Although it is very pretty to look at the Chesapeake Bay, we normally aren’t ones to just sit and stare at the ocean. We found a couple of hiking trails/boardwalks/paths in the area. The first one we tried (other than the great Wildlife Refuge) was the Cape Charles Natural Area Preserve.
This preserve area was a little weird. The parking lot was right next to a Fuji company building and it also bordered on a construction site for parts of the trail. There were two paths you could take at the small parking lot. To the left was a boardwalk that went over a pond. That one was a little boring. To the right was a dirt path that changed into a boardwalk. It went through the woods, where it also branched into two paths. The left path went through the woods and ended with a small seating area. The right/straight path meandered parallel to the construction site for a little bit, and also led to a view of the Bay. There was no beach access however, as the boardwalk stopped a little before the sand.
We heard some birds in the woods, but didn’t see a lot of animals along the paths.
I would definitely bring bug spray during the warmer months. I would also take my time on the boardwalks. There were several boards that were loose or felt a little soft, as well as sections that seemed to sway when we were walking on them. It wasn’t a bad trail area, but it was a little boring.
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.
There wasn’t much of an option to get from Williamsburg, Virginia to our next campground, other than the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Because we were towing the RV, it cost us $24 to cross. The bridge goes above water, but also dips under the Bay a few times to allow for ship passage.
We were later told that this bridge is considered to be pretty scary by a lot of people. We were fine on the bridge, luckily there wasn’t any wind. We had already gone across the Pontchartrain Causeway, so the lack of seeing land didn’t really bother us. We had also driven over the Talmadge Memorial Bridge in Savannah and the Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge in Charleston, both of which are tall enough for the cargo ships to pass under (185′ and 186′ clearance below the bridge to the water). The Chesapeake was only 40 to 75 feet of clearance, so the height didn’t really bother us either. (Pontchartrain was 15 feet of clearance.)
Maps view
However, even though the tunnels are neat and make a great design for ships and cars/trucks to keep doing their own thing without stopping traffic, I am not a huge fan of being under the water especially while towing the RV. The tunnels were also a little crazy with seeing how close the tops of the semi-trucks came to the top (some only had about a foot of clearance). Now, a few days later a rain storm came through and there was a wind warning out for the bridge, so I am very glad we were not on it then.
NOTE: These are the discount prices. If you do not have an E-ZPass, it will be $14 each way!
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.
There are a ton of campgrounds out there and it can be overwhelming trying to find the “best” one to call home! They range from independent places, chains (like KOA and Thousand Trails), city owned, state owned, and federally owned. Some only accept military/retired military, some only accept Class A’s, and some have age limits on the RVs or the people they let in. A lot of places also have dog restrictions based on breed.
We have a few things that we always look for in a campground: location to sightseeing, internet, full hook-ups, and a laundry room. Our biggest one is a good internet connection for school and work. There are a few different websites that I visit to check reviews: campgroundreviews.com, GoodSam, and Campendium are my first ones. After those, I will go to Yelp/Google Map reviews (make sure to type RV Campground or RV Resort, not just campground as you will get results that will not work with RVs or may not have hook-ups), and then to Facebook for the RV groups to see if anyone has stayed there before.
Our favorite RV Campground Review Sites
I always check multiple review sites, especially for internet issues, but sometimes you still don’t get it right. For example, the Garden of the Gods RV review stated that our 3 providers worked. However, when we checked in, there was a note with our paperwork saying AT&T did not work in the park. This wasn’t mentioned on the campground’s website at the time. (This is just one of the reasons why we have three internet providers!)
I also try to read about the general campground conditions (sites, roads, etc.). If a lot of reviews with bigger RVs say that sites or internal roads were tight or not well maintained, I will pass on that campground. We’ve even double checked the reviews on the way to a campground and changed our plans last minute based on the current conditions. Conditions of campgrounds can change frequently. For example, when we booked one Texas site, it had decent reviews. On the drive there, we were reading the reviews from the last week and it was filled with reports of sewage problems throughout the campground (eww!), so we frantically searched and found a new campground to stay in. The most recent one was a change due to a review saying the T-Mobile signals were weak. T-Mobile is where most of our working internet comes through. We have some hotspot data through our cell phones, but the T-Mobile hotspot is the workhorse.
