Acadia has a great Park Loop Road that shows you some of the amazing views in the park. There are several spots for pull-offs along the way for views and trailheads. We somehow turned off of the Park Loop at an intersection and had to find our way back in from one of the little towns. Cell phone signal is very spotty around the park, so get your GPS started while you have a good signal. (NOTE: You can get your park pass at the Hulls Visitor Center, Jordan Pond House, or there is a ticket booth area on the Loop.)
We saw wild turkeys, the water hitting the cliff areas, and lots of lakes and ponds. We stopped at Sand Beach and walked down to see it. It was a beautiful area with a sandy beach. Most of the beaches in Acadia are rocky, but this one had a nice fine sand.
We spent a couple of hours walking around Central Park. It is so much bigger than I thought it would be. It is 843 acres! There are several bridges, a playground, a zoo, a fountain, a lake, and a castle. We didn’t even see all of it. If we had more time, we would have taken the Blue Line bus tour around the park to hear all of the different tidbits about it.
We didn’t really have a plan in mind, just wandered through the park enjoying the beautiful weather.
There was a large open field in the park where we saw people throwing the Frisbee, picnicking, reading, and sunbathing. We saw a lot of Speedos.
Ben brought us to Belvedere Castle and Turtle Pond. Nick enjoyed seeing all the turtles; they were swimming and lounging on the rocks. Belvedere Castle was open, but there was really only one room open. The stairs to go up were closed off.
It was an amazing park in the middle of a huge city.
We’ve moved to Pennsylvania and although pretty, there were not many activities close to the campground except hiking.
For Mother’s Day, we headed to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to go on a hike. The Delaware Water Gap is an elongated park, and we were hiking to Mount Minsi, which was towards the bottom of the park. The park had several hiking trails and a beach area.
I used our trail app and found the Mount Minsi via Appalachian Trail hike. It was supposed to be 5 miles, listed as moderate, and followed part of the Appalachian Trail. Ben has wanted to hike part of the Appalachian Trail for a while, so we wanted to take advantage of the fact that it was pretty close by (about a 30 minute drive). I looked at the pictures and thought it didn’t look too bad and it had great reviews. (Spoiler: I was wrong.)
The trail was a lot more crowded in on the way up than we expected. There was a small parking lot by the trailhead that was almost completely full. There was also a smaller lot a little up the hill, which was also full. I thought that on Mother’s Day, that it wouldn’t be that busy, but I was wrong. It still wasn’t super packed, but still had about 30 people pass us.
Now, I know I already gave the spoiler that I was wrong about the trail difficulty. Our hike ended up being 5.6 miles (Ben’s tracker said 5.8 miles and I did accidentally pause the recorder at one point on mine, so somewhere in that range) with an elevation gain of 1086 feet. My theory was that people were too busy trying not to trip and fall that they didn’t take pictures of the hard parts for their reviews. 😉 The trail was mostly a loop, which we always like in a hike. It started as an out and back, then splits to the right and left. We ended up taking the right side of the path, which probably is the only reason we finished the hike. The left side was a lot more narrow, rockier and had more climbing (at least for my shorter legs) over rocks. Either way, you are climbing uphill and coming downhill on the way back.
Parts of the trail
There are bears in the area, so we did bring our bear spray. We did not see any though. We heard birds, but the only wildlife we saw were several millipedes along the trail. We looked them up when we got home and discovered they were the ironworm/American Giant Millipede.
The top of the trail has two lookouts, and I would recommend seeing both since you are already there. The first overlooks a neat rocky hillside and has a nice space to sit and take a break. The second lookout also has a few nice large rocks to overlook the Delaware River.
Views along the trail
I’m glad we did it, although we (especially the adults) were exhausted at the end. Ben and I were sore even the next day. Hikes like this one make me miss having a tub to soak our feet in!
