A Kid Friendly + Budget Friendly Spring Break in DC

I remember when spring break was that last chance to party with friends before the end of the school year. A week to go wild and kick off the start of bathing suit season. Not much has changed, but now just add four little humans to the mix and instead of bringing a swimsuit, I make sure to pack a sensible walking shoe.

Spring break this year took us to the great city of Washington DC. Our friends Jo and Aaron recently purchased a new home in the DC area with a fully furnished basement for guests. So like all good friends do, I invited myself and my family of six to come spend spring break at their home. They not only said yes but they were delighted to have us. DC is only an 8 hour drive from Charleston, the weather is very mild in the spring, and there are so many kid friendly things to do on a budget. So that in combination with getting to see our friends, it ended up being the perfect spring break destination. Here is a quick run down of how we spent our trip:

DAY ONE:

We spent our first day downtown sight seeing the typical tourist spots. Our home base, our friends’ house, is in College Park Maryland which was just a quick 20-30 minute drive into the city. We drove downtown and found a parking spot near the Tidal Basin and decided to start exploring from there. To our luck, some of late blooming cherry blossoms were still in bloom around the Tidal Basin is naturally we stopped to see what all the fuss was about. After that we ventured to the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument. Then we decided to let the kids pick one museum to tackle today so we headed on foot to the National Museum of Natural History. It was a bit crowded but there is no charge to get in so we did just as much as we could handle and then made a getaway. We then walked across the street to the Smithsonian Castle and Enid Haupt Garden. We headed back to the car, on the way stopping off at MLK Jr Monument and FDR Memorial, which is a lesser known monument but a really pretty area of the Tidal Basin that I think gets overlooked sometimes!

After we got back to the car we did quick diaper changes and headed to Georgetown. My cousin owns the amazing Boulangerie Christophe on Wisconsin Ave so we headed there for lunch. Salad Nicoise for me, a sandwich for Will, and crêpes for kids. Afterwards we walked around to look for wisteria and ice cream. We found ice cream at Thomas Sweet and then found wisteria right across the way at 32nd Street (between P St NW and Q Street NW). There was also some beautiful wisteria growing along the wall at O Street (between 33rd and 34 St NW) and at the corner of 35th Street and Prospect St. NW. Finding wisteria growing along homes has become a new pastime of mine and luckily the kids were enjoying their ice cream and Will is always down for a nice walk so it was a win for everyone. After that we headed back to the house for a dinner at home with friends.

DAY 2

For our second day of exploring we headed out to Rockville Maryland for a picnic at the Glenview Mansion. Glenview Mansion is free and open to the public during visiting hours and is situated between a large playground and an avenue of beautiful pink Kwanzan cherry trees. There is a nearby nature center and nearby nature trials. Will and the older boys hiked a bit of the trail while the rest of us took the younger ones to play under the cherry trees and set up for the picnic.

After lunch we headed back downtown to hit up another museum. This time we went to the Hirshhorn Museum for the Yayoi Kusama Collection. You do have to have a timed entry passes for this exhibit but it is free and was so fun for the kids. Afterwards we walked along the mall for awhile and landed at the Capitol building and then for the walk back to the car we detoured past the White House. Our kids are too young to enjoy tours of buildings so we simply admired them all from the outside and then continued to venture on our way.

DAY 3:

On day four we decided to spend some more time in and around Maryland so we visited College Park Aviation Museum which was so fun for the kids, we had completely to ourselves and was less of a hassle then attempting to get a timed entry for the Air and Space Museum downtown. We also threw in a hike/walk around Lake Artemesia in College Park before heading home for lunch and naps.

DAY 4:

We headed back into Georgetown on our last day to visit the Dumbarton house and Gardens. This was recommended to me by a friend and it ended up being the highlight of the trip. They are only open to visitors from 2-5 so we headed to Georgetown for a late lunch at Boulangerie Christophe again and then walked over to Dumbarton so we could be there right when it opened at 2pm to beat the after work crowd. Check out this post for more info on Dumbarton Gardens.

Kid Friendly + Budget Friendly Places in DC

See the sculptures at the Hirshhorn Museum (free).
Visit the Air and Space Museum (free) downtown or head to College Park Aviation Museum ($5 adults, $2 kids) for a smaller but nice alternative.
See the dinosaurs and the large blue whale model at the Natural History Museum (free).
Hop across the street and visit the Smithsonian Castle and run around outside at the Enid Haupt Garden (free).
Run around and get your wiggles out at the Washington Monument (free).
Walk the Tidal Basin Loop Trail and visit the monuments along the way (free).
Drive over to historic Georgetown and visit Dumbarton Oaks Garden ($7 each).
Go see the baby gorillas at the Smithsonian National Zoo (free).
Head to Rock Creek Park for a picnic.