Exploring the DELAWARE coast! (Cape Henlopen State Park + Rehoboth Beach)

When you last saw us, we were exploring northern Alabama, and after a week of driving over 800 miles across the U.S., we have made it to our 45th state of Delaware. Woohoo! Delaware is nicknamed the First State because it was the first to ratify the United States Constitution in 1787, making it the first state in the U.S. Right here is the site of the tavern of where it happened. How cool is it to be standing in such an important spot in our nation's history? And while it may be the second smallest state in the U.S., the whole eastern side of the state is on the water, so our goal over the next few days is to experience part of Delaware's coastline, including its pristine beaches, small towns, delicious local eats, history, and so much more. While here in Delaware, we're staying at Cape Henlopen State Park, which is located on the mouth of the Delaware Bay and is known for its 6-plus miles of coastline, wildlife, and historic sites. And we're going to be channeling our ultimate Delaware beach getaway vibes for the next couple days, and just be taking it a little bit easier than normal, and having coffee on this beautiful beach is not a bad way to start. Oh! Dolphins! Heck yeah! So we were just sitting here drinking our coffee, and I saw a dolphin out in the distance, so I just told Adam to keep looking, hoping that it would resurface, and it did, and not only was there one dolphin, there were two dolphins! How cool! Oh my gosh, this water feels like ice cubes! Cape Henlopen has been an important strategic location for many years, and during World War II, Fort Miles was built to protect nearby infrastructure and port cities from German attacks, and afterwards it was used for a top-secret Navy program to track Russian submarines. There is a museum here, but it's not open today, but we can still walk around and check out the artillery. Oh, that's really loud! This is a 16-inch gun that has a range of 27.5 miles, holy cow, and it shoots shells just like this one that weigh 2,700 pounds, the same weight as a kiosk or a hippopotamus. The fort also has some control towers, which were used across the Delaware Coast to monitor the coastline and also direct the firing of guns during an attack. There are 11 of them across the Delaware Coast, plus one in New Jersey, but Cape Henlopen State Park has the only one that you can go to the top of. From the top of the tower, you have sweeping views of the area up to 14.5 miles on a clear day, including some of the other towers, Rehoboth Beach, and somewhere back there, if you look really closely, I think is New Jersey. For lunch, we came to a spot called Taco Riho, which is a rock-themed taco shop that came highly recommended to us from multiple locals, and y'all know we love us some tacos. Alright, we've got ourselves a little spread of tacos here, a Baja fish, buffalo shrimp, beef shorty, and chicken tinga. Look at this giant roll of burnt cheese in there, that, it looks so awesome. We need more burnt cheese on tacos, starting the petition right now. More burnt cheese, more burnt cheese, more burnt cheese. This beef one is super juicy, and this tortilla looks amazing. They do everything homemade here, you can actually see where they make the tortillas, up towards the front, mmm, oh no, oh no, kind of messy. There are a couple cool little towns in this area, and we're currently walking around Lewis, which was the site of the first European settlement in Delaware. Lewis, which at the time was known as Zwanendael, was founded by the Dutch in 1631 as a whaling and trading port, however, it didn't last for very long, as the local Native American tribe killed all 32 settlers in 1632 after a disagreement. For years, it had a bit more excitement, including attacks from pirates and the British, but today, it is a super charming town. As we mentioned, there was an attack by the British on Lewis back in 1813, during the War of 1812, and during that, a cannonball hit this building right behind me. The building is now a museum, and they have the cannonball inside, but until recently, you used to be able to see a replica cannonball right here, but there's been some recent drama in Lewis. Someone stole the cannonball. They did find the cannonball, and I was just informed by a man walking down the street that the cannonball will be back in the building on Memorial Day, but there is still a cannonball thief on the loose. Whoops, we found a super cute local ice cream shop, so we obviously had to stop in. I feel like as soon as it hits the summertime, our ice cream consumption just shoots up. We're back at Cape Henlipen State Park, and while usually the East Coast is known for sunrises, there is a spot in the park called The Point, which is where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, and it faces both east and west, and we hear it's a great spot for sunset. Today our plan is to go exploring by bike, and one really cool thing about Cape Henlipen State Park is that they actually have free bike rentals for up to two hours, however you can only stay in the park with these bikes, and our plan is to leave the park, so we're renting bikes from Lewis Cycle Sports instead. Alright, our goal today is to ride to Rehoboth Beach, which is about five miles south of here. Most of our ride to Rehoboth Beach is taking us through Cape Henlipen State Park along the Gordon Pond Trail, which is a beautiful trail that takes you along boardwalks, through salt marshes, through the forest, and to Gordon Pond, which is a 900-acre saltwater lagoon. I see the ocean! We've made it to Rehoboth Beach, so unfortunately we're here at the time of year when after 10 a.m. you can't ride your bikes on the boardwalk, so we're going to lock them up here and continue on foot. Rehoboth Beach is the largest beach resort in the state of Delaware, and it's nicknamed the Nation's Summer Capital. It's one of those iconic East Coast beach towns with a boardwalk lined with tons of businesses and a giant beach. Can we get ice cream? I want cotton candy. Come on kids, let's go. Be nice to them. We had heard that one must-have experience while here in Rehoboth are Thrasher fries. Thrasher started in Ocean City, Maryland in 1929, and have since spread to Rehoboth. They are said to be some of the best fries in the world, so we had to check them out for ourselves. Just look at this humongous bucket of fries. This is their large size, and we heard someone in line say that if it's your first time there, you just gotta get the large, so we listened to them. One very important thing to know about Thrasher's is that the only condiment you can put on there is apple cider vinegar and salt. There is no ketchup there. They will tell you no if you ask, so we drizzled a little bit of vinegar on it. I like vinegary things, but I don't love the smell of it, so I'm curious to see if I'll like it. I think we only really got vinegar on the top ones, so this one should be loaded. Mmm. Yeah, those are solid french fries. I do feel like I maybe taste a little tanginess from the vinegar, but it's not as overpowering as I was concerned about. They're still crunchy, even though we just spent like five minutes trying to get photos of it, getting attacked by birds, it was a whole thing. Mmm. Oh, they're super good. Nice and thick cut, so there's obviously lots of potato, and I'll say that they're kind of pillowy fries on the inside. They're some of the best I've ever had. I love the skin on there, too. The large bucket was definitely the right choice. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it's so cold. It is really cold. How are people swimming in this? This is freezing cold, and it's cloudy, and it's not that hot out today. Oh my gosh. Brave souls here in Delaware, very tough people. It is so cold, whoo, there's a big one, and it actually hurts. It's campfire time, baby. Tonight, we grilled up some steak and veggies, and it looks so good. So excited. Mmm. Tender, juicy garlic. Mmm. That may be one of the best steaks that we have ever made. Way to go, chef. Shout out to my sous chef. That's me. Yeah, that's you. I'm the sous chef. Delaware is probably the state that we knew the least about in the entire United States, and I kind of feel like it's a very forgotten state. The common joke is Delaware, but I think where Delaware is is one of the best things about it. It is close to so many major cities here in the U.S., but at least down in this part of Delaware, it's just a much slower pace of life, and this was the perfect coastal getaway.