Washington, D.C. Review

There is one great, incredible, fabulous reason to visit Washington, D.C. with kids: the Smithsonian Museum network. I've been to plenty of big cities with great museums, but visit even a few with kids (and the need to buy several tickets), and your wallet gets tapped quickly. Or you visit the free ones, and they are, well, worth the money. In Washington, D.C., there are several high-quality, vast, impressive museums that won't even bore the kids, and entry to every single one is free.

In fact, having grown in the a Washington, D.C. area, I still get peeved when I get charged to enter a museum. I was spoiled by the Washington museums. I paid $20-something a pop to get into a Chicago art museum when we lived there, and all I kept thinking was that the National Gallery (a much larger and better museum) is free!

Some of the museums in the system are less kid-friendly than others. You may get a few yawns and whines if you drag the kids to the National Portrait Gallery ("Mom, is that ANOTHER painting of an old guy? Can we leave now???"). Here are the best museums to visit with kids in Washington's Smithsonian network:

• The Air & Space Museum. I presume I don't need to explain why this is so cool, but I will. Kids will love seeing old and new airplanes and space shuttles. When I was a kid, this was the standard field trip, and every kid bought the space ice cream (freeze-fried, horrible stuff sold in the gift shop).
• The National Zoo. The zoo is best known for its panda bears, but there are also many others and kids just ooh and ahh and the various species.
• The Museum of Natural History. Don't let the stodgy name fool you. This is one of the most popular kid museums, featuring everything from life-size dinosaur and whale models to my personal favorite, the gem and rock room featuring the Hope Diamond.

Beyond the free museums, there are several other things kids and parents will love in Washington, D.C. There are restaurants to suit every taste. If you want to avoid the annoying family chain restaurant, find a city sidewalk cafe and eat with the kids. My personal favorite is Les Halles on Pennsylvania Avenue. You can get your kids to try something French, or go with the classic hamburger-or-chicken-fingers options on the kids' menu. At the least, I'm sure they would try profiteroles and love them!

There are also lots of national sports teams in Washington for kids who love to watch or play sports.

Take a day-trip to Manassas or Fredericksburg, both about an hour away, to visit some of the nation's best Civil War battlefields. Both are small cities with cute old town areas for shopping and dining.