I don't know where I found this list of things to do in DC but it all looks fun and so I have made it our (mine and Calder's) goal to do everything on the list. I have modified it a bit as I decided some things weren't worth really for us. But I've added things to keep it at 100. As we do them, I will cross them off. Currently we have done 52 of the 100.
1. Call your Member of Congress and obtain
White House tour tickets
2. Visit Mount Vernon
3. Hop on a
trolley tour of the Washington, DC monuments
4. Touch a real piece of the moon at the National Air and Space Museum
5. Dig in to Ethiopian food with your hands
6. Squeal over the pandas at the National Zoo
7. Delve into the basement of the Department of Commerce and visit DC’s National Aquarium
8. Cheer at a Nationals Game
9. Pretend you’re Orville or Wilbur at the College Park Aviation Museum
10.View the fireworks on the National Mall or wave a flag at a fun local 4th of July Parade
11. Pick your own seasonal produce at a nearby farm
12. Ride the carousel at Glen Echo Park or Wheaton Regional Park.
13. Smell the roses at a Family Day event at the U.S. Botanical Gardens
14. Tour the Bureau of Engraving & Printing and see money printed
15. Take the gargoyle tour at
Washington National Cathedral
16. Ride Metro to Union Station and burst through the main doors like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
17. Witness the changing of the guard at the Tombs of the Unknown at Arlington National Cemetery
18. Eat fish and chips at The Dubliner or Kelly’s Irish Times
19. Hike around Roosevelt Island
20. Visit old Ellicot City
21. Paddle around the Tidal Basin
22. Rent canoes or kayaks in Georgetown and paddle down the Potomac
23. Explore downtown Alexandria and walk by the Spite House.
24. Check out the view from the top of the Washington Monument
25. Visit the Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Garden
26. Visit Baltimore's National Harbor for a boat tour.
27. Make peace with the creepy crawlers at the Orkin Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
28. Drive through the
Shenandoah’s Skyline Drive and take a
family hike along the Appalachian trail
29. Play in the rocket garden of the NASA Goddard Visitors Center
30. Take a tour of the Supreme Court.
31. Ride the miniature trains at Wheaton or Cabin John Regional Parks.
32. Explore Old Town Alexandria
33. Listen to free concerts at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage
34. Explore
Luray Caverns
35. Have a picnic on the National Mall
36. Ride the rails at the
National Capitol Trolley Museum
37. Feed the animals at the
Leesburg Animal Park
38. Enjoy a voyage down the Potomac in a
real riverboat
39. Visit the train exhibit at the National Botanic Gardens.
40. Admire the majestic beauty of Great Falls
41. Go train-crazy at the
B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore
42. Eat crab at Mike's Crab House in Annapolis
43. Choose a favorite piece at the National Gallery of Art.
44. Have a free, old-fashioned playdate at one of the wondrous local playgrounds
45. Catch a kid-centric show at the
Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo Park
46. Take family or butterfly photos amongst the beauty of Brookside Gardens
47. See a children’s show at
Wolf Trap’s Theatre-in-the-Woods
48. Nosh on crab cakes
49. Go to
Little Seneca Lake
50. Frolic on the farm at the
Agricultural History Farm Park
51. Make figure 8s at local ice rinks
52. Tour the inspiration for
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
53. See why they called him Stonewall Jackson at
Manassas National Battlefield
54. Hike a portion of the
Underground Railroad
55. Learn about the life of an
American slave
56. Cool off at the South Germantown Splash Playground
57. Get a hole-in-one at a local miniature golf course
58. Go camping at a
local campground
59. Salute our nation’s veterans at Arlington National Cemetery
60. Remember
Iwo Jima at the National Marine Corps Memorial
61. Walk through the Depression and the New Deal at the
FDR Memorial
62. Hum the
Star Spangled Banner from Fort McHenry
63. Visit the National Arboretum
64. Rent a cabin in the
Virginia countryside
65. Schedule a
dinosaur dig
66. Step back in time at a
historic manor home
67. Take a free morning bird walk with the Audubon Naturalist Society in MD or VA
68. Cheer the
Washington Mystics
69. Watch the airplanes take off and land at Gravelly Point
70. Explore and hike through Rock Creek Park
71. Eat cotton candy at a nearby county fair
72. Cheer your heart out at a Washington Wizards game.
73. Walk around historic Annapolis
74. Walk around historic
Fells Point, MD
75. Walk through the Friendship Archway in DC’s Chinatown
76. Build and play at the Building Zone at the National Building Museum
77. Tour the US Capitol via the public tour or by private tour conducted by your Member of Congress
78. Experience the beginning of American history at the National Museum of the American Indian
79. Hear a story or see a performance at the
Discovery Theatre
80. Kick up your heels at a
Folklore Society of Greater Washington Family Dance at Glen Echo
81. Talk to the animals at the
Reston Zoo
82. Solve a mystery as a Plantation Sleuth at
Gunston Hall
83. Play, eat and enjoy wallet-friendly design at a nearby IKEA
84. Chow down on
dim sum
85. Time travel to 1771 at
Claude Moore Colonial Farm at Turkey Run
86. Get soaked (in a good way) at
Splashdown Waterpark
87. Drive out to Virginia’s
Dinosaurland
88. Go on safari at
Virginia Safari Park
89. Get interactive at the
Port Discovery Children’s Museum in Baltimore
90. Report live from the Newseum
91. View sites of the city from a bicycle
92. Satisfy your very hungry bookworm at the Library of Congress
93. View the documents of democracy at the National Archives
94. Visit the
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s
95. Build a sand castle at Bethany Beach
96. Grab a bite on the Georgetown Waterfront
97. Tour the
historic 1876 synagogue with the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington
98. Tour the gardens and re-creation of Christian holy sites at the
Franciscan Monastery
99. Stand in awe at the First Lady's dresses at the National Museum of American History, then take your kid to the transportation exhibit.
100. Eat and shop your way through Eastern Market
