fee to the ticketing company). The Washington Monument also requires a timed pass to go to the top, people get in line for that starting before 8am usually. Parking is haphazard at best. Meters are usually for 2 hours, there are parking garages in the area, tho not especially close to the action. You have to add travel-time between museums even when walking. Every building has security lines---they go fast but still takes up time. What you are proposing is a huge undertaking even for a 3-day trip. Driving from place-to-place, finding legal parking will take an accumulation of 2 hours time (at least) & that's if you don't get lost/turned around in the city. The best thing to do is park someplace, get an all-day fare cad for Metro (subway) or get a ticket for the Tourmobile. I'm just exhausted thinking about all this lol. You should still visit, just do less and enjoy more. Email me thru my profile if I can be of help.