Search Results for: blog more of marylands top family friendly attractions

Cheap Presidents’ Day Travel Destinations

Presidents’ Day is just a few hours away.  Where will you be spending the holiday? If you are lucky, you won’t be working on the Congress-concocted celebration marking the birth of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and the other former leaders of the free world.  Consequently, you have the opportunity to explore the home base of our current president. Washington, D.C. is a frugal traveler’s dream destination.  Our nation’s capital is filled with free and cheap attractions that will keep family members of all ages entertained. Many of the area’s museums, monuments and other noteworthy attractions are run by the federal … Continue reading →

Maryland Genealogy Resources

The state of Maryland has more than one nickname. One of the nicknames is “The Free State”. Are you searching for information about your ancestors who lived in Maryland? If so, then there are several online genealogy resources that can help you to do that. Many of them are free to use! Ancestry.com has a page with links to all of its Maryland genealogy resources. To access the majority of these collections of records, you must have an Ancestry.com membership. Some collections are being offered for free right now. Return to this resource often. Ancestry.com makes it clear when a … Continue reading →

Family Travel: Cheap Thrills in Washington, D.C.

Who says you have to mortgage your home to pay for a family vacation? With the skyrocketing price of gas and the exorbitant cost of airfare most families would agree that taking a trip these days requires some major financial wrangling. However, there are ways you can make the most of a family getaway—-no matter how cash strapped you may be–if you look in the right places. For example, Washington, D.C. is loaded with free and cheap attractions that will appeal to everyone in your clan. Many of the area’s museums, monuments and other star attractions are run by the … Continue reading →

Visiting a Dirty Museum

Bring along extra Wet-Ones if you are planning a trip to the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. this summer. Forget about what your mom said about not playing in dirt, the Smithsonian Institution is taking soil to new depths. In its new exhibit–“Dig It”—-the museum is giving guests the chance to explore the mysterious and complex world of dirt. Curators say their goal with the new exhibit is to get people to see how soil is the foundation of all the Earth’s ecosystems, and that it is “as important as air and water.” Some of the exhibit’s … Continue reading →

The Newseum’s Newest Exhibit

It’s just 10-feet by 12-feet but the Newseum’s newest exhibit is considered by many as larger than life. The tiny structure that sits within the massive Washington museum once housed one of the nation’s most notorious criminals—-Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. The cabin is on public display for the first time in the new exhibit “G-Men and Journalists: Top News Stories of the FBI’s First Century,” which opens Friday at the Newseum, a museum about the news. For more than a decade the cabin, which once stood in a wooded area in Montana, has been sitting in an FBI evidence facility collecting … Continue reading →

Summer Travel: Museum Mania

I think I might have found the silver lining in the gray cloud that is our current economic slump. Good news for summer travelers: One of Washington, D.C.’s most expensive museums is lowering its admission fee. Officials at Madame Tussauds wax museum recently announced it plans to cut admission prices from $21 to $18 for adults and from nearly $16 to $12 for children. Museum officials say the price change was prompted by the nation’s economic slowdown. If you are a D.C.-area resident you stand to save even more. People who live in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia … Continue reading →

Casa de Rodent

A few weeks ago I blogged about my daughter’s mouse sighting on our flight to Hawaii. The thought of a rodent rifling through the bag I placed under the seat in front of me still creeps me out, but it’s nothing compared to what some hotel guests in Washington, D.C. have been dealing with. The Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center just opened for business and it’s already been plagued with a nightmarish situation—a rodent invasion. UGH! According to news reports, numerous guests—all of which were the first to stay in the brand-new 2,000-room hotel—say they had run ins with … Continue reading →

D.C.’s Newest Family-Friendly Educational Destination

There is no question Washington, D.C. is one of the foremost educational vacation destinations in the world. And now families have yet another attraction to add to their list of must-see sites in the area. D.C.’s Newseum is a massive, multi-million dollar complex that celebrates newsgathering and teaches visitors “news is necessary to a functioning democracy.” The $450 million, 643,000-square-foot translucent structure held its grand opening ceremony today. The Newseum sits on Pennsylvania Avenue a few blocks from the Capitol near the National Mall and is preparing to host more than a million visitors in its first year. For $20 … Continue reading →

Travel in the Pope’s Footsteps–Washington D.C.

In just a few days Pope Benedict XVI will begin a historic tour of Washington, D.C. and New York. In my previous blog I listed some of the sites the pontiff is scheduled to visit while in the Big Apple and how you too can share in the once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing the leader of the Catholic Church in person. If you are unable to make it to New York City or Washington, D.C. next week during the Pope’s visit you could settle for the next best thing—following in his footsteps the next time you are in either of the … Continue reading →

The Most Popular Hotel Room in Washington, D.C.

It is now… and for all the wrong reasons. If the walls in Room 871 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. could talk I’m sure former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s high-priced call girl wouldn’t have been offered nearly as many lucrative book deals. Since the Spitzer sex scandal broke hotel managers say they have had dozens of people calling to book a night in the now infamous room. But, according to hotel big wigs, guests can ask for Room 871, but they might not get it. Apparently, standard operating procedure dictates that guests can’t be guaranteed a … Continue reading →