Which way from NYC to Washington DC?

[+TiedyeSmileys]

Hello all from Australia

 

We will be finishing off a whirlwind tour of all the New England states by driving back to Washington DC from NYC. We will be leaving earlyish in the morning and have that whole day clear for travel and caching, stopping somewhere along the way for overnight. We then have the next day as well for the morning and early afternoon (we have to return the rental car by 1630 somewhere in downtown DC after checking into our hotel le Enfant plaza).

 

So from a geocaching perspective, what is the best route to take? Along the coast and over on the Cape May - Lewes Ferry or straight down past Philadelphia?

 

Thanks for some local insight.

 

TiedyeSmileys

[+Doctroid]

Depends on your geocaching style. There's a lot more caches along the Philadelphia route, but you'd be spending a lot of the time in urban and suburban areas. Along the shore will be much less developed. I'd hazard a guess the micro-to-regular ratio will be much higher on the Philly route. Of course either way there will be lots of caches of whatever sizes interest you. I personally would take the coastal route and shun the urban-and-highway experience, but that's just me. I drive sometimes from Syracuse, New York to Newport News, Virginia; my route doesn't take me through Philly but I do go by Baltimore and Washington, and while I can't really get off the Interstate highway before I hit Baltimore, I usually take calmer and more scenic roads from DC to Newport News.

[+nikcap]

Greetings!

What time of year will you be traveling (and what day).

A Friday in the summer can be a real adventure along the Jersey Shore. Depending on where you're leaving from New England, you might end up having just enough time.

 

So being hypothetical, let's say you're leaving from Providence RI. You can get to Atlantic City in 5-6 hours.

In AC, I would visit Lucy this will leave you some time to hit a few on you way to AC and a few in AC.

 

The next morning, it's a quick trip to Cape May where you can hop the ferry and continue on to DC.

 

This will give you a couple of hours to visit some caches along the way and get to you flights on time.

 

The Route that goes NYC to Philly is the fastest, but not all that scenic.

 

There are lots of options. Fell free to PM me.

[+Packanack]

Hello all from Australia

 

We will be finishing off a whirlwind tour of all the New England states by driving back to Washington DC from NYC. We will be leaving earlyish in the morning and have that whole day clear for travel and caching, stopping somewhere along the way for overnight. We then have the next day as well for the morning and early afternoon (we have to return the rental car by 1630 somewhere in downtown DC after checking into our hotel le Enfant plaza).

 

So from a geocaching perspective, what is the best route to take? Along the coast and over on the Cape May - Lewes Ferry or straight down past Philadelphia?

 

Thanks for some local insight.

 

TiedyeSmileys

Straight drive down the nj turnpike over the Delaware memorial bridge, follow 95 down past Baltimore , take 495 west to exit 29 , silver spring md, get off on colesville road, take that to spring follow around to 16 street n. e. take it straight on into downtown Washington dc, do your caching of virtuals at the national mall area. Park the car , use bike , foot or tour mobile . Cherry blossoms are probably gone but festival last for weeks and draws millions, almost as many people as a Crocodile Dundee opening night. Park the car because driving in DC sucks as bad as a Great White feeding frenzy on the Great Barrier .

 

Skip Phila, skip Lewes, skip Baltimore, go to old town Alexandria, mt Vernon , great falls , c& o canal in Georgetown Make sure you do lunch at Old Ebbets Grill , 15th street near white house, get a drink in teddy Roosevelt bar. You can metro to Alexandria . DC is the virtual capital of the US.

 

We were at cherry blossom last weekend , very crowded see Eastern Market in capital hill district, eat crab cakes there. Many great eateries in Georgetown , by coming down 16 street you cut about 15 miles off the beltway and it takes you right by the National Zoo, rock Creek Park which you might enjoy, then follow 16th to new Hampshire ave, to DuPont circle, nice places to eat around there. Follow signs to mall

Edited April 19, 2013 by Packanack

[+TiedyeSmileys]

Depends on your geocaching style. There's a lot more caches along the Philadelphia route, but you'd be spending a lot of the time in urban and suburban areas. Along the shore will be much less developed. I'd hazard a guess the micro-to-regular ratio will be much higher on the Philly route. Of course either way there will be lots of caches of whatever sizes interest you. I personally would take the coastal route and shun the urban-and-highway experience, but that's just me. I drive sometimes from Syracuse, New York to Newport News, Virginia; my route doesn't take me through Philly but I do go by Baltimore and Washington, and while I can't really get off the Interstate highway before I hit Baltimore, I usually take calmer and more scenic roads from DC to Newport News.

 

Thanks for the food for thought. We will be travelling in early July (around the 8th I think). We are leaning more towards the coastal route

[+hallycat]

Bah on the more scenic route. Philadelphia is one of our oldest and most historic cities and Delaware is the "First State" and has many fun caches. You will be missing them if you take the other way!

