valthezeh

Spent a week here – completely amazing place. I definitely recommend camping inside the park (personally I think the Wonder lake campground is by far the best location) and doing an overnight in the backcountry. One of my best wilderness experiences, for sure!

Amazingly gorgeous – camping on the beach with wild horses and hearing the waves crashing all night made this one of the best outdoor experiences I’ve had.

A mess for anyone with a car – it’s basically just a huge mall with a ton of people running and driving around like crazy. I would hate to see it anytime near Christmas.

I went canoeing down the Shenandoah River – it was gorgeous and relaxing. There was a ton of interesting wildlife – kingfishers, orioles, blue herons, hawks, catfish, geese and their young, and many cows that come right up to (or stand in!) the river as you paddle by, some mooing in annoyance if you come too near them. I’ll definitely be back to this area!

Very nice, small, pretty town. The history is a lot of fun, and the whole place has a relaxed, calming feel to it. The food is great and the people were very nice. It’s a bit like stepping 20 years back in time, and seems a bit cut off from reality, but I think everyone means well.

Definitely take a boat tour, it was lots of fun!

Certainly not the most impressive memorial in D.C., but if you happen to be walking by it’s worth stopping and taking a look around.

Well, I hadn’t heard good things and I wasn’t expecting to be at all impressed, but I was pleasantly surprised. I went to see the shark feeding, which wasn’t all that great (the sharks weren’t too interested in the food, and the lecture on sharks was somewhat less than inspiring) but it was something I hadn’t really seen before. There was a surprising amount of cool stuff in there, but the alligators are what really make it worth seeing. Somehow I lucked out and as I was leaving I noticed that they were being fed, too, and got to watch that as well. It was really fun to watch and kept me there for an extra half-hour.

If you decide to chance it, definitely time it so that you’ll be there for a feeding. Maybe my low expectations were what allowed me to mark this as worth seeing, but I actually had a lot of fun there.

The site I read said to allow at least two hours for the museum, but I ended up spending that much time on the first of the two floors! There’s a ton of good stuff here, so make sure you give yourself enough time to enjoy it all.

I got fish & chips and a donut from two different shops in the market, and both were great. The donut was especially amazing – they have lots of interesting types. I got the banana nut donut… they put the toppings onto freshly made donuts as you watch. All of the people were extremely nice, too. Fun stop for a quick meal!

Easy to get to, and really entertaining and funny. The museum doesn’t take long to see, but the commentary on each picture is worth the trip, even if the pictures are (as is the point!) somewhat less than inspiring. Highly reccommend!