Pohick Bay SP/Washington DC trip

[dthurk]

We've finally been initiated into this camping season, spending 5 nights at Pohick Bay SP in Virginia.  We had a wonderful time.  The park campground is beautiful, with paved roads, gravel sites and  lots of vegetation over and around the huge sites.  

Our site was not as level as we would have liked.  When we set up, we found that we had a 7 inch drop in the camper from front to back with the nose wheel down all the way.  We had to leave it that way, as it was late when we got there and darkness and thunderstorms were upon us as we were setting up.  We have a queen size bed, so sleep from side to side in the camper.  I had visions of us rolling down the hill, or sliding out of the back of the bunk as we slept, so I didn't sleep particuarly well that night.  The next evening after dinner, I got the spare tire and a couple pieces of leveling wood out, cranked up the camper, placed the stack under the tongue, dropped it down and started digging under the nose wheel.  We finally got it leveled out, not without a fair amount of work and also breaking the WalMart camp shovel we had.  

While there, we visited the National Geographic Museum (small but good), Mount Vernon (just up the road), Gunston Hall (walking distance from the campground), Arlington National Cemetery and the Vietnam and WWII memorials.  Gunston Hall was probably our favorite day.  This was the home of George Mason, a contemporary of George Washington.  Their estates are only a few miles apart by water, and they were good friends.  Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was taken a few weeks later by Thomas Jefferson and became the Declaration of Independence.  So, George Mason essentially wrote the first draft for Jefferson.  He was also a primary figure in the development of our Constitution, delivering over 125 speeches during the time of the convention.  He refused to sign the finished Constitution, claiming that it gave too much power to the new federal government and not enough to the states and inidividuals.  He called for an immediate Bill of Rights, which was eventually developed about 20 years later and adopted a few months before his death.

Arlington National Cemetery had the Changing of the Guard, the Kennedy graves and the Challenger and Columbia memorials.  The Vietnam Memorial is always a touching experience, and the WWII Memorial was huge.  This was the first we had seen it.  

Our last night at Pohick Bay SP saw some young tenters with a boom box move in 2 sites from us, playing somewhat softly but audibly.  This turned out to be the beginning of an all night party that got louder as the night went on.  The people on the other side of us called this into the park rangers before we did.  The partiers kept driving off to go to the bathroom.  I suppose I should say that alcohol is prohibited at the campground.  During one of these trips, 2 police cars arrived, checked out their site and left.  The partiers returned and so did the police.  A few breathalizer tests later, and they were escorted out of the park.  Silence returned to the campground.  THANK YOU, POHICK BAY RANGERS!

We will happily return to Pohick Bay SP in the future.  On a future trip, we'll have to include the Air and Space Museum annex and the Pohick Church.  

I'll try to post pictures and include the link as soon as I get a chance.

[PLJ]

We stayed there last year for about 6 days or so. Had a great time and would stay at Pohick again. When we stayed we had about 3 other campers dotted around the park. It was empty. This was the 3rd week in August.

We took in a lot of the sites in Washinton, DC. We'll get there again in several years. So many other states, sights to see first.

[dthurk]

Posted pics, there are many more of Washington and the area than of Pohick
Bay.  Look to my sig for link.  Hope it all works.  Enjoy.