Campground amenities can also be a big indicator for the nicety of a park, although not always. There doesn’t seem to be a regulation on who can call themselves a RV Resort vs a campground, so reading reviews are important! We had one Thousand Trails claim to be a resort and they only had a laundry room and a walking trail. Nothing else was available or was broken and the sites and roads needed some upkeep. On the other hand, we had a Thousand Trails in Orlando that lived up to the resort title with many amenities and things to do.
An on-site laundry is also a requirement for us, as we do not have a washer/dryer on our travel trailer.
We have learned to always check (recent) reviews across the different review sites. It can be worth spending the extra money to get a nicer campground, especially for longer stays.
As you may be aware, there’s a highly-rated series of books written by Matt and Karen Smith, entitled ‘Dear Bob and Sue.’ The books are a compilation of emails written by one couple as they travel across the country on a quest to visit all 59 of the US National Parks. They share their experiences (good, bad, and just plain crazy) with – you guessed it – Bob and Sue, their long-time friends back home. Today’s guest-blog post comes to you from the perspective of Bob and Sue (aka – Dave and Megan).
We’ve been friends with the Tepes for more than 20 years now, so suffice it to say, we’re familiar with their unique pursuits and willingness to go against the grain. And still, when they first told us about their plan to sell the house, buy an RV, and hit the road with their boys in tow – we said “You’re going to do WHAT????” We thought that they were nuts, but it’s no surprise that they made it happen, and we’re so glad that they did.
In the midst of the COVID-19 quarantine and lock-downs, we’ve spent a lot of time this year living vicariously through our friends. As the post cards roll in, we’ve tracked their journey by tacking them up on our own fridge here in Cincinnati – following them around the country, one blog-post at a time. We’ve read enviously about their experiences sand sledding in Colorado or surfing in San Diego and less-enviously about learning to empty the waste tank from the travel trailer or trying to make Thanksgiving dinner in a tiny RV oven. Those ‘learning experiences’ have kept us laughing and their pictures have kept us ‘oohing and awing’ and in some small way, they’ve given us the gift of sharing their adventure when the promise of adventure was something we all desperately needed.
As spring break rolled around, we had the opportunity to meet up with Ben, Sarah and the boys in Virginia. We went to experience Colonial Williamsburg and walk through the battlefield in Yorktown where the Revolutionary War was finally won. The historical sites were great (especially for our Hamilton-obsessed teenage daughter), but mostly we went to see our friends – to share a camp fire and some stories and hear about this crazy adventure first hand.
It had been more than a year since we’ve seen them in person. Initial observations are in line with what you’d expect. We can report that Will is about a foot taller, Nick is even better with the guitar, Sarah is still a great cook (even with more limited tools) and Ben has found new ways to embrace his passion for hammocks. But more impressive is the way they’ve learned to adjust and adapt. We loved seeing how they’re using their space and resources to live, work and learn in such a small space. We can certainly make a joke or two about how life on the road has brought them ‘together’ in more ways than one, but beyond all of the amazing sites they’ve seen on this trip, this seems like another intangible benefit.
It’s possible (likely?) that our own kiddos won’t remember the day we ‘met’ Thomas Jefferson or learned how they made shoes and chairs in the 18th century, but I’ll bet they remember the weekend they caught up with their friends at a campground in Virginia, learned about the places they’ve traveled and life on the road, and maybe sparked the inspiration to pursue an adventure of their own.
We went to Yorktown with our friends who were visiting for the weekend, the Piatt’s. I can honestly say that I don’t think any of us had high expectations (except for Will). However, we were pleasantly surprised. The Visitor Center was partially open for the bookstore/gift shop. The store had the passport stamps, but did not have any pieces of paper to use if you forgot your passport (or use in your journal like we do). You could buy a sticker sheet for $0.95 (+tax) to stamp though. All the kids got a Junior Ranger Program booklet to work on. A lot of the museums and houses were closed due to COVID, but there is a free audio app that you can download. The app has some information on different sites in town, as well as the two driving tours.
Monument, Visitor Center
We walked into the town from the Visitor Center using a nice paved path. It wasn’t a long walk; I think they said 456 yards. We saw the Statue of Liberty, not to be confused with the one in New York. It was a super cute little town with some shops and a coffee shop, and the Historical plaques that Will had missed seeing in Williamsburg.
We stopped at the artists shop at York Hall and found a few nice pieces. Ben found a colorful quilt. It was History Day, so there were a few demonstrations in the front of the Hall, including some children’s games.
