While staying near Washington DC, we did a quick drive through the city, around the Capitol and along the National Mall.
An interactive map:
US Capitol:
Other buildings:
Washington Monument:
More on DC soon.
Author: David
Cherry Hill Park
We stayed at Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A very nice resort, convenient to the DC area.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-06-09
- Check out: 2024-06-23
- 14 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy
- High temps 76-96°F, lows 57-69°F
- Little wind, gusts to 18 MPH
Noise:
- Some freeway noise
- No train horn noise
- Negligible neighbor noise during the week; lots of noise during the weekends
Site:
- #39, back-in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- A little unlevel site; high on driver side; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 45 feet long by 14 feet wide
- About 12 feet to neighbors on both sides
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Tall trees behind site
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
- 50 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (less than a 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 25-45 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 43 ms ping
- AT&T: 500 Mbps down, 60 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: 20 Mpbs down, 20 Mbps up, 8 ms ping
- Verizon: 15 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage bins
- Pools
- Onsite cafe and food delivery to site
- Package delivery to office
- Bus to DC mall
- Tour buses
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Location, location, location!
If you want to visit the DC area with your motorhome, trailer, fifth-wheel, tent, or what-have-you, this is THE place to do it. It’s convenient to the Beltway and close to a Metro stop for all your sightseeing needs. They also offer tours from the campground, which is just the cherry on top. The campground is top-notch and well-kept, with all the amenities you could want (including food delivery right to your site), which is a plus on a travel day. We were in site 39, in the far corner of the park, backing onto trees. The site was a little unlevel side-to-side, but nothing our levelers couldn’t cope with. It was also plenty long enough for our 40′ motorhome with space to park our tow vehicle in front. There was some freeway noise, but it was mostly a distant hum. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. We have already booked our next stay when we swing through the area next year. We camped at Cherry Hill Park – Washington, D.C. In a Motorhome.
A handy campground map for getting to our site:
And on the other site, a map of campground features:
Tours:
Cafe, bus, etc:
Wristbands:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
Backed into the foliage:
Our site at night; we don’t usually turn on our undercarriage accent lights and door light, but I did on this occasion, as Jenn was arriving back after spending a few days with her girlfriends:
We appreciated an onsite cafe with food delivery to the site on arrival day (and probably would have partaken on other evenings if we weren’t busy with exploring etc):
Park history:
Camp store:
We appreciated and took much advantage of package delivery to the office:
Bus depot, where tour buses and commuter buses depart:
Pond:
Playground:
Event pavilion:
Ballroom:
Cafe, pools, clubhouse:
Another playground:
Mini golf:
Splash pad:
Game court:
Pond:
Tent area, each with hammocks and gazebos:
Yurt:
Cabins:
Other RV sites:
Pull-through sites:
A large gathering next to us for a couple of days:
Prevost departing:
Gazebo and trash (the squirrels enjoyed investigating the trash):
This place is so huge, they have a shuttle that roams around:
The evening tractor pull rides were popular:
A very nice place. We have already booked another stay here for next year.
Video: Hanover, Pennsylvania to College Park, Maryland motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 65 miles from Hanover, Pennsylvania to College Park, Maryland.
Travel from Hanover, Pennsylvania to College Park, Maryland
We drove our coach just 65 miles, about 1.5 hours of driving, from Hanover, Pennsylvania to College Park, Maryland.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
Leaving the campground:
Road outside the park:
Narrow curvy road:
Barn:
Maryland Welcomes You:
Fun with zoom:
Manchester:
Barn:
Roundabout:
Fun with zoom:
I-95:
Maryland 212 West:
Our destination, Cherry Hill Park:
Check-in lanes:
24-hours staffed entrance gate:
Our site:
Backing in:
NIRVC annual servicing
As previously mentioned, we went to NIRVC in DC for our annual servicing of the engine, generator, Aqua-Hot, etc.
They used synchronized jacks to raise up our coach:
They pointed out that the oil pan has a bit of a leak, but we decided to not doing anything about that this time; we’ll keep an eye on it:
They also indicated a leak in the radiator fan, which we did address by replacing it (a rather expensive operation):
The bar between the front jacks was loose; the bolts on one side were broken, so they fixed that:
They also replaced the engine air filter, as we do every year:
And serviced the Aqua-Hot:
We usually get various branches of NIRVC to do the servicing, for consistency.
