Road Trip Review - Eastern States - 700 Miles

In the spring of 2019, I was in the middle of a quest to visit a National Park Service property in every state, and I had a bit of vacation time to use, so I decided to go to the eastern part of the country, specifically to Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. Along the way, I learned a lot about the Civil and Revolutionary wars and saw a bit of beauty as well!

The places I visited were:

George Washington Birthplace and National Monument – Virginia

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park – Virginia

Shenandoah National Park – Virginia

Harpers Ferry National Park – West Virginia

Gettysburg National Military Park – Pennsylvania

Independence National Historical Park – Pennsylvania

First State National Historic Park – Delaware

Edwin B Forsyth National Wildlife Refuge – New Jersey

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine - Maryland

This was a solo road trip. I flew into Washington DC and out of Baltimore, rented a car and went from there. Each day was filled with a ton of traveling, history and learning, and the days went by very quickly.

One take away from this trip:

When hiking alone in a remote place, its best to carry a big stick. Better yet – don’t hike alone in a remote place, hang around and tag along with another group, or just after or before them, but don’t hike alone. I learned that the Shenandoah National Park has a bunch of bears, but they are scared away when you make noise and drag a stick along while you hike.