We walked down to the waterfront and saw the beach area. There were a few sections of beach and a fishing pier. It was pretty crowded, so we didn’t get near the water.
There are two driving tours you can take in Yorktown: the red (Battlefield, 7 miles) and the yellow (Allied Encampment, 9 miles). After circling back to the Visitor Center, we got into our cars and took the red driving tour. I had downloaded the audio app, so we were able to go to each stop, park in the lot, and listen to the tour. There are parking spots, so you can also get out to look at things and read the historical informational signs.
Yorktown was a neat area with a mix of history, beach fun, and shopping. It ended up being one of my favorite places to visit while in Williamsburg. (In fact, we went to the town twice!)
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: $15/adults, $0/child (ages 0-15), Free with Interagency or Annual Pass. COVID Restrictions: masks required, some buildings closed
Hey guys, this is another blog post by Will! Today I am here to talk about the amazing world of Historic Williamsburg! We visited Williamsburg with our friends the Piatts and had a great time. To start out with you will want to park your car, and then walk to the left of the building towards the side. You might see a shuttle there and if so you can get on that to get over to Historic Williamsburg. If not, you can take the path up ahead which is the cooler option in my opinion. You can see the plantation they recreated which includes a windmill that not only has rotating blades but the body also rotates as well to get more wind flow. The body part had to be manual though.
Once you get to Williamsburg you can explore whatever you want. A lot of the stores and shops are open and it is free to walk around if you haven’t decided on buying a ticket yet. We had prepaid for tickets however so we were good to go. We skipped the governor’s house right off because of the huge line and instead went to a historic house which had been left standing for all those years. It had a parlor, a guest bedroom, an office, and a socializing room on the first floor. In the back they had sheep and the kitchen. This was also where we saw our first tradesman a cooper. Williamsburg has many occupations in the town which make all of the different things that they sell and even construct some of the buildings. The coopers for those who didn’t know, were people who made buckets and barrels by putting iron rings around individual pieces of wood.
After we left the house we started wandering towards the armory, looking at all of the different things around the town. Once we got there we first saw the shoemakers. They, as you can probably tell, make shoes and told us all about it. The lady in the front was very helpful and told us that a skilled shoemaker could make 1 shoe in a 12-hour day. She also told us master shoemakers were expected to make 7 shoes in 6 days. She said that most men wore black shoes because they were the fashion of the day and that they were also easier to keep clean and fix. There was more variety in women’s shoes with some being made of different material and colors, but for men it was mostly black leather shoes.
Next, we went to the blacksmith which was right next to the shoemakers. There was another woman standing there with two men in the shop, one pumping the bellows and the other using a file on some tool. She told us that the most common item they made was farm equipment, but during the Revolutionary War they also made many weapons for the war cause. She said that to make the metal soft enough to mold you needed it at 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and to get it really hot enough you needed it at 2,000 to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. During her talk the two guys in the back pulled out a red-hot piece of iron and started pounding at it with their hammers which was pretty cool. She said that the metal they usually used was iron and steel which was pretty common in the United States so they didn’t require it to be imported during the war. I also found out later in the tour that the blacksmith also makes nails which are used in the construction of some of the buildings at Williamsburg.
Top Row: Capitol Building. Middle: 1771 building, shoemakers, Nick getting pressed penny. Bottom: blacksmith’s
After that we went to explore and came across some bathrooms and a shop. We all took turns going to the bathroom and also went inside to look around the shop. Nick got a pressed penny with the Capitol building on it. We also went to a nearby restaurant where we bought root beer, diet coke, and bread and ate it at the nearby benches. Then we went to the Capitol Building which was the seat of government in Virginia. It was hit by lighting, burned by people, and destroyed 3 times. On the last time they moved the capitol away where it promptly burned down again. The court ruled on large cases like murder, counterfeit, and robbery. You could choose to have a case by either peers or the magistrate which was a group of judges.
After the Capitol building we visited the jails where prisoners could be kept for 3 months (or more) before they were tried before the court, as the court only met during certain times. They also kept sheep and horses in the back which we later learned were used by weavers at Williamsburg to make clothing and yarn which you can buy at the gift shops.
