We arrived in Cherry Hill RV Park, College Park Maryland. This is the type of place that has everything, a pool & hot tub, pickle ball courts and a mini golf. They’ve even got a Metrobus stop. We’re not particularly interested in all of the amenities, it’s the proximity to Washington DC that makes it desirable for us.
This is the first city in our ‘Good bye East Coast’ tour that we used the subway system. It was a great experience. The Washington DC system is clean, modern and reasonably priced. It’ll be hard for the other cities to do as well.
We knew from our Big Trip in 2005 that driving a coach in the Northeast could be an adventure, and this was where we got our first taste of it. Fortunately, the RV park wasn’t far from the Interstate, so it wasn’t too bad. Even on the Interstate, It can get confusing here because you pop across borders into DC or Virginia or Maryland so easily. We were relieved to arrive on a Sunday because traffic can be nuts – comparable to S. Cal. Driving the Jeep to and from the subway wasn’t overly stressful, but it was a reminder that roads designed before cars existed could be challenging!
We’ll do separate posts for some of the daily visits in town. The first museum we visited doesn’t really merit a separate post. It was the National Museum of the American Indian. This museum was really disappointing. The primary focus was on the interaction with European cultures, they didn’t go into the myriad of tribes and how they lived. It didn’t feel like it was presented from the perspective of the native cultures. One highlight of the museum actually had nothing to do with native cultures. There was a spot in the lobby where the windows created a prism effect.
We’ll be visiting several other museums, and they’re sure to be better!
One of the highlights was visiting family we haven’t seen is a really long time. We had a wonderful dinner and a great visit at the Washington DC Zoo with Joel, Kaidyn, Arwyn and Grandpa David.
The overall feeling of the Washington DC area is actually comfortable for such a high density area. Folks are generally friendly. We never did wander into an area where we didn’t feel safe. There’s been a lot of news lately about deploying the National Guard but we didn’t see much of them, nor did they seem to be needed.
We did take a bus tour to get oriented, and that gave us the opportunity to visit many of the outdoor monuments. This included a chance to go up to the top of the Washington Monument. There’s actually an elevator that will take you to the top were there are small observation windows. The view from the top is spectacular! It’s a great opportunity to see the full length of the National Mall and most of the surrounding landmarks. If you ever get a chance, it’s well worth doing.
We also had time to rent bicycles and ride around the Mall and tidal flats area where the Jefferson Memorial is located. We also took in the Roosevelt Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and Lincoln Memorial and rode past the World War II Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial. This was a great way to spend the afternoon.
Stay tuned for posts on the museums we visited!
