We took a quick three-night trip to Washington, D.C. in the third week of August with our two girls, ages 10 and 14, and we really loved it.

This was actually Jeff and the girls' first trip to D.C., so I wanted to make sure we hit some of the big sights…but I also didn't want to spend three straight days dragging everyone from museum to museum.

And even with that intention, I still think we tried to do a bit too much one day (for us anyway…we like an easy pace). I think it is easy to do in D.C. with so much to do and much of it free. 

But we learned a lot, and now we have a much better idea of how we'd plan our next visit: pick one major museum for the morning, then leave the afternoon for relaxing, shopping, exploring a neighborhood, or seeing a monument.

Here's exactly what we did, what we loved, what we'd skip, and how we used points, credits and perks to make the trip more affordable…and a little more bougie than we would have otherwise.