Gettysburg National Military Park: memorials and cemetery
The second post about Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, including the battlefield memorials and Gettysburg National Cemetery.
The interactive map again:
The battlefield has a bunch of roads, dotted with monuments from the various states and military divisions that participated in the battle:
GIF:
Gettysburg National Cemetery:
Lincoln address memorial, where he gave his famous speech:
Gettysburg National Military Park: museum and visitor center
We visited Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, including a third-party museum and visitor center.
An interactive map:
Visitor center:
Gift store:
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war”:
Exhibits:
Theater:
The Gettysburg Cyclorama, a 360° painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett’s Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. It was painted in 1883, and measures 42 feet by 377 feet. The viewing of it started with a dramatization of the battle with light effects:
After the light show, it was shown without light effects. The foreground in front of the painting is a natural-looking landscape, blending into the painting:
An easter egg: a wounded President Lincoln is in this part, representing a wounded nation:
Impressive stuff.
The Gettysburg address:
Tomorrow, the battlefield and cemetery.
Codorus State Park
We stayed at Codorus State Park in Hanover, Pennsylvania. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A last-minute booking, but not a great state park.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-06-07
- Check out: 2024-06-09
- 2 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy
- High temps 78-79°F, lows 56-60°F
- Negligible wind, gusts to 19 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- No neighbor noise
Site:
- #102, back-in, asphalt
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Very unlevel site, high on driver side and back; unable to get completely level; used air leveling
- Asphalt driveway about 55 feet long by 12 feet wide
- 30-90 feet to neighbor passenger side
- Driveway on driver side
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Tall trees
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 75 PSI water, conveniently located
- Loose sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 4-8 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 50-100 ms ping
- AT&T: 50 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
- Verizon: 10-25 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Narrow, twisty roads and sloped sites
This park is not big rig-friendly. The roads are twisty and narrow, with many low trees. We were in site 102, which was incredibly sloped front-to-back, so we dealt with living on an angle for our two-night stay. You could place a marble at one end of the motorhome and it would have rolled to the front unaided, this is how bad it was. An interesting quirk of this park is that they have “pet-free” areas where you’re not allowed to camp with pets. I never did see any explanation of this policy and it didn’t make any sense to me since people were walking their dogs through the “pet-free” area anyway. So, if you’re camping with pets, be sure to double-check what the rule is for a site before you book it, because the ranger at check-in will call you out if they think they see a pet with you. We camped at Codorus State Park in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Atomic Dog Cidery near Gettysburg has good food and cider. Just be careful if you want to purchase some cans to take home, as the park has a strict “no alcohol” policy and your nosy neighbors will comment on it even if you’re not drinking it….
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
The site was very unlevel; we couldn’t get level with hydraulic jacks, and this was the best that our air leveling could manage:
Water tank behind our site:
Other sites:
We won’t stay here again.
Video: Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 102 miles from Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania. Including an instant replay of when a bunch of kids request Jenn sound the coach air horn, which she obliged.
Travel from Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania
We drove our coach 102 miles, about two hours of driving, from Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania. This was a last-minute change to our route, to avoid spending the weekend at NIRVC, and so we could pick up another state.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
I-495:
Narrow lanes:
Fun with zoom:
Maryland Welcomes You:
Exit to Damascus:
Water tower:
Interesting tower:
Westminster, Maryland:
Some kids on the side of the road waved and signaled to blow our air horn; Jenn obliged them, and they jumped with joy (see it in the video from today):
Welcome to Pennsylvania:
Fun with zoom:
A little narrow:
“Sorry your GPS is wrong”; one of our GPSes did say to go through this driveway as if it were a road, but fortunately I check our route quite carefully, so I knew about it ahead of time:
Lots of distinctive Pennsylvania barns like this in the area:
Entering the state park, “campers next left”:
Camper check-in:
We untoaded in the dump station:
Following the coach to our site:
Our site, rather unlevel:
