Trains, Planes and Automobiles – and Boats, Mules, Buses and Segways ….
Published on March 10th, 2010 in Capital Region USA, Press Releases Published by Lisa Cooper
Capital Region USA offers a diverse and eclectic selection of transport options for holidaymakers throughout the Region, from horse power to wind power and even mule power. You can let the train take the strain or enjoy exploring the wonderful Blue Ridge Parkway by car. Sit on top a double deck bus in Washington, DC or choose a slower pace by guiding your own segway around the capital’s streets. Here’s a few ideas:
With Amtrak it’s all about the journey – not just getting to your destination
Amtrak, the national rail network is headquartered in Washington, DC and offers a variety of scenic routes across the country that take in the Capital Region including the North East Corridor and Capitol routings.
The North East Corridor runs from New York and Boston down through Washington, DC and Richmond to Newport News, just a stone’s throw from Virginia Beach. Alternatively, Amtrak’s Capitol Route runs through Maryland and Virginia and the towns of Cumberland and Rockville.
The newest Amtrak route in the Capital Region offers daily roundtrip service from Washington, DC, to Lynchburg, Virginia with stops in several picturesque Virginia towns, including Culpeper and Stanton.
All routes offer spectator windows out into the wide spaces and vistas of the Capital Region as well as the smaller towns and cities, allowing you to relax from the comfort of your seat while someone else does the driving!
For details of the routes, timetables and costs, go to www.amtrak.com
Baltimore – birthplace of the American railway
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum (B&O) offers a nostalgic experience of America’s railway heyday, where you can take a ride along the first commercial railroad track in America.
This heritage museum in the heart of Baltimore, Maryland, offers a window on the past, rather than a window on the countryside. It possesses the oldest, most historic and most comprehensive American railroad collection in the world. Dating from the beginning of American railroading, the collection contains locomotives and rolling stock, historic buildings, and small objects that document the impact of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) on the growth and development of early railroading and cover almost every aspect of an industry that left a permanent mark on the folklore and culture of America.
The Museum’s locomotive and rolling stock collection contains many unique examples of historically significant pieces from the B&O and other Maryland railroads and includes the finest collection of 19th century steam locomotives. The Museum’s roster of locomotives and rolling stock represent the first, last, best or only of their kind in existence today.
Getting to the Capital Region USA has never been easier from the UK
There are now eight direct daily flights from the UK into the Capital Region, with services from London Heathrow into Washington Dulles and Baltimore Airports, with prices from as little as £384.00 per person this summer. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines all offer direct services and other airlines offer one-stop services via New York and Charlotte, perfect if you’re planning an East Coast touring odyssey.
Virgin Atlantic currently offers daily flights from London Heathrow into Washington Dulles, with prices starting from £389.00 this summer.
British Airways also flies daily from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles and Baltimore, and their network of regional departure airports throughout the UK means that everyone has a departure point close by. Prices start from £405.00 this summer.
Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway in its 75th year
The Blue Ridge Parkway, an All-American Road as designated by the National Scenic Byways Commission, will mark its 75th Anniversary in 2010 with celebrations, events and symposia along the parkway, including the 40 Days & 40 Nights Festival of arts and culture.
Considered a national treasure, the 469 mile Blue Ridge Parkway connects Shenandoah National Park in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Development around the Parkway has been restricted but traditional agriculture has continued and visitors can get a true feeling for rural Appalachian life, from log cabins to split-rail fences and grist mills.
Many other national forests and state park preserves adjoin the Parkway corridor, providing an unsurpassed scenic quality. Recreational areas with unique names abound where you can hike, fish or just enjoy a picnic: Humpback Rocks, Peaks of Otter, Rocky Knob, and Mabry Mill, the most photographed spot on the Parkway, are just a few.
