Greenbrier State Park in Boonsboro, MD

I know I rave about most of the places my kids and I explore, but this is one of the coolest places around here.  If you are look­ing for a fun sum­mer day with your kids, Greenbrier State Park (map) will not dis­ap­point. It is worth every mile of the drive, even at the cur­rent gas prices. My friend in Baltimore agrees, and her drive is even longer.

What’s so great about this place? Clean white sand, calm clean (as far as I can tell) water sans rip­tides, waves, sharks, and jel­ly­fish, life­guards on duty, per­fectly placed lines denot­ing swim­ming area for lit­tle ones, sand cas­tles, the sound of happy sum­mer laugh­ter.… Plus there’s more:

• camp­ing

• boat launch

• vis­i­tor center
• hik­ing
• prox­im­ity to the Appalachian trail (where my chil­dren met a through hiker!)
• fish­ing
• and store full of junk food.

I feel so far away from my to do list here that it is easy to be com­pletely present with my kids and enjoy a one day holiday.

As with any place that draws crowds, there as issues with lit­ter that make me sad and mad, but Greenbrier is no worse than plenty of parks here in Loudoun in that department.

Tips for your visit

• There is a walk from the park­ing lot to the beach, so when you toss every­thing in your car make sure to con­sider how you will carry it all.
• The beach bath­rooms are wet, busy, a bit grimy, and usu­ally in need of a clean­ing. If you decide to camp, how­ever, the bath­rooms there are incred­i­bly well maintained.
• If you plan to camp, call and ask which loop is closer to the beach.
• Call ahead to find out life­guard hours. The life­guards are off duty for the 2008 sea­son already but, accord­ing to the web­site, swim­ming at your own risk is allowed until the end of September so it is not too late to squeeze in an after­noon at the beach.

Tagged as: beach, swimming lake, water fun