Our 10 yr old granddaughter will be flying east to visit with us, then we will drive to Oregon to take her home. She is an awesome kid and full of wonder. My question for all of you- what would you make a point of seeing on a cross-country trip? Please do not include any amusement parks!!! Heehee.
What would you visit if you drove from NJ to OR?
I think some of it depends on what her and your interests are and what you have done around your area when she was there. It also will depend on how much time you have to make the trip and how much you are willing to wander from the straightest path.
Some things I might do would be some of the Amish attractions around Lancaster Pa. You could go to Philly and take the northeast extension heading to Binghamton with the Idea of stopping into the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning. They have some hands on activities.
Niagara Falls would be worth it, but tough. You'd most likely need passports for yourself and I don't know what paper work you'd need for a granddaughter. I'm sorry I'm giving more north options than west options, but I live near Syracuse, NY. While I have traveled a lot, most of it has been driving commercially and between schedules and the fact that there are a lot of places you just can't drive a big truck, I never did much in the way of attractions.
Amish country is definitely on the list as is Philly. Those will be day trips. Thanks for your input. Jeff grew up in Manlius, so would love to go camping in the Adirondacks like we did with our boys. We'll see about that.probably not this trip though.
Corning glass is a very cool place.. My mom was given a blue vase that the glass blower made while we watched.
Depends on what she is into...don't want to bore her to death. I would do that strange sights tour, you know how they have a giant shoe or giant teapot????
LOL. I think they are going to look at things with her and make suggestions. My son said today Mt. Rushmore. I got in contact with Steve who lives near Glacier Nat'l park to see if we could pitch a tent there. Would love to meet him in person. He let his DG membership lapse and I miss him on the PNW forum.
Since you seem to have some interest in nature and camping, I would spend at least a little time visiting one of the Great Lakes. They are the largest group of fresh water lakes in the world and if you live near them it's easy to take them for granted. I've done a quick pass through of Presque Isle near Erie and will go back sometime. I've also been to Chicago's Navy pier. I know it has a Children's Museum and many other things.
A visit to a dear friend who lives in Michigan is on the must-do list.
Our minds are thinking alike, Doug.
Jan, are you going to have time to tour on your way from the West? Every single National Park is a jewel. I LOVE Glacier. The Badlands parks are worthwhile too. Wall Drug Store made a hit when I was little, and I imagine it's still there, as did the Corn Palace. Those last two are just short stops on a long highway. If your route is a bit more southerly, then there is a lot there to see and do too. In Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry is a must-see, as is the Art Institute. I'm from Chicago area, so I can tell you about some of the classic sights like Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Heading through the PA turnpike recently, we were very moved by the very minimal, but compelling monuments at the Shanksville Flight 93 spot. If that is on your way, it's a part of history that impressed the younger generation deeply, so having a visual image may be a good thing. I hope these are some ideas besides the obvious wonderful signts.
Thanks, Rosemary. I hadn't thought about the memorial in PA.
The route we take will depend on what sights we want to see. It will be interesting to see what she wants to do.
Wall Drug. You see signs for it for MILES.
Wall Drug is an oddity, and still probably the one and only. People are either fascinated and love it, or they hate it. I thought it was heaven as an animal lover little girl-- tons of taxedermy of oddities, which only used to amaze my little girl mind, but some kids are repulsed.
Bathrooms :)
My first thought was Mt Rushmore. I must be on the same wavelength as your son.
Lots and lots of bathrooms.. Heehee.
Have any of you visited any of the places on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives?
Pro ably will avoid Chicago, we only have bad traffic memories there. Now, if we didn't have to drive there that would be another story. LOL
Too bad you will skip Chicago, there's oodles of things to do there.
Cleveland has some surprising gems: art and science museums, if your granddaughter is into music, it has the rock-and-roll hall of fame!
While driving through northern Indiana, stop for a swim at the Indiana Dunes State Park (or the dunes near Holland, Mich.)
If you are AAA members, be sure to get their tour books for the states you are going through.
Minneapolis has a science museum with a huge Imax screen.
Mt. Rushmore is worth it just for the memory, and yes, you must stop at Wall Drug!
We liked camping in the Grand Teton's best, but there are more sights to see in Yellowstone.
Circus world museum in Baraboo, Wis. is worth a stop.
That reminded me, search for "odd museums in america" on the web for some offbeat examples that might be fun to try.
Roadside America.com lists over 1000 unique roadside attractions.
Be sure to stop and see the fish ladders at the Columbia River dams.