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: Free, except for beach or river access. COVID Restrictions: Visitor Centers closed, masks required
HOURS: Most is open 24 hours, per website
PARKING: Yes, but some lots are small
BATHROOM: Not at trailhead. Visitor Centers are closed, although we did see a bathroom that was open on the other side of the Bushkill Meeting Center.
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-4 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
There are cabins, tent sites, RV sites, RV rentals, and a hotel on this property. There is a small pool and playground by the hotel, and another larger pool and a small playground by the water/back of the RV sites. There are a couple of bathrooms/showers on the property, which also house the laundry rooms. The laundry rooms were a mix of credit card and quarter machines. The first week we were there, the credit card machines were not working. The laundry room closest to the hotel had 2 quarter washers and dryers, and the one closest to the water/back of the property only had 1 quarter washer and dryer. Washers and dryers were $2/load and the laundry rooms were open 24/7. There was not change machine in the laundry rooms or the camp store. The camp store was located in the hotel and had a decent selection of snack foods, souvenir type items, and a few RV selections. The one thing we really loved, was that it is open 24/7. They also accept mail.
The pools were closed until May 21, so we did not get to enjoy them. The beach was just a short walk from our site, so we did go there a few times. The water was too cold to swim, but the boys had fun playing in the sand and wading to look for shells. The water goes out pretty far during low tide, so we were able to see some sandworms and clams as well. The campground had a stand of hammocks to enjoy that overlooked the water.
There is also a restaurant called Jackspot on-site, although they were only open Thursday-Saturday while we were there. Ben and I went there for a date night and had drinks and shared a burger and fries (really good!). It has amazing views overlooking the water. There were a few covered sections of the patio and some outdoor heaters as well.
Although there wasn’t as much to do here (unless you love fishing) as other spots we have stayed at, the location wasn’t too bad. The closest grocery store is a Food Lion, about 10 minutes away, although it is a smaller store and the prices are a little higher. There is a Walmart 40 minutes away as well. (Both on the campground’s side of the Bay Bridge, as paying $14 each way to cross would be crazy). There was a small hardware store (OBS) about 30 minutes away as well. There were a few walking trails about 10-15 minute drive away. The historic downtown of Cape Charles was about 18 minutes away. It was a cute area, with a beach area and some food and shopping options.
It was also great for bird watching. There were always gulls and pelicans in the Bay and we had a hawk fly overhead with a fish in its talons one day!
The campground was really good about maintaining the property. They were building new platforms for some of the newer cabins, cutting grass, painting, picking up garbage from sites (place garbage at end of your site, or there were also dumpsters). I did not see the hotel rooms, but it looked more motel-like in structure than hotel. There was ice for sale and golf carts for rent. Fires were allowed, but I did not see firewood at the store. We bought ours at the grocery store ($7.99/bundle). The campground also had a few activities planned each week (need to check with the office/camp store for the weekly pamphlet if you are staying longer than a week for the new events). The campground/hotel offered WiFi, which actually worked pretty well for us. We had some connection issues with our Sprint/T-Mobile, but were able to use the campground’s WiFi to stream and get to online classes.
RV Sites: Mostly back-in, only a few pull-throughs. Sites are grass/sand.
Pop Up Tents/Gazebos/Outdoor Rugs On-Site: Yes
Amenities: picnic table, cable and fire pit at sites, community grill, 2 playgrounds, dog area, 2 pools, beach, community picnic tables near beach area, restaurant, WiFi
We paid our crazy toll to once again cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to visit Virginia Beach. It was too cold to go swimming, but we wanted to see it.
We walked along the beach, which had a very large section of sand before we got to the water. I’m not sure if it is always that wide, or if we hit low tide. The sand was like play sand, very smooth and fine. There was a cool Neptune statue by the beach, a playground, and on street parking (pay parking).
We saw plenty of sea birds flying around and little holes where crabs or clams might have dug into the sand. We did not see a lot of shells though. We did see a lot of horseshoe crab shells along the beach. I’m hoping that they were molts (found out that horseshoe crabs grow by molting their old shells) and not deceased crabs.
