DayTrippingDuo.com - A Guide to Fun, Simple, and Memorable Day Trips

Assateague Island National Seashore (Maryland)

lindsay — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:59:47 +0000

WHEN

April 8, 2012

ABOUT THE TRIP

After our fun trip to Cape May, we were so excited to go on our next adventure to Assateague Island. This day trip has been on our list for awhile and we were told by so many people that we “had to go” so we were thrilled to finally go and see the “PONIES!” I probably drove Dave crazy chanting “PONIES” all weekend long. Have you seen the Jimmy Kimmel piece, “I Gave My Kids A Terrible Present?” To get an idea as to how I said PONIES, at about 3:50 in the clip you can check it out here, or below.

You’ll see the little kid talking about how he got PONIES from Santa. HI-LAR-IOUS. And if you haven’t seen the entire video, you should watch it. Anyway, once we arrived in the park, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center to grab some pamphlets and maps. Then we were off to the races.

We wondered if we would actually see PONIES because sometimes we don’t have the best luck when it comes to observing wildlife. We couldn’t believe it when we rounded the corner and there were 2 ponies, not one, not TWO! We (or I) was over the moon. Of course we’ve seen ponies before, but not Assateague ponies. We saw a few more before arriving at our first stop, Marsh Nature Trail. It’s a short little roundabout trail that offers nice views of the marsh. Throughout the day, we saw tons of hoof prints and I was afraid that we’d stumble upon the horseys, startle them and cause a stampede. After that nice little circuitous jaunt, we headed off to hike the Dunes Nature Trail.

We learned at the Visitor’s Center that about 60 years ago, the island was going to be developed, but a storm submerged the island and put a stop to everything. It was so bizarre to walk along the trail and see manmade features in such a beautiful place. We walked on crumbling asphalt that was slowly eroding away from the natural elements and passed by signs indicating the plots that were going to be for sale. The day was hot and it felt like we were walking in a desert. The whole trail was a walk in the sand and we were thankful to have our hiking boots.

By the end of this hike we were ready to hit the beach. We started walking along the beach and as in our usual style we just kept walking and walking until we were the only ones on the beach. We were getting ready to turn around and start heading back when Dave spotted them….a herd of wild ponies off in the distance. They were a good mile away so we plowed forward hoping that they wouldn’t run away….and they didn’t. We sat on the beach and took so many pictures. We reveled in the moment. They were so beautiful and it was so awesome to see them playing and trotting around. We hung around with them for a good hour before they headed farther into the dunes. What a fantastic end to such a beautiful Easter Sunday day trip. (That evening we headed to Dogfish Head for dinner, got ice cream at Archies on Rehoboth Avenue and strolled along the boardwalk)

WHAT WE BROUGHT

IPhone4S
1 North Face backpack
Layered clothing
Hiking Boots
Clif Bars
Panasonic FZ8
Hats
Sunglasses
Moolah

ShOW ME THE DOUGH

Entrance Pass=$15.00
Fuel=~110 miles round trip=$12.00

GRAND TOTAL: $27.00

PHOTOS

Cape May for a Day (Cape May, NJ)

lindsay — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 23:45:04 +0000

WHEN

April 7, 2012

ABOUT THE TRIP

On Easter weekend, we got our act together and decided to take a few days off from work to see some sites that are a hop, skip, and jump away from our hometown. We had big plans to head out west, but didn’t want to pay the hefty Easter fare, so we opted to stay closer to home. We set our hearts on Cape May….and I sang “On the Way to Cape May” all the way up until we boarded the ferry. It was a beautiful, but very windy day. We had both been to Cape May before, but it was many moons ago as kids. The ferry ride from Lewes, Delaware to Cape May was probably the best part of the whole trip. We loved watching the Gannet birds following the ferry and diving down to eat up the fish that the ferry was churning up. It was an incredible site to see and completely entertaining…it kept our minds off of the blustery and chilly winds. We also caught a glimpse of a school of dolphins cashing in on the free food courtesy of the ferry. Animals and humans alike were taking advantage of the day as the kite surfers were out in full force too!

