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PA folks--college visits, need reccs for lodging/stops


whitestavern
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DD has six colleges in PA she would like to visit this fall. We live in CT and some of the schools are quite far, so sometimes we will need to leave on a Friday night, drive halfway or more, and resume travel to the school on Saturday am to make a tour. So I'm trying to figure out where might be good stopping places (convenient to highway, safe, inexpensive)

 

1. She has one appointment at Juniata in Huntingdon at 9:45 am. Where might be a good place for us to find lodging? Wilkes Barre or Hazelton look good on a map. Anyone have any input on those towns/cities?

 

2. She has an appointment at Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster one morning at 9:30 am. What about lodging en route to here? Again, looking at a map, something right outside Philly looks like a good stopping point. Is anyone familiar with Willow Grove? I want to be outside the city a little.

 

3. Last one. Traveling to Allegheny in Meadville. We are leaving earlier in the day for that one (loooong drive) so we can get further along, thank goodness. So it looks like somewhere around Clarion, PA might be a good point to spend the night. Any ideas on this one? After Allegheny we’re traveling to Washington & Jefferson. Then we will likely need to stop somewhere on our way back to CT. The Allentown area looks to be a bit over halfway. Any ideas here?

 

I appreciate any assistance as we are just not familiar with this area. (As an aside, any info on these schools is very much appreciated!) TIA!

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You'll be able to find good lodging in all of those places. I'm a little confused as to why you need to stop halfway since none of your travels are more than 3-4 hours that I can tell? Am I missing something? I would rather drive straight to my destination, spend the night nearby, and not have to get up quite so early to make the meetings the next morning.

 

Regardless of what you decide to do, TripAdvisor would be really helpful for getting a handle on unfamiliar towns and the lodging options there.

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You'll be able to find good lodging in all of those places. I'm a little confused as to why you need to stop halfway since none of your travels are more than 3-4 hours that I can tell? Am I missing something? I would rather drive straight to my destination, spend the night nearby, and not have to get up quite so early to make the meetings the next morning.

 

Regardless of what you decide to do, TripAdvisor would be really helpful for getting a handle on unfamiliar towns and the lodging options there.

 

For the first two trips we can't leave CT until 6ish pm due to swim meets. It takes around 7 hours to get to Juniata, so we have to stop somewhere maybe 4 to 5 hours in. Franklin & Marshall is 5 hours away, so again, I'd rather get most of the way there and drive a little bit in the am. Allegheny is 8 hours away, so even though we have an earlier start for that one, it's still a lot of driving for one day. But I would like to get most of it done that first day. Coming back from Washington & Jefferson is a 9 hour trip, so again, too much for me, even though dd will be helping with the driving.

 

Trip Advisor is good for judging a hotel but doesn't really tell me if a town is convenient or safe.

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For the first two trips we can't leave CT until 6ish pm due to swim meets. It takes around 7 hours to get to Juniata, so we have to stop somewhere maybe 4 to 5 hours in. Franklin & Marshall is 5 hours away, so again, I'd rather get most of the way there and drive a little bit in the am. Allegheny is 8 hours away, so even though we have an earlier start for that one, it's still a lot of driving for one day. But I would like to get most of it done that first day. Coming back from Washington & Jefferson is a 9 hour trip, so again, too much for me, even though dd will be helping with the driving.

 

Trip Advisor is good for judging a hotel but doesn't really tell me if a town is convenient or safe.

That's weird. I'm not getting those kinds of times when I plug it into google maps. That's why I was confused. Oh well, carry on. Travel is an adventure :)

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I made many trips to Selinsgrove, PA last fall semester.  Wilkes-Barre has everything you need--several restaurants and decent lodging.  I stopped there often to grab a bite to eat and stayed once at the Hampton Inn and Suites (when no lodging was available near Susquehanna U).  The lodging was typical for a Hampton Inn.  W-B is right off the highway, so very convenient.

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