This year the Blog officially volunteered for the Ninth Annual Canal Pride Days, a program sponsored by the C&O Canal Trust to work on projects, in coordination with the C&O Canal National Park, to improve or help the park. Projects such as pulling out invasive plants, planting gardens for the lockhouses, cleaning garbage and debris […]
budget-friendly day trip
Reaching for the Moon: the Story of Barbara Johns and Prince Edward County Public Schools
Photo of a photo displayed in the museum shows Farmvile in the 1950s. Each winter, school children celebrate snow days. But despite missing many days in a row, when the snow again begins to fall, school children again celebrate. But what if the schools simply closed and didn’t reopen? What if the “snow day” was […]
The Doctor Mudd House
Dr. Samuel Mudd was a lucky man: he missed swinging on the gallows by one jury vote, although he was sent to Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas, for over 3 years. The jury pivoted on a key fact: whether he knew the man he treated that dark and stormy night in April was John […]
Day Trip on a Budget: Checking Out an Historic Mansion in a State Park
If you’re trying to day trip on a budget, your best bet is to check out the state parks. Nominal entrance fees — even if you’re from out of state — make these a great go-to resource for anyone watching their bottom line. One of my favorite day trips was to Susquehanna State Park. I […]
Living History at Lander Lock House
From 1828-1924 the C&O Canal functioned as a transportation route for goods and passengers on the 184.5 mile route from Cumberland, MD to Washington, D.C. Now it’s a great day trip destination for millions of people each year. They come to bike or hike along the canal while enjoying the beauty of the Potomac River. Locks, lock houses, such as […]
The Field of Lost Shoes
New Market Battlefield State Historical Park is a historic American Civil War battlefield and national historic district located near New Market, VA, in Shenandoah County. The park is also the site of the Virginia Museum of the Civil War, which is operated by the Virginia Military Institute. Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant designed a “grand strategy” to […]
Little Remembered Battle of Cedar Creek Helped End Civil War
I am constantly amazed at how little I know of several important battles. I must have slept during U.S. history class — a fact that makes me sad now. Although in my defense, my teacher’s loyalties still remained with the Lost Cause, so perhaps I can be excused from not knowing much about battles where […]
Day Trip on a Budget: Fort Necessity
This is my first day trip on a budget post, and I’m going back to one of the first posts of this blog: Fort Necessity, which is part of the national park system, for the material. I’ll be drawing on a lot of my day trips to national and state parks, because quite honestly, they’re […]
Peace, Love and Folk Art
Tonight is the eve of Christmas Eve, and I think it is fitting to post about one of the surprises and pleasures Pittsburgh offers! We discovered this place quite by accident. The morning we were due to leave Pittsburgh, our waiter at breakfast commented on a brightly colored sweatshirt I was wearing, noting that the […]
Rivers, Bridges, and Views, Oh My!
I’d never thought highly of Pittsburgh. The city and its inhabitants were the butt of jokes when I attended Penn State, and as an adult, I’d never had the opportunity to go there. My sense of Pittsburgh was of a city clouded with coal-induced smog (don’t ask, but I guess I watched one of those […]
The Budget Friendly Day Trip Challenge
This added feature of the Mid-Atlantic Day Trips Blog came about through a discussion with my husband about how to enhance the content of the blog pages. We toyed with the idea of starting another blog, cleverly titled “Budget Friendly Day Trips” but soon realized we didn’t want to compete with the existing blog, into […]
A Really Grand Day at the National Zoo
I’ve been going to the Smithsonian National Zoo since I was a child. Every summer, mom would take us down to the zoo. It would be crowded and swelteringly hot, as July and August usually are in Maryland. My sister, thinking she was clever, would tease me about leaving me with the apes, and I’d […]
Biking the Battlefields
Each time I visit the Gettysburg National Military Park I learn something new. This Sunday morning, however, my intent was just to focus on the bike ride and scenery, and not try to read the signs or follow a narrative to understand how the battle unfolded. The day before the weather had been rainy and […]
InSite Gettysburg Brings the Battlefield into Clearer Focus
This is fourth of a series focusing on Gettysburg, PA as a great day trip destination. I’m always intrigued by different ways to tour the National Military Park at Gettysburg. I loved the segway tour of the battlefield my husband and I went on a couple years ago, but that was as much for the […]
My Top 5 Budget-Friendly Day Trips
Periodically I’ll post my top picks. This is the latest My Top Picks posts. Links to the original posts will be embedded in the text. Let me know what you think of this new blog feature! 6. Visit the National ZooWhether you take the metro or drive and park ($22 flat rate for parking), the Smithsonian […]