619-822-3296 
I have now added 3 new states to my travel resume. Tennessee, Mississippi and Virginia! The drive from Douglas Dam to Hungry Mother State Park was the easiest so far! We didn’t want a long drive since we enjoyed the morning SUPing at Douglas Dam with our new friends plus we had to stop and get food! It has been 2 weeks since we left and this is our first stop for food! Mommy stocked us up good before we left!
We arrived in Marion, VA. around 5:30 p.m. We have now traveled 2,536 miles in 2 weeks. It was obvious that we were no longer in San Diego when we saw the tractor driving down the road. Love these small towns! Marion is the home of Hungry Mother State Park. There were 3 separate campgrounds to choose from so we explored the park until we found the perfect site!
We found another beautiful spot at campground B, site 11. It was next to a bridge and a creek. I was out of the RV and in the water in no time! I had to share it with the ducks but I didn’t mind. One kept yelling at me but I wasn’t bothering her so I ignored her.
The camp hosts weren’t home so we set up camp and took a 2 mile walk on the Lake Trail. Sure is pretty here! Lots of trees!
The camp hosts came home and took us for a ride in their golf cart. Elizabeth gave us a tour of the campground and took us to the office to pay. It was supposed to be $40. A night for non-residents of VA but they only charged us $30. , which was fine by us! $40 is a lot for a campsite even if it was voted best campground in Virginia in 2014!!
We slept great but it was COLD in the morning! We left for our hike and it was only 54 degrees! Mommy didn’t dress warm enough so she made me walk really fast! The hike was mostly uphill so that helped! We started from our campsite to the Lake Trail and then we went straight UP on the Molly’s Knob trail. The trails here are well marked and really nice, great biking and running trails. The view at the top was nice and we spent some time up there being thankful for our journey so far. It has been so much fun and we feel so blessed with the friendly people that we have met, the beautiful weather we have had and the amazing campsites that we have scored! We are trying to give back at each place that we stay and pay it forward.
The hike ended up being 8.5 miles because mommy added on the CCC trail on the way back. It was pretty easy and we got a great view of the river and the Hungry Mother Lake. Mommy wouldn’t let me go in because I have a belly ache from all of the swimming that I have been doing plus the river was a little fast for me and she didn’t want to lose me!
We got back to camp in time for lunch and to RELAX!! It was a perfect day for it. Mommy read her book, wrote a few blogs and chatted with the neighbors. She also pulled out her TRX and got a little workout in. It is so nice of the campgrounds to put these perfect poles in for mommy’s workouts, she loves working out in these beautiful spots! The camp hosts laughed and said that they are really for a lantern!
Our camp hosts stopped and chatted for a while with us. They informed us that there is free WI-FII so mommy can get some work done. They also have laundry here. We could stay here for a long time! This campground has a restaurant, play ground, swim area, cabins and 3 separate camping areas. A large group started arriving for the weekend’s volleyball tournament. They also hold a lot of races here.
When we woke up the next day, it was a little warmer. We went for a 6 mile run. We had to find the trails on the other side of the lake. They were shorter so we just did most of them. It was fun trying to find them. We ran on the Old Shawnee Trail, the Raiders Run Trail and the Stone Lick Trail. The trails are perfect running trails and it was so much fun! The weather was perfect. Traveling back East in May is the way to go!
On the way back, we ran along the lake. The lake was calling our name to SUP so we went back to camp and inflated the SUP. We only had to walk across the street to access deep enough water to put it in the creek that fed into the lake. We didn’t have much time before we left so we only paddled a mile down the lake but it was so worth it, check out our short video! We had the entire lake to ourselves! We paddled past the playground where a bus had dropped off a bunch of kids. They thought it was cool that a dog was on a paddle board! We even got to paddle under a bridge! We stopped a few times and mommy and I went swimming in the lake, the water was surprisingly pretty warm and not as fast here! If you are interested in an inflatable SUP, look on the side bar for a special discount code (Leash75) and free shipping! Take it from me, it is worth it! And don’t forget to get your pup a doggy life jacket from Kurgo (enter Jack20), mommy forgot mine today so she wouldn’t let me jump off the board since I was naked!
Once again we were sad to leave this beautiful site. Checkout time was at 3 p.m. and we pulled out at 2:58! Mommy still had a little work to do so we stayed at the campground until 4 pm. And then headed to the 81 North toward Annapolis. We wanted to leave late to beat the Washington DC traffic. We forgot about Roanoke and went through there at 6 p.m. so we got stuck in traffic there and construction in DC at 11 p.m! So our 6 hour drive turned into an 8 hour drive but that was ok! We were feeling happy and good and arrived at our next destination, Sport Fit Fitness Center in Bowie, Maryland where we spent the night so we could see mommy’s friend, Pete in the morning!
We want to know, what is your favorite camping area on the East Coast? We are headed to the upper North East and would love to hear any recommendations for places to stop! We hope that we are inspiring you to go camping with your dog this summer because it sure is fun to explore new areas!
Thanks for following our journey, stay tuned for our visit in Annapolis, Maryland for the Dog Wood Acres Fitness class! We are excited to visit our friend Kelly so keep on…….
following our adventure here!!
