A Maryland summer vacation that ISN'T Ocean City or preferably not Baltimore

I'll start by saying tourist season Ocean City is completely off the table financially. Baltimore could be an option, but I'd prefer not to be in a big city for a vacation, and I feel like the parts of Baltimore I could afford would be problematic. 

Now that that is out of the way I'm looking for recommendations for next summer. 

It may be any combination of the 4 of us, from me and the wife alone, to possibly including the by then 10 and 17 year old daughters. 

The women like beaches and swimming, I prefer fishing, crabbing, and eating. 

I feel like I'm probably looking for something that doesn't exist anymore. But somewhere on the Chesapeake that won't cost $1000 just for a roof over our heads, preferably where I could get on a head boat (not a charter, I don't even want to know what those cost these days) to do some fishing for a day or two, or maybe with a pier I could do some crabbing off of. Definitely looking for all you can eat blue crabs to share my favorite childhood experiences with my family, if it turns out I'm patient enough to teach them how to do it. Soft shell sandwiches look amazing too. 

In the past, meaning 20 years ago, I'd stayed in Towson and Ridge with my family. Very different vibes even back then, but me and Dad could fish fairly cheaply, we all got great food, Mom could hang out on the side of the water and read all day, everybody was happy. 

So what do you got? Secret cheap places in the country that are close to the Bay? Relative have a random house they might rent out cheap to friends of the family? Honestly a super 8 is just fine, especially since I don't get a Choice or Hilton discount anymore. If the kids aren't involved I'm perfectly ok with sketchier, chincier hotels if they're considerably cheaper than the alternatives. As long as sleeping with a gun under my pillow isn't recommended, I'm good with it. 

It should go without saying, but I'd really like to avoid DC and the state of VA as a whole, don't need me or the wife losing our license on a vacation. 

Hagarstown?

In reply to preach :

Bit far from the ocean, though? My first thoughts were also inland (like Cumberland, Hancock or Hagerstown/Frederick) but if they want to drive to the beach, that's a fair trek.

If you want beach, but not OC, stay outside of OC and beach at Assateague. If you want salt water but not OC, the bay towns can be nice, even as far North as Havre De Grace. Look at Chesapeake Beach, Cambridge etc. Fresh water (no crabs) try Deep Creek Lake. 

In reply to RevRico :

EDIT: I just reread first post. I'll ask around. I have family and friends in DC area who own places in OC.

Severna park is nice and quite with some severn river access, also hanging out in Annapolis near Ego Alley is beautiful. It has tons of shops, restaurants and is on the water.

Ooo, I just found the motel/Marina we used to stay at in Ridge is still open. Drurys Marina. No website, no Facebook, but maps updates are still current. Doesn't look like anyone runs head boats from there directly, but 30 minutes to Solomon isn't bad to catch one. 

Ridge was sketchy 20 years ago though, not sure how I'd feel about leaving the wife and older daughter to roam free while me and the youngest are out fishing these days. 

I've spent a good bit of time in Deep Creek, Frostburg, and Hagerstown. They're under 2 hours from home, but almost as far to salt water. 

Truthfully we're still weighing going back to Lancaster or going out west to visit my old boss both of these without the kids, but I'm trying to think of a full family trip we could take because we never really have. And between rewatching the Wire and seeing a lot of stuff recently on Faceache of crab sandwiches, AYCE Blues, and pit beef, it's getting in my head that it's not much further than Lancaster, and maybe could be done as cheaply.

I hear ya on avoiding the Commonwealth of Virginia at all costs, but the Eastern Shores of Virginia seem to be what you're looking for.  All you have to do is not so much as cut a loud fart while driving through that area and you'll be ok.  Last time I drove through the Eastern Shores, I counted 30 cops from the top to the bottom.  They all share the common goal of keeping me safe from myself from driving 3mph over the speed limit that goes from 55 to 25 with as little notice as humanly possible.  It's all for safety.

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

I see no Hammerjack's bumper sticker...

Look for AirBnB/VRBO on the Eastern Shore, say between Chestertown and Cambridge.  Rock Hall is great for fishing and crabbing.  Lots of decent small towns along that whole stretch, and shouldn't be too hard to find a headboat the farther south you get toward the wider part of the Bay.

Not Maryland, but further south on the Eastern Shore in VA, KOA has a palace of a glampground, including cabins with ac. 

https://koa.com/campgrounds/chesapeake-bay/

I'd recommend bouncing across the Eastern shore so the drive down there isn't as long. Crisfield for 2-3 days with day trips planned from Crisfield to Tangier island. Then onto Cape Charles, then stop in St. Micheal's for an overnight on the way back. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

I see no Hammerjack's bumper sticker...

Someone stole it

Lewes, DE always seemed a little less crazy then the OCM, Rehobeth, Dewey life but not sure if that translates to cheaper in season. 

We have friends that rent a small house in a neighborhood in Ocean Pines, MD and use it as an outpost for the ones that want to go to the beach (I believe the town has parking and a beach club near ~54th St in OCM) and then they crab in in the back bay. Bonus, they find houses with a pool or hot tub that gets more use on vacation then they expected as well. 

