Cross country trip need ideas and hints plz

Hi all, next June, my family (husband, 3 teenagers) will travel from our home in North Central montana to New York City, then down to D.C. then down along the coast to DeLand Florida. Then we will head home, basically making a straight line from Florida back to Montana.
My questions are what sights are there along the way both going and coming home? From the way the map looks, we will go down and see mount Rushmore then head straight across to New York. Any neat places to stop and see?
Then we will head straight down the coast to Florida. Any good attractions? We are pretty open to most experiences.
Any ideas and especially hints and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We have never taken a cross country road trip to the east coast before.
Thank you!

Welcome to RTA!

First thing I think I'd do during planning is to sit down with your three teenagers with a good US map. Start flagging things that catch interests. You want the teenagers invested in the trip, so they should have a say-so about what you see. They can also get online and do some research!

You didn't mention how much time you have for this trip. If you've never planned one before, allow no more than 500-550 miles drive on a pure traveling day (no sightseeing stops) and allow plenty of time for the things you DO want to see.

You also didn't mention how you plan to travel. Is this a vehicle/motel trip, RV, or camping trip?


Donna

Central Florida has some fantastic crystal clear springs and rivers. They can be snorkeled, tubed, and kayaked. The visitors center at the border will have brochures of the springs. Also ask the people at the counter for advice.

If you don’t mind crossing over to the gulf coast, and if you want to see alligators, LOTS AND LOTS of alligators, head to Myakka State Park. In the touristy southern portion of the park, you might see a dozen alligators. If you get to the park when it opens you can get one of 30 daily permits for the wild northern section. First come, first served; no reservations!

After a two mile hike, you’ll end up at Deep Hole where you can get as close as you dare to over 100 huge alligators. Alternatively, you can paddle two hours to the hole. It’s pretty exciting watching these behemoths surface and swim past your kayak.

If you head to the gulf coast, spend a day at Homosassa Springs State Park. It is a fantastic park featuring native Florida wildlife. There is an underwater observatory where you can watch fish and manatee swim by.

Thank you traveling man and Donna!
Donna,
We are traveling by car. I haven't figured out how long the trip will take exactly but I'm giving us about 16-18 days to do this. This includes spending 2 days in New York, 2 days in D.c. and approximately 4 days in DeLand with family. I think I had figured on straight driving days 10 hours traveling, which depending on the state/road/ and speed limits average 700 miles per day. We have three drivers so we plan to share time. We want our main sight seeing time to be in New York and d.c but also want to stop and see things along the way if they are quick and easy attractions.

Simply put, you've got ten solid days of driving ahead of you to make this trip comfortably, and more importantly: safely. Add in the eight days that you plan to spend in your three destinations and you literally have NO time left for ANY sight-seeing. The driving time estimates you get from computer-based mapping routines are pure fantasy. They do not allow for any stops: no meals, no fuel, no bathroom breaks, no traffic congestion, no nothing. They assume you'll be driving at or above the speed limit every second of every minute of every hour. Not going to happen. Period. With five people you'll be extremely lucky to cover 550 miles or so on any given day if you stick strictly to the (boring) Interstates. 700 miles on the best day you could imagine is simply out of the question. You either need to add significantly more time to this trip, cut out NYC/DC or Florida completely, prepare for a lot of "Are we there yet?" moans from the back seat, or some combination of all three.

AZBuck

10 hours, 500 miles.

Do you really think you’ll drive 10 hours at 70mph constantly? Figure 50mph and hope for 55.

There will be accidents, traffic, construction, gas stops, food stops, more construction, bathroom stops, welcome centers, rain etc. and those stops tend to take more time every day you’re on the road. From the moment you merge onto the off ramp, the time keeps accumulating but the miles do not. Same goes for construction and traffic. Your avg mph immediately decreases. It could go down to 60, 55 or lower.

Drive 70 but plan on averaging 50. You’ll avoid hurryupitis. If you find yourself making better time, consider it a bonus. The most dangerous things you can do is try to make up lost time by speeding or driving too many hours.

This year I have traveled over 8000 miles on several road trips and aiming for 50mph relieves driving stress when all the above mentioned delays happen.

Enjoy your trip.

You’ll need eleven 500 mile driving days for your trip, with no stopping for sightseeing etc.

Ok, all this is good to know. Also I was just informed of tolls on the main roads. I was encouraged to consider staying on secondary roads as much as possible.