Midway through the ferry ride, we realized that the ferry shuttle bus not in operation since it was the off-season. Shoot, now what? After we got off of the ferry, we spoke to the lady at the info desk and she recommended a cab company to us. The ferry is a few miles away from Cape May, so walking would seriously eat into your day and that wouldn’t be any fun. So, we called for a cab and we were on our way. The cab dropped us off at Washington Street Mall and off we went to explore. We walked along the Washington Street Mall and checked out the little shops and then headed down the side streets to check out the Victorian homes and then we ended up to the Promenade but it was so windy that I almost blew away. So, we headed back inland, where we got ice cream and window-shopped. Dave entered a raffle for a brand new Mercedes….he eyed up the kiosk for a good 5 minutes before purchasing his tickets. He’s so sure that he won but we won’t know until October…so we’ll see!

Sadly, we never made it to the lighthouse and wildlife refuge. Had the weather been a little tamer and had we had more time, we probably would have rented bikes to get there. Oh well, can’t do it all and there’s always next time of course.

On the ferry ride back to Lewes, we sat in the front cabin and basked in the sunlight exhausted from the busy day. We met Dave’s Dad and Melinda in Millsboro, Delaware at Abbott’s Grill. We both got the Bison Burger…Dave is always copying my menu selections. The meal was great. If you like quality food that’s fresh and local, go here. After dinner, we headed back to Rehoboth, Delaware and retired early as we had to rest up for our next day trip.

WHAT WE BROUGHT

IPhone4S
1 North Face backpack
Layered clothing
Sneakers
Clif Bars
Panasonic FZ8
Hats >
Sunglasses
Moolah

SHOW ME THE DOUGH

Ferry ride=$36.00
Ice Cream=~$4.50 + tax
Magnet=$3.95 + tax
Taxi=$34.00 (including tip)
Fuel=~$2.00

GRAND TOTAL: $79.00

PHOTOS

Cherry Blossoms 2012 in Washington DC

lindsay — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:35:52 +0000

WHEN

March 21, 2012

CONDITIONS

Beautiful

ABOUT THE TRIP

Spring has sprung indeed in the Washington, DC area! Since it was the Cherry Blossom’s 100th anniversary and since the weather was unseasonably spectacular….and since my commute was tolerable, we raced down on bicycles via the Mount Vernon Trail to take in all of the trees full-blooming splendor. We’ve seen the Cherry Blossom’s before, but not in full bloom. You can recap our first experience back in 2007 here. Yes, we know…..back then we were total amateurs. Then we went again two years ago to see the blooms with my family, but they weren’t all the way bloomed either, so this time….we were ready, equipped, and prepared to complete our mission successfully. We followed the Cherry Blossom webcam and reports to find “the best and finest time” to visit these delicate candy-like beauties. And we nailed it this time! We locked our bikes up at the Jefferson Memorial and followed the whole Tidal Basin in a counter-clockwise fashion. Not sure if the other way would have been better because the place was JP. But, we survived the crowds. We got to see the sun set behind the Martin Luther King Memorial…not together unfortunately as I literally “ran off into the sunset” to try to catch photos of that fiery orange bowl just before it dipped below the trees. Dave caught up shortly thereafter…funny that his pictures turned out better than mine! We walked through the Roosevelt Memorial. I think what we remembered most about the day was how happy everyone was. Everyone seemed to be living in the moment. Lots of people met after work and had their telescopic SLR cameras (wishwehadanslrcameratoo…maybe soon), people were picnicking, painting, reflecting, enjoying, and loving everything about the day.

So after the sun set, we were about 3/4 of the way around the Tidal Basin. The sky turned into a purple haze and the yellow lights from the city made it a photographer’s dream shot we’re sure. After returning back to our bikes, Dave realized that the battery to the front of his bicycle was dead. Whomp, whomp. And I didn’t have any bike lights…double whomp. So that meant that we got to ride all the way home in the dark which meant that we were super embarrassed because we know that if the tables were turned, we’d have classified us as “those people.” So, I improvised to let fellow bikers/runners know of our presence…….I simply yelled “ring ring” to pretend that I had a bell. People probably thought I was crazy….but hey, you do what you gotta do. The important thing is that we got home safely.

It was a great evening and a wonderful way to break up the busy work week. We are certainly grateful to live right down the road from such a beautiful metropolis.

WHAT WE BROUGHT

IPhone 4s
1 Camelbak
Bike Lock
Helmets
Athletic clothing
Sneakers
Light jackets/long-sleeved tees
Panisonic DMC-FZ8

LIVE AND LEARN

We need bike lights that work and bells from Amazon ASAP.

Show me the dough

GRAND TOTAL: $0.00..yes, you read that right.

