Category: National Parks & Places Page 11 of 12
Another Epic Road Trip is a wraps! 8 states – 4 of which were new to me. This was my third time in New York, but the first time out of New York City and the first time getting into New York by car (the first time was by train and the second was by boat). This was a varied trip. Over 9 nights we stayed at 3 hotels, 1 AirBNB, and 2 campgrounds. It was a very busy trip and we saw a lot of interesting places! I am excited to share the stories with you here!
Here is our itinerary and a preview of what is to come in this trip report:
Night 1: Syracuse, NY
Onieda House Museum
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Minuteman National Historic Park
Night 2: Auburn, MA
Boston Museum of Fine Art
Boston Freedom Trail
Night 3: Cambridge, MA
House of Seven Gables & Salem
Portland, ME
Night 4: Seawall, ME
Acadia National Park – Park Loop Road
Cadillac Mountain
Jordan Pond House
Acadian Nature Cruise
Night 5: Seallwall, ME
Jordan Pond Hike
Bass Harbor Head Light
Night 6: Seawall, ME
Maine Lighthouses
Night 7: Keene, NH
Albany Museum of Art and History
Watkins Glen Hike
Night 8: Watkins Glen, NY
Corning Museum of Glass
Rockwell Museum
Seneca Lake Wine Trail
Night 9: Watkins Glen, NY
Erie Land Light
Home
We were able to see so many different museums on this trip because of the ROAM – reciprocal museum admission program. I’ve mentioned before that we are members of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Before this trip, we upgraded our membership to a level that includes this reciprocal admissions program. 6 of the 7 museums that we visited were included and we were able to get in for free. If you enjoy museums, look into a ROAM membership before your next trip. It may save you money and it will definitely allow you to check out museums that you may not have visited without it. Check out a list of participating museums here.
Be sure to check back next week for my take on the Onieda House Museum. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
We woke up on the last day of our vacation, packed up camp, and headed to Antietam National Battlefield. Antietam is a large park, and since we were heading home and didn’t have a ton of time to explore, we chose to do the driving tour. The Battle of Antietam took place on September 17, 1862 and was one of the bloodiest days in American History. With over 23,000 casualties on both sides, the Confederate Army retreated back to Virginia, leading President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Now, the war wasn’t just about preserving the Union, but also abolishing slavery (NPS).
One interesting thing, all around the park are monuments like the one pictured above dedicated to state’s militias who lost their lives at Antietam. While driving around, we never saw a monument to the Michigan Militia. So, I did some research and found out that there are people working on raising money exactly for this purpose. They already have the land for it, but they need funds to construct that actual monument. There is a book that you can purchase to help the cause titled Michigan at Antietam. If you are a Civil War buff and would like to help, I recommend you check it out.
Before this trip, I really didn’t know much about the Civil War and what I did know I learned in High School. Visiting all of these battlefields really sparked an interest and has me reading a lot about it since I’ve been home. I’m glad I got to visit these places and learn about one of the toughest times in our country’s history. I really think more people need to do that, especially today. If we forget our history, we are bound to repeat it.
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
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After visiting the ponies, we headed into the Village of Ocracoke. Coming from Hatteras, the first thing you see when you get to Ocracoke is just road and dunes. Once the island widens out, you get through the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and you reach the Village of Ocracoke. Of all the towns in the Outer Banks, Ocracoke has the most character. The small size of the island causes the village to be kind of tight with cars sharing the roads with golf carts, and in some cases, pedestrians and bikers too. There are quirky shops, boutique hotels, and interesting restaurants all without walking distance of each other.
Located in the heart of Ocracoke Village is the The Ocracoke Island Lighthouse, the second oldest operating lighthouse in the US. It is the smallest of the lighthouses of Cape Hatteras Lighthouses, standing at only 75 feet tall (NPS). Like Hatteras Lighthouse, it is an inland lighthouse, but unfortunately, The Ocracoke Lighthouse is not open for climbing. If you plan to check out the lighthouse, be aware there are only 2 or 3 parking spaces nearby. If possible, I would recommend walking or biking to the lighthouse.
Located in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, a short drive from the Village of Ocracoke is the Ocracoke Campground, where we camped for two nights. One nice thing about this campground is that they have a generator-free loop, meaning you won’t be hearing air conditioning all night long. It seemed like when we were there, most people chose that loop, so we traded generator noise for people noise. We chose a dune-side site so we were able to walk over the dunes right onto the beach which was really nice. One thing that was tough about all of these National Seashore campgrounds is that there was no tree cover and our second day at Ocracoke was rough because it was 92 degrees at ten in the morning and we had to pack everything up. The heat was really starting to take it out of me. I don’t know that I would tent camp on the beach in the summer again. Luckily, we had an hour ferry ride back to Hatteras to cool down and relax.
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After packing up camp at Frisco, we got in the car and headed to the ferry to Ocracoke Island. If you are not familiar with Ocracoke, it is a remote barrier island off the coast of North Carolina that is only accessible by ferry. We got to the ferry dock around 1pm and there was already a significant line. We waited about an hour just to get on a ferry! I learned my lesson; if you are planning this journey, get to the ferry dock as early as possible.
