1977

These aren't all Smithsonians, but my faves are the Botanic Gardens, Natural History, American History, African American, the National Gallery and the Renwick. If you like planes, hitting the Udvar Hazy museum is worth the drive.

I'd say skip the American Indian Museum (which makes me sound terrible, I know, but the museum is 2/3rds gift shop and cafeteria), the Air and Space (it's under construction and only a few exhibits are open atm), and the Smithsonian Castle (cool building but the contents are generally lame).

The Holocaust Museum, while absolutely worth visiting, is not a Smithsonian museum.

Hi. I work for the Smithsonian (though, to be clear, I'm not writing in an official capacity!)

A lot of it depends on what you want to get out of the experience, and what you enjoy from museums. Is it possible to see every single thing? Of course not. But it's absolutely possible to have a magnificent time.

Generally speaking, when most people think about the Smithsonian museums, they're thinking of the "Big Three" -- Natural History, Air and Space, and American History. But there are a lot of other museums that offer really great experiences which might be even better for you. I personally love both the African American History and Culture museum and the American Indian museum, as well as the Portrait Gallery and the Asian Art museum. The National Gallery of Art isn't part of the Smithsonian (though most people don't know that), but it's on a lot of folks' lists (though I personally am less fond of it).

Obviously my first question to you is what sorts of things you're interested in, what you enjoy doing or seeing. The Smithsonians cover most topics under the sun, so if you name a hobby or an interest, I can point you towards specific exhibits and galleries.

I would also encourage you to vary up your experiences. Plan for half a day in a big noisy museum, the other half in a calmer gallery. Take breaks. Museum-fatigue and museum-burnout is very real, and we see it all the time in people trying to gorge the whole thing in one sitting. Don't feel pressured to see everything and do everything, because that's the easiest way for you to get in your head and not actually enjoy the things in front of you.

So yeah, let me know what you think and I'm happy to offer more curated recommendations.

You could hit all the ones on the national Mall in a week, but unless you're gonna blow through them it would probably take up all of your time every day. They're free so it's not like you're losing anything by leaving after an hour if you don't like it. If you want to see all of them you could prioritize what exhibits are unique/semi unique to the Smithsonian. Like the Natural History museum is very cool with a bunch of great fossils, but a lot of it is also not that different from any other natural history museum you've been too.

Some museums require tickets (free) like the African American Museum and the Holocaust museum so be sure to visit their websites to get tickets so you can see those. Both museums are worth seeing. Also, some museums are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday during the week so be sure to check schedules and plan accordingly.

In a week you can definitely see quite a bit. You might get museum fatigue though so try to mix it up with some other activities.

2 a day is the best you can hope for without burning yourself out, but if a particular topic interests you, you'll probably spend all day at one.

it's not a smithsonian museum, but definitely visit the national gallery of art, they have a fantastic collection

Hah didn’t know that. If I’m ever in nyc I’ll have to check those out too.

There are 17 Smithsonian museums and one Smithsonian zoo. You could do it all! If that's your priority, I would make a schedule based on location and try to get a few done each day.

However, there's a lot of other amazing things to do and see in DC, so I would suggest seeing the highlights of everything. For Smithsonian museums, I think you can't miss the Natural History Museum and African American History Museum. For other DC places, you should see the Lincoln and Washington Monuments, the original constitution, and the National Gallery of Art if you like museums. There's so much more to do and see, so I would consider your top priorities.

Which ones would you personally recommend the most?

Two are in NYC.

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Yes, definitely. You might not be able to hit every nook and cranny, but you will absolutely be able to hit the main attractions at the large museums in a week.

I don’t plan on reading every single exhibit. Normally I spend about 4 to 5 hours at regular museums. Given how much larger these are I’d imagine it would take longer.

This doesn't mean anything. What is "visit" to you? If you want to read every exhibit and every sign, you'd need months. So... what does that even mean?

What year was that?

Check in with r/rundc

I also highly recommend the DC half put on by Pacers! It’s a great route, well shaded, not hilly, and it’s in rock creek/along the river so it’s beautiful.

These three are relatively small half marathons with the Georgetown Half being even more so. Due to the timing of the DC Half, it could end up being very warm and uncomfortable for a race. If you are looking for a much larger half marathon in the fall with (usually) better temperatures, you might want to check out Richmond or Philadelphia in November. They are both much larger and well organized.

Average rent would include all housing stock.

Again, I invite you to load up Zillow and take a look for yourself. I put those parameters in for DC and I got two (2) options: one in Columbia Heights that already has a couple dozen applications and one in Barry Farms. For St Louis, I got 276 results. DC sounds "hard-pressed" to me, St Louis doesn't.

Isn't the Georgetown Half just doing loops on the Capital Crescent/C&O Canal Trails? A friend tried to use it to get a qualifying time for a different race, and complained about how boring it was.

I love the Army 10. It’s possibly my favorite race in DC.

I ran the DC half this last fall. It was a shady route and the race was well run. There are only a few thousand runners so it wasn’t total chaos.

Starting and ending in West Potomac Park was probably the most annoying part but everyone just rode the eBike rentals in, so it turned out to be a non-issue.

10/10 would recommend.

I haven’t run the Pacers’ DC half marathon, but it’s on a very similar course to the old Navy half, which is a scenic and pretty fast course. I’ve run a lot of other Pacers races and they’re always well run events. Do be prepared to suffer in the heat and humidity if you pick something in September, though.