Driving through Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey
After a short visit to Washington DC, we were back on the road, northbound to the city of Baltimore in Maryland. My only experience of visiting the state of Maryland before had been a bus journey to its airport on a previous visit to DC, a cheaper alternative to flying from Washington DC’s own airports, so I was looking forward to seeing a bit more of this east coast state.
The majority of our road trip so far had been spent in the hot and humid southern states. So far, we’d sweltered in the state of Florida, visiting Miami and spending a few days at Walt Disney World, passed through the state of Georgia visiting the beautiful city of Savannah, drove through South Carolina state taking in the city of Charleston and Congaree National Park, continued back into Georgia state with stops including the city of Atlanta, travelled into Tennessee to revisit Nashville and stop by Great Smoky Mountains National Park and taken a long drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway and through Shenandoah National Park to admire the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Now, after a morning stop at the Arlington National Cemetery just outside of Washington DC, we were enjoying a scenic drive along the National Park Service owned Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
Baltimore
After a quick lunch (and ice cream!) stop along the way, we were soon in Baltimore checking into our motel in the Downtown/Inner Harbor area of the city. We had booked tickets for a late afternoon visit to the Washington Monument, an 178-ft tall column in the pretty Mount Vernon area of the city, dedicated to President George Washington. Deciding to walk from our motel, wandering through the immediate area around our motel was not the safest I’ve ever felt in a city and we were glad when we reached the historic Mount Vernon neighbourhood.
Reaching Mount Vernon Place where the Washington Memorial stands, we were greeted by the friendly curator who gave us a bit of history about the monument and the surrounding area, recommending some of the local museums if we had time the following day (it was already 4.30pm and they all closed for the day at 5pm).
We had to climb 227 steps up the narrow spiral staircase to reach the viewing platform at the top of the monument. Once at the top, we caught our breath while admiring the views over the city. Then, after returning back down the stairs to the base of the monument, we were rewarded with an ‘I climbed the monument’ sticker!
From the monument, we wandered back through the Mount Vernon neighbourhood along its mansion-lined streets and down to Baltimore’s waterfront, an area which has been, and continues to be, the focus of huge renovation and rejuvenation in Baltimore. With it being a Saturday evening, the area was bustling and there was a great atmosphere as families, couples and groups of friends took strolls along the sea front and visited the many attractions, bars and restaurants.
We took a walk through one of the malls for a bit of souvenir shopping then walked along the harbour. Spotting a pedalo boat hire company along the front offering a range of different boats, we couldn’t resist and even paid extra to one with a dragon head on the front of it! We spent the next half hour or so bobbing around the harbour among all the other pedalo boats enjoying the views and a bit of friendly banter with some of the other groups out on the water.
Pedal boats are hard work though and we were in need of some well-deserved fuel next so we called in one of the bars overlooking the harbour for a bite to eat. With it being a busy Saturday night, there was a long wait for a table so we opted to eat at the bar instead, watching the busy bar tenders reminding us how they deserve all their tips and more!
Heading back to our motel, we decided this evening was as good a night as any to do some long overdue laundry.
Making our way back to our room after loading the machines, we were unable to get back in! Assuming it was a key card issue, we returned to the reception to get a new key but that didn’t work either. It turned out there was an issue with the locking system to our room which was unable to be fixed that evening. The door could be opened from the inside but not from outside meaning one of us had to stay in the room the whole time.
Luckily, we were checking out the next morning and had no plans to go out into the city again that evening or the next morning but it was a bit inconvenient that only one of us could go and get the laundry from the machines once it was done so the other could then let us back into the room after and that we had to go to breakfast one at a time the next morning!
New Jersey
After that little adventure, we checked out the next morning to continue our drive towards New York City. Not wanting to drive in Manhattan, or pay the huge parking fees at the city hotels, we’d actually be staying across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
Our drive took us briefly through the state of Delaware. Having made a stop in Wilmington on a previous US road trip, today, apart from a quick pit stop at an Interstate rest area, we continued on until we reached New Jersey.
With it being a few days since our last stop at a roadside attraction, today, we were excited to be visiting the town of Edison, NJ, home of the World’s Largest Lightbulb!! Driving through New Jersey with its busy turnpike’s was one of the most stressful journeys of our trip so far, and possibly the most stressful drive of any of our trips, so we breathed a sigh of relief to reach our destination – Menlo Park, Edison.
The town of Edison is, of course, named after inventor Thomas Edison and the lightbulb sits atop of the Art Deco Edison Memorial Tower as reminder of his amazing legacy. A small museum was next to the tower but with it being a Sunday, was unfortunately closed when we visited but it was still a fun stop to see the huge lightbulb!
From Edison, we continued our drive towards our motel on the outskirts of New York City.
Just when we thought our drive couldn’t get any more stressful, we hit roadworks and were redirected. Not quite understanding the diversion signs, we ended up taking a few wrong turns before finally finding ourselves back on the right track only to then find out our motel was right on the edge of the entrance to the infamous Holland Tunnel which joins New Jersey to Manhattan and we had to edge our way across numerous lanes of queuing traffic in time to exit into the hotel car park or end up in the tunnel heading to Manhattan!
Somehow we made it across into the lane we needed in time and found our way into the hotel grounds. Glad to have finally reached our destination, we checked in to our motel for the next 3 nights and got ready to head into New York City for the evening.
New York had always been a favourite city of mine and I was excited to return and see what adventures the next few days would bring!
Miss Travels 