Stopping overnight in VA
 

Hello, traveling from Long Island, NY to the Outer Banks by car 5/28 and want to stop somewhere appx 1/2 way since our 13 month old will be travelling with us and he hates long car rides more than I do! Want to spend a day and night in a place that has something for us to do whether it be beaches, museums or other activities you can squeeze into a day. Just curious if anyone out there has a suggestion for an interesting rest stop. Thanks for your help

Well the trip is a long one..especially with a child aboard. I love Virginia. The College of William and Mary is a very neat town. Has some stores a lot of culture. Also Busche Gardens, Williamsburg is great. As for the OB, I spent a week in Cape Hataras and was bored to tears. They have one bar/club that is only open Thur to Sun. One min. golf place and a mini mart. Unless you love sitting on the beach or on a porch there is nothing to do. RELAXATION is the only thing to do. I hope you can keep your child entertained. The weather is outstadning there. The water is to rough though and alot of sharks. Be weary of the water. Most of all enjoy the ride and time away.

anniee, thanks for the tip. I'll check out that town. Staying in Corolla and nobody said a word about sharks.ouch!

How about finding a hotel in Arlington, hopping the metro into DC and visiting the Air and Space Smithsonian for part of a day? It's awe inspiring at any age!

Williamsburg would be a nice place to stop. The historic area and college have nice wide paths and pedestrian streets that are great for a toddler to run around through. Find the sheep and the horses in any number of paddocks around the town. Every hotel chain is here. Another possibility and perhaps closer to your 1/2 way point would be Chincoteaque on the Eastern shore (if you are coming down that way). Great if you like the outdoors and would like to see Assateague. If I were you, I would look into driving down the eastern shore. You would avoid DC traffic.The ferry from Cape May to Lewes is a great ride for kids. Mine have done it many times as toddlers.

Neuge, don't overworry about the sharks. I've gone to the Outer Banks every year for 15 years, at least one week and many times two weeks in a row, swim all times of day in the ocaen and have never seen a shark. My husband is a triathlete and swins LONG stretches in in the ocean and has never encountered a shark there or anywhere else he has done ocean swimming for that matter. Not sure where anniee got her info or if she has actually had a shark encounter. There was a shark encounter a few summers ago in the southern OBX (a German tourist I think) and the man died. That was the year there were several shark attacks at VA beaches as well. But that seems to me to be the bad luck of a shark encounter that can happen in almost any shore area; people don't usually think about it til it happens. Different areas of the OBX have different grading of sand right off the shore, so some areas have bigger breaking waves than others. Corolla's slope is pretty slow and steady, and if you are going to Corolla Light, it is lifeguarded. We go to Nags Head and LOVE it- lifeguarded, lots of off beach activities, Jockey's Ridge sand dune to climb and fly kites on, Wright Borhter's memorial, a wonderful huge new YMCA w/skate park and huge indoor pool and water park outdoors. You do have to do your research and know yourself before picking an area of the OBX to visit for a week as the areas are very differnet and as anniee said, some areas like Hatteras are very quiet (and currently recovering from a hurricane too). You will have things to do in Corolla.

As an admitted Williamsburg junkie, I too like Wbg, but neuge asked for a place 1/2 way between Long Island and Outer Banks, and WBG probably puts them 90% of the way.

To that end, I like the DC suggestions, or maybe Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Also Annapolis. Other things that come to mind is to go down NJ to Cape May, take the ferry over to Lewes. Explore the DelMarVa peninsula, and continue down Rt 13, crossing the Bay to Norfolk. Seach on Lewes, Rehoboth, and Assateague.

Thanks for all the help..I have ben tyold i may want to get as close as possible to avod a long, traffic heavy ride Saturday so maybe Williamsburg is the place..Thanks again all

Fredericksburg, VA may be another great option. It's just past the DC traffic and has a wonderful downtown area just
5 minutes from I-95

There are many great antique shops, boutique type shopping as well as wonderful civil war history and old homes and tours you can take. Horse and buggy tours run in the summer months, the apocathary shop is great and there are some very inexpensive hotel options in the Fredericksburg area.

Best of luck in your trip...enjoy the journey!
Colleen