PHOTOS

Buzzard Hill (Bluemont, VA)

lindsay — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:59:33 +0000

THROWBACK

About the Trip

It’s hard to believe that we hiked this trail 2 years ago, March 20, 2010. What do we remember about this hike? Well, it was a very hilly hike loaded with lots of steep inclines and declines making it an excellent workout. You can check out all of the hike details on Hiking Upward, our go-to site for our hiking adventures. We still laugh to ourselves because as we were hiking, we were wondering where the first overlook was…..and we didn’t realize until we were returning back to home base that we had passed it entirely. We have no idea how we missed it. It was looking us right in the face! I think what got us a little disoriented was that we couldn’t park at Bears Den…it was under construction due to a recent storm. So, we ended up parking along State Route 601 and hopping onto the trail a little bit further along from the “real starting point.” What we really liked about the trail was that it connected to the Appalachian Trail. Any chance to hike on the AT trail makes us giddy with excitement as it is one of our lifetime quests to thru-hike the entire trail from start to finish. The hike is adjacent to Raven Rocks, which was one of our very first local hikes. Details of that adventure can be found here. One of the highlights of the hike is that it’s located only about an hour away from DC.

Have you guys done any hiking recently? If so, where? Give us the scoop!

WHAT WE BROUGHT

Canon Powershot SD1000
Two Camelbaks
Athletic clothing
Sneakers
PBJs
Trail Mix
Sunglasses
Hats

Show me the dough

Fuel Cost=~$10.00

GRAND TOTAL: $10.00

PHOTOS

Mason Neck State Park and Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Lorton, VA

lindsay — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:55:49 +0000

About the Trip

Well, the weather was fabulous. The scenery? Didn’t really match the weather……very brown for the most part, but we saw some green that was starting to peek through. Mason Neck State Park and Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge are about 20 miles south of Washington, DC. Who knew?! Did you?! Our main goal was to do some hiking and see some wildlife. If you click on the wildlife refuge link, it lists the hundreds of species of wildlife that can be seen on the grounds. We didn’t entirely strike out on our scouting expedition as we did see a fair number of birds, so if you like bird-watching, this is a must-go-to place. This is what we saw:

• Heron
• 1 other bird that we’re going to go out on a limb and call the Tufted Titmouse just for the heck of it though we have no idea what bird this really is. (that is a real bird’s name)
• 1 Hawk
• 3 Bald Eagles
• Seagulls

We started off at the State Park and hiked the Kanes Creek Trail–>Eagle Spur Trail (which leads to the bird blind…we think this is where you can see eagles, but we only saw the heron and some people canoeing and fishing ) and then we hiked back to our starting point and then walked along the Beach Trail. We then drove to the refuge, which is located on the same road and hiked to a pavilion that has a spotting scope. We saw the eagles from afar with the spotting scope. They were a good half of a mile away, but we certainly did see them and they were beautiful.

The state park/refuge is fantastic if you are looking for solitude and the terrain is pretty flat and the trails are well-maintained too. The park was pretty empty when we arrived at around 1:00 pm. (We got off to a late start thanks to Daylight Saving Time.) Dave was sure the park would be JP (jam-packed, the kid loves to abbrev. everything. but to his surprise it wasn’t.

WHAT WE BROUGHT

Panasonic DMC-FZ8
1 Camelbak
Layered clothing
Hiking boots
PBJ
Trail Mix
Sunscreen
Sunglasses
Hats

LIVE AND LEARN

We’d like to go back early in the morning so that we can catch a glimpse of the eagles feeding. We’ve also been thinking that we may need to invest in a good pair of binoculars. Any suggestions?

Show me the dough

Fuel Cost=~$2.50
Park Fee= $4.00

GRAND TOTAL: $6.50

Photos

View all

Get your own

Scott’s Run Nature Preserve (McLean, VA)

lindsay — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:20:51 +0000

About the Trip

Another beautiful day in the NOVA area. We seem to have lucked out re: our mild winter this year. Dave had a new pair of hiking boots to break in, so I put mine on too and we took a short trip over to McLean, VA to Scott’s Run Nature Preserve to do a little hiking.

(Aside: We love Merrell. When we were hiking in Patagonia last year, Dave’s boot was rubbing against the tendon in his heel. It was an agonizing 3 days as we logged a good 40 miles. So upon our return, Dave wrote a letter to Merrell explaining his situation and they told him to send the boots back and to choose 3 pairs of boots that he liked and they would send him a new pair. Well, he got a great pair! And now, Dave has happy hiking feet. The End….or should I say The Beginning?)

