East coast Baseball Spring Road Trip

Hi all! Newbie here! My son and I take a mother-son vacation every year and lately they have been centered around our favorite pastime BASEBALL!!! Last year we knocked 2 stadiums off our bucket list in NYC and this year we are hitting the east coast again for an awesome 3 stadium, 1 hall of fame & 4 state road trip!

We would like to start in Baltimore Maryland (Orioles- 2days), drive to Philadelphia, PA (Phillies), then a detour through Scranton (The Office fans lol) & NY state to Cooperstown and from there on to our longest stretch to Boston, Massachusetts (Red Sox).

Any suggestions on routes, good pit stops/eateries/sights to see?

My initial thought was the drive from Philadelphia to Boston would be a full day trip? Or would an overnight stay near/after Cooperstown then off again in the morning be better?

Thanks in advance! Excited to be a part of this site! Road trips are the least expensive way for a single mom & son to enjoy traveling!!!

Welcome to RTA!

If you want to go via Scranton and Cooperstown, there is no way you can make it from Philly to Boston in one day and see anything.

Philly to Scranton is about 2.5 hours via the toll road. It's another 2.5 hours to Cooperstown. Then it's 4+ hours to Boston. This would have you in the car for 10 hours, how are you going to be able to see anything?

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Love your trip! I grew up outside Philadelphia, went to high school in Baltimore, and lived within commuting distance of Fenway for 15 years. To the one specific question you asked, though, I must tell you that since I have quite a bit of experience in driving between the Boston and Philadelphia areas, there is simply no way that you can make that trip even by the most direct route, let alone with a detour through Scranton and Cooperstown, in a day and expect to have time for anything other than the drive. So yes, plan on an overnight stop. I'd suggest in the Cooperstown area so that you can spend as much or as little time as you want in Scranton (including the Railriders perhaps?) and then see the HoF either in the evening or the next morning, or both, before continuing on to Boston.

As for other things to see along that general dogleg, have a look at this discussion of a similar trip, but I don't see a whole lot of room in your schedule for side trips or major stops so I'd encourage you to concentrate on scenic, but not terribly slow, alternatives to the Interstates and local and state parks and nature preserves that are not too far off the most direct route between each of your MLB targets.

AZBuck

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

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My initial thought was the drive from Philadelphia to Boston would be a full day trip? Or would an overnight stay near/after Cooperstown then off again in the morning be better?

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This is the easiest one - yes, you should absolutely spend the night. As it is, it's 500 miles from Philly to Boston via Cooperstown, and trying to do that in one day won't leave hardly any time to see the HoF.

I did the reverse on a baseball trip a number of years ago, seeing a day game at Fenway and a game in Philly the next (we did the HoF the day before Fenway, coming from Comerica in Detroit) and even that didn't give us any time in Philly before the game, thanks to NE corridor traffic.

I'm always a fan of trying to throw in a minor league game or two on a baseball roadtrip. Perhaps a Tri-City Valley Cats game, near Albany, would be a nice stop after Cooperstown, if the scheduling works out.

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Originally Posted by glc

Welcome to RTA!

If you want to go via Scranton and Cooperstown, there is no way you can make it from Philly to Boston in one day and see anything.

Philly to Scranton is about 2.5 hours via the toll road. It's another 2.5 hours to Cooperstown. Then it's 4+ hours to Boston. This would have you in the car for 10 hours, how are you going to be able to see anything?

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I kind of thought the same. We will really only be passing through Scranton. Just Because we are big The Office fans & to grab a mid morning bite. Then off to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame. This day is just a bonus detour. So I think a full day for both should work with an overnight hotel before heading to Boston. Thoughts?

Thank you!!! Definitely adding the overnight stay and the scenic drives are what we are also looking forward to!

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Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

I'm always a fan of trying to throw in a minor league game or two on a baseball roadtrip. Perhaps a Tri-City Valley Cats game, near Albany, would be a nice stop after Cooperstown, if the scheduling works out.

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Great idea! I’ll look into their schedule as well! Thanks!