I am looking for advice on science museums , amusement parks, and zoo within a two hour drive of Washington DC?

Baltimore has the Inner harbor with the Aquarium. worth the drive.

skip the Baltimore Zoo. stick with the national Zoo in DC. the mall in DC with all the Smithsonian Museums.

Busch Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg.

Marine Corps Museum

Annapolis(USNA has a Museum)

In Baltimore (about 1 hour driving time:

The museum of science

the baltimore zoo,

Harborplace,

In Washington:

The Childrens' Museum,

The Mall, including all of the Smithsonian Museums

In virginia,

Kings Dominion, Williamsburg

check with triple A or other travel groups; go online and check web sites for Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Alexandria.... and other area cities

Try contacting the local colleges to see if they rent dorm rooms during the summer

The best museums and zoo are directly in the central city of Washington, no driving required. Any map of Washington will show them.

The closest major amusement parks are "Six Flags America", which is in the DC suburbs, and "King's Dominion", which is about an hour and a half way near Richmond, VA.

In nearby Maryland (45 min drive) there is a Six Flags http://www.sixflags.com/america/index.aspx

About 90 min - 2 hour drive in Virginia is Kings Dominion http://www.kingsdominion.com/#actions

Read my answer to similar question a little while ago. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ag6w7...

If you choose to stay at a hotel outside the city pick one near a Metro station (subway) that will shuttle you back & forth (most hotels in MD&VA will).

Baltimore has interesting museums like the Maryland Science Center http://www.mdsci.org/

http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Visitors.aspx

http://baltimore.org/attractions/

There is a zoo in Baltimore but the DC zoo is better (part of the Smithsonian).

There will be more to do than you can make time for. Enjoy!

There are lots of museums in DC. The Museum of Natural History is a great science museum, primarily biology and geology. There is the National Zoo near the Woodley Park neighborhood. I tend to avoid amusement parks, so I'm sorry I can't help you there.