Trip Ideas

In-Depth

The Season of Chesapeake Ospreys

by Michael Weiss February 25, 2022

After six months of fall and winter, spring finally arrives to the Chesapeake region. The ospreys slowly return to their nests, waiting for their mates to join them. Their journey from their winter homes in Central and South America is usually a quick two- to three-day flight. They arrive hungry and tired, and immediately start fishing. They may even start to refresh their nest with fresh sticks and branches while…

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Finding a Susquehanna Sanctuary

by Scott McDaniel June 20, 2019

There are few better remedies for an overabundance of worry and stress than the powerful, life-giving waters of the Susquehanna River.  As I sit here on the crooked trunk of a river birch, looking out across the rushing flow from the bank of Susquehanna State Park, I can’t help but ponder when I first fell in love with this place. This is the view that would renew my passion for the natural…

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Kayak Fishing on the Chesapeake Bay

by Peter Turcik May 22, 2019

With more than 64,000 square miles, the Chesapeake Bay watershed is an incredible place to fish. From fishing for trout in small headwater streams to bull red drum at the mouth of the bay, there is something for every angler of any skill, experience level, or physical ability. There are many fishing piers in places like Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis, Maryland or Kiptopeke State Park in Cape Charles,…

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Mariners’ Museum offers a voyage of discovery for every visitor

by Leslie Middleton January 30, 2018

In a small studio at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA, education specialist Wisteria Perry asked a group of fifth graders what it means to go exploring.

A girl in Minnesota, whose class is connected to the museum via videoconference, answered, "Someone who goes to different lands looking for something."

Perry explored this theme during a half-hour class focused on the "Age of Exploration," one of the many museum classes offered onsite…

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Patapsco a park for all seasons, reasons

by Rona Kobell November 30, 2017

Where to begin with a visit to Patapsco Valley State Park in Maryland? Even calling Patapsco a park seems so…inadequate.

Patapsco Valley State Park is more than 14,000 acres and includes 32 miles along its namesake river. Its terrain is at turns hilly, rocky, flat, wooded and paved. It touches four metropolitan counties, several towns and is in the backyards of thousands of people. There are gorges and waterfalls, bridges and caves, rocky…

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Visitors learn it’s all about the wildlife at Patuxent Research Refuge

by Rona Kobell November 13, 2017

Dennis Hartnett welcomes human visitors to the Patuxent Research Refuge. But Hartnett, the education director of this 12,841-acre preserve between Baltimore and Washington, wants to make it clear that wildlife comes first.

There are no trash cans at the refuge. No picnic tables. No dispenser of corn or pellets to feed the ducks. No petting zoo. No viewfinders where a quarter gives you a panorama of a faraway pond or river…