The preserve is situated right next to I-495, so even though you get to enjoy the beauty of nature, you are constantly reminded that you are still within the realm of the metropolitan area as you can hear the constant hum of the interstate.

Anyway, it was a great day at Scott’s Run. We actually saw wildlife….aka white-tailed deer. (Another Aside: Why do we always see more wildlife closer to home? I can’t understand it.) We stumbled upon a small waterfall that resides right alongside the Potomac River. And we swear that we had the best seats in the park sitting high atop a cliff that overlooked the Potomac River….(we took a detour path up a hill and were rewarded with some pretty awesome views. The best part? It was all free! It was quite a lovely day if we do say so ourselves.

What have you guys been up to this weekend? Do you have any recommendations for spring adventures? Please share!

WHAT WE BROUGHT

IPhone4S for camera
1 NorthFace Backpack
Layered clothing
Hats
Hiking Boots
Water
Trail Mix
Sunscreen
Sunglasses
Smiley Faces

Show me the dough

Fuel Cost=~1.00

GRAND TOTAL: ~$1.00

PHOTOS

Trotting through Turkey Run Park and Checking out the Claude Moore Colonial Farm in Mclean, Virginia

lindsay — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 01:14:46 +0000

About the Trip

On Saturday, we at the last minute decided to go to…wait for it….it’s epic…..Turkey Run Park. I pass it every day on the way to/from work, but had never been and it was only a hop, skip, and jump away from home. It’s a cute little park and you’d never know that it ran alongside a major highway. We parked in the C-1 section and walked down the very steep hill and were given the choice to go west or east on the Potomac Heritage Trail. You know us, we chose the longer trail that offered more solitude…so we headed east. The trail runs alongside the Potomac River, making it a very serene hike. Most of the leaves were just barely hanging onto the trees…but some trees were still showing off their bold colors. The part of the trail that we were hiking takes you all the way down to the Theodore Roosevelt Island and it’s not a straight and narrow path..it’s actually pretty rocky and with the newly fallen and damp leaves on the rocks it made it extra slippery, so we recommend hiking boots or shoes with ankle support (Dave wished that he could have worn his hiking boots, but he’s working with Merrell on getting a new pair.) Ladies, I’d also recommend to double check that you are wearing your hiking socks and not your husband’s. I was wondering the whole time why I had to keep stopping and yanking up my socks. It wasn’t until I got home that it dawned on me that these weren’t even my socks! Dave took a look at them and confirmed that they were indeed his and wondered how they ended up in my sock drawer. As an aside, socks seem to have a mind of their own don’t they? They’re so fickle as they always wander off and abandon their mate to be with the irresistible sock monster.

At Turkey Run, be on the alert for unruly jumping and drooling dogs not kept on leashes.

Anyway, after our little hike, our curiosity got the best of us and we wanted to go to the Claude Moore Colonial Farm, which is right down the road from the Turkey Run Park. “What was this place all about?” we muttured to ourselves as we followed the signs to the farm. This is when I infamously chimed in to say, “See, if we had an IPhone, then we would know!” Well, we are here to tell you that if you like farm animals and have an interest in the 18th century, then you should visit this place if you’re ever in the area. Claude Moore is a living history farm that takes you back to the year 1771. You will meet the Bradley family (volunteers who dress up in colonial costumes) and they actually run the farm as it was run long ago. The admission is $3.00 for adults and it takes about an hour to go through. The farm has annual events that you can attend, and they host an 18th century market fair about 6 times a year.

So, after we paid our way and browsed through the cozy gift shop, we walked down the dirt path which led us to Mr. Bradley. His tobacco was drying in the shed. We had obviously missed the recent harvest, which Dave was pretty bummed about. We were greeted by two very curious gray and white geese, who followed each other everywhere and were just the best of friends. We also met the turkey and his two lady turkey friends. We asked Mr. Bradley the tough questions such as, “Is this turkey going to end up on your table for Thanksgiving?” to which he responded, “Why would we eat our family gardener?” We paused at that….how ignorant of us to only think of a turkey as an annual food source. We met the Bradley sisters and I helped them make beeswax candles while sitting in front of a fire. I didn’t realize how long this candle-making process was going to take. It was quite the monotonous process. So, to save some time, I gave my nicely developing candle to a little girl, who was grossed out by the farm animals and the nipping geese. (Perhaps it was best that she was born in the 21st century.) Next, we followed the path to meet the snorting and dozing hogs, the playful cows, the ruling roosters and the pecking hens, as well as Mrs. Bradley.

