Nah, CHEERS AND THE BEST!!!The NE won. Gonna hit the Smokies and Smithsonian, and Arlington. I am finally gonna put some flowers on Audie Murphy's grave, plan to drop a rose on some other Texans who are planted up there. If any fellow FReepers would like me to pay some homage to the brave ones you knew, or know of, up in the National Cemetery, I would love to hear from you. I will make a list and say my honor words to those who sleep in Virginia.
Gimme some ideas and names, I promise to spend a few minutes with them all.
Need to figure out the proper route, skipping Dollyworld but will prolly do Graceland. Lots of cool places 'tween here and there. Lay it on me kids, what would you recommend to not miss driving from Dallas to DC and back. Plan some camping in beautiful parks, but nights in hotels to take the edge off.
October 2012, hoping for exquisite foiliage and good weather. And some history, we both appreciate that stuff.
What to see FReepers? I am a blank sheet of paper.
I’d consider getting out of this while you still can. ;)
Niagara Falls?
Gettysburg for sure.
If you can come to Newfoundland, you can see giant icebergs float by the East Coast.
I just gotta say- Congratulations and best wishes to the both of you.
If you’re in DC, the museums along the National mall are nice to visit. my 2 cents.
Yer about to learn the definition of a wedding ring; It’s a viscious circle. Just jokin.
If it were me, I would pick HI, but you could do worse than head into the Appalachians in fall. The weather should be fantastic. In the Smokies, visit Cades Cove and hike the Abrams Falls Trail.
Do hit the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. The foliage will be gorgeous. There’s a great winery stop in Floyd, VA along the Blue Ridge - Chateau Morisette. Nice restaurant and wine tasting. Gorgeous spot - sit on the restaurant deck if the weather is nice. Take a blanket, lie on the lawn and take a snooze after lunch.
There’s enough to do in Washington to keep you busy for weeks, so you’ll have to pick and choose. A relatively inexpensive hotel (for D.C.) is the Courtyard Washington Capitol Hill/Navy Yard. It’s not so cheap in the summer or during the cherry blossom time, but off season it’s not bad considering. It’s not too far from public transportation or you could even walk to Capitol Hill from there (about a mile or so).
Congratulations and have a great trip.
If you must go east, Yorktown on the Va Peninsula might ring a Patriotic bell for you.
I suspect you’ll be glad to return to Texas; I’d have headed west myself.
Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown Battlefield will take the better part of 2 days. Chicamaugwa Battlefield in NW-most Georgia; Vicksburg; The Trace roadway to N’Allins, and Chalmette Battlefield. Bring y’all’s stilts as The French Quarter is 6 feet below Sea Level at mean low tide. (So far the Miss. River flood berm has held). Tyler with miles of rose fields and then WHAM! lots of Texans in Big D.
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you pick a cold, rainy, foggy location, she’ll be more likely to want to stay inside the hotel room :-)
First off...CONGRATULATIONS!!
A few suggesions:
I did 80 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah last spring...I know you’re not looking to do backpacking, but there are nice day hikes there and in other parks along the A.T.
Went to Gettysburg last summer, highly recommend.
Check out what’s going on in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Of course there’s the factory “tour,” which is neat, but there’s also a theme park, an amphitheater (saw Def Leppard and Heart there last summer) and an Antique Auto Museum that’s worth checking out.
One FReeper suggested the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum at Dulles (the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center), and I second that! They have the Enola Gay there, as well as Ross Perot’s helicopter that he flew across the world, an SR-71 blackbird, a Concorde, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise, to name a few. You could easily spend two days in there.
Good luck and have fun!
Ditto for the Gettysburg and Antietam battlefields. The Cyclorama is back at Gettysburg after a five year restoration and is a must see. If time allows, you might also enjoy Harper's Ferry and Monocacy battlefield or follow the Lee invasion through southern Pennsylvania as our highland backcountry is gorgeous and full of quaint little towns with great food and friendly people.
Nah, CHEERS AND THE BEST!!!Sure, you have to go through Louisiana, but Vicksburg, required me to add a day of leave to my travel time... Great history there.
/johnny
Technically, we’re mid-Atlantic, not “north east”.
:)
Point of order. D.C ain’t the Northeast. You’re talking mid-Atlantic States. Northeast starts no farther south than Pa.
Congrats to you and She!!!
My advise is not to try to get too much sightseeing in on the trip. Relax. If y make it to Arlington, great, but if there are better things along the way, just drive NE a few days, then circle around back home.
This will avoid many, many arguments!
Congrats to you and She!!!
My advise is not to try to get too much sightseeing in on the trip. Relax. If y make it to Arlington, great, but if there are better things along the way, just drive NE a few days, then circle around back home.
This will avoid many, many arguments!
Seems to me you are NOT going to the Northeast, or New England. DC is only the tip of the bottom of NE, if not also part of the Mid-Atlantic, or the southeast historically.
Anyway, if DC is your northernmost point, I would 2nd Yorktown (but DON’T go to the “Yorktown Victory Center” http://historyisfun.org/ unless you want to see a museum of ALL the Revolution; you want the visitor center for the details of the seige site http://www.nps.gov/yonb/index.htm). Not to mention the rest of the Historic Triangle with Williamsburg and Jamestown. If you don’t have alot of time, hit the REAL sites (not the historyisfun sites); if you do fine, but with a long drive I doubt you do.
Another place that’s great is the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. Don’t be scared by the $$$$$ to get in - you’ll be shocked. We were shocked at the price - and the estate - way back when when it was much less.
Also, VA is just great. Check out some Civil War sites if you can, and also the natural features along the Shenandoah. Natural Bridge, Luray Caverns. Lots of caverns there. Really cool.
In TN, go to Lookout Mountain (CW) - on the incline railway. I’d tell you to stay at Choo-Choo Hilton but I don’t think it exists anymore even as a hotel.
That’s all for now.
If youre going to Graceland...Memphis...
Go to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks...
there is a great BBQ place a block or so away from the hotel..
You can go 200 miles along I-40 to Nashville
Loretta Lynns farm is on the way...
another 200 miles along I-40 to Knoxville...Home of the Vols
a few miles east of Knoxville is I-80 which will take you north through some beautiful country to camp in
Theres a memorial to Davy Crocket in that part of TN..
I usually get onto I-66 at exit 300 in VA and go straight into DC
try not to be close to DC at rush hour
the “parking lot” can start from 50 miles out..