Roadtrip for 1 week from Chicago to Niagara Falls & OH/PA/NY/DC

Hi,

I am planning for a week (9 days, with 2 weekends) long roadtrip from Chicago suburbs towards the end of May. Niagara Falls is our main destination and we are planning to spend a day and half - 2 days there. We are also planning on visiting our relatives in Columbus, OH and Pittsburgh, PA for 1 day each. We are looking for options to spend the other 4-5 days.
Most probably, I would be the only driver for most part of the trip. We have 2 kids travelling with us - 3.5 yrs and 1.2 yrs.

Here are some places I have been looking at:

1. Cleveland
2. Washinton DC (if it is feasible to make it from Pittsburgh / Niagara)
3. Hershey
4. Lancaster, PA (Amish country)
5. Erie, PA

Our focus is scenic, historic and family fun places (like architecture, beaches, gardens, monuments, mountains, waterfalls etc). NOT theme parks and zoos!!

Please suggest the best itinerary for such a trip, with the above places and/or some places which are better than these.

Looking forward to your suggestions and the trip itself :)

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You can certainly fit all those places into a 9 day RoadTrip, with a general itinerary: Cleveland, Erie, Niagara Falls, Hershey, Amish Country, Washington, Pittsburgh, Columbus (or the other way around, of course). You'd need about 3½ days of driving spread out over you long week, so it shouldn't be too terribly taxing even for one driver. As for some kid friendly spots along the way, other than the one's you've mentioned: the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Letchworth State Park in New York, Little League Fields in Williamsport, PA, Fort Frederick in Big Pool, MD,

AZBuck

I live in Buffalo, NY. I strongly suggest you spend some time here as well. It has some amazing architecture, from Louis Sullivan (Guaranty Building), Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson etc. Plus some great Grain Mill Tours etc.

couple sites to check out
http://www.forgottenbuffalo.com/
http://www.openairbuffalo.org/
http://www.gardenwalkbuffalo.com/


You might want to think about DC and Lancaster, they take you a bit out of the way, with less time to spend.

Feel free let me know if you have any WNY questions. Check out Fort Niagara while you're up there don't waste too much time on Clifton Hill (the touristy strip).

A few more ideas. These places are between Niagara falls and Pittsburgh.

http://www.ciweb.org/ Chautauqua Institute, pretty awesome place check it out if it's something you like. it's on a nice lake, can do the regular boating fishing, get some Arts Culture too.

Allegheny State Park/ National Forest

Once in Niagara Falls take a look at the locks along the Erie Canal in Lockport, NY