I am trying to plan a trip to DC in Mid May. 6 Adults to either stay at a hotel occupying 3

[Filibuster Harry]

3. Okay. We will be coming from CT. Original thought would be to take a train down on say May 18th.

The train takes about 7 hours. We could also drive a car. Lets say spending 5 days (4 full days besides saturday) in DC. I haven't been there since the mid 90s when Clinton was president. So I have both a map of DC and a metro pocket map (although some metro stops may have been updated or added). So lets say museums and historical sites along with the zoo. I have not seen the MLK memorial or any other memorials since 1994. Also, we had planned to visit the white house but that was cancelled due to a Clinton cabinet member resigning; so a white house tour would be great. As far as food: just american but you can give us a choice of variety: french, italian, mexican.
Like I said anything is appreciated. Going on line it appears the least expensive hotel (3 rooms for 5 nights costs $ 2,600; house rentals are tough -- not sure what neighborhoods if any are unsafe??