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| Other Neat Places to Visit | Julie Evans |
Having ventured a great distance to get to Baltimore for Bucconeer, you may want to take a few extra days and see some other sights in the area. So what else is there to visit? (Check out Baltimore What2Do?.)
Quite a lot! We moved to the Washington area (about 44 miles from Baltimore) about a dozen years ago with a toddler and a newborn. We’ve made a lot of day and weekend trips over the years.
Both the aquarium and the science museum in the Inner Harbor area are quite good. The science museum has a lot of hands-on exhibits, a planetarium, and an Imax theater. The aquarium is world-class. If you head west on Pratt Street to Poppleton Street, there’s the Baltimore and Ohio Museum. Although it’s technically within walking distance, I’d recommend taking a cab or driving. The B&O has a huge round house with an amazing collection of locomotives and offers short train rides.
Of course, Washington, D.C. is only 40 miles away. Commuter trains run out of Camden Yards. (Amtrak train information or 1-800-872-7245) The current schedule shows trains leaving at 7:27 and 8:05 in the morning, with return trains at 4:00, 5:00, 5:35 and 6:25 in the afternoon/early evening hours. Trains run all day from Penn Station around 1500 N. Charles Street (the light rail line will get you there). The MARC trains (or 1-800-325-RAIL) run weekdays to Union Station, about three blocks from the Capitol, or a 20 minute walk to the Air and Space Museum. Buy your train tickets from the agent at the booth to avoid paying a $3.00 surcharge on the $10.25 (round-trip) fare on the train. If you prefer to drive, I would recommend parking in the garage at Union Station; the rates are reasonable, plus you get two hours free if you get validation (there’s a food court). A fairly convenient and economical way to get to Baltimore from Washington, D.C. is to take the DC Metro to Union Station and ride one of the MARC trains to Camden Yards Station next to the Convention Center or Penn Station in downtown Baltimore.
Washington, D.C. is worth spending more than one day. The
Smithsonian Museums have many attractions. Along with all the monuments and government buildings, there are also the Holocaust Museum and the National Zoo. There are close-in hotels near Metro stops in Crystal City and Rosslyn in Virginia. Nice seafood restaurants are by the Waterfront Metro stop if you want to take in a leisurely meal with a view.A nice treat (for adults) is a High Tea, served from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. at the Hay-Adams Hotel, just a few blocks from the White House.
If you have a car available, there are many other interesting destinations in the general area.
Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania is about a half-hour east of Harrisburg. A wonderful amusement park, it has an old-fashioned family feel to it, with added shows and attractions to keep it up-to-date, and the Chocolate World tour to boot.
There are many
Civil War battlefields in the area. Gettysburg (about a half-hour south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) tells the story of this turning-point battle very well and has not been overrun with development. There are many others as well. For example, if you take Route 70 west to Frederick, Maryland and then US 340 across the Potomac River to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, there is a National Historic Park. This town is the site of John Brown’s raid, and during the war changed sides several times—several of the buildings host interpreters. Nearby on the Maryland side (up Route 65) is Antietam. Richmond is only about 90 miles south of Washington and there are many sites in Virginia as well. My kids get very bored with Civil War battlefields (so I can only personally recommend Gettysburg and Harper’s Ferry)Further south, on the Chesapeake Bay, sharks teeth and other fossils abound, since the bay was a birthing area for baby whales during the Miocene period—17 million years ago. We’ve found a nice private park, called Breezy Point, a few miles south of Chesapeake Beach. The best fossil hunting is supposed to be at
Calvert Cliffs State Park, even further south along the bay.Going further afield:
The
Atlantic Ocean is about a three hour drive, by way of the Bay Bridge near
Annapolis. Rehobeth Beach, Delaware is largely beach house rentals. Ocean City,
Maryland is more built up with an amusement pier down at the point.
Lastly they do call Bos/Wash the Northeast corridor. Philadelphia is about a two and one-half hour drive, or you can get the Amtrak trains out of Penn Station. New York City is about three hours away by train.
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