I strongly advise calling your hotel, and asking to speak to the concierge. Mention to him when you plan on being in the area, and the sites you’d like to see, and ask him for advice as to which days of your stay to go visit what. Many years ago when I was there helping with fireworks, most of the mall area was closed down on July 3rd, and you seriously had to plan if you wanted to visit museums on opposite sides of the mall.
If you are driving, make sure you pay attention to local commuter websites, and absolutely note down where traffic cameras are placed. You might actually have the best luck going to Arlington in the morning of the 4th, and should expect little access to the Mall area, but of course the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Memorial are open at most times.
Plan on getting to the Air and Space museum early, and spend quite a bit of time there. They’ll probably love it.
Excellent advice! I'm assuming the hotel concierge will also be able to tell us about DC's mass transit systems and how to get around on them?
If you are driving, make sure you pay attention to local commuter websites, and absolutely note down where traffic cameras are placed. You might actually have the best luck going to Arlington in the morning of the 4th, and should expect little access to the Mall area, but of course the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Memorial are open at most times.
Yep, we're driving in, good advice on the commuter websites (will google those to find them.)
I think you also mentioned that the Mall is pretty much shut down on the 3rd, does anyone reading this thread know if that's still the case? If so, that puts a big dent in our tourism plans...