Mr. Bradley explained that turkey nips are much worse than goose nips…so maintain your distance from the turkeys.

And that about sums up our day at the farm. We ended the afternoon by picking up pizza at Pizza Boli’s. You can’t get a better pizza for less than $10.00.

Lesson of the day: Curiosity does not always kill the cat.

WHAT WE BROUGHT

Panasonic FZ-8
Water bottle
Hiking pants and fleece jackets
Hiking boots and sneakers, which we do not recommend)
Sunglasses
Visors/hats

HIGHLIGHTS

Our favorite part was…drum roll….the geese! I know, you see geese everywhere, but these are known as the “domestic” geese and they’re so cool when you see them up close. And they really liked Dave too as you can see in the pictures…I swear he’s the animal whisperer. All he said was, “Come on guys”, and they hypnotically followed him down the dirt path. I felt so left out! So I just hung back and documented the event. Dave’s mom used to have a pet goose, so perhaps there’s just something about their personalities that the geese like.

LIVE AND LEARN

Now that we know more about the farm, we might check out some of its events throughout the year and maybe even go to the market fair (Perhaps I can improve upon my currently horrendous bartering skills……see failed bartering experience story here.

Show me the dough

Round trip=28 miles=~ $3.00
Claude Moore admission fee X 2 adults =$6.00
Pizza= $9.80

GRAND TOTAL: $18.80

PHOTOS

Boston, Massachusetts

lindsay — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:00:16 +0000

DETOUR TRIP

WHEN:

February 11th-13th, 2011

CONDITIONS:

High 30s….Windy….and FREEZING! (Don’t mind my ridiculous garb)

ABOUT THE TRIP:

Our very good friend Jeremie lives in Boston. Dave and his friends from college went to visit him the year before and I had never been and really wanted to visit. So we coordinated our schedules and were able to get a great flight deal and so off we went for a brief weekend getaway. After touching down, Jeremie picked us up at the airport. On our first night, we just relaxed and caught up on each others’ lives. We ordered pizza and drank some vino before retiring for the evening. The next morning, we ate a delicious and hearty breakfast at the house before venturing out to walk……The Freedom Trail!!! The weather was freezing cold and the wind was fierce, but hey, you can’t let the weather stop you from having fun! We parked outside of the Boston Common, the starting point for the trail. We pretty much hit all of the major sites on this trail…except for a few. From the Boston Common, we visited the following:

The State House (the building with the gold dome)
Park Street Church
Granary Burying Ground (Here lies Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Sam Adams; it was covered in snow, so we couldn’t walk through the cemetery)
King’s Chapel (*Note—we quickly learned on this tour that to see the extra and interesting stuff, you have to cough up the cash. Example, we really wanted to see the crypt and bell tower, but it was $8.00 each.)
King’s Chapel Burying Ground (Covered in snow…unable to walk through)
Boston Latin School and Old Corner Book Store (somehow we missed these, but we did see the Old City Hall building!
The Old South Meeting House (which is where there was heavy discussion as to what to do with the hundreds of barrels of tea!)
Old State House (the Boston Massacre occurred right outside of this building)
Faneuil Hall
Paul Revere House (our favorite!) It was such a small and humble house. Hard to believe that he had 16 children! He left that very house to make his legendary ride to Lexington to warn the colonists that the British were coming.
Old North Church-Before riding to Lexington, Paul Revere stopped here to notify the church how many lanterns to hang in the steeple; they hung 2 to indicate that the British were arriving from the sea.
Copp’s Hill-a burying ground that we could not tour due to snow.
Bunker Hill-The British won this battle, but not by much. It gave the colonists hope that they could succeed. The monument was closed because there was ice on the steps!!! What a disappointment!!! So, we went across the street to the Bunker Hill Museum instead.
USS Constitution-We ran out of time. Jeremie volunteers his time to a local basketball team and they had a game that afternoon and we all went to that instead. Oh well…there’s always next time.

At one point during the day we stopped at Mike’s Pastry. I ordered a chocolate cupcake. Why I didn’t order the Boston Cream Pie, I couldn’t tell you. Why no one else asked me why I didn’t order the Boston Cream Pie…again, I just couldn’t tell you. Although the word is that the “Ricotta Pie” is one of the desserts that they are most famous for.

