Travel Together: Washington, D.C.

If you get jet-lag from long flights, do you get toddler-lag from traveling ANY DISTANCE with a toddler?! I vote yes. We just got home from our trip to D.C. and the state of my house pretty much matches to the state of my brain. Since I live and travel with miss Tiger Lily herself I had to totally psych myself up for each trek. I mean, does time actually go by slower on a plane with a toddler?

Travel

CARES Harness – So this was the best purchase ever. I’ll have to figure out how to keep her from sliding down in her seat though. If she isn’t buckled in she likes to jump, bounce, scream and be totally crazy… the entire time. BUT if she’s in a secure seat, she is a TOTALLY different child. It’s not perfect, but it kept her sitting and content during our flight which preserved the nerves of everyone around us, including ME.
Pill case – I got so many weird looks as she pilfered through the 2 week pill case. Hey mama’s got to get creative! Each compartment had a different special snack in it. She loved having the ability to open and close each little compartment and “find” different fun snacks. Plus, it’s also great for portion control so you aren’t blowing through whole packages of snacks at a time. BAM. At least 10 minutes of entertainment.
Entertainment – Speaking of entertainment, I quickly learned that toys pretty much do nothing for her at this point… and coloring lasted about 2 minutes before she threw the crayon 3 rows up. So flights are a time to binge watch her favorite movies and TV shows. We have a Kindle with a kid case.

Washington, D.C. with a Toddler

Even though we were there a week, we really only had 4 days to “explore” since the hubs had to work all the others and the munchkin had some mystery allergy we dealt with. We seem to have made visiting the local Urgent Care a travel tradition of ours… so note to self – locate urgent cares ahead of time so you don’t have to do it when your stressed. Ha. Regardless, it was SO nice to be together again after so many weeks!

I feel like we only skimmed the surface of what the area has to offer, but D.C. quickly jumped up the list of Favorite Cities for us. Here’s a quick recap and some highlights!

You will walk, a lot. Wear comfy shoes and bring snacks.
Parking is extremely difficult, so unless you have patience like Mother Teresa, you may be better off using the METRO. We did both.
The amount of green space available to play is BONUS for kids who love to run! Great way to burn off energy in between museums.
Speaking of museums, they are all free (yes please!). With our limited time, we decided to go to the ones that would interest our 2 year old. We ALL loved the National Museum of Natural History and the National Air and Space Museum (there is one in DC and also in Virginia near Dulles airport – we visited the one near Dulles because they have the actual Space Shuttle, Discovery. AMAZING.)
We heard mixed reviews of the Smithsonian National Zoo from friends, but we ended going anyways and totally loved it! G was engaged and enjoyed running to each exhibit. PS their elephant exhibit is pretty impressive.
D.C. is just plain beautiful! The architecture is stunning, the parks are gorgeous and the weather in October was simply amazing.
Annapolis, MD. Worth the little drive up there. The most charming little town, possibly ever?!