Cherry Hill Park : Media Camping Center, Hatfield, PA RV Dealer

Cherry Hill Park - College Park, Maryland

By Jeff Page

When I started working here at Media Camping Center in Hatfield over 12 years ago, I was encouraged to go on RV camping trips with my family. The experience I was told, would help me better understand the needs of our customers and I in turn could help them find the right RV for their family.

Recently my 16 year old daughter Madelyn and I headed for Cherry Hill Park campground in College Park, Maryland in a 2004 Tioga SL 31W motorhome. Cherry Hill Park is one of Media Camping Center’s Camping Partners and is the perfect choice if your plans include a visit our nation’s capital.

Arriving late Saturday evening, we were greeted by smiling and courteous staff that directed us to our site and offered their help planning our day trips to Washington, D.C. We found our site easily because of the well marked roadways and in a few minutes were hooked up and ready for camping.

Sunday morning we attended one of the many local church services near the campground and then returned to take advantage of Cherry Hill Park’s two swimming pools. (I preferred the one that is heated, but Maddie thought I was being a wimp) We really enjoyed our first day of vacation swimming and having a great time with all the other campers we met. In all my camping trips over the years, I have always been amazed at how friendly and down-to-earth RVers are.

Monday morning, Maddie and I headed for the campground office and bought tokens and Metro passes at the camp store. Cherry Hill Park has a Metro bus stop in the campground that goes right to the Metro subway system and beyond. The staff at Cherry Hill Park recommended a two-day pass with unlimited on/off stops. This allowed us to see many more sights and attractions than we ever imagined thanks to Cherry Hill Park’s knowledgeable and friendly staff.

We rode in a neat open-air double-decker bus (which is great for taking pictures) to the White House, all the memorials, The National Shrine where many presidents have laid in state, Arlington cemetery where we saw the changing of the guard, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. What an awesome experience! We also saw JFK’s and RFK’s memorial as well as that of Joe Louis.

After returning to the campground nearly exhausted, we followed the directions of the staff to an area nearby that has many fine restaurants. Speaking of directions, anytime we wanted to go somewhere the campground staff had handouts with well-written instructions on how to get there and back. Boy, did that make it easy to get around!

During our entire trip we saw many great places to visit. The Smithsonian Air and Space museum was a lot of fun but I found out I will never qualify to fly an F-18 fighter jet. It’s a lot harder than it looks. The Holocaust Museum was a sobering experience. We hustled through it and it took a whole day but it was well worth it.
Madelyn loved the movie National Treasure and wanted to go to the National Archives where we saw an original copy of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Constitution, and the Magna Carta

On our last day we got to go on a tour of Capitol Hill, where our Senators and Representatives meet and create laws

I guess one of the best parts of the whole trip was that all the attractions we saw in D.C. were free! Anyone that knows me knows I can’t pass up something that’s free!

All in all, the entire trip was simply fantastic. I got to use a great Fleetwood motor home, stay at one of the best campgrounds I have found anywhere, meet lots and lots of friendly RVers, and visit our nations’ capital. But the best part of all, I got to do it all with my daughter Madelyn. Camping is such a great way to bring family together. See ya next year!

Editor's Note: Cherry Hill Park is a Free Camping Partner of Media Camping Center, PA RV Dealers. Purchase your new or used RV from Media Camping Center in Hatfield and you'll receive over 100 nights of free camping coupons to some of the finest Campgrounds and RV Resorts in the country, PLUS a 3-park membership to Thousand Trails. For more information on this exclusive benefit, call us at (800) 880-0335, or better yet, stop in for all the details.