I camp in a travel trailer, and have done 2 road trips so far with the hubby. First trip was Savannah>St. Augustine>Charleston. We were short on choice in Savannah and stuck with a KOA sandwiched between Hwy 17 and 95. It... was a safe place to park and the showers were decent, I'll give it that. The campground in St Augustine was out on the barrier islands and just a whole old Florida vibe (North Beach Camp Resort). I loved the privacy between spots, and the 2 restaurants within waking distance. Not cheap, and not normally our thing, but it was our anniversary. On our way back north we stopped in Charleston at a city park that had a campground (James Island County Park) . It was perfect y'all. Affordable, in/out privileges with a gate code after hours, a lake and a water park on site, wooded campsites with full hookups, and didn't feel crowded even though it was relatively full.
Our second road trip was to a music festival that took us through West Virginia. We stayed in a couple of state parks passing through, and I definitely want to go back in the fall. WV just has beautiful parks, and I got a good dose of "felt like home" even though I'm from southwestern VA.
Being on the east coast, I wish we had more prevalent places to boondock such as BLM land. Sure we've got logging roads in National Forests, but there is also a lot of privately owned property peppered through the forests I'm familiar with, and I'm nervous I'm going to piss someone off by trespassing.
So where all have you been this season? Hit me with ideas!
Acadia is a great option for you!
I love Acadia! I went last year and it broke into my top national parks list. Beautiful park, wonderful camping experience. Only bad part is how out of the way it is (which is also a good part)
If you're into hiking, there are so many great places to hike there. We did the Gorham Mt Loop, the Beehive Loop, and a Mt. Cadillac sunrise hike, and all of them were incredible.
If you're into biking, there's the carriage roads on Mt. Desert Island, and if you're willing to go a bit out of your way (perhaps on the drive up or down the coast), Isle au Haut is a fantastic little island to rent a bike and ride around on (but bring bug spray!)
If you're interested in a more relaxed experience, there's puffin tours, the flat and calm Jordan Path Pond and neighboring Jordan Pond House, the Wild Gardens of Acadia, Sand Beach (water is cold though!), and Bar Harbor is also just wonderful to visit and walk around.
While you're up in that area of the world, be sure to visit the Bioluminescent Bay in Castine Harbor and do the kayak tour! I've been to the bio bays in Puerto Rico (which claim they're the "only ones in the world"), but they have nothing on what I saw in Maine. Truly magical experience.
I've been wanting to give Maine a try since I met a couple friends that would spend their summers there. I don't know why I think of it as so far away when I just basically drove that far to FL and back. But we'd have to set aside a good chunk of time because there is so much to see there. I didn't even know bioluminescent kayak tours were a thing, and now that's on the list!