Veggies & Voyages

Our family stayed sane during COVID by taking the kids on a LOT of hikes every single weekend regardless of the weather. Our kids were 3 and 5 years old when we did all the COVID hikes. Thought I’d post our favorites in case it inspires others to get outside.

Have a favorite?! Let me know!

Our Favorites

· Jug Bay – marsh board walk; gorgeous. (MD)- pictured above!

· Billy Goat Trail- Path C (MD) – great giant climbing boulders in the Potomac

· Cumberland Falls (MD) -fantastic hike with an actual ending- meaning you are hiking to see (and climb around) the waterfalls at the end (plus the easy path is only 1 mile roundtrip)

· Piscataway State Park (17th century farm with heritage livestock & Indian burial ground, board walk (drive to different lot for the board walk hike to the indian ceremonial grounds), view of Mt Vernon across the Potomac since this land was actually purchased by the mt vernon ladies to preserve the view from washington’s house) (MD)- fantastic!

· Mallow Bay (MD)- WW1 war ships that are all sunk but still visible/you can hike down and touch some.

· Meadowbrook Nature Center (MD)- pioneer homestead & ropes course/giant tree house behind educational center (not nature center); one of our best finds!

· C&O Canal (MD)- Park at the Sycamore Store, cross 2 bridges, go down by the C&O then go north and get off the canal path and head along the Potomac on the forest path; find climbing trees near Potomac

· Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge (DE) – LOVED the birds and the marsh boardwalks at sunset. Incredible.

· Colonial Williamsburg (VA)- one of our favorite places to just walk around and see everyone dressed up like colonial times- always free to walk around if you don’t go in any of the historical buildings. You can park in a garage right next to the town (don’t start at the welcome center).

· Clark’s Farm- the enchanted fairy tale forest is completely empty first thing in the morning and the kids get to see all the fairy tale rhymes in person. Love it here.

– Meadowlark botanical gardens in Vienna- so awesome. So many fun discoveries.

· Mason Neck State Park (MD)-fungus search tour and opossum lecture; wonderful board walk over the marsh- loved this one- take the trail near the playground!

· Frederic (MD)– Canal walk – awesome every time. Art exhibits in the canal and brick grassy area for kids to play.

· Great Country Farms (VA)- fantastically empty early in the morning so we had a giant orange bounce pillow to ourselves. Note there are two bouncy pillows so go to the second one hidden behind the bamboo.

· Locust Grove Nature Center (MD)- this is near our house so we’ve been all over many times; dinosaur dig site, sycamore tree, lots of rocky sand along the water and huge outdoor play area- always empty!

Also loved:

– valley trail in rock creek park, where it crosses Teddy Roosevelt trail

· Lewes beach/Georgetown trail (DE)

· Purse State Park for fossils (MD)- wait for parking in the good 15 spot parking lot next time or bring rainboots.

· State Arboretum of Virginia (VA) –; fun sections for the kids to see

· Calvert Cliffs State Park – love this hike; very long for the kids; first time was awesome and found so many fossils and shark teeth at the beach. second time biting flies attacked us at the beach; path gets too crowded and narrow so we’ve stayed away recently.

· Henlopen Park (DE)- board walk through sand dunes plus a former top secret military weapon bunker. Also, beaches!

· Glen Echo Park & Bridge (MD)- secret creek trail to get under the bridge where you can climb over kid size boulders; outdoor stage for kids to dance on.

· Cabin John Hiking Trails (MD) – lots of time spent here and super easy to get to the creek.

· Patuxent Research Refuge (MD)- great for the board walk

· National Arboretum (DC) – picnicked near the Capital Columns

· Washington, DC sites tour- Iwo Jima, Supreme Court, the Wharf – huge hit because of the slide wall and swings on the wharf- none were crowded due to the cold

· Seneca Creek State Park (MD)- always enjoy coming here.

· Audubon Society Nature Center (MD)- super fun

· Harper’s Ferry (VA) – hiked Appalachian trail and toured historic fields and retraced union’s getaway path

· Kitty Hawk (NC)- flew kites on the sand dune where the wright brothers learned to fly- awesome.

· Fort Raleigh (NC)- hiked the land of the first, missing roanoke colony – highlight.

· Currituck Banks Reserve (NC)- beautiful marsh boardwalk hike

One of our last hiking weekends we decided to drive to hike in Shenandoah National Park. We finally get there, out daughter gets out of the car, looks around, and starts sobbing, “not another hike!!” There was snow on the ground that day and the only way to get her to move from the car was to convince her it was Elsa’s mountain from Frozen and that we had a chance of seeing her! We all ended up having a great time on the hike.

Share your favorite DC hikes in the comments below!