# Things to do In NY and DC with an 11 year old boy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443 "2010-02-10T17:23:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![corefive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@corefive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corefive)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/21 "2010-02-11T02:00:54Z")
My wife and I hosted my 13 year old cousin a month ago (we’re both 33). Our itinerary: Friday Bureau of Engraving and Printing (where money is made); only open on weekdays Jefferson Memorial WW2 Memorial Washington Monument (advance tickets available online for a couple bucks) American Indian Museum (lunch at very good and interesting cafeteria) US Capitol Visitor Center Library of Congress Natural History Museum dinner at Fogo de Chao Saturday US Postal Museum bowling and lunch at Lucky Strike in Chinatown/Gallery Place pizza dinner at home bought Percy Jackson book 3 on Kindle and he finished it before bed Sunday Udvar-Hazy Air and Space (Dulles) lunch at McDonald’s Vietnam War Memorial Air and Space on the Mall lasagne dinner at home Monday Holocaust Museum depart midday Everything except bowling and meals was free. Parking at the Dulles Air and Space Museum is $15 per vehicle. Spy Museum and Crime & Punishment Museum are great once, but are not free. Having been to both recently, I wasn’t willing to pay three admissions and have two of us be bored. As far as I know, he had a great time. Terra Cotta Warriors are exhibited through 31 March. [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/terracottawarriors/](http://www.nationalgeographic.com/terracottawarriors/) ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/22 "2010-02-11T05:37:15Z")
Tim Burton at MOMA…I mean how can you not want to see Large Marge’s eyeballs? Deli food in NYC…droolllllll… ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/23 "2010-02-11T11:31:41Z")
Make a snowman. Go sledding. Make an Igloo. Have a snowball fight. Eat snow. Shovel snow. Make snow angels. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/24 "2010-02-11T15:29:12Z")
> [@uncle\_squeegee](#): > > In NY, we’re planning on hitting the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, a couple museums (Met and Guggenheim), Central Park, Hayden Planetarium, and Blue Man Group. Be sure to go to the Egyptian Wing at the Met. My mom took me there when the King Tut exhibit toured and it got me hooked on the museum in general for life. Arms and Armor and Musical instruments might be interesting to him. There’s also a wing with wild artwork from the south Pacific, not to mention the Islamic section and Asian wing. So many nice interior spaces. The Met has an almost anthropological bent that I really like. The paintings are good, too ;). The thing about the Met is that it’s huge and fatigue can set in after a few hours. Also, since you’re going to the Hayden Planetarium, the rest of the Museum of Natural History is a must. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/25 "2010-02-11T15:34:39Z")
If you get a chance you should go to [Max Brenner’s](http://www.maxbrenner.com/menus/menus_usa/sweets_09.pdf) for lunch or dinner. It is fantastic and it would be the dining experience of a lifetime for an 11 year old. Liquid chocolate zooms around the restaurant in tubes in the ceiling, the decor is all huge bars of chocolate, jars of cocoa beans, and huge chunks of crystalized sugar. The lunch/dinner menu is tasty and the dessert choices are so amazing it cannot be explained properly in words. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/26 "2010-02-11T15:36:50Z")
Jeez, I thought this was another pedophile thread. ::d&r:: ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/27 "2010-02-11T15:37:34Z")
I just went to Washington DC with my whole family, one of whom is an 11-year-old boy, and our favorite thing was the [National Museum of Crime and Punishment](http://www.crimemuseum.org/). I believe it’s just a block or so away from the Spy Museum, so those two together could be a great way to spend a day with very little distance to walk. The Verizon Center is just a block away as well, so if the Wizards or Capitals are in town, you may want to try getting tickets to there as well. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/28 "2010-02-11T18:30:31Z")
There’s a lot of museum-going on your agenda. If you need some run-around type activities and the weather is agreeable, you might look into a visit to Great Falls or Teddy Roosevelt Island in the DC area. The zoo is always a good option, too. If you haven’t been there before, you should know that it’s a few blocks from the Metro and once inside the park it’s another good walk before you get to actual exhibits. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/29 "2010-02-11T19:25:18Z")
> [@mack](#): > > Be sure to go to the Egyptian Wing at the Met. My mom took me there when the King Tut exhibit toured and it got me hooked on the museum in general for life. Arms and Armor and Musical instruments might be interesting to him. There’s also a wing with wild artwork from the south Pacific, not to mention the Islamic section and Asian wing. So many nice interior spaces. The Met has an almost anthropological bent that I really like. The paintings are good, too ;). The thing about the Met is that it’s huge and fatigue can set in after a few hours. > > Also, since you’re going to the Hayden Planetarium, the rest of the Museum of Natural History is a must. As a full-grown museum fan, I must admit the Met did me in. Check the website for the best bits–which do include the Egyptian & other “anthropological” areas. After a while, galleries filled with paintings all start to look alike. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/30 "2010-02-11T20:44:33Z")
We went to DC on New Year’s Eve. My son, who happens to be 11 (for a couple more weeks) was with us. I asked him what he wanted to see (after giving him a long list of options). He wanted to see the Holocaust Museum. I was fairly surprised - I was sure a lot of museums would have been ahead on the list. So we went there. It’s hardly cheery, and it’s a good 3-4 hours or more, which might be a bit much for a kid that age. Not that I’m necessarily recommending it. But I am recommending that you talk to your nephew about what he wants to do. He might surprise you. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/31 "2010-02-11T20:53:52Z")
The [National Museum of Health and Medicine](http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/) is the grossest museum you’ll ever encounter. Severed limbs, distended intestines, and stomach contents of all sorts. An 11-year-old boy is precisely the target audience. Skip the White House. Long wait for a short and boring tour that takes you through very little of the building. The Monument is also not really worth the wait. You’ll see better views in New York. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443/32 "2010-02-11T22:48:07Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Jeez, I thought this was another pedophile thread. > ::d&r:: I just looked at this thread to see how far in someone would make the kiddy porn joke.. 26 posts. Not too shabby. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-to-do-in-ny-and-dc-with-an-11-year-old-boy/528443.md?page=1)