Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 10:20:21 +0300
Reply-To: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: Would the List know...?
In-Reply-To: <004a01c47ff5$d4099790$c8ce3ad8@FirstLaptop>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Wow, what a question! Much of the best historical and cultural and arts
places are in the major cities and therefore a bit tricky with a Vanagon,
though.
Museums - the Smithsonian and the national gallery of art are of course
among the best, and also totally free since our tax dollars fund them.
That's Washington DC, of course. Mt. Vernon (in Virginia 17 miles south of
DC on the George Washington Parkway) is George Washington's home, right on
the river, and quite lovely. Not free. For scenic beauty in the DC area
try Great Falls - which are class five rapids on the Potomac (big
waterfall), national park on both the Maryland and the Virginia side, and
spectacular. Nice hiking - from the Maryland side you can go out pretty
close to the falls, from the Virginia side you can walk down the river a bit
and right down to the water where the river narrow into a gorge.
Of course there's everything else in Washington - read a guidebook and
you'll see.
In West Virginia, around 70 miles up the Potomac from DC is Harper's Ferry -
the town where John Brown stormed the federal arsenal at the start of the
civil war. It's a beautiful location at the confluence of the Potomac and
the Shenandoah. The very point of the confluence is the old town of
Harper's Ferry, which is a national historic site, the whole old town. It's
very nice. On the Maryland side, across a footbridge from the historic
town, is a beautiful hike on what I think is called the Maryland trail - it
takes you up the cliffs overlooking Harper's Ferry. It's maybe a 2-3 hour
hike round trip, not hard, fine with kids, and the view is _fantastic_.
Bring lunch, have a picnic up on top. Definitely worth doing.
Oh, and if you have any van trouble, Karl Mullendore is in Western Maryland,
I'm sure you can find his email off the list - unless he has actually moved
to Oregon as he was threatening to. There's also good van places in
Delaware, southern New Jersey, Westchester, etc.
The opposite direction from DC is Assateague island - a 30-mile long barrier
island that's all protected beaches. It's half in Virginia and half in
Maryland. You can't go from one end to the other on the island, though, no
roads. I've only been to the VA side - to Chincoteague, which is a town,
and to the wildlife refuge and national seashore on Assateague. Lovely
beach, fairly quiet place esp. after Labor Day, good crabs, nice place to
chill out. It's a four-hour drive from DC, or perhaps 2-3 from Norfolk.
If you're into bird watching, the wildlife refuges in Delaware can't be
beat. Bombay Hook is the best. Look for bald eagles. It's best in
November, it's on the Atlantic flyway and the birdlife is incredible.
Shall I keep going? More historic stuff in Philadelphia, though I don't
know it too well. The liberty bell, nice art museum, nice neighborhoods to
explore.
And then of course there's New York, which is, in my humble and totally
unbiased opinion, undoubtedly the greatest city in the world. (Okay, I'll
admit it, I grew up there.) The Metropolitan Museum of Art is among the
best in the world for most everything from ancient Egyptian temples to
modern painting. There's a million other museums. Walking around the city
is grand. I'm not sure where there's a place to camp in a Vanagon and get
into the city easily. I leave mine with a friend in New Jersey and take the
train in and stay with my mom when I'm in the NYC area - that's not much
help. I'm sure you have guidebooks to all the wonderful things in New York.
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, that's quite splendid. Walking across the
George Washington Bridge is pretty splendid too, but neither end is too
interesting, whereas both ends of the Brooklyn Bridge are interesting.
For historic places, you might consider Mystic Seaport. It's one of those
living history towns, an old seaport in Connecticut. They do a lot of
boatbuilding work there, and it's neat. I actually haven't been there in
almost 30 years, but I'm sure it's gotten better.
The Adirondack mountains in New York state are supposed to be really lovely,
but I haven't been there. Though actually I hear of them more as great
places to kayak - I don't know if they're as much fun without a boat. The
Adirondack Museum is supposed to be really fascinating. I don't know where
it is, but you can find them on the web - I once did.
For historic mansions, go to Newport, Rhode Island and walk along cliff walk
- a public path on top of the cliffs where the rich folks from NYC built
summer "cottages" to get away from the city heat around the turn of the 20th
century. You can visit some of the mansions, too. It's beautiful there.
Cape Cod is lovely for beaches and stuff. Take a whale-watching boat out
into the ocean, you can really see whales. They run them from downtown
Boston, too.
Boston is another lovely historical city - any guidebook will tell you all
about the Freedom Trail and the Old North Church and all kinds of
revolutionary war stuff. The North End is a nice Italian neighborhood right
downtown. Have a cappuccino and a cannoli in one of the cafes there. Yum.
Plus some of the world's great universities. Harvard has great museums -
MIT's museums are not interesting unless you're into technology stuff.
Along the north shore of Massachusetts there are lovely beaches, Plum Island
is a very nice national wildlife refuge, nice old towns with good fried clam
places, stuff like that.
Okay, I'll stop giving you my guidebook version of the north east! In case
you can't tell, I've lived most of my life in NYC, Boston, and Washington,
so I could tell you lots more if you want! Have a grand time, and let us
know how it goes!
Joy
****************************************************************
Joy Hecht
and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon
For musings about life and the vanadventures:
http://users.rcn.com/jhecht/gypsy
****************************************************************
:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of zolo
:::Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 1:52 AM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Would the List know...?
:::
:::Hello to all on the List,
:::
:::I am about to visit the East Coast to see all there is worthy to see.
:::Now, myself being a foreigner, I have no idea of all the important must
:::see places. I will attempt to start in the North East and wondering down
:::to the Florida Keys eventually. I will drive from Seattle on I-90 to
:::Boston, and there maybe some greatness along the way or close by, and
:::from the Florida Keys I will drive back across the country on one of the
:::Southern freeways, also looking for some major interesting things to look
:::at.
:::I will be interested in museums, historical places and buildings,
:::palacies of the famous old time riches, natural beauty of the land, the
:::best restaurants, the best jazz clubs and generally all that should not
:::be missed. I am also a golfer and would be good to know where to play
:::for the right price that is also a quality course and is a challange to a
:::better player.
:::So, here I would like to as The List, the members, to give me their input
:::and guidance on this matter, please.
:::Regards, Zoltan
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