We also walked through the local market. Funny story: There was this guy who kept going to every vendor and was haggling and lying and saying that the other vendors were offering their produce for cheaper in hopes of getting a bargain. The vendors totally knew what he was doing and well..let’s just say that they collectively called him out on it and there’s was lots of jeering and profanities that were exchanged between both parties. We got a kick out of it.

After arriving home, we got ready and went out to dinner and then though exhausted, we headed out to a local bar. The next morning, we had a lovely brunch before heading back to the airport.

WHAT WE BROUGHT:

Canon Powershot SD1000
1 bottle of H2O
2 Cliff Bars
Sunglasses
Warm clothing
Cash
Sneakers

HIGHLIGHTS:

Paul Revere’s House hands down. It’s just so much better to learn about history in the place where the events actually occurred. Reading about it in a book just doesn’t bring it to life.

LIVE AND LEARN:

We’d get the Boston Cream Pie! And see the USS Constitution. Had we traveled to the city at any time besides winter, it would have been fun to take the Duck Boat or Swan Boat Tour. And tour Fenway Park too! We made the best of it despite the weather and the short amount of time that we had.

SHOW ME THE DOUGH:

Plane tickets: ~$220.00
1 magnet= ~$3.14
Paul Revere Tour=$3.50 X 2= $7.00
Mike’s Pastry cupcake and cookie= ~7.00
Dinner and drinks not included!

GRAND TOTAL: $237.14

PHOTOS:

Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor, Maine

lindsay — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 19:20:43 +0000

DETOUR TRIP

About the Trip

Day 1

The time was 3:45 am. By 4:20, we were in the car where we began our 11 hour journey to Bar Harbor, Maine. We buzzed through Delaware and New Jersey. The sun rose when we were driving through New York. The silhouette of the city complemented the sky which looked like a billowy color changing quilt. It was breathtaking. We had a moment of silence for those that were taken on 9/11. Not surprisingly, we hit traffic on where else but the George Washington Bridge! That did not fare well for Dave and his hunger pangs. That was the only major delay that we hit on I-95, which surprised us both! We cruised through Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. We did stop at McDonalds for breakfast in Massachusetts (yes, we splurge big time when we go on vacation. We were told by past travelers that it’s obvious when you enter Maine because the landscape immediately changes to pine trees…and they were right. Nothing but miles upon miles of pine trees. As soon as we entered the state of Maine, we knew that we were going to love this beautiful state. We pulled over once more to stretch our legs, and then less than an hour later, we had arrived at our destination: Bar Harbor, Maine. The “almost” fall weather was spectacular.

We stayed at the Windward Cottages, which is located along the Western Bay of Mount Desert Island in Bar Harbor. Ollie is the owner of the cottages and he made us feel welcome and right at home before we even walked into the cottage. After settling into our cottage we realized that we had struck the perfect combination of solitude while being within close proximity to the conveniences of modern day living. We also realized that we were famished. Ollie recommended the Thurston’s Lobster Pound, located on the southern part of the island. Back in the car we went. What a cute place! It was right on the water, there were so many boats and so many vivid lobster buoys and crates. It was picturesque. I ordered the clam dinner with a medium lobster (it came with corn on the cob, coleslaw and blueberry spice cake and Dave ordered the lobster roll dinner.) While waiting for our meals, we walked out onto the dock and watched the lobster boats make their way back in after their long day at sea. The lobster…..pausing to relive the moment…….was perfectly red and piping hot and my surroundings became non-existent as I feasted on this delicious crustacean. Dave ate his very first lobster at this establishment….but he wasn’t impressed with the taste of lobster….he prefers fish. To each his own I suppose. After dinner, we headed back home for a quiet evening of relaxation. We brought our own snacks from home and cracked open a bottle of vino before bundling up and venturing outside to lay on the picnic tables and stargaze. We spotted dozens of shooting stars. Wonder if all of those wishes we made will come true!

