There are many forms of Urban Camping, from sleeping curbside to stuffing six of your closest friends in a single hotel room. However, we’re talking about checking out the city while motoring around in a house on wheels. We’re driving a 27′ long Class C Motorhome and we do NOT have tow car, just two bikes. Our limitations take us to great places and often have us biking at night or getting lost on a subway system.
Washington D.C. is no exception in great places to visit while seeing the country in a motor home. So here’s a run down of how we did it.
Where to Stay
Campground: Greenbelt Park
Address: 6565 Greenbelt Road Greenbelt, Maryland 20770
Park hours: Open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to dusk. Year-round.
Park Headquarters: (301) 344-3948
Ranger Station: (301) 344-3944
Space type/surroundings: Back in and pull through spaces.
Facilities: NONE on site. Pull through water and dump facilities available.
Cost: $16.00 per night
Transportation
Roads
Your GPS might bring you to an entrance in the back of the park, off Good Luck Road. There is an entrance here but DON’T take this road. It’s not motorhome friendly. Drive around the park until you find yourself entering at the main gate off Greenbelt Road.
Train
Cost: $9 for all day Metro pass
Line: Green Line
Station: University of Maryland (1/2 mile away)
Runs late! 3am on fri/sat, midnight for the rest.
The subway in the city was very easy to navigate and learn in a day.
There’s an App for that!
We Saw
When in DC, enjoy a political rally! We stumbled upon the Rally to Restore Sanity, expect long lines and plenty of people watching. Thankfully the public transit is really easy to navigate.
Wonderfully, FREE, Smithsonian Museums. There are several to choose from, we walked through the Portrait Museum and the American History Museum. Both great!
U.S. State Capitol is free, we only walked the outside. Next time we’ll go in!
Monuments are best at night
The Washington Monument in all it’s phallic wonder, perfectly silhouetted against a wide-open skyline. Perfect start to a romantic evening.
Guys, skip the Lincoln Memorial on your romantic evening because this incredible ode to an equally incredible leader would leave even superman in the shadows. However, if you only have time for one, make it THIS ONE.
We arrived at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial steps on Halloween night, where an annual pagan spiritual celebration was unfolding. Both were good viewing.
The FDR Memorial is modest compared to the others but set in a nice garden setting. Enjoy this in the day.
Finally, the Vietnam Memorial and the vast list of names presented, was heavy. Also not recommended for a date. Unless one of you is a vet.
We Ate
Our curiosity got the best of us and we followed our noses towards the Main Avenue Fish Market where blue crab, shrimp and plenety other sea animals met there demise in large pots and under little wooden hammers. With the seagulls, we ate like kings.
A special thanks to our out of town, semi-local, tour-guide, Ollie!
One response to “Urban Camping: Washington D.C.”
[…] University of Maryland metro stop, it’s inexpensive, and has hiking trails. We stayed here on our last Washington, DC trip, and loved it. But, on this trip we needed to check out the other options available in the area, […]