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Like Bunnies, I usually recommend that tourists on a budget should stay in Crystal City (particularly during summer weekends, when rates are low and parking is free): https://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...utside-dc.html
There's no reason to buy the Metro day pass unless you're really going to be making several trips per person per day. You can spend the day walking between a few museums, or taking a tour bus, or riding bike share bikes, and save the Metro for getting to/from the hotel twice a day.
And more importantly, as goldenage says, figuring out the roads/traffic here is not for the faint of heart.
Yeah, especially when the two-way roads turn into one-way roads at certain times of the day. And they close off certain on-ramps, and you are stuck trying to get back into traffic. You can be stuck going into Virginia when you really wanted to go back to DC and there is no place to turn around. The signs are terrible, and even experienced drivers get mixed up.
It's looking more and more like we'll stay at an inexpensive place ($100/night) five or ten miles from the DC Mall, and drive the car in and park it at a parking garage for the day.
Looks like there is NO inexpensive way to visit this area. There are 7 of us, including a five-year-old and a grandmother, neither of whom can handle bicycles well. So we'll be walking most everywhere once we park the car (a minivan). We really won't be doing much driving around DC.
Any restaurants or cafeterias where congressmen hang out around mealtimes? (Or is that the #1 stupidest question any tourist can possibly ask?)
Honestly, staying Downtown or near the Mall can be quite boring. Most of the time it's pretty dead except for 7th and its environs. However, the more vibrant areas of the city are lacking in hotels, and those that are in Dupont, Georgetown et al are relatively expensive. You can avoid the DC hotel tax by finding somewhere on the Orange Line in Arlington, and you'll end up only a few stops from the Mall on the same Metro line.
On our last two visits we stayed in Rosslyn and used Metro to go into DC. You can get some decent deals through Hotwire and Priceline, as long as you look carefully at the maps used by each service so you know the boundaries within which you might be. Even with parking fees I'd prefer to stay closer to the Mall than 5-10 miles, to avoid driving to a parking garage and having to find, and pay for, parking.
Looks like there is NO inexpensive way to visit this area.
Well, it *is* an expensive town for those of us who live here, as well as for those who visit. Once you get here, it's not quite as expensive since there are few admission fees. For seven of you including Grandma, it will probably be easier to drive the minivan -- just double-check your directions before you go, park in a garage to avoid meter surprises, and avoid rush hour. The roads are seriously confusing, and driving is a lot slower here than in California.
Congressmen probably have even more expensive tastes than you or I -- think fancy steakhouses -- but since there are 535 of them, they're not an uncommon sight most anywhere around the Capitol. For a great view of the Capitol buildings, the Library of Congress has a top-floor cafeteria that's open to the public. You'll need to pass a security check to get in, but (unlike any of the Reading Rooms) you don't need to register with the library to enter.
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