NASM Road Trip

[coldflyer]

A small group of us old retired guys will be heading for DC to take in NASM on the mall and out at Udvar Hazy. Any suggestions on an area best for accommodations and easiest access to both facilities. Quite willing to use mass transit. Any other warbird museums we ought to hit on our way back to CT & ME?

[tulsaboy]

Definitely use the metro to get to the mall location. Will be much cheaper than most any alternative. You can also take the metro on the blue line out towards Dulles, and can catch a cab from the stop there. If you take a cab from the mall area out to Dulles, it will cost about 75-100 bucks.

kevin

[armyjunk2]

maybe take a look at these before you go, give you a handle on what your going to see....http://tinyurl.com/yht43gm

[DenverWarbirdFan]

Definitely use the metro to get to the mall location. Will be much cheaper than most any alternative. You can also take the metro on the blue line out towards Dulles, and can catch a cab from the stop there. If you take a cab from the mall area out to Dulles, it will cost about 75-100 bucks.

kevin

What he said. The bus(es) I took from the Mall to Dulles took some careful planning but the bus dropped me off right next to the shuttle that goes to Udvar Hazy. I don't know DC hardly at all and it worked out very well when I went last year, and with a FastPass was a much cheaper alternative than a cab ride.

[SaxMan]

My suggestion would be to stay at a hotel in Virginia that is close to a Metro line. Hotels in downtown D.C. tend to be very expensive. There are a couple of hotels near the Ballston Metro station, which is in Arlington, Virginia (Hilton Arlington, Westin Arlington Gateway). Also, this would put you near I-66 to drive out to Udvar-Hazy. I think they may have stopped the shuttles between the D.C. location and U-H.

Feel free to PM me if you want some feedback on hotel choices. One of the side benefits of being a professional musician is that I've been in just about every major hotel in the D.C. metro area.

[Cking]

I was planning of doing the same trip. My plan was to stay at an airport hotel and do the Udvar and, if time permitted go down town. I went in 1985 so the Udvar was the main aim. I know that the downtown bit will have changed a bit
The wife keeps going away on "Girly" weekends with her sisters. So I negociated a weekend away. I didn't tell her were till she had said yes! Might do it later on in the year, out of school holidays.
Rgds Cking

[Cubs]

When I visited D.C. a couple of years ago, I stayed at a motel in Rockville, MD. It was right at the end of the metro Red line (Shady Grove). $75.00 at night, decent room. A couple of sandwich shops within walking distance. Took the metro nearly everywhere. Never rented a car (arrived by train).

[flyingsailor]

A small group of us old retired guys will be heading for DC to take in NASM on the mall and out at Udvar Hazy. Any suggestions on an area best for accommodations and easiest access to both facilities. Quite willing to use mass transit. Any other warbird museums we ought to hit on our way back to CT & ME?

My father (coldflyer) asked that I send along his appreciation to those that have answered his query. He lives in the wilds of Maine, and due to the most recent instance of global warming is unable to get connected to the internet.

So on his behalf, thanks, and yes I will make sure that he posts pictures from his visit.

[flyingsailor]

A small group of us old retired guys will be heading for DC to take in NASM on the mall and out at Udvar Hazy. Any suggestions on an area best for accommodations and easiest access to both facilities. Quite willing to use mass transit. Any other warbird museums we ought to hit on our way back to CT & ME?

My father (coldflyer) asked that I send along his appreciation to those that have answered his query. He lives in the wilds of Maine, and due to the most recent instance of global warming is unable to get connect to the internet.

So on his behalf, thanks, and yes I will make sure that he posts pictures from his visit.

[Garth]

Concur with Metro to the Mall. There's always street-side parking available within 2-3 blocks of the museum, but you have to know your way around in order to find it. If going to the Mall, the L'Enfant Plaza Station (Blue and Orange Line) is actually most convenient to NASM.

For Dulles, there are a number of ways to get out there.

The NASM bus from Mall to U-H ISN'T one of them. It no longer exists.

Here are the other options:

1.) Metro to the West Falls Church Station (ORANGE line) then a Washington Flyer bus to Dulles Airport and then the Airport-Museum shuttle from there.

2.) 5A Metrobus from L'Enfant Plaza (stop is two blocks away from NASM Mall) to Dulles Airport. Shorter, and cheaper alternative to #1, but the buses aren't as nice as the Washington Flyer ones).

3.) Cab from any of the above locations (downtown DC, West Falls Church, Dulles Airport, etc). This is going to be HIGHLY expensive and actually inconvenient. IIRC cabs still have to pay the $15 entrance fee to UH, and there isn't a cabstand there ... so when you're ready to leave you'll need to call another cab.

4.) Personal vehicle (or rental car). IMHO this is the best option for convenience.

At U-H, be sure to ask the docent to tell the story about the live UXO found inside the Do-335 during restoration. They just LOVE to tell that one.

Other aviation/military-related attractions in the area? PLENTY:

Navy Museum at the DC Navy Yard in DC. You need to call ahead and give them your ID info (it's an active military reservation), but its an incredibly neat place and never really crowded.

American History Museum (Smithsonian). Great exhibit on "Americans At War" with some aviation content.

National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico. A ways South of DC, but it has good aviation content and is pretty cutting edge in terms of the displays.

If you're willing to venture further South, there are a number of Aviation museums in the Richmond<->Hampton Roads area.

Moving North of DC there's the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover DE. Intrepid in NYC, MAAM and the helicopter museum in PA, etc.

Lots more stuff as well. More than I can easily go into. I've lived in the DC area for 20+ years now and still haven't done all the attractions, exhibits, museums, battlefields in the area. This area is literally overloaded with stuff to do.

[michaelharadon]

I was in DC last week, and visited U-H on Tuesday.

If you are staying in DC, go to Air And Space on the Mall. The information desk will give you a bus schedule and also point you in the right direction to take the bus to Dulles. You'll have about a 7 minute walk to catch it. It's cheap, something like $3.50. Have exact change. It drops you off at Dulles. Stay exactly where it drops you off because the shuttle bus that goes to U-H will pick you up right there. It costs $.50. It is unmarked, so when you see a shuttle type bus pull up and stop, ask the driver if it's the one that goes to U-H.

The return bus schedule is printed on the back of the paper the info desk will give you.

Yes, hotels in DC are pricier than in the surrounding areas. I got my hotel by going to Hotwire.com. They have pretty good deals on places to stay.

Have a great time. Everything you may have heard about how wonderful the museum is is true!

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[ww2John]

My 2 cents about DC hotels...
Yes, use an internet booking service after checking the Metro lines that end North of DC. I hate the downtown DC traffic & the rush hour Beltway traffic, so I tend to not drive into the city, but take the Metro and find a hotel within easy distance of the last Metro stop on whatever Metro line I need to take to go to my downtown destinations. I always drive to U-H rather than "bus it" around. Plenty of hotels just south of U-H if you want to be closer to that.
Not an aviation museum, but I really enjoyed my time at the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, almost directly across the Mall from NASM. You could easily spend a half day in the room with all the front pages of newspapers and the exhibits right off that one room. Pretty decent cafeteria/restaurant there also, so you can avoid the hamburg/hot dog crowd.
On your way down or back, check the schedule at the New England Air Museum for one of their Open Cockpit Sundays - worth the effort.

[coldflyer]

Would like to thank everyone for their input. Unfortunately due to weather conditions and where we live I was off line for 5 days and have not been able to get back to WIX until today. Looks like the road trip will be the last week in April. Looking forward to it and will report upon our return. Thanks again.