PHOTOS

Day 2 AKA “Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary”

Dave loves my banana walnut pancakes so much that he insisted on bringing all of the ingredients from home. So that is what we had for breakfast along with coffee. The cottage had a nice little kitchenette which was stocked with all of the essentials. After breakfast, we headed out to check out the bay as it was at low tide. It was teeming with clams, snails, and barnacles. We enjoyed watching the seagulls drop the clams onto the rocks and eating what they are supposed to eat! After that, we headed to the Visitor’s Center to buy our Acadia National Park Pass. We also spoke to the rangers to find out what their most favorite hikes are before starting the day. We hiked the Sand Beach Trail. It’s a quick little jaunt along the coast with lots of great vantage points. Dave explored tide pools and we sat on the rocks and watched the lobster boats passing by while we ate our snacks. Then we stopped at Thunder Hole (only go during high tide, otherwise, drive right by it). We spent about 2 minutes here. Next we headed over to Jordan’s Pond House to hike some more. We hiked the Penobscot Mountain. It took us about an hour to reach the summit. We had the whole summit to ourselves so we sat down and ate our trail food (clementines and trail mix) before starting the descent. After we got off of the mountain, we walked around the Jordan Pond. This pond is ginormous! As you can see, we never ate an actual meal for lunch so we had to figure out our dinner plans so this is what we did… we drove off of the island and went to Walmart. There we bought half of our anniversary dinner-potatoes, brussel sprouts, and Oreo cookies. We also picked up some food supplies to get us through the rest of the trip. We stopped at Down East Lobster in Trenton, Maine, where we bought our take-out live lobster and clams. Dave of course got fish. We went back home and started cooking. Our 1st home-cooked lobster turned out to be a smashing success! We enjoyed another night of stargazing and wine-sipping.

PHOTOS

Day 3

We ate pancakes again. Then set out to hike “The Beehive Trail,” a very popular, somewhat challenging trail that offers rungs and ladders and will make you hyperventilate if you are a chicken like me. This was easy peasy for Dave, of course. I pretty much climbed this mountain on my knees, but the views were well worth the 45 minutes of fretting. This wasn’t even the most strenuous hike that Acadia offers….it is appropriately named, “The Precipice Trail.” Dave was planning on hiking this exhilarating 1000-foot vertical incline of a beast, but it rained on Day 4. Soooo….after we descended the mountain, we went to Jordan’s Pond House for tea, popovers, and seafood chow-dah. Best. Popovers. Ever. Smother them with butter and jam for the optimal experience. Following tea time, we spent a nice chunk of time chilling at “Otter Cliffs.” Park in the Gorham Mountain Trailhead lot and walk across the street to gain access to the Cliffs. The water was so clear that we could see the ducks diving down several feet into the ocean. Awesome. When we returned home, we decided to test out the kayaks at the cottage (free to use!) So, the first time we ventured out into the bay, we had to come right back because of the prehistoric mosquitoes. These suckers were huge and fierce! They were swarming all around us. So after dousing ourselves with bugspray, we gave it a second go and made it out just in time to catch a stunning sunset. We got a chance to meet our friendly cottage neighbors who came out to the watch the sunset too. A special thank you to Louisa for taking our kayak action shots for us! We finished off the day with a trip to the Trenton Lobster Pound for more take-out lobster and fish.

PHOTOS

Day 4

We woke up super early to watch the sunrise at the top of Cadillac Mountain. It’s the first point that the sun hits in the Continental United States, making us the first people to see the sunrise in the U.S on September 20, 2011. It was a beautiful sunrise that was almost threatened by a rogue row of clouds (which is what tainted our Mount Haleakala sunrise). We drove back to the cottage and went back to sleep. When we woke up again, we decided to spend our last day exploring the town of Bar Harbor. The weather wasn’t the best-scattered showers, but we made do. We walked around the town, stopped at Bar Harbor Brewery for a tasting (we enjoyed the Blue and Black Stout) and walked along the paved “Ocean Path.” On our way home, we stopped at the Atlantic Brewery, which is right down the road from our cottage for lunch and a brewery tour. We gorged ourselves with food and drink(Dave with the pork dinner platter and me with the giant chicken sandwich and 2 pints of Ale and Black and Blue Stout) After the brewery tour, we enjoyed some samples before heading to this giant junk/antique store. It had the coolest stuff! We purchased an old fishing buoy; a fitting Maine memento. We also learned that I have horrible haggling skills. When we finally arrived back at the cottage, we quickly headed out in the kayaks one last time to see the sunset before getting take-out lobster (again) and spending the evening packing and getting ready for the long ride home in the morning.

