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PLEASE! NEED vacation ideas east/southeastish


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You could fairly easily do Gettysburg on the way to the Creation Museum (or were you planning to do that anyway?).

 

Near Gettysburg are Antietam and Harper's Ferry to add more to a Civil War trip. If in the summer months, Harper's Ferry has river tubing that is rather popular and the stretch of the Appalachian Trail that goes through there is supposed to be some of the prettiest (hearsay).

 

Are you planning on a loop to catch all 3 or just picking one as the destination?

 

Editing to add that you'd need a car. Amtrak goes to Harrisburg, but not Gettysburg. If you come west via route 30 at some point you could also see the Amish in Lancaster. If you come down I 78/81 you'd miss that.

Edited by creekland
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What kinds of things do you like to do and when are you thinking of going? Obviously coming to the midwest in the middle of January would nix a lot of outdoor stuff. If you did it closer to March/April, you could hit either the Cincinnati convention (right next door to the creation museum!) or the one in PA. http://www.cincinnatihomeschoolconvention.com The Cincy people are organizing 4 this year, so you might be able to hit one!

 

The creation museum is right on the border between Kentucky and Ohio. In Ohio we have tons for the Underground Railroad, if you are history buffs. If you like glass, there were 8-12 (I forget exactly) wonderful, wonderful glass factories. Some are still open and give tours, and the rest have unbelievable museums. Lots of Amish in Ohio. There were numerous presidents from Ohio, so you have their presidential libraries, birthplaces, etc. Thomas Edison was from Ohio, so you have his (very fascinating) house.

 

It pretty much just depends on what you like to do. There are tons and tons of caverns in Kentucky that would be open year round. VA also has good caverns. If you like history, of course VA is good for that. You don't need two weeks in VA, but you could enjoyably spend 4 or 5, no problem, just hitting the bigger sites. Then of course DC is there.

 

From Cincy/the creation museum to Gettysburg would be a long way. Guess I'd narrow down what you want to do. Kentucky and Ohio would pair nicely together and work for a variety of ages. Gettysburg /VA would be a more mature trip. DC is good for anyone.

 

Ok, I just punched it into google maps. From MA to Gettysburg is basically 7 hours (depending on where exaclty you are), and you'd go through NY. From Gettysburg to Cincy is ANOTHER 7 hours, which would be insane. There's too much on that route to do to be worth going farther. You could kill the whole two weeks with NY, Gettysburg, VA, and DC. That would be one to remember! On a lower key trip, you could drive to Buffalo, NY, doing things along the way (finger lakes, falls, Corning Glass Museum, Mark Twain's house, etc.), then go south through Ohio, hitting lots of stuff along the wall (all those presidential things I mentioned, a great chocolate factory, the Hoover house, Warther Carvings, Fenton, Cambridge glass museum, etc.), and end up in the Cincy area doing the creation museum, the Newport Aquarium, the zoo (either there or in Columbus or both), etc. A bit farther and you'd be into the caverns of Kentucky.

 

Both options (to Cincy or to Gettysburg) are about 14 hours driving. I'm not sure if you'd want to do a big loop. You might run out of days, hehe.

 

When I plan trips that are open-ended like this, I look for something that clicks as the Oh we really want to do that! Then I build the rest around it. So hopefully some things will stick for you. Should be fun! :)

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It pretty much just depends on what you like to do...

 

Both options (to Cincy or to Gettysburg) are about 14 hours driving. I'm not sure if you'd want to do a big loop. You might run out of days, hehe.

 

 

 

Do let us know what you like to do and how much driving is too much for you. For us, we've been known to drive 14 hours round trip just to eat at a favorite restaurant when the economy was better (spending the night there). It seems like "nothing" to us, but obviously to others, it's different! ;)

 

I would think either Gettysburg/Jamestown/DC and associated sites or Gettysburg/Creation Museum/Niagara Falls and associated sites would make a nice loop. We rather detest returning the same way we go somewhere. Loops are nicer and keep the vacation extended. However, you are on the road more with less time at each place. It's all personal preference, so what's yours? And what season are you traveling?

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"I would think either Gettysburg/Jamestown/DC and associated sites or Gettysburg/Creation Museum/Niagara Falls and associated sites would make a nice loop."

 

One or the other sounds good as we don't want to "overdo" and come home needing to recover from our vacation. As far as driving, it would fall mostly on dh, who tends to get hypnotized when driving lond distances, thus making a nerve-wracking ride. Therefore, Greyhound or Amtrack would probably be more suitable along with renting a vehicle at main destinations, KWIM?

 

OHELIZABETH- Please tell me more the specifics of places to go in the 2-3 hr. radius of the creation museum. We haven't a clue as to what's out there.

 

We would probably go in May or September, hoping for nice weather but "off season."

 

Thanks for any input!

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When I put together trips like this, I usually google the town and go to their visitor's website. Most towns have one. It will list restaurants, major attractions, etc. That way you can find the things that particularly interest *you*, kwim? If you like history, the Underground Railroad movement actually has a museum there. There are numerous famous cites in that area. There's a terrific cemetary that gives tours. There's the Newport Aquarium. You could do caverns in KY. The Cincy zoo and science museum are good. There's just tons to do. I saw on tv that the Duggars visited the Louisville Bat company to see bats made. You'd find plenty of things to do right there. From Cincy you're pretty close to Dayton where the Air Force museum is. It's pretty amazing if you like that kind of thing.

 

Did you check out the convention? http://www.cincinnatihomeschoolconvention.com You could do the convention for a day or two while they bop around and see cites. :)

 

There's really good ice cream and pizza in Cincinnati.... There's terrific bbq there too. What was the name of that place? They have a restaurant, but they came as a vendor to the convention. Out of this WORLD good bbq.

 

In the fall there's a renaissance festival just north of Cincinnati, less than an hour away. It's really good. Google that and you can find the dates.

 

My dh used to zone out with driving, and it's because his blood sugar wasn't good. Got that under control, stopped doing Wendy's frosties, and now he's fine.

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A few summers ago we did a trip to Gettysburg. We stayed in a condo in the Mechanicsburg, PA area. It was in a central location and within one hour to Gettysburg, Hershey Park, and Lancaster areas.

 

We enjoyed

http://www.indianechocaverns.com/index.htm

http://www.sight-sound.com

http://www.mennoniteinfoctr.com/

http://www.hersheypark.com/

 

We also toured a few farms in the Lancaster area.

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