Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Out & About With Teens In Northern Virginia & Maryland

This past weekend, I had three teenagers at home. I spent most of the weekend painting the house, and decided on Monday to take a break and do something fun with the kids. The only issue was, I had no idea what to do. I mean, there are the typical things, but many of those "typical" things you do when it's nice out. We could've gone to Ocean City, but that would be a 3 hour drive, and honestly, at 43ยบ I wasn't super interested in that.

We could've gone to Annapolis, but we've done that.

We could've gone to the National Mall, again, done that.



I decided to chat with my Maryland group on Facebook because most of those people have lived here longer than me. They came up with some great ideas, and while I didn't use any of them, I wanted to share those ideas with other people who might be trying to find something fun to do on a chilly winter day with teenagers.

Side note to why we didn't go do any of these things: I forgot my youngest had a dr appt on the early afternoon, and we couldn't cancel it.

The first suggestion was by Fadra Nally. She suggested the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Smithsonian. This is different than the one in D.C. This one is closer to Dulles in Virginia. The teenage girl wasn't really interested, but I think we'll plan a different time to go because every time I drive by the airport, I want to find time to visit. It's free aside from the $15 for parking. Not bad for a family.


The next suggestion was the National Cryptological Museum from Shelly Dixon. In fact, she had a few fun ideas! Sadly, it's closed on Federal Holidays so that was out, but the teenage girl was very interested in this one. Actually we all were. I had no idea it existed, but it sounds fascinating! They have artifacts about the cryptologic profession. There's so much I don't know about code making & code breaking! Another free place to visit!



She also suggested a place called Shadowland. From what I can tell from their website, it's laser tag on steroids. They refer to it as an "experience". There's obviously a cost for this, but the more people who go, the less expensive and the more fun it sounds like they will have. This would be fun if the kids got a bunch of their friends together to go do. It's also located in Maryland, in Columbia.

Pam Stultz suggested Sky Zone, which we all know kids love! My boys have been to them in Minnesota with their sisters. Who doesn't love a good trampoline bounce every once in a while? I'm sure on national holidays though, that place is probably packed!

Her suggestion reminded me of a place that we saw when we were visiting my brother and sister-in-law on New Years Day. It's a place called iFly. It's an indoor skydiving adventure. Now, this isn't for the faint of heart, and it's not cheap, but man, wouldn't that be a fun experience? It's the only way you'd ever find me flying. This would definitely be something to save up for. It's definitely cheaper if you bring a group of people! Since they're teens, they should have some spending money set aside right?


A photo posted by iFLY Loudoun (@iflyloudoun) on

What do the teens in your area like to do?

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Woven by Words by Mimi B is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.