Camping from KC to DC

July 11, 2007 12:01 PM

Where should a family of five camp / stop / visit on their camping / road trip from KC to DC?

My wife, three kids, and I will be doing a camping / road trip from Kansas City to Washington D.C. during the entire month of September. What places should we just not pass up to camp / stop / visit? We could easily go through the following states: MO, IL, IN, OH, VA, WV, KY. However, we have plenty of time, so we could meander further away for something highly recommended.

posted by keith0718 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (11 comments total)

Luray Caverns
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 12:06 PM on July 11, 2007

St. Louis : The Arch can be fun, if you don't get stuck in long lines, and aren't afraid of heights. And you ought to have a Cleopatra (a $9 super-duper banana split with strawberries and chocolate and whipped cream, that you eat instead of dinner) at the new Cyranos.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum was a big hit on a summer trip with my boys, 30 years ago, and there are KOA campgrounds not far away. Mammoth Cave is, well, mammoth. Black Water Falls state park in West Virginia is a great place to spend a couple days camping.
posted by paulsc at 12:30 PM on July 11, 2007

Daniel Boone National Forest!

Serpent Mound

I'd also recommend Davis, West Virginia (near Canaan Ski Resort), as it's like turning back the clock to 60's era Woodstock, NY. In a good way, sans tourist traps and gentrification.
posted by lonefrontranger at 12:47 PM on July 11, 2007

oh and my recollection of cycling around / near Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri tells me it's one of the most scenic undiscovered little gems of the Ozarks. Googling it brings up mostly military base info, but I dimly recall many camping and fishing locales in and around the area.
posted by lonefrontranger at 12:51 PM on July 11, 2007

You can stop at First Landing State Park in Virginia, it's about five hours south-southeast of DC, and has decent tent camping. The tent spots are right on the bay, and close to Virginia Beach (ocean). There are nice hiking/biking trails in the park. Also it's very close to the aquarium/nature center--decent "nature walk" hiking, and fun fishy stuff to see (and pet!) inside.

When you're in DC, you have to see the Udvar-Hazy Center which is the new(ish) second location for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
posted by anaelith at 12:53 PM on July 11, 2007

My favorite under-seen sights in DC are the Supreme Court Building (great big beautiful halls, a look inside the courtroom [assuming there's no oral arguments] and the gavel pencil, the best souvenir in the city) and the National Portrait Gallery (the Harry Benson exhibit runs through Sep. 4 and has some amazing pictures)
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 1:24 PM on July 11, 2007

If you have the time, you can visit the southernmost point on Maryland's western shore: Point Lookout. It's quite beautiful, and somewhat eerie, since it was the site of a Union POW camp in the Civil War. Very nice for biking. (...and its lighthouse is rumored to be haunted.)

There's also the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, which have some excellent trails and viewpoints, as well as Skyline Drive and a section of the Appalachian Trail. If you end up hiking there, I'd highly recommend the Bearfence, Hightop Mountain, and Stony Man trails. If the leaves turn at the right time, it could be quite beautiful if you visit in (very) late September.

Of course, there's any number of things you can do in and around Washington DC proper. I always enjoy showing people some of the more eclectic features of the city, such as the Church of Scientology headquarters near Dupont Circle (they give you free e-meter tests!); the Sonny Bono Memorial Park; the Scottish Rite Freemason headquarters on 16th Street (they give you free tours!); the shops of Adams Morgan, Georgetown and U Street; and all the various embassies. There's also the National Cathedral (with a piece of the moon in one of its stained glass windows!), the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (the nave's pillars are made of mulitcolored marble from different states!), the Awakening statue at Hains Point, and all kinds of other stuff.
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 2:25 PM on July 11, 2007

If you're up for getting a little farther than the places previously mentioned, go to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Williamburg and Jamestown. All great spots to pitch a tent and, in the case of the latter two, get a great dose of history. I'd also see some historic battlefields en route. (My husband turned me into a history buff; hated it when I was a kid but now can't get enough of U.S. history.) Oh, and visit the Amish countryside in Ohio. But definitely Jamestown -- they've recently uncovered some incredible artifacts -- and Williamsburg.
posted by Smalltown Girl at 4:18 PM on July 11, 2007

Route #1:
Two of the coolest things east of the Mississippi River are Mammoth Caves and the New River Gorge. I love camping on the Green River in Mammoth Caves NP. Nobody camps there, and it's incredibly beautiful, plus your kids would probably love the one-car ferry across the Green River. If you see the caves and camp here, make sure you have breakfast at a little cinderblock restaurant on Houchins Ferry Road north of the park. I think an egg is still 55 cents.

Rafting the New River is amazing. I went with AceRaft.com, and their website says that there's no minimum age limit for rafting the Upper New, although you have to be big enough to wear a life preserver.

You could then camp at Shenandoah National Park, although I think I remember reading somewhere that the Appalachian national parks were among the most overused and trampled parks in the system, so you might have better luck in a national forest or state park.

Route #2:
If those are too far south, you can drive through southern Ohio. I also recommend Serpent Mound and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park near Chillicothe. If you go this route, definitely do not pass Hocking Hills State Park, where you can camp and hike to the Old Man's Cave.

When I was a kid we would go see Tecumseh! (yes, it has an exclamation point in its title), an outdoor drama about the Shawnee leader who fought against the United States in the early 1900s. It's also in Chillicothe. I highly recommend the $3.50 backstage tours where they show you how ketchup is used in the scalping scenes and how stunts are performed.

You could combine this trip with a stay in Indianapolis or a campground somewhere in southern Illinois or Indiana. Unfortunately, I can't help you out there.

You could also raft the Youghiogheny River in southwestern Pennsylvania. My brother and I camped in Codorus State Park just east of Gettysburg once. It wasn't too bad, but close enough that we could have dinner at the Lincoln Diner before leaving town.
posted by billtron at 5:31 PM on July 11, 2007

If your trip happened in 1990, I would recommend that you stop in Cincinnati and see the Reds play in a post-season baseball game. *sob*

I just read that you are taking an entire month for the trip. If that is the case and you like roller coasters, do not miss Cedar Point. It too is out of your way but worth the drive. Then you can do all the wonderful Lake Erie activities and see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

Can you tell I grew up in Ohio?
posted by billtron at 5:45 PM on July 11, 2007

Wow. Google Maps is crazy, and so am I. I went a little overboard, but here's a fun itinerary.
posted by billtron at 6:53 PM on July 11, 2007