The 40 Days & 40 Nights of Arts & Culture along the Blue Ridge Parkway will connect visitors to southwest Virginia’s performances, concerts, festivals, galleries, exhibitions, comedy, wine tastings and more. The Festival runs from 1st October to 9th November 2010, beginning in downtown Roanoke, the largest neighbouring city on the Parkway and home to the Taubman Museum of Art, Center in the Square – featuring local artisans and food vendors – and Art by Night – the monthly gallery crawl featuring regional artists.
A canal boat ride with a difference – mule power
Just as in the UK, the motorways of the 19th century in the USA were canals, linking emerging industrial cities to transport goods along the Potomac River and further afield across the country. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal (C&O) has been preserved as a National Historic Park and at both Great Falls in Maryland and Georgetown in DC there are visitor centres offering canal boat rides, where the replica boats are still pulled by mules and restored lockhouses along the Canal offer the opportunity to live the age for a day and night.
Mules were the preferred animal for canal boat captains in the 1870’s – small but very strong they were the perfect choice for pulling the boats along and even spent the night in the boat’s front cabin. They are still used to this day on the C&O Canal, but in place of cargos of coal, lumber and grain, they now take passengers on an hour long ride back in time. Park rangers costumed in period clothing are a fountain of fascinating knowledge and tell stories of life on the 184.5 mile long historic waterway, one of the capital’s earliest links to the west.
Stables of six to eight mules are kept at two centres along the Canal – at Thomas Jefferson Street in Georgetown, DC and at Great Falls Tavern in Potomac, Maryland. There are another four visitor centres in Maryland at Brunswick, Williamsport, Hancock (seasonal) and Cumberland.
For those seeking more of an immersion experience – but not in the water of course – through the Canal Quarters Interpretive Program is it now possible for visitors to learn more about life on the C&O Canal by staying in an historic lockhouse for a day and night.
Household tools and furnishings reminiscent of different periods of the canal’s history convey the living conditions of a lock keeper’s family as it may have been during the 1830s, at the time of the Civil War, the turn of the twentieth century, or the 1950s.
The Canal Quarters Interpretive Program is a cooperative effort between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and the C&O Canal Trust, a not-for-profit friends group. Three lockhouses, Lockhouse 6 near Washington DC, Lockhouse 22 known as Pennyfield Lock, and Lockhouse 49 in Four Locks near Clear Spring, Maryland, are now open. Two other lockhouses are being rehabilitated for this program and will be available in the near future.
www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/interpretiverangerprograms.htm
City exploring doesn’t come easier than in DC – by bus, by segway or by amphibious vehicle
Washington, DC is a majestic city, with wide open spaces and vast monuments to explore as well as the city streets. Exploring all that on foot would take days and plenty of shoe leather, but there are plenty of easier way to do it, whether on the top deck of an open top bus, on a guided segway tour or on a “duck tour” that includes the Potomac River on the route using an amphibious vehicle.
The hop-on hop-off tour with Open Top Sightseeing Washington, DC operates all day, every day, with 30 stops throughout the capital where you can simply get off and explore at your own pace, catching a later bus to the next venue or to finish the circuit. An entertaining, narrated tour brings everything to life and is a great way to get your bearings in this big city. A 3-hour Moonlight Tour is also available.
www.opentopsightseeing-dc.com/hop.html
The more adventurous and technologically minded visitor might prefer a tour from a totally new perspective with DC Segway Tours. The segway is a self-balancing, personal transportation devise that’s designed to be fun and easy to operate in any pedestrian environment. After a 30 minute orientation and practice session, expert guides lead groups out into the city. Cruise effortlessly through DC’s parks, past the Washington Monument and around historic buildings such as the White House and US Capitol with plenty of time to take advantage of the fantastic photo opportunities along the way.
www.citysegwaytours.com/washington-dc
DC Ducks offers another unusual tour experience, travelling in original WW II DUKW amphibious vehicles. The 90 minute tour starts at Union Station and takes in the streets of the city before splashing down into the Potomac River for the most unique ride. Each “duck” captain has his own unique delivery of the guided tour, which all adds to the experience.