[+hallycat]

double post and no way to delete

Edited April 30, 2013 by hallycat

[+Packanack]

Depends on your geocaching style. There's a lot more caches along the Philadelphia route, but you'd be spending a lot of the time in urban and suburban areas. Along the shore will be much less developed. I'd hazard a guess the micro-to-regular ratio will be much higher on the Philly route. Of course either way there will be lots of caches of whatever sizes interest you. I personally would take the coastal route and shun the urban-and-highway experience, but that's just me. I drive sometimes from Syracuse, New York to Newport News, Virginia; my route doesn't take me through Philly but I do go by Baltimore and Washington, and while I can't really get off the Interstate highway before I hit Baltimore, I usually take calmer and more scenic roads from DC to Newport News.

 

Thanks for the food for thought. We will be travelling in early July (around the 8th I think). We are leaning more towards the coastal route

 

There is no Coastal Route to speak of, the Garden State Parkway is an inland route and that is the road that goes to the Cape May/Lewes Ferry. Remember that last year many of the shore towns were devestated by Hurricane (Typhoon) and are still not back up. However , should you go over the Ferry, be sure to visit St. Micheals Md, and Annapolis.

[+wmpastor]

 

Skip Phila, skip Lewes, skip Baltimore, go to old town Alexandria, mt Vernon , great falls , c& o canal in Georgetown Make sure you do lunch at Old Ebbets Grill , 15th street near white house, get a drink in teddy Roosevelt bar. You can metro to Alexandria . DC is the virtual capital of the US.

Whoa! Everyone's view will be different!

 

The question asked was not what the "best" tourist spots are, but which route to take from a geocaching perspective. If you read the replies as a whole, you'll see it depends on perspective, interests & which tourist spots if any you want to see along the way. It's not yet summer at the beach, so the ocean route will be quiet now, busy in a month - good or bad! However you drive, you'll pass (or be near) cities, suburbs & rural areas. Take your pick. Plenty of caching.

[+vds]

We will be finishing off a whirlwind tour of all the New England states by driving back to Washington DC from NYC. We will be leaving earlyish in the morning and have that whole day clear for travel and caching, stopping somewhere along the way for overnight. We then have the next day as well for the morning and early afternoon (we have to return the rental car by 1630 somewhere in downtown DC after checking into our hotel le Enfant plaza).

So from a geocaching perspective, what is the best route to take? Along the coast and over on the Cape May - Lewes Ferry or straight down past Philadelphia?

 

Depends on what your geocaching road trip goals are. Do you want to play tourist ? Score caches in all the states ? Concentrate in one area ?

You could easily get from NYC to DC in one day, scoring NY/NJ/PA/DE/MD/DC/VA caches.

 

Pretty much my favorite place is the Mall / museum / monument areas in DC. There are dozens of virtuals all through the Mall area, and the Smithsonian is great to duck into when the heat+humidity start to go up.

 

If you want to play history fan / tourist, a nice trip (that would miss DE) would be:

- south from NYC, cross into PA on the PA turnpike. Spend some time in Valley Forge that afternoon.

- jump back on the turnpike westbound to Harrisburg then south to Gettysburg if you want to see the battlefield.

- or keep going out further west then south and you can score the (very funny) 'Evolution of the Rest Stop' cache just over the border in WV (238 favorite points!)

- from there, it's a pretty drive south to Dulles airport in VA where there's a Smithsonian Air+Space annex with a space shuttle etc.

- the oldest cache in VA is under 10 miles east of there on the way to DC

- you could then cross into DC late after rush hour. Traffic is rough in DC.

- DC to MD is reasonably quick, you might be able to do it without a car via the Metro

 

I grew up near Valley Forge, so last October I did the VF -> Dulles trip via WV, spent a few hours at the Air+Space, then drove back to PA via Gettysburg. In July you'll have much more daylight than I had. Look at my finds from 10/26/2012 for the ones I went to..

 

If you just want to score states, go south from NY scoring a rest stop cache or something close to there in NJ, take a bridge into PA then go south in I-95 past Phila into Delaware, then Maryland, then into DC. If you have time, you could probably score a cache from DC by taking the Metro quickly into Virginia.

 

You could easily also get there via the Jersey Shore area. The ferries are fun but you'll miss PA if you stay along the ocean and take the Lewes ferry. You could also work back a little more northbound and take the Delaware Memorial Bridge if you wanted to score PA + DE before heading south to MD and DC.

 

Lots of easy ways to get there, depending on your caching / vacation goals.

 

Play around with Google Maps and see how many hours you want to be in a car and where you want to stay. For example, the most direct route NY to DC is under 4 hours. Going via Cape May and the Lewes Ferry is 7 hours minimum. Going past Valley Forge into WV then south to DC is 7 hours.

Edited May 3, 2013 by vds