Looking for suggetions for things to see - Baltimore MD area

13 years ago

We're going to be visiting my daughter and son-in-law, who live at Aberdeen Proving Ground. I understand they're actually about an hour's drive from Baltimore, but that's the general area. We'll be there for about a week. They have some days off, but not all, so I'm looking for ideas for things we might do with them (go further afield) and also things we might do on our own (prefer closer so we can be back at their house by the time they get off work). My daughter has sent me a list of ideas, and I've researched online, but was thinking some of the folks here might have some good ideas of things we haven't thought of.

DC - museums, national mall, monuments, zoo, Vietnam Memorial wall (1.5 hr drive)

Air & Space in Virginia -space shuttle, concorde, enola gay (2 hr drive)

Gettysburg - if weather is good (2 hr drive)

Hershey, PA - chocolate! (2 hr drive)

Philadelphia - Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, museums (2 hr drive)

NYC - museums, Central Park, etc (2 hr drive + 2 hr bus)

Baltimore - Inner Harbor, Ft McHenry (1 hr drive)

Havre de Grace - little lighthouse, a few small museums (maritime, decoy), antique shops (10 - 15 min - good especially if you want something local to do when we're at work) - Havre de Grace is included on the list because they used to live there and I never got to visit when they were there.

Any suggestions? We like all kinds of things, so any suggestions will be considered and very welcome!

Thanks much!

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Comments (7)

azzalea
13 years ago
Annapolis is a lovely old waterfront town, aside from the naval academy.

Cross over to the Eastern Shore penninsula, you can go to St. Mary's, or Ocean City Md. Chincoteague. There's a wonderful bronze artist's gallery in Only, Va. There's one of those outlet complexes not far from the bridge (Queenstown). Head to Lewes and take the ferry to Cape May, NJ.
wanda_va
13 years ago
If you are interested in government, you can contact your Senator or Representative and request a tour of the Capitol and/or White House. They are both great! And I understand the WWII memorial is also very good. There is a lot of see and do in Washington, D.C., and you could easily spend a few days there. The Metro subway system is the way to get around D.C., so be sure to get a map showing its stops. Have a wonderful trip, and I hope you have good weather.
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User
13 years ago
Not sure how long you are going to be there, but what you have listed will probably overfill your schedule. We went to Baltimore/DC area last year for a week. I didn't know that the Smithsonian was a series of museums instead of just one. We had a blast, but were tired at the end of each day. We went with a group and did a bus tour of DC at night. That is impressive. My dh is a huge military buff so we also went to Gettysburg. He could have stayed a lot longer, but it was hot and the kids had as much as they could stand. My kids had never visited the ocean before. On the last day there, we drove over to Bethany Beach in Delaware. It probably wasn't remarkable if you've been to the Ocean, but for my kids, it was wonderful.
jel48
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you to everyone who has offered suggestions so far. Adellabedella, we are not planning on doing everything on the list we have so for. Those are just options for us to choose from. So the more suggestions we have, the more likely we are to be able to make the best choices on what to do and see. We will be there for exactly a week. We'll be gone from home for 11 days, which gives us two days travel time each way. I did know that the Smithsonian has a whole batch of museums, and have even been to a couple in the past (several years ago). My daughter and son-in-law volunteer at the air and space in D.C. on a regular basis, and occasionally at the one in Virginia.

I've got my fingers crossed for the good weather that you mentioned, Wanda!
pammyfay
13 years ago
When will you be going?
Remember there's going to be some stuff for the inauguration (likely not quite as much as for Obama's first term, but still a parade to watch, perhaps a few special presidential-related museum exhibits and of course all those state balls!)

The Spy Museum might be an additional option.

I find the Inner Harbor to be a tourist trap -- too many chain restaurants. But going to Sabatino's in Little Italy there would be on my list, and maybe some Baltimore folks could suggest some "neighborhood" shopping areas? (Old Town Alexandria, closer to where I live, is also a nice place to spend a day, and you can hop on the Metro from D.C.)

Your Pennsylvania options sound good (as long as the drive isn't a concern, because I'm thinking that without a stayover, the walking and then the driving can be fatiguing).

If you really want to go to N.Y., I'd think about taking Amtrak and staying over in the city. I wouldn't want to be parking in the city ($$).

And just to throw this out there -- there's a new casino in Maryland (at Anne Arundel Mills outlet mall), so if you two are into that ... (I'm not, so I haven't been. But Bobby Flay has a restaurant on the grounds that I might want to check out one day!)
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
13 years ago
The Baltimore National Aquarium is a doozy.
duluthinbloomz4
13 years ago
So is the Walters Art Gallery (believe it's called Walters Art Museum now) in the Mount Vernon section of B'more. It's a gem of a gallery and very "do-able".