The peninsula between the Cheasapeake Bay and the Delaware Bay includes almost all of Delaware, a chunk of Maryland, and a little piece of Virginia, hence it is called DelMarVa. I spent two years of my elementary school childhood just west of this peninsula in Lexington Park, Maryland. The trees and other foliage here brings back memories of days spent wandering and playing the forests just across the street from our home.
We spent a few days at Pokomoke River State Park, Virginia. We walked through the forests and along the river area. Spring is in full swing so the days are still cool and there is new green growth everywhere. We have found state parks campgrounds to be a hidden gem. State parks are generally in picturesque locations (forests, rivers, lakes etc) and the campsites are generally spaced further apart than commercial campgrounds. We enjoy being in nature settings.
Rehoboth Beach
Next we moved up to Delaware and stayed at a state campground near Rehoboth Beach. Most campers here came to fish the inlet or surf fishing. They brought specially design hand wagons outfitted with their large fishing poles and other fishing gear. We took more walks on the beach (the water was too cold to swim), walks through the forests and marshlands as well as time in Rehoboth and Bethan Beach. Crab cakes are the best!
College Park MD (Cherry Hill Park RV park)
We moved inland to the College Park, Maryland, and are presently staying at a private campground there about 40 minutes outside Washington DC. Our daughter Carine is a nurse and lives nearby so we were able to spend time with her.
We spent an afternoon at the National Arboretum, which is 400 acres of beautiful trees and other plants. The trails meander among hundreds of varieties of Azaleas in a forest setting and a garden setting. We also took a long walk through the Asian section and dogwoods. There is so much room that it feels more like walking through a magical garden rather than a plant zoo.
I also took a solo geek trip to the National Air and Space Museum anex near Dulles Airport. The first two photos are views of the shop where they refurbish planes before going on display. Current projects include the first military aircraft, a 1909 Wright Brothers Flyer and something from a Galaxy Far, Far Away?
One day we ate lunch at the Eastern Market and then walked the length of the Mall down to the Lincoln Memorial. We rented scooters through Lyft to get back to the Eastern Market, but it turns out there are “no-go” zones around the Capitol building where the scooters wouldn’t work. We eventually had to abandon the scooters and switched to bikes, which we rode back to the Eastern market. The next day we spent with Carine at the recently re-opened Smithsonian National Museum of African-American of Culture and History. It is a beautiful, well-designed museum, and sometimes sobering museum, and the 4 hours we spent there were not enough to see and adsorb it all.
Brookside Gardens, MD
On our last day in the DC area we found this beautiful 50 acre display garden to walk through. We also saw our first once-every-17-years red-eyed Cicadas on some plants in the gardens (see below). They had just hatched and were drying their wings in preparation for their first flight…. Very ugly. Interestingly they don’t eat anything during this stage of their lives. They just come out of the ground, fly around, make a lot of noise, mate, lay eggs and die about a month later. I would be OK if they just skipped ahead directly to the dying step.
Next up, Pennsylvania!
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