Our Frugal Family Outing in Sterling and Chantilly, VA

This past weekend our family surprisingly did not have a lot planned in the way of get-togethers, dinners, work, parties, etc. so we had a pretty relaxing Saturday with nothing firmly planned.  We had a guest spend the night Friday and Saturday morning we had a big pancake breakfast at home before our guest headed out.  We were a little lazy in the mid-morning and then decided to have a frugal family day out in the Sterling, VA area.

Because we had a big breakfast, we decided to go out for a late afternoon lunch at Ted’s Montana Grill in Sterling.  I had discovered from this post on Money Saving Mom that this restaurant had an online promotion last month in which you could get $8 off coupons on their new $8 lunch menu in other words, a coupon for a free lunch! I was able to get free lunch coupons for both my husband and I. This promotion is now over, but wow, that was a great idea to get more people in their restaurant to try out their lunch menu!  Both my husband and I enjoyed a free lunch in a new-to-us restaurant.

By the time we finished our late lunch and walked around a bit, we found it was nearing 4:00 PM.  Because my 3-year old son loooooves airplanes, and we were not too far from Chantilly, we decided to take him to his first museum sans the stroller; we headed over to the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum.  Neither my husband nor I had been there before, so this was a treat!  The museum is the newer of the Smithsonian museums in the area, and is quite impressive.  In order to enter the museum, you must pass through a gate/admission toll to the parking area and pay a fee of $15 per car, but a little frugal tip: if you arrive after 4 PM any day, parking is free! We showed up right at 4 and spent a good hour in the museum before our little guy started to melt down.  Our only disappointment with our trip to the museum was that the Cessna plane was not open for kids to climb in and play with the controls.  I asked about it at the front desk, and it sounds like it is not open most of the time.  Be sure to call ahead and find out the Cessna schedule if you’re interested in that.

That was our frugal family outing in Sterling and Chantilly!  Did you have a fun and frugal weekend too?  Let me know what frugal activities you enjoy in the Northern VA/DC Metro area!