New Jersey to Washington DC

Wednesday morning I woke up at 5am, took the subway into Manhattan and got a cab to Newark Hotel in New Jersey to meet my group for my trek. We sorted out a few bits of paperwork and loaded the van (which was an intense game of Tetris with all our suitcases, food and camping equiptment). We then set off for our two weeks of adventures.

Everyone in the group is really great. There's 13 of us and Liz, our leader, in a mini van with a trailer on the back. I sat in the back with two girls Helen and Ashlea and we did get the most space as we have the extra seat. Our first stop was Philadelphia where we saw the famous Rocky steps then went for a Philly Cheesesteak and Fro-yo. Philadelphia was nice, it was a brief stop but it was good to get out of the van and see a bit of the area.

Philadelphia

The drive from Philly down to Washington was about 3 hours but we were able to talk, listen to music and catch up on sleep from our early morning. We arrived at our campsite in Washington at about 5pm but it was raining meaning we had to put up our tents in the rain! We did it though, it's two people per tent however me, Helen and Ashlea decided we'd all share one tent as it was pretty and roomy so no one would be alone and it would be more fun, plus we'd be warmer. Turns out nights are warm enough anyway. 

First tent pitched!!

Once we'd sorted camp we decided to go pick up pizza for dinner as cooking in the rain didn't sound all that appealing. We ate it all together sat in front of the Lincoln memorial looking out towards the Washington memorial. It was quite a view to have whilst eating dinner. After dinner we went around and saw some of the memorials which look stunning lit up at night (by this time it's past 10pm). The WW2 memorial was particularly amazing but the landscape view of a few at once was also amazing! It was past midnight when we eventually got back to camp and we were exhausted! It had been a 20hour day and we'd travelled through 5 states!!