Cape May, NJ

After a busy 10 days in Philly, we spent a few days relaxing on the Jersey shore. We visited Cape May, Sea Isle City and even risked hanging out at Wildwood for an hour. We decided to take a day and drive up to Atlantic City to walk that boardwalk and people watch. AC never disappoints when it comes to quality people watching. Our last day was spent with our family from Philly that drove down to take us to brunch at the Union League golf course in the Cape May area.

Driftwood RV Resort and Campground

Driftwood is a part of the Sun RV resorts network. The park is huge, but it doesn't feel like it due to all of the trees and short rows of sites. The vast majority of the park is occupied by park models with only a few sites available for the short stay RV clients. We had a pull through site very near the front of the park that was long enough for our full size rig and toad. Our site was asphalt with gravel living area that includes a fire pit and picnic table. The park has a ton of amenities. They have two large pools, workout room, basketball, tennis, volleyball, horseshoe and pickle ball courts along with the standard bathrooms, showers and laundry. All of the amenities we checked out were nice. They offered working wifi that was decent once you get beyond the signup process. The park is a short drive off the NJ turnpike making it convenient to get to the major freeways. The big pull through sites are a little spendy, but the park has good amenities and a great location to get to the beach towns on the south Jersey shore. We rate this a 4 out 5 and would stay here again if we visit the area.

West Chester/Philadelphia KOA

If you want a campground in the middle of the Pennsylvania country side and far away from everything, this is the place. As with all KOAs, the price is just a little too high for what you are getting, but you know it will have decent sites and amenities. This park is no exception. The sites were all gravel and a mix of pull through and back in. We were in a back in site on the hill overlooking the office, pool and play areas. The park has all of the standards with showers, bathrooms and laundry services that were all reasonable. They have a lot of activities to keep the kids busy besides the pool. They have a putt putt course, corn hole game set up, jumpy, etc. The wifi worked reasonably. The downside to this park is the location and getting there with a large RV. The roads are narrow, windy and a ton of low hanging branches. There is a high probability your rig won't be without some battle wounds after your stay. Also, the roads inside the park are horribly rutted, steep and with tight corners. Small RVs are fine, but large RVs should consider carefully before booking. We give this park a 3 out of 5 mainly because of the roads.

Philadelphia, PA

We had a great stop in my old college stomping grounds. We have a lot of family and friends in this area and we were able to meet up with most of them during our 10 days in the Philly area. We started off meeting Jason Kelce at a local Jeep dealership where he was shooting scenes for some new ads. We were also able to spend some time with our nephew who is starting his senior year at the Naval Academy. We spent a few hours at the Philadelphia art museum, a few more visiting some wineries in the area near Washington's crossing and a very nice dinner at the Union League with the family. One of the many highlights of this stop was spending Friday night at Longwood Gardens. Longwood is a farm and former home of one of the du Ponts. He bought the farm to save the arboretum which he then further developed into one of the premier botanical gardens in the US. We strolled the grounds for a few hours enjoying the scenery before the start of an impressive fountain and light show. I would highly recommend visiting the gardens in the summer on the weekend to see the show. We then drove to central PA to visit my college roommate and also friends who live in Amish country. I was also able to meet up with my younger brother for a nice dinner to catch up. Our last day in the area included a tour of the workshop where all of the Presidential and VP flags are hand embroidered. It was great to spend the time with our family and friends, but it is time to continue the adventure and head to the Jersey shore.

Manassas, VA/Washington DC

After spending some time in the mountains I was excited to roll into the DC area to see my sister and her family.  We anticipated having some "down time" but we were go, go, go the whole time.  :) 
We went into DC and walked around the mall area to see all the monuments and some of the museums of the Smithsonian.  My favorite thing to see in there is the First Ladies exhibit with the gowns they wore to the inauguration ball and their china patterns  So pretty! 
The next day my niece took us to Great Falls Park which is a walking path along the Potomac River where there is a waterfall.  She then took us to a wonderful little Italian deli for lunch.  Yummy!
My sister has always wanted to do a hike in Shenandoah National Park called "Old Rag".  We decided to go and boy what a hike that was!  The summit is at 3,921 feet but there is a lot of rock scrambling involved!  We had a fantastic time and I hope I get to do it again some day.  When we were starting out for the day, we encountered a hiker on her way down that said she saw a bear chasing a deer.  YIKES!!  We did not see any of the bears until we were headed back to the car, thank goodness!  I think we saw a total of 5 bears on that day. 
On our last sight seeing day my sister and her husband took us to Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington.  The home and grounds are enormous and very beautiful. You also get to learn and appreciate the love story between George and Martha. The time and dedication he gave to our country is truly humbling and I hope it is never forgotten. 

Prince William Forest RV Campground, Manassas, VA

A nice wooded park located right off 234 in the Manassas area adjacent to the Prince William Park that is part of the National Park system. The RV park gives easy access to 195 and the various sights in the DC area. The park is heavily wooded, so don't expect to be able to use your satellite while staying here. The park has showers, laundry, bathrooms and a pool located in the center. There are several different types of sites. Some offer full hookups while others are water and electric only. The interior sites are pull through while the edge sites are backin. Our back in site was long enough for our full size rig and to park our car in front of the coach when the extra parking spaces were all full. There are many extra parking spots around the park, so you should be able to find a place for your car. The park says it offers wifi, but we could not get it to upload even email during our week stay. We were only able to pick up one local channel occasionally with our powered antennae and the park does not offer cable. With no working wifi and no cable, we rate this park a 3 out of 5 and will stay here again when visiting the area due to the convenient location relative to our family.

Luray KOA, Luray, VA

Nice KOA in the farm country area just outside of Luray. The park has many different site options. We stayed in a pull through site that parallel a large central grass area. They have back in sites along a hill on one edge of the park and other back in sites along the interior of the park. The setting for the park is gorgeous among the rolling hills and farms. There are a lot of trees, but we were lucky to have line of sight for our satellite. The park has the standard KOA amenities of showers, bathrooms and laundry room. They also have a nice pool area as shown in the pic below. The wifi worked so-so depending on the time of the day, but you could at least get email updates. We rate this park a 4 out of 5 and will gladly stay here in the future when we visit the beautiful area.

Luray, VA

We were excited to get back into the mountains to visit another National Park. Shenandoah NP is a long narrow park that runs along the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. We started off our visit by doing a few short hikes to some of the peaks to enjoy the amazing views of the valleys below. On our second hike we came across a large black bear just a few feet off the trail. Luckily for us he was more interested in foraging than in us and we were able to continue moving along the trail. After having hiked thousands of miles in the northwest, I never came across anything other than bear signs, so this was an interesting encounter. Little did we know that it would not the last. Our next day was spent visiting the Luray caverns and The Dukes of Hazzard museum at Cooter's. The caverns were surprisingly impressive. I had no idea this area of Virginia is known for the large underground caverns. Cooter's was a fun stop and I would recommend it to anyone who watched the show. We then went to Monticello to visit the historic home of Thomas Jefferson. I was impressed with the house and the estate grounds, but disappointed with how little they mentioned Jefferson's accomplishments for our country. Our last day was another killer hike in Shenandoah along the White Oak Canyon trail. The trail is known for its many waterfalls and swimming pools. We enjoyed our time in the country setting in central Virginia and will be coming back to the area. Off to DC!!!