Fun places to fly to in the DMV area

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Aceninja

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Aceninja
I moved to the DC area recently and I was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations on cool places to fly to. I fly out of KGAI and am looking for anything in the 1-2 hour range (PA28)

Your suggestions will truly be appreciated. TY :)
 
Welcome to PoA, lots of DMV peeps here. I hear the restaurant at GAI is opening real soon now...

Too many destinations to list. 2 hours and change can get you to the Hudson River Exclusion, Niagara Falls, Wright Patterson, or First Flight... Local favorites/rites of passage: 2W2, 3W3, TGI, MD1, W75... anywhere on the Bay for crabs, anywhere in the Shenandoah/Blue Ridge, Ocean City NJ / Ocean City MD...
 
Penn's Cave PA
Cape May NJ
Smoketown PA

There's lots of great stuff in a relatively short flight. What are you looking for?
 
OC NJ. You can walk to the beach from the airport. OC MD. There are reasonably priced cars at the airport. Don is very nice and helpful. Best to call ahead in peak season. You can make a day at the beach like we did last Sunday, or get a room and make it a short vacation. I like to go to the restaurants at KLNS Lancaster, KMRB Martinsburg and KHGR Hagerstown. Watch P40! Don't go there if it's supersized.
 
KEZF - Good diner and museum
KLUA - Danny will give you a ride to Luray Caverns
I like Cape May too
 
Flying into the FRZ can be pretty exciting.
 
Luray Caverns KLUA has a grass field on site and an old car museum. Bryce Ski Resort has a paved runway VG18.
 
Wow that's quite a lot of options. Thank you all for the insights. I'm thinking Ocean City NJ (26N) might be the place for this weekend. It's getting a bit too cool to jump in the water, but I did hear they have showers at the airport there. Anyone been there recently? I do like the idea of being able to walk to the beach ⛱️
 
Brad Z said:
Penn's Cave PA
Cape May NJ
Smoketown PA

There's lots of great stuff in a relatively short flight. What are you looking for?
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Anything scenic, ideally with a courtesy car or if not decent taxi/Uber options. Walkability would be a plus.
 
Aceninja said:
Wow that's quite a lot of options. Thank you all for the insights. I'm thinking Ocean City NJ (26N) might be the place for this weekend. It's getting a bit too cool to jump in the water, but I did hear they have showers at the airport there. Anyone been there recently? I do like the idea of being able to walk to the beach ⛱️
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We rarely actually go in the water at OCNJ, but the boardwalk is always fun.
 
GeorgeC said:
Welcome to PoA, lots of DMV peeps here. I hear the restaurant at GAI is opening real soon now...

Too many destinations to list. 2 hours and change can get you to the Hudson River Exclusion, Niagara Falls, Wright Patterson, or First Flight... Local favorites/rites of passage: 2W2, 3W3, TGI, MD1, W75... anywhere on the Bay for crabs, anywhere in the Shenandoah/Blue Ridge, Ocean City NJ / Ocean City MD...
Click to expand...
Skip Miller said:
Fiorentinos Restaurant at Lancaster KLNS is a great lunch stop.

-Skip
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Thanks Skip!
 
GeorgeC said:
Welcome to PoA, lots of DMV peeps here. I hear the restaurant at GAI is opening real soon now...

Too many destinations to list. 2 hours and change can get you to the Hudson River Exclusion, Niagara Falls, Wright Patterson, or First Flight... Local favorites/rites of passage: 2W2, 3W3, TGI, MD1, W75... anywhere on the Bay for crabs, anywhere in the Shenandoah/Blue Ridge, Ocean City NJ / Ocean City MD...
Click to expand...
TY George
 
Cambridge KCGE and Easton KESN have cafes. Cambridge was a favorite breakfast/lunch stop. Ample servings of good food, fast. It has changed hands and is not quite back to where it was. Easton has a good, dependable cafe. On the small side, but it was open throughout almost all of the dempanic.

Reading has a very nice restaurant and, on the other side of the field, there's an aviation museum. I have been to the restaurant, but not the museum. I think they let you taxi from one side to the other. I have been meaning to go back to check out the museum.
 
I would not consider CGE and ESN (or any airport cafe in recent memory) fast. Still haven't been to EZF yet, further research is required...
 
Visiting Tangier Island is on my bucket list. Watching this thread for more details on making that a fun visit.
 
