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Days Five and Six

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As you walked around DC earlier in the week, you probably thought, “I wish I had time for ________.” Well, now you do. Day five is a special interest day, so pick the museums or sights that you want to see (you probably won’t get to them all) and head out. Here are some of your options:

· Supreme Court

· National Archives—home of the original Declaration of Independence and other documents

· FBI Headquarters and Museum

· Pentagon (requires advance reservations)

· Bureau of Engraving and Printing (money doesn’t grow on trees; it’s made here)

· Library of Congress

· National Cathedral

· Folger Shakespeare Museum

· Ford’s Theater (The house where Lincoln actually died is also nearby)

· Remaining Smithsonian Museums (e.g. National Portrait Gallery and American Indian, Natural History, and Air and Space Museums)

· U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

The eleven sights above are only a sampling, so check your guidebook for other suggestions and make your picks. Whatever you do, leave enough time for another night activity. If you didn’t do dinner and a play, do it tonight (perhaps at Ford’s Theater). Otherwise, go see a Washington Nationals baseball game.

If you don’t have a car, make day six another DC special interest day. If you do have a car, however, we’d suggest a day trip away from the city. Here are four suggestions:

· Gettysburg: The military turning point of the Civil War occurred here during the first week of July 1863. The battleground is in Pennsylvania, just ninety minutes from Washington.

· Richmond: Just two hours south of Washington in Virginia, Richmond was the capitol of the Confederacy and remains the capital of Virginia.

· Annapolis: Annapolis, Maryland, is home to the United States Naval Academy. It is on the water, less than an hour’s drive from.

· Baltimore: Like Annapolis, Baltimore is on the water and less than an hour from Washington. Baltimore, however, is the home of great crab cakes, a beautiful baseball stadium, and Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

It’s hard to go wrong with any of these cities, so simply pick the one that interests your family most.

Next Page: Day Seven

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