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I am planning a road trip to see my Brother Graduate from Fort Eustis Virginia. I am from Arizona and flying into Boston. I figured I would make a mini vacation out of it. I only have one week for the round trip. I was hoping to get some pointers on where to go and what to see on my quick trip and what the best route would be to make the most of my trip. Thank you!
Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!
By the 'most efficient' route possible, it's a shade more than you should be comfortable driving in a day, just over 600 miles but over some of the most congested (toll) roads in the US. So you might as well take your time and see some of the eastern US besides just miles of concrete and big cities. Or you could do a bit of both on your round trip between Logan and Fort Eustis.
Let's deal with the more scenic and less traffic-bound route first. Leave Boston on the Mass Pike west to Sturbridge and then take I-84 west to Brewster NY, where you'll have to get off I-84 due to construction on the Hudson River bridge at Newburg. Take Exit 21 and follow US-202 and then the Bear Mountain Parkway around Peekskill. Cross the Hudson on the Bear Mountain Bridge and then follow US-6 to Port Jervis to rejoin I-84. At Scranton PA, use I-380 south (probably marked as east) to I-80 west to I-81 so as to avoid construction in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area and follow I-81 south through Pennsylvania. US-15 south from Harrisburg is next up. Around Warrenton VA, this will duplex with US-17 at which point you'll stop following US015 and start following US-17 to Yorktown and finally, VA-105 into Fort Eustis. That's quite a scenic route and avoids the major east coast cities (New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond) that you'd have to navigate if you used I-95. Along the way there are several places worth a few hours of your time including the Delaware Water Gap and Gettysburg.
For your return drive you might want to try something a bit different. You could certainly take I-95 if time becomes a factor, but if you can take two days for the return as well and still want to avoid major cities, you could head for Norfolk and cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel onto the Delmarva Peninsula, drive up US-13/US-9 to Lewes DE and take the ferry across to Cape May NJ which is a lovely little gingerbread resort town, then follow the Garden State Parkway along the Jersey coast up to New York City. Get through NYC as best you can on I-95 and follow it to New London CT where you can take US-1 along the CT/RI coast through seaside towns such as Mystic and Charlestown to Newport RI for a short stroll before returning to Boston via I-95.
AZBuck
I think you made some typos, Buck -
There is no Exit 24 on I-84 in NY, and there is no US-224.
You would take I-380 east to I-80 west to get around Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
If you are renting a car, ask for one with an EZ-Pass so you don't have to actually stop and pay at each toll booth. The rental company will charge your credit card for tolls used along with a service charge, but it's worth it.
I've made the appropriate corrections to the original text. No point to leaving misleading info up.
AZBuck