Tangier island is fun. There are restricted areas immediately to the west of the island, so pay attention to your chart or GPS. Make sure you have FF to tell you about the status of the areas.

The runway was redone a few years ago, and it is good. There is a hump in the middle, but it didn't bother me. You have the impression of landing on an aircraft carrier, as the runway is all along the west side of the island.

Someone will likely meet at the ramp to collect a small landing fee. You can rent a golf cart to get around, but the island is rather small. There are two families represented on the island, and everybody fishes, picks crab or runs a restaurant. At the south end of the island there is a small beach.

People usually go to Tangier for seafood. It is usually served family style. You are really getting the ambience, not the spectacular food.

There is a particular accent to the speech of the inhabitants. Linguists have traced it to Elizabethan English. The inhabitants have been isolated so long they developed a different pattern of speech.

I recommend it. It's different from most other places. The island is small, and there isn't a great deal to see. But the experience makes it worthwhile.
 
Another plug for Tangiers Island. At least 4 trips there over the years, never disappointed. Good food, never fancy.

Stayed at a bed and breakfast midway on the runway, could have tied down in the back yard if we had my anchors with us One of our best anniversary trips.

Comments on the language there is interesting, the change since I first visited half a century ago, is remarkable. Television from the outside world, plus school on the mainland has nearly obliterated the unique sound and vocabulary of the island. In 1970, they were hard to understand.
 
LUA, FFA, W95, and JGG are on my list.

JGG has Charly's restaurant.
W95 is on the beach and a short walk to restaurants (no fuel)
FFA because you have to. At least once.
LUA is a nice strip in the mountains, caverns are great, and people at the airport are great.
 
Keep in mind, on Tangier, nothing opens until 'the tourist boat' arrives. So if you make a run out there in the morning, the only thing open is the convenience store.
 
Thanks guys, a wealth of good info & insights here :) Tangier is on my list as well, glad to know they have a Golf cart rental.
 
I’ve probably done 20 trips to tangier via plane and sailboat over the past 25 years. I’ll mention this: visitors either love it or not care for it. As others mentioned, restaurants cater solely to the tourists that arrive by boat on a set schedule. Try to plan to get to the island just before the boats arrive and beat the rush.

A few things to understand:
-the entire island relies on three sources of income: the water, tourism, government assistance. Several factors have made making a living off of crabs and oysters very difficult. Tourism has never been of sufficient volume to be a sole source of income. It’s mostly a side-gig for the wives of watermen.
-None of the restaurants are bad, but don’t expect the level of faire you’d see in some more popular seafood destinations. The are no big city chefs on tangier, and ladies who run the lunch joints on tangier aren’t traveling around the mid Atlantic comparing their dishes or searching for culinary inspiration. They’re serving up food the way their mothers served up food, and their moms weren’t shy about using Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup.
-It’s not the Vineyard or Nantucket. These are working people whose backyards are in their front yard. You don’t toss an old lawnmower because there might be a part you need later. Same goes for an old bike, cart, or virtually anything else you own. Also, don’t gawk at the above ground graves. To you they’re a novelty, to them they are family and the “OMG look!” comments from tourists get old after a while.
-Yes there are cats everywhere
-The locals are very friendly and genuinely appreciate you visiting and spending your money on the island. With the younger generation going to the mainland for work and never coming back, it gets harder and harder to sustain the community of the island. Keep an open mind and embrace the island for what it is, not what you might think it could or should be. Do that and you’ll have a great visit
-Definitely check out the beach south of the runway. In the summer I always pack a 5 Gallon sun shower that I place on the top of the 182 wing to use as a rinse shower before heading home. Works great. Also, depending on winds and season, plan for biting flies…they can be bad.

Enjoy TGI, it’s one of my favorite day trips.
 
Ocean City, MD

There used to be a unbranded car rental in the terminal. If you are not in Tourist season you could get a car for cheap. Be aware though, the main source of income on the island are booze and parking fees/fines. The boardwalk 'is what it is', you either like it or you don't. These days I would probably take a Lyft.

Georgetown, DE had a good on-field restaurant. Airport for Rehoboth, so you may see some ostentatious displays of wealth.
 
Getting to be around the right season for the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon...
 
College park has a museum but it’s inside the frz so it takes months to get permission
 
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