Adventure Together: A Family Trip to Washington DC
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A few months ago, I was on the hunt for a quick getaway we could squeeze in this fall. I was looking for somewhere that we didn’t need a rental car, had affordable activities, and also cheap flights to book with miles. When I found a super slick point deal on Southwest, I booked tickets to Washington DC for a few days :) Ps. I’ll share more about miles + our free hotel stays at the end of this post!
It was such a beautiful time to visit the DC. Although the trees weren’t super colorful, the weather was perfect! Especially since we did so much walking (a LOT of walking), I was thankful we had nice fall temperatures and no rain.
To be honest, we didn’t plan a lot before this trip. We had our flights and hotel booked, a short document with a list of places we’d like to see, and that was about it! We didn’t even tell our kids we were going until about three days before the trip. Since I had snuck in some books about DC for the weeks leading up to the trip, they were super excited about going!
I’m far from an expert on Washington DC, and I feel like we hardly skimmed the surface of the city. But I’ll still share what we did (and what I wish we had time to do too!).
Day One (our first full day there): We hit up the Smithsonian Zoo because I have always wanted to see a panda in real life. And we got to see the pandas—and they were absolutely so adorable and cute! The crowd was full of giggles and laughing while we watched their clumsy and silly antics. This was definitely a highlight for me! During the second part of the day, we did a lot of walking around the city (due to some mishaps on lunch plans). We stopped at the Old Post Office building and took an elevator up to grab a great view of the city. Then, we finished our day with a visit to the National Archive Museum to see the Declaration of Independence.
Day Two: We started with a visit to the Natural History of Museum (mostly to see the rock/geology floor for my rock-loving middle guy!), enjoyed a lunch on the National Mall, and then hit up the Air and Space Museum. We wrapped up this day with some pizza and shoe shopping for one of the kids (which is what happens when someone brings shoes that aren’t super comfy for all the walking and standing—oops!).
Day Three: Hopped on the metro again (we loved using the metro!) and went to see the White House and the Lincoln Memorial. We ate lunch at the Ag building (open to visitors), but honestly, I wasn’t super impressed with the food or the prices. Oh well! We then zipped over to the Postal Museum for a quick stop, hit up the Washington Union Station for coffee, and then went on a Capital tour. And if that sounds like a lot—it was ;) We also got to go in and watch the Senate with passes from our state Senator. The kids weren’t super interested in this—but my hubby and I loved getting a front row seat to watch the government in action.
Day Four: We had some time in the morning to burn, so we took a bus to Georgetown and wandered around (with a stop for treats and coffee of course!). My hubby and I enjoyed this more than the kids—but it was a nice ending to a quick trip!
I wish we would have had time for an art museum or American history museum, but I think we squeezed in as much as we realistically could with three young kiddos. We also tried to pick things they would be interested in seeing + including them in our plans and agenda for the day :) My oldest got to be quite the pro at using the metro!
A few places we enjoyed eating:
District Tacos (we saved some $$ by sharing meals)
DC Pizza. Super yummy pizza + affordable too when you split a pizza!
Blue Bottle Coffee. This was inside the Union Station + so delicious! It was a bit of a splurge for coffee (but we like our afternoon coffee—ha!)
Falafel Inc. We grabbed a bite here in Georgetown before heading to the airport. It was so yummy, but we didn’t like that there was nowhere to sit and eat it. But, it was definitely one of the cheapest places we found to eat in DC.
How we kept this trip affordable:
We took the metro instead of renting a car. The metro was still a cost that added up, but it was less than renting a car and paying for parking. Plus, it was easy to navigate!
We used airline miles and hotel points to book free flights and hotel stays. Yes, free :) We did pay $50 for flight taxes, but that’s it!. We do a bit of “travel hacking” (building up travel points with sign-up bonuses and using our credit card instead of our debit card for normal spending). I am far from an expert in this (and we don’t go bonkers with it)—but if you are interested in how we did it, just zip me an email and I’ll share more!
We ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Yep. Living the vacation dream there ;) We had free breakfast at the hotel, packed one meal per day, and went out for one meal per day. This helped us save so much $$—especially in a city like DC where food can be spendy. I purposely chose a hotel within walking distance to a grocery store so that we could grab some food options for meals on the go.
I used some cash back I had built up on Rakuten to help cover a few things here and there. It adds up :) Ps. You can grab $40 dollars to start out just by using my link (if you don’t already have an account). It’s super easy to use!
We stuck with the free activities/places. So many things are free in DC (so that helped!), but we didn’t do any special tours or go to any museums that weren’t free. For us, we do less (avoid a lot of extras) when we travel so that we can travel more. In other words, we try to keep our costs low when we travel so that we don’t blow our entire travel budget on one trip since we like to travel multiple times a year. I know many who love to go all out when they travel—and that’s okay too!
I looked ahead and created a short list of affordable places to eat. This helped us not wander around with rumbly stomachs and just eat at the first place we saw. Having a short list of food options also helped us plan a bit better too!
This isn’t really a “keep it affordable tip” but more of a “keep it doable” perspective. We prioritize travel in our budget, so that means we set aside money every month so that we can draw from it when it’s time for a trip. This helps us stick to our budget as well as not go into any travel debt. If you want to travel more, saving even a little bit every month can add up! Ps. YNAB is a great budget tool that we use and love!
Here’s what we don’t leave behind when we travel:
Our Yoto players for the kids (so helpful on the plane and in the hotel at night when everyone needs to just chill!)
We invested in a few Walker Family duffles last year + they have been so amazing! I highly recommend them if you are looking for quality travel bags. Ps. They usually have a few good sales per year—so I’d wait and grab items while they are on sale.
A flexible mindset. Traveling with kids is simply parenting in a new place. We didn’t always have fantastic attitudes or awesome listening. There were complaints, there were sore feet, there were kids learning how to navigate a new place, there were tired kids (and parents), there were spilled lattes, and there were snags in our plans. But! Doing our best to be patient, including our kids in our plans, and encouraging them when things are less than ideal can go a long way! Ps. We sometimes played a scavenger hunt game when we walked to help distract the kids. I’d say: Find a yellow square, something round, a green sign…etc). They also liked to add their own things to find!
All in all, I think DC in a fantastic place to enjoy for a few days with your family. I know we’ll be back someday!
What places are on your family bucket list?
