DC is a wonderful city, Tom. Here are some suggestions ... * Ride the Metro. It's clean, easy and inexpensive, especially with a day pass. * Don't bother standing in a long line to go to the top of the Washington Memorial (if that's even allowed these days) - you can get a much better panoramic view from the top of the National Cathedral, and it's free! Plus the Cathedral is lovely in its own right, with wonderful stained glass windows (visit in the morning or afternoon to get the best light angles) and a great bookstore in the basement. * As we have often lived near DC, we haven't stayed in many hotels, but I can definitely recommend the Topaz Hotel off DuPont Circle, where we stayed for a weekend a couple years ago. It's a boutique hotel with a great location. DuPont circle has art galleries and restaurants a-plenty, and is an easy distance by Metro to the Mall, monuments, etc. We were able to get a good price on Priceline.com (you won't be given the hotel name, but when we booked the Topaz was the only boutique hotel offered for the DuPont Circle area). The hotel group, Kimpton, has several other locations in DC which I would expect to be just as nice. http://www.topazhotel.com/

Enjoy your visit! Cindy in NC