We then visited the carpenters where we learned they made their own tools and build many of the buildings made of wood that are around Williamsburg. They told us that it took thousands of shingles to make the building they were currently under. They used nails from the blacksmith shop, which I thought was very cool. They even had a storage area in the attic of the building above them. They said they were going to soon construct a group of buildings and he pointed to a pile of wood which at the time I thought was a trash pile and said those were 8,000 shingles and that they needed 20,000 shingles for the whole project. At that I was impressed.
We then visited the shop that sells all of the homemade goods for Williamsburg where I learned what all the trades were at Williamsburg. They have weavers, coopers, silversmiths, blacksmiths, and carpenters for both buildings and furniture. We took a look around and saw an old toaster (which was pretty cool) that had been made by the blacksmiths.
We then visited the grandest building in all of Williamsburg, the Governors Palace. And it was a palace indeed! In the entrance were hundreds of swords and guns for both infantry and cavalry. It had a huge courtyard and two other buildings for the kitchen and one for the slaughtering of animals. It had a ballroom and a reception area, and enough guns to supply a regiment of soldiers. It even had different musical instruments in the back and a huge emblem on the back door. It had a grand back area for a garden. We did the maze with various finishing times for the group.We walked around a little longer and then went home.
Sarah Note: Bottom Right: Steps. We saw these stairs everywhere with metal bars in them. I asked the tour guide what they were. Back in the day, there were not always slabs under the steps, which could make for some wonky stairs. After the stone was placed, a spot was carved out, molten metal poured in, and a metal pin placed in to help hold the stairs together.The maze at the Governor’s Palace Gardens
And that’s the end of the blog with Will. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the blog, and to follow our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. See you soon, Will!
SARAH NOTES: Williamsburg was open to Visitors, although it was recommended that you buy your passes online. You have to choose your date of attendance when you book your tickets. Parts of Williamsburg is free; you can walk through the town and shops without paying the admission fee. However, if you want to go into certain areas or houses, then you do have to have an admission ticket. (For example, Governor’s Palace, carpenter’s yard, Wythe House.) Due to COVID, they are limiting the amount of people inside the buildings, so you may be waiting in line for awhile. I think our longest time was about 45 minutes. They call themselves a living history museum, so Will was a little disappointed in the amount of historical plaques to read. He made up for it by asking the blacksmith and shoe shop several questions though. We saw the Wythe house, the blacksmith and shoe shop, the carpentry yard, and the Governor’s Palace.
If you missed the Instagram video, here is a link to our video at the Blacksmith’s and seeing some adorable baby sheep.
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: Several options available. Single Day $35.99/adults, $19.99/child (6-12) . COVID Restrictions: masks required, book online for a set date, Visitor Center Closed, social distancing at some locations so you may wait in line.
HOURS: Hours vary. Most of the shops are open 9:00am to 5:00pm, but there are some evening programs based on the day.
PARKING: Yes, Visitor Center (with shuttle or a 1/4 mile walk) or at art museums
BATHROOM: Yes
TIME RECOMMENDED: 2-4 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
We’ve been to quite a few of the National Parks this year. The America The Beautiful annual pass is really quite the deal at $80.
There are so many to choose from, and I think we all have our own favorites.
The Parks, Monuments, Preserves, and Historical Sites we have been to so far are:
Mount Rushmore National Monument
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Tetons National Park
Great Sand Dunes National Park
Zion National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Arches National Park
Canyonlands National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park
Cabrillo National Monument
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (BLM)
Saguaro National Park
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve (Barataria and Chalmette)
Everglades National Park
Biscayne National Park
Fort Pulaski National Monument
Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site
Colonial National Historic Park (Jamestown, Yorktown)
Sarah: My favorite is Yellowstone. There is so much to see and the landscape changes. One minute it is a flat field, then rivers and bison herds, then thermals (hot springs, geysers). There is something for everyone.
Yellowstone National Park: hot springs and geysers, creeking, elk, bald eagle, bison by river
Ben: My favorite is Bryce. The landscape was very different; but beautiful with the hoodoos and different colors. I had a sense of accomplishment when we were done, as during part of it I didn’t know if we would finish the hike.
Bryce Canyon
Will: My favorite is Colonial National Historic Park because of all the history.
Colonial: Jamestown and Yorktown
Nick: My favorite is Zion. I liked hiking the Narrows.
Zion: The Narrows, a lizard, Canyon Overlook Trail
Honorable Mentions: Carlsbad Caverns (it is quite the experience, it’s a little other worldly) and Everglades (so much wildlife)
