The last leg of our vacation will be travlling down from Washington to Cape Charles. We have a rental car and I should very much like some advice on the best route. We shall be travelling on Saturday ,5th July so I'm wondering if 4th July celebrations will have any knock on effect. Was thinking of going down on route 17 then across via Chesapeake Tunnel or, leaving Washington going across to Maryland and then down that way.Hope someone can help , looking forward to our trip which had to be postponed from last year the day prior to departure.

Barbara,

I think that your idea of going down Rt. 17 is fantastic for departing DC. It is a beautiful drive and you'll avoid all of the I-95 madness. We often take this route when driving down to Williamsburg during the summer and never encounter the kind of traffic you see on I-95.

Barbara,

I'm perplexed about Rte. 17. Where would that take you? Why not just take 50 east and cross to the DelMarVa peninsula at (above) Annapolis and then go south on US 13? We did a little bit of that in reverse last year going south from NY/NJ to DC and wanting to avoid 95 (of course!). Obviously, we didn't continue south on 13 to the bottom of the peninsula.

On the July 4th weekend, any route will be crowded, but getting away from the interstates would nevertheless be a plus.

Ann