Hi all,

We'd like to take our kids (age 18 and 16) on a 3-day long weekend getaway later this summer before my son starts his freshman college in the fall. We take a yearly 10-day vacation to visit my family on the seacoast of NH where I grew up every year, so we'd like to do something away from the beach. In past 3-day trips, we've been to Washington DC, NYC, Newport RI, and Williamsburg, VA. We're thinking we'd like to go somewhere south, around 4-5 max hour drive from York, PA. Some ideas we've been kicking around:

Shenandoah National Park/Luray, VA
Charlottesville, VA/Monticello
Mount Vernon/Manassas, VA
Niagara Falls, NY
Harper's Ferry, WV
Annapolis, MD

We like the outdoors, but not much into camping. We enjoy historic areas/sites, good food, and fun/interesting/educational places to visit.

I was wondering if you had any specific suggestions for where to stay and what to do in and around the areas I listed above, but also if you had any additional recommendations for places to consider and things to do. Thanks for the help!

Chris

Skip Niagara Falls NY and go to Niagara on the Lake Ontario. Take the jet boat ride on the gorge, kids will love it. Lots of B&Bs. Easy drive to the horseshoe falls, stay for the laser show. Lots of attractions on Canadian side. Puts NY to shame.

Harper's Ferry, WV has a lot of history, trails to walk, and a lot of little shops and restaurants to spend your money in. Not far from Harper's Ferry is Charlestown. They have a horse track and a casino. I enjoy the horse races. If you don't gamble it's fun to watch.

There are awesome restaurants all around the area. I have a few suggestions if you end up in that area.

Schmankerl Stube in Hagerstown, MD. It's an authentic German restaurant. If you visit during the weekend make reservations, but during the week you shouldn't need them.

There is a Bavarian Inn in Shephardstown, WV with a German restaurant. It's good too, but the place in Hagerstown is a whole step above IMHO.

Kazu Thai and Japanese Restaurant in Shepherdstown, WV. I had my first Thai curry and tried sushi for the first time at this restaurant and both were amazing!

The Braddock Inn in Braddock Heights, MD. Stopped here for a late lunch on the way back to Charlestown after visiting meaderies all morning. It was really good.

I've been to most of those places.

Harper's Ferry.

Make sure you do the Maryland Heights hike. There are a few ways up and it is mostly up and then back down but the view is 100% worth the effort. You can walk into town after for lunch or whatever depending on when you do the hike.

Shenandoah National Park/Luray, VA

I've done many hikes in Shenandoah and camped there in some backcountry sites. Also, see a bunch of black bears there but they always run away when you come upon them. There are a nice visitor center and restaurant in the park.

Old Rag and Marys Rock are both great hikes in the park. Old Rag parking area will fill up quickly on the weekend so get there early. Can't remember the parking for Mary's Rock.

Annapolis is nice.

Lots of good food and places to visit. Rent a boat and get out on the water.

Niagra Falls, NY.

I would head over the to the Canadian side. Much more to do but also visit the US side if you're there for a few days.

quote:

Annapolis is nice.

Lots of good food and places to visit. Rent a boat and get out on the water.

Not to mention you can visit the Naval Academy. You just have to present a photo ID to the guard at the gate. I think they give guided tours, but when I was there we kind of just showed up. So do your own research on that. I was most impressed with the chapel. In the crypt is the final resting place of John Paul Jones which you can visit.

I would do Charlottesville/Monticello.

From that base of operations you are less than an hour from the blue ridge via action mountain, roughly 90 minutes from Manassas.

You have a ton of options there. In spite of the recent crap, Charlottesville is a great town. Stay north of town in Greene county and look at the blue ridge from your B&B

Btw, if you choose to drive to Manassas you will drive through Brandy Station, the site of the largest Cavalry battle of the civil war

You also have fairly easy access to the Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania court house and Fredericksburg, if the civil war is your thing

If my state wasn’t rapidly turning into New York politically I would live the rest of my days somewhere on the outskirts of Charlottesville, in the foot hills of the blue ridge

Annapolis is really nice, but I think you'd get bored being there 3-days. Maybe because I spent 4 years there, but to me it's a day trip to see the downtown (which is great) and USNA.

You could combine it and stop there for a night / day, then move over to one of your other choices - Shenandoah National Park/Luray, VA,
Charlottesville, VA/Monticello, Mount Vernon/Manassas, VA, Harper's Ferry, WV for the rest of the time, or make a big circle out of it and see a bit of all of them.

In addition to Harper's Ferry, might I suggest looking at Canaan Valley, WV? It's in the northeastern part of the state, as well (not the panhandle). It is our single favorite area of the state, very unique climate/ecology, etc.
We go 3-4 times per year to Canaan Valley, can't get enough of it.
Enjoy your visit over this way!

I've been to all those places. You could do two of them in a long weekend. Luray is kind of interesting, but there are not many good places to eat in the part of the world. Annapolis is nice, but not worth three days. Ditto for Harper's Ferry. Check out Antietam Battlefield. And I forget the name, but this is a cool cave to see right around there too.

Cape May NJ is a good destination

Blue ridge parkway/Peaks of Otter/Bedford/D-Day Memorial followed by dinner in Roanoke. I love that area and would love to retire on Smith Mountain Lake (in 30 years).

Do Harper's ferry, luray and Monticello. They are all in a big line so you could make it a road trip.

Get up early day 1 drive to luray. Enjoy the scenery and the caverns and continue on to Charlottesville. Spend day 2 and 3 in Charlottesville leaving in the late afternoon and driving towards Harper's ferry. Spend day 4 at Harper's ferry before heading home that afternoon.

I've been to all 3 of them and they are mostly day trips. Youd be hard pressed to get 4 days of stuff out of any of them except maybe Charlottesville but that might be pushing it.

Manassas/mt Vernon aren't exactly close to one another. Probably over an hour these days in normal traffic. If you shoot clays though, bull run in Manassas has a world class public shotgun range with every shotgun game imaginable.

quote:

Originally posted by VictimNoMore:
In addition to Harper's Ferry, might I suggest looking at Canaan Valley, WV? It's in the northeastern part of the state, as well (not the panhandle). It is our single favorite area of the state, very unique climate/ecology, etc.
We go 3-4 times per year to Canaan Valley, can't get enough of it.
Enjoy your visit over this way!

Love that area. I try to get up to the Dolly Sods area a few times each year for weekend backpacking trips. Absolutely beautiful up there.

I've never heard of anyone wanting to visit Manassas, mostly people trying to flee. Manassas Battlefield and a P- Nats game are the only redeeming qualities of Manassas. Mount Vernon is definitely worth a visit. There are a couple of overlooks on GW Parkway worth stopping at too.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I've never heard of anyone wanting to visit Manassas, mostly people trying to flee. Manassas Battlefield and a P- Nats game are the only redeeming qualities of Manassas. Mount Vernon is definitely worth a visit. There are a couple of overlooks on GW Parkway worth stopping at too.

Bull Run ain't exactly Gettysburg either. Bull Run shooting center is the best part of Manassas.