Delaware for kids?

[michigansandzil]

We are hoping to visit Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York next spring/summer.
My son wants to visit every state in the US and since we are going to be in the area, I thought we could visit Delaware as well and check that off of our list. We might be able to devote half a day, so not too much time.

A quick online search has not yielded anything exciting.
The kids will be 12, 10, and 6. I don't have anything specific in mind and we like it all; history, biking, museums, nature hikes, tourist areas. It would be nice to do something that is specific to Delaware, but I don't know what that is!
Even a family friendly restaurant recommendation would be nice.

Thanks in advance

[johnwalkerpa1]

The campground at Delaware Seashore State Park is a decent place to stay. Nothing special about the campground itself but the key is the location. One of the few places that you can walk to the beach (about 1/4 mile) from the campsite. Also decent fishing from the shore walk.

[Veebyes]

Killens Pond SP has a waterpark & the air museum at Dover AFB is not far away.

[michigansandzil]

weathershak wrote:
I live about 10 miles from Lewes. If you are staying in Cape May for a couple of days, it would be worth the trip to take the ferry across to Lewes. Cape Henlopen is only about a mile from the ferry terminal. If you want to take bikes across the ferry, Cape Henlopen is a bike friendly park with miles of trails. You can visit Fort Miles, climb a WW2 observation tower, hike and bike the trails thru the highest sand dunes on the east coast between Cape Cod and Hatteras and see some awesome views on a clear day. There is a nice nature center to visit and exhibits to see at Fort Miles, including WW2 Guns, including a recently delivered 16" gun for you to touch and even crawl on. If you plan your timing right, they have underground bunker tours also. The town of Lewes is beautiful with a couple of museums, a historic district, a restored light ship, nice shops and even a Dairy Queen just steps from the beach. All this can be explored on a half day trip. Still more to see around the area but it would take more time, especially dealing with traffic. Enjoy... Delaware is a fine state I still call home 🙂

Lewes Delaware clicky

This sounds fantastic. The boys (and adults) love military forts. Being an avid scout family, this would be a great stop. I will have to look into checking out the bunkers. Thank you.

[michigansandzil]

Busskipper wrote:


With your kids ages I would focus on the BEACH they will be Happy and the trip will likely be repeated.

BOL,

Yes thank you. Being in Michigan the majority of our summer is devoted to beaches (sand dunes, beautiful open water etc. This summer alone we visited four great Lakes) so I'm hoping to do something just a little different, or on addition to the beach. Plus, they're afraid of sharks so I'm not sure how long they'll want to swim. 😉
If the kids could see some dolphins that would be really awesome!

[Busskipper]

michigansandzilla wrote:
We are hoping to visit Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York next spring/summer.
My son wants to visit every state in the US and since we are going to be in the area, I thought we could visit Delaware as well and check that off of our list. We might be able to devote half a day, so not too much time.

A quick online search has not yielded anything exciting.
The kids will be 12, 10, and 6. I don't have anything specific in mind and we like it all; history, biking, museums, nature hikes, tourist areas. It would be nice to do something that is specific to Delaware, but I don't know what that is!
Even a family friendly restaurant recommendation would be nice.

Thanks in advance

First, I might suggest that you try to get more time if you plan on doing more than just drive through these states. We, as a family, have been going to Rehoboth Beach for two weeks every year for almost 40 years and my two son's the 5 Nephews and now the 13 Grands kids, very seldom miss a day.

Just a couple of links to help you out on Delaware;

Longwood Gardens

Delaware Water Gap

Lewes

Cape Henelopen State Park

Rehoboth Beach

Indian River Inlet - Delaware Seashore SP

With your kids ages I would focus on the BEACH they will be Happy and the trip will likely be repeated.