Multnomah falls in Oregon is magnificent, there used to be a park in downtown Portland where you could walk behind a waterfall (and get wet by the spray), and on the subject of falls, there is a candy shop in Portland with the largest chocolate fall in the world!
I like Don's list. I agree that Chicago has amazing things to see. Weekend traffic is preferable to rush hour. Its not a walking city like Boston, but the L works well to get around the city once there, and streets are on a grid so you don't get lost.
I was in Chicago in '95 when they had I90 and I94 under construction. The traffic jam started at 2pm and extended all the way to Gary, Indiana. What we found out was that if you got off the main access roads and ran the surface streets you didn't too much problem driving around. Yes you couldn't do 55 and there was stop lights, but you actually moved and traffic wasn't so heavy as to make it a white knuckle ride.
Bemidji, MN where my dad lived once has larger than life Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox statues. That would be a picture op.
Anyone been to Devil's Tower in Wyoming?
My son visited a falls not too far from Multnomah Falls and actually thought it was more interesting. We tried going to Voodoo Donuts in Portland OR, but the line was WAYYY too long.
Devil's Tower is pretty cool, but we only photoed it from the car.
Cleveland also has a very nice zoo.
Lots of fine arts events in the Cleveland area with the Cleveland Conservatory as well as Oberlin, good for art museums and music, if you want easily accessible.The Cleveland museum of natural history has some good woolly mammoth and mastodon bones to view. For that matter, if you're heading down from up north, my kids were impressed with every Peabody museum of natural histroy--that's Yale New Haven if Harvard is too far out of the way.
Philadelphia has a great zoo too.
You can always come see me and Winston!
This is fun! It will be interesting to see what we put together.
Toledo has a nice zoo too. Thomas Edison's birthplace is in Milan, OH, if she's interested in history.
Portland has a very nice zoo and that was what I did with the kids when we would visit out there, so we are steering away from zoos.
I should call there today and see if she has any ideas, yet.
I was reading a book called 500 Nations an illustrated history of NA Indians and came across a place in Alberta Canada called Horse Smashed In Buffalo Jump. Anyone heard of it before? It was a cliff area that the Indians used to kill the buffalo as they got them stampeding, then processed the dead animals at the bottom of the cliff. They used almost every single part of the animal. It sounds quite interesting and it is located south of Calgary. Maybe we'll swing up in to Canada. I love the pretrip planning and dreaming.
Ohh, Calgary area would be nice!
If you are considering Canada I'd start right now on figuring out the paperwork. I have an enhanced license and therefore can get back in. It took me a while to chase all the tag ends down. It was complicated by the fact that I had a Po Box. I have no Idea about a child, but suspect that you have to have some kind of certified or maybe notarized document to take her with you.
Yep, in our experience it's a passport or birth certificate, better still, both.
We all have passports, so think we'll be okay. Looks like that may be on the return trip. Hope would like to visit Carhenge. Can you imagine? Looking at the BIG map we could do a museum near Cincinatti, then head toward St. Louis to get a picture of the arch then head NW to get to western NE for Carhenge then N to Mt Rushmore. Then Devil's Tower is west of that.
Son's family is traveling today so will talk about possibilities in the car and let me know when they get back home on Monday. This is sooo much fun. We really are flexible, but don't want to spend a lot of time getting there by meandering. We did that last year and it was wonderful!!!
If you go through Ohio, in Dayton is the Air Force museum. Not a particularly girly place but as impressive as the national air and space museum in Washington, DC. my sister and I did the Wisconsin Dells, the Corn Palace in Mitchell , SD, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, that one you sort of just drive up to it and say: "Yep, we've been there." Unless you are gonna climb it there's not so much to do. We went to Yellowstone, the badlands, and wall drug as well as Mt. Rushmore.We were headed to Seattle, so we drove north. Not sure about the road west to Oregon. But we had a blast at all these places.
Speaking of your day trips, you don't live too far from Washington, DC. Plenty of things to do and see there and most of them free. The National museum of the American Indian is great inside and out as they have outstanding plantings all around the building. and it is right next door to downtown Air and Space. Stay one night overnight in Maryland along the beltway and the Metro stop and you won't have to think about parking anywhere. The National CAthedral has a moon rock in one of its stained glass windows, the national zoo has pandas and elephants, and there are hundreds of other things to check out. Have a fun trip!
Martha
Thank you, Martha. I am beyond excited. She is such a cool kid and she can hardly wait to torment her Poppop. Hehehe. I think it is because he torments her.