Our first stop on Ocracoke was the pony pens. The Ocracoke ponies are known as Banker Ponies but they are not ponies at all, but small horses. The ponies are believed to have come to Ocracoke from a 16th or 17th century European shipwreck. In the 1950s a local boy scout troop took over the herd and had the only mounted troop in the nation. In the 1960s, the herd was taken over by the National Park Service. Currently, there are 17 ponies in the herd and you can help care for the animals by adopting a pony.
When planning a visit to Ocracoke, be sure to check out the NPS calendar. About once a week, a ranger talk is led at the pony pens that allows you to get up closer to the ponies and allows you to feed the ponies if you so please.
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We woke up early our first day at Frisco and headed to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to get there before the crowds and the heat. We arrived and got our ticket to climb the 256 steps to the top. My view fromthe top is pictured below.
Later that evening, we came back for a night sky ranger talk on the beach. We used our experience shooting the night sky the night before and put it to use with the famous lighthouse as the foreground.
The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse has an interesting history. The original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built in 1803 but was too short to warn passing ships of the nearby Diamond Shoals. In the 1850s, the lighthouse was added onto, making it 150 feet tall. But, by the 1860s, the lighthouse was in dire need of repairs so the current lighthouse was constructed and was finally lit in 1870. In 1935, the lighthouse was decommissioned due to beach erosion and replaced with a skeletal steel tower. The lighthouse was then transferred to the National Park Service and in 1999 the lighthouse was moved inland to its current location to protect it from ongoing beach erosion (NPS).
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After visiting the Wright Brothers Memorial, we made our way to Frisco Campground, our home for the next two nights. This was our favorite campground of the trip, full of dunes and secluded spots. Since it was the middle of the week, there weren’t a lot of other campers, so we chose a spot at the top of a dune with a view.
Deer in the dunes at Frisco Campground
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore has applied to be a international dark sky park which means that it has a lack of ambient light nearby and is great for stargazing, and in our case, astro-photography. With our D3100s, we’ve never attempted astro photography, but we rented a D7200 for this trip and we had to take advantage of this combination! It was a fun learning experience! The above Milky Way shot was taken at our campsite at Frisco.
To learn more about Cape Hatteras National Seashore, visit the National Park Service. Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
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After exploring the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, we got back in the car and continued South to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Our first stop in the islands was the Wright Brother’s National Memorial. The monument is in Kill Devil Hills at the site of the first powered flight. The brothers chose this location because of the area’s steady winds as well as the isolation. Shockingly, in the early 1900s,
this area was not the tourist hub it is today. The granite monument was built at the top of Kill Devil Hill, where the brothers spent three years performing gliding experiments before moving on to powered tests at the base of the hill.
To learn more about the Wright Brothers and to plan a trip to the monument, visit the National Park Service. Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
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Just outside of Williamsburg, on the Colonial Parkway, lies the Yorktown Battlefield. In 1781, The Americans and their French allies surrounded the British by land and sea. The British were significantly outnumbered and after three weeks of battle, General Cornwalis surrendered to General Washington. The Battle of Yorktown marked a major win for the colonists in the American Revolution and was the last of the major battles of the war. The Moore House, above, was where the two sides met to negotiate the terms of surrender. During the surrender, General Washington refused to grant the British the traditional honors of war (marching out with flags flying, bayonets fixed, and bands playing) because a year before the British had denied the Americans the same after the battle of Charleston.
Now that you’ve had your daily dose of American History, lets talk about visiting Yorktown. When you arrive at the visitor center, they tell you about Ranger-led programs, a video you can watch, and other ways you can explore the battlefield and learn about the history. We made the mistake of doing all of it. That may not sound bad, but between the video, the costumed reenactor, and the driving tour I felt like I had heard the story a million times. I really appreciated the costumed reenactor (I believe he was Thomas Nelson, the Governor of Virginia after Thomas Jefferson returned to Monticello) and I feel like I got the most out of that. The driving tour is nice if you want to actually see the sites, but, unless you have a love of cheesy acting, I would skip the movie.
Don’t miss next week’s post where I take you to Jamestowne! Thanks for stopping by! To plan your visit to Yorktown, visit the National Park Service. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.
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Our first night of the trip, we stayed at Laurel Hill State Park in Pennsylvania. We got in late and had to set up camp in the pouring rain. We had a lot of driving to do so we left before we really got to explore the park, but what I saw I liked and I would like to visit there again when I had more time to relax and explore the nature of Pennsylvania’s highlands.
Anyway, from the park it was a twisty-turny road through rural Appalachia. We made our first stop along the way at the C&O Canal Visitor’s Center (left) so Chris could get his first National Park passport stamp of the trip. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is a 184.5 river system that was designed to connect the east coast and the Great Lakes. The towpath trail is a popular biking spot that runs from Cumberland, Maryland to DC.
After exploring the canal trail a bit we continued south and made our next stop in Fredricksburg, Virginia. We visited some of the sites at the Fredricksburg Battlefield (above) and the Fredricksburg Cemetery. Fredricksburg was a Civil War battle that ended in a Confederate victory and over 12,000 Union casualties. This was the first Civil War Battlefield I had visited and it was hard to reconcile the history and the tragedy with the beautiful scenery that has sprung up in over 100 years since the bloody battle.
It was a short drive from Fredricksburg to Williamsburg where we set up camp for the next two nights. More on that next week. Thanks for stopping by! For more information on the C&O Canal and Fredricksburg, visit the National Park Service. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.