Best time to go: 03/01 - 11/15
Huntley Meadows is one of my favorite bird sanctuaries, and it is less than half an hour’s drive from most of the DC area. Skip to: Trailmap | Hours | Mansion One of the most interesting parts of the park is where the park opens onto the marshland just beyond the visitor center. If you …
Go Birding on the Huntley Meadows Boardwalk Read More »
More information: fairfaxcounty.govBest time to go: 08/01 - 11/15
Frying Pan Park is an exhibition farm in Fairfax County, VA. Although it is best known as the location of the annual 4-H Fair in mid-summer, there’s plenty to do year-round. The antique carousel and live animals are both a short walk from the parking lot. We always enjoy peeping in the henhouse, and the …
Take your sweet time at Frying Pan Park Read More »
More information: fairfaxcounty.govBest time to go: 09/01 - 10/31
Just south of Old Town Alexandria is the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Habitat, nearly 500 acres of sodden land along the Potomac shore.
More information: nps.govBest time to go: 07/20 - 08/20
These public sunflower fields (situated in the 2000 acre McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area) are re-planted each summer to attract game birds in advance of the September 1 start of hunting season.
More information: dnr.maryland.govBest time to go: 05/15 - 08/31
An hour’s drive north of Washington, DC takes you to the swimmer’s paradise of Cunningham Falls, along the base of the Catoctin range and within spitting distance of Camp David.
More information: dnr.maryland.govBest time to go: 03/30 - 12/30
A 40 minute drive from DC will take you to a Revolutionary War era plantation in Virginia’s Hunt Country. Established in 1798 by a grandson of Robert “King” Carter, a major land baron of the Colonial Virginia lowlands, Oatlands Plantation originally consumed over 5 square miles of fertile Virginia farmland. Oatlands’ operation depended on more …
Meander through the Oatlands Plantation and Gardens Read More »
More information: oatlands.orgBest time to go: 05/01 - 10/31
In 1884, the war correspondent George Alfred Townsend, known by his pen name “Gath” visited Crampton’s Gap for the first time. Weeks later, he purchased the land that straddles the pass and began building his baronial summer retreat. Gath wrote for the both The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Herald before becoming washington correspondent …
Best time to go: 05/15 - 09/15
Directly across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, less than an hour’s drive from Washington, DC, is a hidden gem of a beach. We visited recently on a lark after finding that a closer park was fenced off due to the pandemic. Not so with Terrapin Nature Park on Maryland’s Kent Island, in the middle of the …
Is Kent Island the best beach destination that you’ve never heard of? Read More »
Best time to go: 03/01 - 09/30
Virginia has 63 State Parks, and Sky Meadows is the jewel in the crown. Gifted to the state in 1975 by philanthropist Paul Mellon, the thousand acre park earned its name from a former owner who likened his farm to Scotland’s Isle of Skye. It’s also a fitting name for a park dominated by mountain …
Hike Sky Meadows State Park Read More »
More information: dcr.virginia.govBest time to go: 05/01 - 09/30
Never heard of Freestone Point? Welcome to the club. I’d never heard of it either, but it’s now my favorite place in the DMV for a cookout barbeque. The picnic area stretches along nearly 1000′ of shoreline, with open access barbeque pits and trees that are perfectly positioned for hammocks. Nature enthusiasts will enjoy the …
Beach Barbecue at Freestone Point, Leesylvania State Park Read More »
More information: dcr.virginia.gov