We visited the Grandview area of New River Gorge National Park, the newest full National Park in the US. The Grandview section overlooks a bend in the New River.
The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:
An interactive map of our route for visiting Grandview:
A small visitor center:
Grand Canyon of the East:
Path to the main viewpoint:
Road to the Turkey Spur Overlook:
View:
Path with 150 steps to upper viewpoints:
Train:
We stayed at Little Beaver State Park in Beaver, West Virginia. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice state park near New River Gorge National Park.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Good base for New River Gorge
This is a nice state park conveniently located near New River Gorge National Park and not far from the freeway. A word of caution, however: the road to get to the park and the roads in the park are not for the faint of heart, whether you have a small or big rig. The way in from the north is slightly less heart-stopping but still not ideal. Site 19 was a pull-through with a steep driveway and a relatively flat area about halfway, which was just perfect for our 40′ motorhome and tons of room to park our tow vehicle either in front or behind. We camped at Little Beaver State Park in a Motorhome.
Park campground and trail map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Completed another row of National Park stickers:
A lightning storm during our stay:
This site didn’t have any sewer connection. After a week, our gray tank was at 71%, and black tank at 63%:
Squirrel:
White-Marked Tussock Moth caterpillar:
Other sites:
Office:
Registered campers only:
Playground:
Cabin:
Bathrooms:
We’d be happy to stay here again.
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 314 miles from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia.
We drove our coach 314 miles, about five hours of driving, from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia. The beginning of our westward migration, heading towards our home base in Washington state.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
An interactive map:
Toading up:
I-495:
Welcome to Virginia:
Paladin in his high place:
I-64:
I-66:
Fuel stop:
Tiffin Phaeton motorhome:
Apples on water tower:
We were going to park and have lunch at the fuel stop, but there wasn’t any parking that would work for us, so we continued on. There wasn’t any room at the next rest area either:
So I made lunch on the road:
A later rest area:
I-64:
Welcome to West Virginia:
Of course, we had to play John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” while entering the state:
Rest area:
I-64 hill:
7% grade:
Sandstone Mountain elevation 2,765 feet:
Little Beaver State Park:
Narrow sloping curve:
Narrow entrance:
Lake:
Very narrow road to campground:
Campground office:
Guided to our site:
Our motorhome came with a couple of couches opposite each other, which we removed before even moving into the coach.
We replaced the passenger-side couch with a cheap desk in 2021, then in 2022 we replaced the desk with IKEA drawers and cupboards. and Jenn used a height-adjustable platform on the end of the dining table.
While in Red Bay earlier in 2024, we had Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets build a custom desk for us, based on my design. We wanted a built-in desk that matched the existing cabinetry, didn’t take up too much space on travel days, but expanded when in use. Plus included a space for Paladin’s litter box. Here’s my design:
A timelapse video of drawing the design using Linea Sketch on my iPad Pro with Pencil:
The empty space after removing the IKEA cabinet; the main TV is on a televator, inside that cabinet below the window:
A nice thing about Cody’s service is that he comes to you at your campsite in Red Bay. Here’s the new desk arriving at the end of the week:
Being brought inside:
My design included a TV lift for the computer monitor. We supplied the lift mechanism. Here it’s being mounted:
Back of the new cabinet, with the monitor lift area and cupboards on the left, drawers in the middle, and the cat litter area on the right:
The desk in place, without desktops (and with the main TV raised):
A closer look at the cupboard and monitor lift area without the desktops:
The right-hand pull-out desktop installed:
The left desktop also in place:
The new computer monitor (Apple Studio Display) raised, still wrapped:
The completed desk with the coach slide-outs in for travel:
We store the desk chair by the dining table for travel, and stack the dining chairs:
Looking down the back at the monitor lift and cables:
A couple of grommets for wires:
Wires behind the drawers between the two grommets:
A side view of the monitor lift:
Cupboards:
Cat litter bin and litter box on a drawer slide, so it can be easily pulled out for cleaning:
Jenn’s typical work setup:
When work is done, the monitor can be lowered and desktop closed, and the main TV raised:
There are a couple of Velcro patches inside the desk, and corresponding patches on Jenn’s work and personal laptops, so they can be stored on travel days without sliding around:
Travel mode:
A huge improvement.
We visited Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, where “23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862”.
Visitor Center:
Old church:
Cannons:
Stone bridge:
We visited Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia.
Relief map:
Bus from the visitor center to the town:
Exploring the old town of Harpers Ferry:
The second baseball game we attended while in the DC area was the Miami Marlins playing at the Washington Nationals stadium, Nationals Park:
We got there shortly before the gates opened:
Baseball art:
Team store:
More art:
Cutwater Spirits:
We got some tasty beverages in interesting containers:
Fritos tacos:
Mascots:
View of the ballpark from our seats:
Mascot:
WSH:
Cheerleaders:
Selfie:
See You Tater:
Tater tots with mac & cheese and pulled pork:
Mascots:
Cart:
Dippin’ Dots for dessert:
Nats win:
We also visited the Smithsonian American History Museum in DC.
An art, with the Washington Monument in the background:
The Star Spangled Banner; a huge flag in the room behind this, but couldn’t take pictures of it:
First Ladies:
We visited the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC.
We caught the DC Metro to the DC Mall area:
Smithsonian Natural History Museum:
Skulls:
Reconstructed neanderthal face:
World population:
African animals:
Dinosaurs:
Dark skies:
Rocks:
Hope diamond:
Phones:
Shark:
Back to the foyer:
Lots of stuff to see.