Steve_Jones said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

I see no Hammerjack's bumper sticker...

Someone stole it

Baltimorons gonna, well, you know.

This just makes me miss Baltimore.

Old_Town said:

Lewes, DE always seemed a little less crazy then the OCM, Rehobeth, Dewey life but not sure if that translates to cheaper in season.

Lewes is nice, but it's still going to be fairly crazy in-season.  The nice part of Lewes is fairly small, and it is surrounded by typical sprawl.

Shouldn't be hard to find a headboat there for a day's fishing out of sight of land.

Lewes is located on the Delaware Bay side, just north of Cape Henlopen, which forms the border between the Delaware bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  Cape Henlopen is a very nice state park and has some interesting stuff, plus it's mostly natural.  That means no boardwalk, no restaurants, etc. but far smaller crowds.  It has public beach on both the ocean and bay sides, plus toilets, showers, etc.

I figure you have a six or seven hour drive for this trip. Would you consider an 8 hour drive? 

Point your sights to Charlevoix Michigan. 

No crab, but everything else you want is there. Freshwater and nothing in the water wants to hurt you or kill you. 

Or, is saltwater a requirement?

OC Maryland makes me love Virginia so much more. 

Virginia makes me love Tennessee so much more. 

Tennessee makes me realize how much I hate vacationing when it's not the Challenge. 

The perfect Maryland vacation spot is the Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge presented by Tire Rack. 

In reply to John Welsh :

Plus you can hang out with GRMidwest!

In reply to John Welsh :

Well some things are in the works already that would greatly cut down the cost of a trip to Maryland. Part of it is nostalgia, both Dana and I spent a good bit of time in the area growing up, and we've never had a family vacation in the 10 years we've been together. Lots of weekend getaways for the two of us, and the weeklong trip to Lancaster as the two of us, but we feel we should get a family vacation in before the oldest goes off to college. 

Plus I miss crab, and somehow it's cheaper to overnight live lobster from Maine than to order a bushel of blues or case of soft shells from Maryland. 

The girls would also rather do the beach than the woods, so it's 3 against 1 on that vote. 

I have places to stay across the Midwest oddly enough, Minnesota, Michigan, the UP, so I'll make it there eventually, probably after the oldest moves out. 

We have also been looking at Tennessee, because I want to see Roger Alan Wade play before he kicks the bucket, and he doesn't seem to leave the Chattanooga area anymore. Friends of ours go to Gatlinburg every year and always try to get us to tag along. But that would probably be a just the two of us trip, or maybe bringing the youngest to hang out with her cousins while me and Gary get drunk and magnet fish.

In reply to RevRico :

I get it. The northern Michigan is family nostalgic for me. Once on a vacation to Virginia beach, but I did not plan, or in charge of, I wished I was rather in northern Michigan.  

In reply to RevRico :

A bushel 0f large males (and they're not that large) is over $300 now, it's nuts. 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

Yea, I saw that earlier today but I was hoping it was just the Ocean City price. Last time I looked they were around $200, the last time we bought a bushel everybody was complaining about $150, that was 16ish years ago. When I was growing up my dad and his friends would regularly get multiple bushels and a pony keg and make a Saturday out of it, those were always good times for me because even in single digit age I could put a hurting on blues. That's a memory I'd love to pass down, but it's so expensive now I just can't.

I was looking for soft shells last week, $50 dollars a dozen for hotels was reasonable, but then $50 shipping got tacked on. 

I can get 1.5lb live/fresh Maine lobsters at $15-18 a piece with a free shipping at $200. I wanted to have a crab bash for my kids birthday one year but when I saw $200/bushel and I jokingly, at first, looked at lobster prices and it blew my mind that I could serve 20-30 people lobster from freaking Maine cheaper than crab from 4 hours away. So I've been checking in every now and then to see that they've been stable or actually gone down the last few years. 

I'm already trying to do the math. If my bigass cooler fits in the car with us and all our luggage, I can buy a $15 crab license, a $30 trap, and rent a kayak and catch a bushel a day in theory. Should be able to store them on dry ice. But I don't know the time investment of getting to public crabbing grounds and catching a bushel, and selling that as a daily thing to the wife could be difficult. 

Hand lining doesn't need a license though, and i think the girls will like it. We might be able to at least bring a smaller cooler full home on the cheap.

As a MD native, I take all my vacations in other states.

But given your requirements, Steve Jones and Duke are on the right track. Pick a town on the bay that has touristy hotels. I'm going to repeat a few from others, but here are some ideas, from north to south

• North East
• Elk Neck State Park (if you can do camping)
• Rock Hall (I've never there, but it peaked long ago before the Bay Bridge, so maybe there's a cheap hotel there just hanging on. It'll be quiet there.
• Chesapeake Beach (previously mentioned and I agree with this one). Not much of a beach there, despite the name, but it'll do, and there's even a boardwalk.
• Cambridge, but I don't see a beach option
• Solomons (I stayed there for work once and thought it was quite nice
• My wife and kids spent several days in an Air B&B somewhere on the Potomac in St Mary's County. Looks just like the Bay.
• If tent camping ain't gettin' it, look for campgrounds with cabins.