For what it's worth, I would like [....] for me and my son to attend the Consecration if at all possible. So far, I have a room secured in the hotel, and airfare for 1. I'm an adventurer when it comes to travel -- I'm OK with most aspects of cross-country travel: the planning, time off work, separation from the familiar/normal/routine, hassle, inconvenience, discomforts, etc. The ONLY issue for me is cost.
"
Adventure"? In sprawling
Tyson's Corner? That's the name given to the intersection of Va. Rt. 7--still "Leesburg Pike"(?) and "Chain Bridge Rd."--Va. Rt. 123. If memory still serves from 40 years ago, Tyson's Corner's claim to
modern fame was as the site of the largest upscale shopping center in
Northern Virginia[@@]. If it had a significant role in the War for American
Independence Secession from Britain, or even the War of 1812, I don't recall it.
Invoking my status as a once-upon-a-time local, I
strongly recommend that your
planning includes investigating the extent to which your local transportation requirements could be met via the
MetroRail subway/surface-rail
public-transit system. It might provide hefty savings for your "adventure" by
avoiding the cost of a
car-rental.
Metro has a famously deeply sited station at
Reagan Washington National Airport ('DCA'), in case you're flying into there. Back when I lived in Virginia, Metro either didn't yet cross the west bank of the Potomac--or barely did. But in the decades since then, there's been at least 1 Metro station situated in-or-near Fairfax (and it's Rt. 123 that connects Fairfax to Tyson's Corner, so there might be new transportation options of which I'm totally unaware). Now there's a major public-works project that's extending Metro along Rt. 7 up at least to Tyson's Corner. So Metro might be able to get you from arrival airport to hotel to departure airport; this isn't
oppressive public-transit
idealistic dogmatism; around D.C., it can be
practical.
You can also accomplish any "Nation's Capital" tourism via Metro (e.g., don't get silly ideas that you could expect to find an on-street-parking space along Constitution or Independence Aves. for visiting the (National) Mall; such times are
several decades past. But a trip to the Metro "Federal Triangle" station allows passengers to emerge in the midst of the Smithsonian museums on the Mall, and the Capit
ol is an entirely reasonable walk for anyone with good bipedal mobility (including freedom from
COPD).
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Note @@: "Northern Virginia" being locally defined as the suburbs of the District of Columbia[@@@] that are in the
Commonwealth of Virginia, as distinct from those D.C. suburbs in the
State of Maryland.
Note @@@: Our Nation's Capital is referred to locally as "The District" or (phonetically) "Dee Cee"; any locals who call it "Washington" must be very new arrivals. Those places that have "George Washington" in their names are locally shortened to "Gee Dubya", as in the "G.W. Parkway" (an extremely useful roadway if you must drive from Northern Virginia into the District). Keep an eye out for its left turn marked as "C.I.A." (no, it's not a local joke; it's
real).
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