BOL,

[weathershak]

I live about 10 miles from Lewes. If you are staying in Cape May for a couple of days, it would be worth the trip to take the ferry across to Lewes. Cape Henlopen is only about a mile from the ferry terminal. If you want to take bikes across the ferry, Cape Henlopen is a bike friendly park with miles of trails. You can visit Fort Miles, climb a WW2 observation tower, hike and bike the trails thru the highest sand dunes on the east coast between Cape Cod and Hatteras and see some awesome views on a clear day. There is a nice nature center to visit and exhibits to see at Fort Miles, including WW2 Guns, including a recently delivered 16" gun for you to touch and even crawl on. If you plan your timing right, they have underground bunker tours also. The town of Lewes is beautiful with a couple of museums, a historic district, a restored light ship, nice shops and even a Dairy Queen just steps from the beach. All this can be explored on a half day trip. Still more to see around the area but it would take more time, especially dealing with traffic. Enjoy... Delaware is a fine state I still call home 🙂

Lewes Delaware clicky

[esyers]

We have been at Wildwood, Cherry Hill Park, and Gettysburg all in the last month and live about 20 miles away from Liberty Harbor. Feel free to private message if we can be of any help.

[esyers]

I believe Cape Henlopen State Park is undeveloped sand dunes and beaches. It's been quite a few years, but I do recall bicycle riding there.

x2 on Liberty Harbor for visiting NYC. As noted, it's pricey and not very much as campgrounds go, but it's location is everything. In Liberty State Park, just the other side of the marina, you can catch the boat to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty without going into NY. There is nothing else like seeing NYC across the river as the sun is going down.

Just a note, the fare for the PATH train went up to $2.75 on October 1.

[livelylittlecam]

I just did the Cape May Lewes Ferry last week. Very pretty ride and a cool way to get into Delaware! Seashore Campsites in Cape May is great!

Winterthur is also an awesome spot to visit in Delaware!

Enjoy!

[Merrykalia]

michigansandzilla wrote:
We'll be going to Gettysburg, Cherry Park in MD to see DC and Baltimore, Cape May and someplace to visit NYC.
Thanks!

For NYC - stay at Liberty Harbor in Jersey City if you are camping. It's pricey, but it's close to NYC, a 15 minute PATH ride ($2.50/person) and the station is about 3 blocks from the park. It's just a gravel parking lot with water/electric, but it's a great "mobile hotel" spot. It will save you lots of time from commuting from one of the camping spots that are an hour or more out of the city.

[michigansandzil]

I love all this collective knowledge here.

bee 46, Fort McHenry was on the list already, but the kids love science museums, might have to check that out.

D&E, I didn't know about USS Constellation, but I read your post, researched it and added that to the list too. Sounds really interesting.


You guys all seem familiar with the area. Anyone have any suggestions about how to visit Philly for a day? We'll be going to Gettysburg, Cherry Park in MD to see DC and Baltimore, Cape May and someplace to visit NYC. I want to make a day trip to Philly and not sure what would be the best option.

Thanks!

[michigansandzil]

esyers wrote:
If you're going to be in the Southern end of the Jersey Shore, you might want to consider a trip on the Cape May - Lewes Ferry. You could cross to Delaware, do some touring in historic Lewes and return to Jersey or continue on to Maryland, if you like.

Cape May - Lewes Ferry

Haha! This is perfect. Yes we are planning on staying for a couple of days in Cape May, thought we'd visit Wildwood. This will be a fun addition. Didn't know about a ferry. Thanks so much! Looks like we could go out to Cape Henlopen from there too. Is that worth a visit or should we focus more of our time at Cape May. The kids have never seen dolphins or been in the ocean, but coming from Michigan, the majority of our vacations focus on enormous white sand dunes with beautiful water, so beautiful beaches won't be a complete novelty to us.

[esyers]

If you're going to be in the Southern end of the Jersey Shore, you might want to consider a trip on the Cape May - Lewes Ferry. You could cross to Delaware, do some touring in historic Lewes and return to Jersey or continue on to Maryland, if you like.

Cape May - Lewes Ferry

[Merrykalia]

We LOVE Rehobeth Beach, DE and Ocean City, MD is about a 30 minute drive away.

We spent a day (July 5th) in the Baltimore Inner Harbor this past summer. Got there at 10 am, did the aquarium, took a water taxi, had lunch and were ready to leave by 4pm. It was great.