PHOTOS

WHAT WE BROUGHT

Canon Powershot SD1000
Panasonic FZ8 camera
Warm weather clothing, i.e hats, gloves, scarves
Two Camelbaks
Athletic/comfy clothing
Sneakers
Food and Drink from our casa
Sunscreen
Sunglasses
Visors/hats

Show me the dough

Estimated round trip fuel cost from DC @ 40 mpg X 1400 miles=~$122.00
Toll costs: ~$60.00
Windward Cottages: $600.00
Acadia National Park Pass: $20.00
Walmart: $33.71
Food: $154.00
Magnets X 2: $8.00

GRAND TOTAL: $997.71

Apple Scrapple Festival (Bridgeville, Delaware)

lindsay — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 19:15:43 +0000

About the Trip

On our way to the beach last fall, we saw signs for the annual “Apple Scrapple Festival” in Bridgeville, Delaware, which takes place every second weekend in October. Now, being born and raised Delawarians, we are very well versed when it comes to scrapple. For those of you who don’t know what scrapple is, let’s just say that nothing on the little piggy goes to waste. Yes, hence and therefore, scrapple is the ground up remains of the piggy that is made into a sausage-like material. Sounds gross? Yes…it is when you think of it like that. But, it browns up nicely and with a little mustard, it’s quite tasty. Anyway, we were feeling adventurous and pulled over to check out the ins-and-outs of the festival.

We arrived mid-morning and were able to find a parking spot alongside the road that was relatively close to the festival. There is no entrance fee. This event houses many arts and crafts vendors who have a lot of fall and Halloween décor for sale and there are rows upon rows of trade vendors. After scouring around, I picked up a cute Halloween sign to add to our Halloween home décor collection.

There’s a little amusement ride section for the kiddies and if you get hungry, there are lots of food choices to choose from; amongst them are apples and scrapple of course, but they offer standard festival fare as well. There is also a car show here. Boy did Dave have a time walking up and down the streets checking out the cars. There was also a Civil War reenactment camp that was set up and we got to watch them reenact a small battle scene.

It took us about an hour or two to walk through the festival—we stopped a lot. The festival offers a lot of other events such as Scrapple Chunkin,’ which is the sister event to Punkin Chunkin,’ as well as a baking contest.

If you are in the area, it’s a fun event to check out.

Ever been here? What did you think? Tell us about your favorite festivals!

WHAT WE BROUGHT

Canon Powershot SD1000
Sunglasses
Cash

HIGHLIGHTS

The line to get a scrapple sandwich was about 200 deep. No joke. So, if you have a hankering for it, you gotta get there early. OR, you could just make your own if your grocery store carries scrapple.

DayTrippingDuo.com - A Guide to Fun, Simple, and Memorable Day Trips

Assateague Island National Seashore (Maryland)

WHEN

ABOUT THE TRIP

WHAT WE BROUGHT

ShOW ME THE DOUGH

GRAND TOTAL: $27.00

PHOTOS

Cape May for a Day (Cape May, NJ)

WHEN

ABOUT THE TRIP

WHAT WE BROUGHT

SHOW ME THE DOUGH

GRAND TOTAL: $79.00

PHOTOS

Cherry Blossoms 2012 in Washington DC

WHEN

CONDITIONS

ABOUT THE TRIP

WHAT WE BROUGHT

LIVE AND LEARN

Show me the dough

GRAND TOTAL: $0.00..yes, you read that right.

PHOTOS

Buzzard Hill (Bluemont, VA)

THROWBACK

About the Trip

WHAT WE BROUGHT

Show me the dough

GRAND TOTAL: $10.00

PHOTOS

Mason Neck State Park and Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Lorton, VA

About the Trip

WHAT WE BROUGHT

LIVE AND LEARN

Show me the dough

GRAND TOTAL: $6.50

Photos

Scott’s Run Nature Preserve (McLean, VA)

About the Trip

WHAT WE BROUGHT

Show me the dough

Fuel Cost=~1.00

GRAND TOTAL: ~$1.00

PHOTOS

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About the Trip

WHAT WE BROUGHT

HIGHLIGHTS

LIVE AND LEARN

Show me the dough

GRAND TOTAL: $18.80

PHOTOS

Boston, Massachusetts

DETOUR TRIP

WHEN:

CONDITIONS:

ABOUT THE TRIP:

WHAT WE BROUGHT:

HIGHLIGHTS:

LIVE AND LEARN:

SHOW ME THE DOUGH:

GRAND TOTAL: $237.14

PHOTOS:

Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor, Maine

DETOUR TRIP

About the Trip

PHOTOS

PHOTOS

PHOTOS

PHOTOS

WHAT WE BROUGHT

Show me the dough

GRAND TOTAL: $997.71

Apple Scrapple Festival (Bridgeville, Delaware)

About the Trip

WHAT WE BROUGHT

HIGHLIGHTS

Show me the dough

GRAND TOTAL: $3.00