Our jaunt through Breaks Interstate Park and up Black Mountain had us dipping in and out of Virginia, but now it was time to fully commit to the state. Although we were loving our time on the road, it’s been hard missing family milestones, and we really wanted to get to spend some time at the holidays with our loved ones.
Even with our goal to be in Maryland by Thanksgiving, we still had a few weeks to explore our way through Virginia. Our first overnight stay in Virginia was at a Walmart in Grundy. It was such a stereotypical Appalachian coal mining town, it was striking. The Walmart was one of our most interesting, as it was on the third floor of a mini-mall, but employees we spoke to said it would still be fine to squirrel ourselves away in the side parking lot overnight. The town was beautifully carved between the mountains, and lay divided by the river that cut through the town. There were several bridges crossing between the two sides of the town, and something about the vibes of the town felt so removed from what we’re used to seeing in east coast towns. We only spent one night there, so it feels like it doesn’t merit too much discussion, but there was an essence to this town that felt like it cut to some essential energy that makes up America.
We continued our journey through the Appalachian region of Virginia, stopping at the Falls of Dismal for a night. We had planned to stay here for a few days to enjoy the last stretches of dispersed camping and slow bus living, but the site we found was pretty hilly and uneven, so we opted for just one night. And then on our way out, we got totally stuck! Coming down the hill, the angle was too severe and our back hitch got a little stuck in the road, which caused our tires to spin out in the mud. Because of this, heading back up the hill to straighten out wasn’t an option, no matter how many sticks we tried to wedge under our wheels. We resolved to try to power through backing our way down, so we dug out our hitch a little bit and with one last push, we made it down! Since we were right near the Falls of Dismal, it would have been silly to skip the 0.01 mile hike down to see the falls, and it was well worth the sojourn. It’s always a pleasant surprise when we find a spot for a peaceful overnight that also gives us some bonus natural beauty.
There was one last stop to make in mainland Virginia before we made our way to the eastern shore. Natural Bridges State Park showed up as one of the best outdoor attractions in mainland Virginia, and we always love getting outside for the day with our boys. There are several looping trails throughout the park, but there’s one main in-and-out trail that leads to the natural bridge and waterfall views. We only did the main trail, but there were some cool sounding points on the other loops we’d love to go back and see. The main trail had several points of interest, including the namesake natural bridge, a hidden underground Lost River, and culminated in the beautiful Lace Falls. We were lucky enough to have some fellow tourists take a perfect family photo for us in front of the falls! It was a great last big stop on our journey, but we were all getting a little tired and looking forward to reaching our next destination.
We spent one last night at our beloved Cracker Barrel, before making our way over to the Eastern Shore of VA. From where we were, the quickest route was up the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and we now knew we were safe to take that route and cut off hours of driving. We'd previously been worried we wouldn't be allowed in the tunnel with the propane tanks we tote around, but as long as the tanks are off at the source, we learned we were good to go. The Bridge-Tunnel is always such a surreal delight. It's a 17.6 mile span, made up mostly by a low bridge with two brief tunnels placed throughout. It's so bizarre driving along the bridge and seeing it disappear into the water, from a distance appearing as though the bridge has completely abandoned you in the middle of the bay. But it had not, and we made our way to my Mom's house for some Eastern Shoring Exploring!
The Eastern Shore of VA is always so funny to me. A small strip of land hanging off Maryland, it's in no way connected directly to mainland Virginia. It's a pretty quiet stretch that's mostly used by east coasters as a shortcut south to the Outer Banks, NC. But there's a lot of small town charm here, if you take the time to look. There's Onancock on the bay, perfect for a summer day of kayaking, fueled by giant cinnamon buns from the local bakery. There's Cape Charles, where we took a day trip for a delightful array of hard ciders at Buskey Cider and enjoyed a romp with the pups on the beach.
BEACH VIEWS & CIDER IN CAPE CHARLES
There's Kiptopeke State Park, with 5 miles of hiking trails that open up to gorgeous views of the Chesapeake Bay. We've gotten to enjoy the charms of this strange stretch of Virginia a few times now, and there's always something interesting to find, but it's also a perfect place to slow down, relax, and unwind. And squeeze in some for cooking new and interesting things - like some vegetarian biscuits and gravy!
ENJOYING THE HIKES AT KIPTOPEKE STATE PARK
The town my Mom lives in is also day trip distance to one of my favorite places - Rehoboth and Dewey, DE. Since the beaches and boardwalks are dog friendly in the off-season, we took the boys for another beachy frolick. But I truly had selfish intentions for our excursion, I wanted to make a trip to my favorite brewery and eatery, Dewey Beer Co. As a vegetarian lover of good sour beers, this place seems to have been made for me specifically. With a consistently veggie friendly menu and an ever-changing tap list of incredible sour beers, and located one block off the beach, it's the kind of spot I'd park Charlotte at for a week if I could! I reveled in the delights of my strawberry kiwi sour and my extremely tasty jackfruit Cubano sandwich.
Our time on the Eastern Shore was a great wind down after a few months on the road. It was a perfect balance of relaxing while still getting in some exploring, and we were ready to dive into the holiday season. We made our way up to Maryland, where we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, especially my little niece (technically first-cousin-once-removed, but what a mouthful!), who just turned one and is an absolute blast to hang out with. While bus life has had many adventurous merits, one unexpected pleasure of our covid roadbumps was the flexibility to see our family from other states so much more frequently. Although they only lived 4 hours away, we were always so "busy" and "too tired" to make the trip to visit. But getting to be so present in their lives and get to see my niece frequently through her first year of life has been such a blessing. It really hit home for me how incredibly lucky we've been to be so time-rich for the past year.
After saying our goodbyes to family, we decided to take a slower journey home to give ourselves one last night on the road. We found a nice spot for the night in Delaware, the only thing separating us from the Atlantic Ocean were the sandy dunes. Even though it was quite chilly, we couldn’t help but soak in our last night of bus life adventure for the year. We all frolicked on the beach, Winston especially enjoying his oceanfront zoomies. Since it was a chilly night, we all cuddled into bed for the evening, heater blasting, for a movie night. It was a perfect last night in our bus for a bit - the open road, the wonder of an amazing sleeping spot, enjoying the coziness of our little home. We were certainly going to miss our tiny home for the season, but we were also excited to be stationary for a bit to spend Christmastime with family and friends.
The next morning we made our way back to New York, where we of course celebrated our arrival with some NY pizza. We unpacked some necessities from the bus, and began the process of winterizing Charlotte. It was bittersweet winding her down for the winter, but we knew we’d spend our time planning out our next adventure!
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