Road trip advice
 

I want to take the kiddos on a short road trip, maybe a week. It should include things to see/do/explore/learn, all those things that 5 to 9 year olds like.

It's got to be on the cheap, so air travel is out, and hotel staying is out. It could include camping and Eurotrash couch surfing at friends and families.

Any general ideas?

Show 'em their future... camp at the Jersey shore.;)

I know you said cheap, but Plimoth Plantation is pretty freaking cool and very educational. It's about to close for winter, but will open again in March. You can even pay extra and get to spend the night in one of the houses in the village or even sleep on the Mayflower. Edit: I just saw it's $600 per night per house, so never mind. But a day visit is very cool.

We went when the kids were about that age, and they loved it.

If you just want to go camping, and spend time out doors, I think you'll find that a lot of campgrounds are closed for the season. For example, the Maryland state parks closed their campgrounds last weekend. I think the National Park campgrounds stay open.

What about the finger lakes region? Watkins Glen is awesome. And you can get them started on a wine habit. Never too young to learn. ;)

I love the Hudson River Valley, but there's not a lot there for kids.

Cities have cool museums, but not much camping. Although you might be surprised. There's a nice campground inside the DC Beltway. DC is kind of far from you, but you can stay in the Greenbelt campground for $16/night, and take the Metro into downtown to see the free Smithsonian museums.

I'd offer to let you stay with us, but we really don't have the space, and it wouldn't go over too well. But I'd meet you for lunch if you came. Give you plenty of tips for sites to see.

Only advice I would offer is to NOT have a plan. go where the day takes you.

So far Finger Lakes is the most likely. I've got friends in Ithaca who run tours during the summer.

Drunk tours or bike tours?

Niagara would be cool too.

Niagara is great. If you drive north on the parkway on the Canadian side, there's the School of Horticulture, a number of places to stop like the Whirlpool, and then you get to Niagara on the Lake, which is beautiful. Historical houses, historical stores, etc. I'm not sure if there's anything going on at this time of year but it's a lovely spot.

The Finger Lakes sound great too. Beautiful walking areas.

Taking the kids out of the country without the mom present might require cutting through some red tape.

it requires a letter from the absent parent. passports are good too or certified copies of their birth certificates

Or duct tape and gunny sacks.

Oops yeah, forgot ... letter definitely needed. Sorry about that ...

@ Bruce - :lol: Way to get Canadian Customs all OVER your business! Although as long as duty's paid, they don't care that much ... it's all about the taxes. :rolleyes:

Just don't get in a line with a female Customs agent. They are seriously unamused about absolutely everything.

Wine and cheese and gorges
The inch and I and my friend and his son, the inches friend all went camping near Niagara last summer. Don't recall the campground but it was right on that there big ass lake. We could see, again I forget the name, some big ass Canadadadian city with a lot of lights and tallish buildings. I'll have to get back to you on the tiny details.

It was awesome even with coming down with Lyme disease in the middle of the trip.

Horticulture? You can lead them there but you can't make them think.

I want to make a Gardener's T shirt that says
"Leading a Horticulture by planting one thought at a time"

Given the current state of tension and paranoia I would bet money that asking for a letter would be what I like to call "a bad idea."