Where can I go on a $300 budget?

[Anonymous]

pp here. also try to hit a new park/playground each day

[Anonymous]

This week or next week? If next week (or later), Skyland in Shenandoah National Park opens March 26, and room rates are $105 per night if you have AAA or $115 if you don't.

The accommodations are rustic but you can get outdoors and go hiking, and NPS has some pretty good programming.

You could also do Assateague Island. Stay in Ocean City, off the beach, and drive down to see the ponies.

[Anonymous]

5 days- staycation

Day 1 all day at MD Science Center in Baltimore arrive 10:00 - leave at 3:00, get tickets to one of the IMAX movies to watch there. Spend time in the kids room on the third floor. In fact start out in the kids room. (You can bring lunch and eat at the brown bag area.)

Day 2
Movie from Red Box to watch together, lunch picnic at home, afternoon, head on over to the Rollingcrest-Chillum Splash Park, he will love it.

Day 3
A Day at the National Zoo, bring lunch or get lunch at the Panda Cafe. Buy some souvenirs and special snack at the zoo. Find out when different feeding happens and schedule those in.

Day 4
Back to Baltimore, but this time visit the Aquarium all day

Day 5
One more day in Baltimore, go to the B&O Museum. There is no place to eat in the area. Maybe do that in the morning and then head over to the Inner Harbor in the afternoon and have lunch at Noodles and Company and then take a water taxi around the Inner Harbor. Get on and off or stay on the whole time.

Sorry I didn't price it out, but I'm pretty sure it is less than $300.

[Anonymous]

Bad weather day: college Park aviation Museum is great for a 5 year old

[Anonymous]

County Natire Centers are also winners . Clearwater Nature Center in PG or Hidden Oond in Fairfax County are just 2 examples

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a car?

Trip 1: Baltimore

Drive to B'more -- day 1, Port Discovery ($14.50 per person = $29)

Stay overnight near BWI (La Quinta Inn is $105 plus tax, includes breakfast and has a pool = S119)

day 2: Maryland Science Center ($18.95 + $15.95 = $34.95)

Budget $50 for gas, parking tolls; you'll have about $70 left over for meals/incidentals.

You can do this on the commuter train too. If you go on a weekend it's pretty cheap to ride up to Baltimore, and very exciting for kids.

[Anonymous]

I love this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love this thread.

Me too. Np here pregnant with my first, and this makes me excited to not only be a mom, but to be a mom in this great city!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dutch Wonderland + Strasburg train (if that's an interest) + Hershey choc tour (kids went on it 3x, then pigged out on the samples and store). Topped it off with Turkey Hill ice cream tour which was fun 1x.

I may be wrong, but I don't think Dutch Wonderland opens until May.

[Anonymous]

DW is pricey, too -- $40 per person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a car?

Trip 1: Baltimore

Drive to B'more -- day 1, Port Discovery ($14.50 per person = $29)

Stay overnight near BWI (La Quinta Inn is $105 plus tax, includes breakfast and has a pool = S119)

day 2: Maryland Science Center ($18.95 + $15.95 = $34.95)

Budget $50 for gas, parking tolls; you'll have about $70 left over for meals/incidentals.

You can do this on the commuter train too. If you go on a weekend it's pretty cheap to ride up to Baltimore, and very exciting for kids.

Sorry, I posted this backwards. I meant to say "If you don't go on the weekend it's cheap". The train is very expensive on the weekend, because you have to take Amtrak. It's cheap during the week because it's commuter rail. The commuter rail trains are doubledecker, plus there's a trolley thing from the train station to the harbor, so lots of "novel" transportation, which is always fun.

[Anonymous]

That's about what we have to spend on a long weekend in June (Thursday-Sunday), and planning to spend a few days in Shenandoah, going to the Virginia Safari, Luray, and a nice hike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a car?

Trip 1: Baltimore

Drive to B'more -- day 1, Port Discovery ($14.50 per person = $29)

Stay overnight near BWI (La Quinta Inn is $105 plus tax, includes breakfast and has a pool = S119)

day 2: Maryland Science Center ($18.95 + $15.95 = $34.95)

Budget $50 for gas, parking tolls; you'll have about $70 left over for meals/incidentals.

You can do this on the commuter train too. If you go on a weekend it's pretty cheap to ride up to Baltimore, and very exciting for kids.

Sorry, I posted this backwards. I meant to say "If you don't go on the weekend it's cheap". The train is very expensive on the weekend, because you have to take Amtrak. It's cheap during the week because it's commuter rail. The commuter rail trains are doubledecker, plus there's a trolley thing from the train station to the harbor, so lots of "novel" transportation, which is always fun.

Not OP, but this sounds really great. What is the commuter rail called? If you don't take a car, is it easy to do both the Science Center and the Aquarium?

also, for the poster who suggested Richmond, we spent a long weekend there with 2 kids and the museums were really fun. There was also a kids museum (but much smaller) near the stadium but I don't recall the name. Stayed at a clean but lower end hotel with a pool and it turned out to be trip the kids remembered.

[Anonymous]

Not OP, but this sounds really great. What is the commuter rail called?

MARC train. goes from union station (and a few other stations too)

[Anonymous]

Williamsburg Spring Bounce Ticket
Includes all Colonial Williamsburg sites and Busch Gardens Williamsburg® for seven (7) consecutive days. Includes parking. Valid Mar. 20–Apr. 26, 2015.
$98 for an adult, 5 and under free!!
Looks like decent hotels are about $80 per night.
So- you could drive down early one morning, do the sites or Busch Gardens, spend the night, then do whatever you didn't get to the next day-
This trip will probably cost about $220- (get hotel with breakfast included, pack some lunch foods and go casual for dinner).
Then do some of our lovely local museums/zoo around here when you get back.