Going up to D.C., gonna have myself a time!

How exciting for you, Amy! Even a few hours will give you chance to see a couple of things!

Maybe you'd be able to take a couple of days off before and after to give you more of a chance to explore!

I hope you'll take photos to show us!

Oh that's a shame! But at least you're not paying, so that's got to be a bonus!

I'm sure you'll make friends very quickly and if they know the area well you should be able to see a lot! I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures!

How exciting to see the White House and Lincoln's Memorial - I bet they look massive in real life!

I really hope that you get more time than expected to sitesee! If you don't get much chance, at least you'll have some bearing, so you could always visit again another time!

Ooo Id love to explore Washington! Have a wonderful time Amy, and take lots of pictures for us! Will you go on a tour of the White House?

That sounds really exciting! be sure to take lots of pics!, I'd love to see them.

How exciting! I went to Washington for the first time a couple of years ago and it was amazing. My favorite was also Smithsonians, but as Katherine mentioned you might not have enough time to do that and still see everything else. Maybe you can become very good friends with one of the other advocates and in a few months you and Bradley can go and visit with your new friend and spend more time exploring

I adore the Smithsonians as well, and you could really kill a few hours there easily, but you wouldn't have time for anything else.

Take Care Amy! ....and have a lot of fun! ....

You´re missed here...

we´re waiting for the pics!...

cheers! ....

Since you are in arlington, If you are there at the right time, I would really suggest seeing the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soilders. I think it is done every hour on the hour. That and seeing the kennedy's graves with the eternal flame is neat.

What happened to us but ended up being the best part of the trip, is we looked at the metro map and saw that it wasnt very far from arlington to the lincoln memorial, all you had to do was cross the patomic. A bit from the lincoln memorial was the vietnam wall so we walked to see that, then the koren war memorial was close to that, as well as that new one they just finished. By that point you could see the capital building (where we were all supposed to meet) and just decided to keep walking. By the time we were done we walked all the way from arlington va to the capital building. It was a little over 5 miles I think, and at the time we thought we were making a mistake, but in the end it was one of the best things we did. Another thing we did was go to the Holocost Museam and see everything there (it took like 3 hours). I was very glad I went, but I will probably not go back. It really drains you emotionally.

Oh! and there is this place called Bens chili bowl, we found it by accident, but apparently its world famous chili, all the politicans and movie stars go there. Its this really out of place looking building with a big sign with red lettering.

I would suggest planning your free time and packing it full (you can sleep later!) Everything tourist-y shuts down at 5. Be prepared to go through a lot of metal dectors if you go to anything political in nature. Even the Holocost museam we had to go through them and I had to take a drink of my water to prove it was water. So dont carry anything that cant be searched pretty easily.

The tour of the capital building is neat, they show you the old supreme court room that all the major trials of their day were heard, you get to see all the old rooms, all the pictures you have seen in the history books growing up, and the declaration of independence and the constitution. To take this tour you are searched and put through a metal detectors, you cant bring any liquids or foods in, had to take off your shoes to have them xrayed, etc. I think if you dont have a lot of time that would be where you could get the most bang for your buck.

OH! and take a DC tour of all the memorials light up at night. Cause it takes you to all of them and lets you take pictures of some if you are the only ones on it. That was good for us because we couldnt do anything until after 6 pm because of the volunteer work we were doing. (alternative spring break)

Hope I gave you some ideas!Have fun!

How exciting! I haven't been there since I was around 10. Take LOTS of pics!

The Smithsonian is a whole bunch of different museums. All of them are great, and you could spend days and days there. With limited time, it would still be worth seeing one of them. I absolutely love the Hirschorn museum - which is all sculpture, and has an outdoor sculpture garden with Rodin bronzes. The Air and Space Museum is spectacular. And the one I have not seen yet, but which is supposed to be great, is the Museum of the American Indian.

My first visit to DC we only had 2 hours to see everything, and we did a whirlwind tour around Capitol Hill, including a stop at the Air and Space museum.

There are others, the Natural History museum, the American History one, that has the tv stuff in it. But those three are my top picks.

Have a great time, Amy. I'm so excited for you. I haven't been to DC for while. Be sure to get plenty of pics!

I just went to DC 2 weeks ago! I recommend Ford's Theatre to hear about Lincoln's assassination. I also think you should check out the Holocaust Museum. It was very moving. Out of all the memorials, the Lincoln Memorial was my favorite. But all of the war memorials are good, too. A teacher at my school recommended the Bureau of Engraving, but we couldn't go because they aren't open on weekends. I also think going through the National Archives is worthwhile. I don't know if you have time to request a Pentagon tour or not. That tour was the highlight of my visit, although it was a personalized one given by a friend of a friend who works there.

Have a fantastic time, ride the Metro, and wear very comfy shoes!

Ive never been to America and it is soooo wierd hearing an American get excited about visiting another part of America. I think we brits forget how enormous the USA is...
I almost don't believe it because I havent seen it. Its wierd if you know what I mean...?