We saw a weird spinal cord looking thing, that we looked up and discovered it was a whelk egg case. Whelks look like conch shells, but like colder waters and are carnivores (conchs are herbivores). Who knew?
We didn’t stay too long, as the wind was strong and it was pretty chilly, but it was nice to see.
This preserve is tucked back in among farms and private residences. hiking, saw a few farms/peacocks/sheep, nice view of the bay and lighthouse. We heard a few birds, but didn’t see that many. We did see a skull of some kind along the path and a few white tail deer rain in front of us.
We went to check out Assateague Island based on the recommendations from the Pearl Market. The park spans the border of Maryland and Virginia. We decided to go to the Virginia side, as it was closer. The Virginia part of the park is also the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.
We stopped first to see the beach (Atlantic Ocean) and the Visitors Center. The Center was closed, but they did have maps, passport stamps, and a Ranger there to ask questions. The park has hiking trails, the beach for swimming (does not always have a lifeguard), and allows fishing/crabbing.
Virginia fences the horses to keep them away from roads, which is good but also means that the horses are farther away. At times, it seemed like you were just looking at a farm/ranch’s fenced in horses. Maryland does not fence the horses, so they do wander into the road, etc.
We did a couple of hiking trails (the Woodlands and Lighthouse). Both trails were either nicely paved, a boardwalk, or pretty even dirt paths. The Woodlands trail wandered through the woods and had a few areas to view the horses if they were nearby. The Lighthouse trail had a vault toilet and a parking lot, and (surprisingly) led to the lighthouse. The lighthouse was closed, although you could walk around it. The one thing I wished they did was put the trail lengths on the maps. There was a map at each trail head sign, plus the ranger gave us a trail map at the Visitor Center; however, neither of the maps, nor the app, had the trail lengths listed. When I looked later, I did find the trail lengths on a separate website. We had a nice time walking around.
We did not get to the Wildlife Loop, as it is pretty long and we would have had to wait for a couple more hours to drive it. It is open only for walking or bicycles until 3:00 pm. After 3:00 pm, you can drive the Loop.
We had a pretty mild day, but in the summer I would bring lots of water, sunscreen, and bug spray. The Ranger told us the mosquitoes are horrible when it gets warmer.
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: Included with Interagency Pass (America The Beautiful annual), or $10/1 day, $25/7days. There is also a refuge annual pass option and a beach parking pass option. COVID Restrictions: masks required/social distancing. Visitor Centers closed, lighthouse closed.
HOURS: Park hours vary based on season. January-March 15th 6:00 am-6:00 pm, March 15th-April 6:00 am-8:00 pm. May-September 15th 5:00 am-10:00 pm, September 15-October 6:00 am to 8:00 pm, November-December 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. The Visitor Center also has different hours of operation.
PARKING: Yes
BATHROOM: Yes
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-3 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
Kiptopeke State Park was a nice little state park near Cape Charles, Virginia. It had a small swimming area, a fishing pier, and a few hiking trails. There was a campground, cabins for rent, and a nice picnic area (with a restroom).
Map, self-service admission booth, observation landing by picnic area, office and little library
We had a lovely sunny day to explore this park. We brought a lunch with us and sat in the gazebo for a picnic lunch before setting off for exploring. We wandered down to the fishing pier where we saw the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and some old pier pilings, and an artificial reef made from old WWII ships (they are made of concrete!). There were a few kayakers and fishermen out. My absolute favorite part of the park was seeing dolphins in the Bay. We saw about 4 of them swimming and cresting out of the water. We hadn’t seen any dolphins yet on this, even with all our ocean visits. I was happy we got to see them.
Dolphins, pelican, birdConcrete Fleet ships making up a man-made reef.
The hiking trails led you among the woods, along the coast, and by fields for butterflies. We came across several offshoot trails that were not on the map, so just pay attention to where you are.
