Places to go. Things to see

I can't believe it... I'm having trouble figuring out where to take my kids on a field trip.  When we were in Ohio we were going somewhere at least once a week.  Now that I'm back in Northern Virginia, I can't seem to find something I want to do. 

Maybe it's more accurate to say I can't decide on which of the many available options I think the kids would enjoy the most.  I mean who can pass up the National Air and Space Museum (both of them), National History Museum, the American History Museum, the Lincoln Monument, the Washington Monument, and the many other tourist sights in and around Washington, DC.

I think the biggest issue I'm facing is that I realize that most of the places I want to take them are in Washington, DC, and I REALLY don't want to deal with the traffic.  I gave up my job in the DC suburbs 6 years ago in part because I didn't want to deal with the traffic.

What do to?  I think I will let the kids decide where we are going, and then I will decide when (taking into consideration traffic) and maybe I can get someone else to go with us to make the trip more enjoyable.  Any takers out there?