It was a great hike and worth the $7 we paid to get in. As a bonus feature, there was a Little Library by the office!
After crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (going north from Williamsburg to the Eastern Shore/Cape Charles), there is a Welcome Center. We were pretty early for our check-in time for our campground which wasn’t very far away, so I decided to pull in for a bathroom break. It was a pretty standard welcome center with local information, maps, and bathrooms. It had car parking and larger spots for trucks and RVs. The employees were nice and had a few suggestions.
The best part was an unassuming arch behind the welcome center. The arch leads to a path through the trees to the Eastern Shore Wildlife Refuge (ESWR). There are some great trails there. One was the Butterfly Trail, which would be great when more things were in bloom, although we did see a couple along the way. We took the trail to a secondary parking lot, where we then took the Wildlife Loop. This loop led to a bunker and a huge gun (66 feet!), and an observation tower. Once at the top of the platform, you had some nice views of the Chesapeake.
Bottom Right: ESWR Visitor Center and stamp post.
There is a Visitor Center (and its own parking lot) as well, but it was currently closed. However, outside the Visitor Center, they had some informational pamphlets about birds, as well as stamps for passport/stamp books, if you collect those. There was no paper there for the stamps however, so you may want to bring your own.
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: Free. COVID Restrictions: masks, social distancing, ESWR Visitor Center and Fishermans Island closed.
HOURS: Dawn to Dusk
PARKING: Yes (at Eastern Shore Welcome Center and at ESWR Visitor Center)
BATHROOM: Yes (use the one at the Eastern Shore Welcome Center, not the closed ESWR Visitor Center)
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-3 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
The campgrounds amenities, such as the putt-putt, looked nice. The indoor and outdoor pools were closed (indoor for Covid, outdoor seasonal), as was the Arcade (closed for Covid). The laundry room was located in the office building. Laundry was pay by app or quarters, although there was not a change machine. Washers and dryers were $2/load. Once the office closed, they lock the doors, so if your laundry is still going you will have to wait to get it until the office opens in the morning. There were bathhouses scattered around the property. They were a little dated, but looked clean.
Office building: store, laundry, backyard with pool and ice machineBathrooms/showers
The office staff for the most part, were really nice. However, the campground sites themselves and the layout were a problem. The main entrance was under construction when we arrived, so there were some small signs to a temporary entrance. It was tight and bumpy and not well marked when we got there. There was a car that pulled out in front of us and then waved us to follow that ended up leading us to the office. At first we didn’t know what to do because the car was not marked as TT, the guy didn’t introduce himself, and there had been no information from the campground regarding the construction. Our site was supposed to be a pull-through, but we ended up backing down the road to end up pulling into it due to the construction. The end of our lane had a 3 inch or so drop from where the pavement had been removed and the sewer cap was still sticking out. I didn’t want to damage the underside of the RV. The other way was to try to pull into the site going the wrong way on the road, which may have worked for a small RV, but there wasn’t enough turning radius for us. The exit was also at the main entrance, so there were signs for a temporary exit as well, but was problematic for larger RV’s. On the plus side, they did get the paving done before we left and we were able to use the newly opened front drive. We had not been notified about the entrance change before we got there there, but our friends (not TT members) who rented a cabin were sent some emails about it.
We had issues with the water for most of our stay there. Our friends staying in a cabin had water problems for a night. Our row of RVs had it for several days. It was like there was air in the pipes and water would come out in bursts. The water pressure had dropped but fluctuated a lot. The water also came in cloudy half the time, even with the filter at the pump.
There was a pond back by the tent area, where we saw some turtles. There was a walking path back there.
The Campground was close to a post office and a Food Lion (groceries), and CVS (about a 3-5 minute drive).
If we were in the area again, I don’t think we would stay here. The staff was all very nice, but the interior roads were a pain with our larger RV.