We're glad that you're taking our advice on being realistic about how many miles you can drive in a day into account. Many don't, to their regret. But also be aware that skipping toll roads and "staying on secondary roads as much as possible" is also going to significantly increase your driving time, pretty much everywhere from Chicago to New York to Washington. If you were to shunpike all of them, you'd have to add at least another day to your driving time.

AZBuck

Toll roads are a fact of life along the east coast and across the top of the Midwest. What you may want to explore is getting an EZ Pass account set up so you aren’t slowed down or end up where there’s only electronic collection and you will pay more if they read your license plate. Check out this website, https://www.e-zpassiag.com/. Almost every state you will be in starting in Illinois to New York and down to Virginia uses EZ pass. You can buy it from any state and use it in all, just not sure if you can buy it online but I imagine there’s a way to do that.

AZBuck, thank you for the advice. Being from rural Montana and having never driven to the east coast I have no idea how much tolls slow you down or cost to go through. Frankly the idea of paying cash to drive down a road is a foreign weird concept to me. Guess I need to leave Montana and explore the country a little more!

You can avoid quite a few tolls fairly easily.

From Rushmore to NYC: Take I-90 to Sioux Falls, then I-29 to I-880 (just north of Omaha) to I-80 to I-74 to I-70 to Columbus, I-71 to I-76 through Akron to I-80 to NYC. This does add about 150 miles but it saves you about 35 bucks. It also keeps you out of Chicago traffic.

NYC to DC is a different story. You either pay tolls up the wazoo fighting traffic, or go 100 miles out of your way. Not only is I-95 between NYC and DC toll, but the traffic is miserable almost 24/7. The alternate is I-78 to I-81 to I-70 to I-270, or sightsee down the NJ coast and take a ferry, which also involves tolls.

Being that you are from a rural area, the traffic is going to be a huge eye opener for you in NYC and DC. I'd highly recommend you find lodging well out in the suburbs close to public transportation, and use that to visit both cities.

Nowthatiamretired,
Thank you for the advice on EZ Pass! I will most definitely look into that.

glc,
Thank you for all the different road options. I am going to check in to all those roads and figure out what works best. I also already did assume it would be better to stay outside of the big city and Uber ride into them. Will be much easier than trying to negotiate a strange crowded city ourselves. This is definitely going to be a learning experience!

For NYC, I'd stay out in the NJ suburbs and ride the commuter train into the city, and once in the city, look at the subway. It's a lot cheaper than Uber. Same with DC, stay out in VA or MD and take the Metro train.

Definitely look at staying near the metrorail system for DC BUT don’t do it towards the west of town this summer as the Orange line along I-66 will be shut down outside I-495 for maintenance of the stations, https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...ummer/2185770/. Most visitors who stay in Virginia tend to stay between Arlington down to National Airport where there are a lot of hotels so hopefully this summers shutdown won’t impact the tourists as much as last years did.

Thank you all so much for all the advice and information! I'm learning a lot to help make our trip as smooth as possible.

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Originally Posted by Dolivo

AZBuck, thank you for the advice. Being from rural Montana and having never driven to the east coast I have no idea how much tolls slow you down or cost to go through. Frankly the idea of paying cash to drive down a road is a foreign weird concept to me. Guess I need to leave Montana and explore the country a little more!

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As far as I know, toll roads were constricted to bypass slower roads and provide a quick route that did not exist previously. They are limited access and are theoretically self funded with the tolls. Toll booths don’t slow you down significantly. In Fact, they are quickly disappearing and being replaced by a “toll by plate” system where cameras photograph your plate at expressway speeds and send a bill to you. Electronic transponders are available which are connected to your credit card and bill you at a lower rate.

I live in Florida and these toll roads are everywhere. Bypassing then costs you more in time, traffic and aggravation than it is worth.

Traveling man,
Do you know the EZ Pass?

EZ Pass only works in certain states. His state (Florida) has its own system, EZ Pass doesn't work there.

https://www.e-zpassiag.com/about-e-zpass

It probably would not be worth it for a Montana resident to get one for just one trip. Each state that accepts EZ Pass has their own procedures and rules for getting one.

Some states issue an EZ Pass to non-residents. The fees by license plate photo result in higher toll fees plus a service fee. All that can add up quickly. For toll road planning you can explore the tradeoffs in extra gas vs shorter toll roads:
https://tollguru.com/
Nonetheless, I would swing widely south of Chicago to I-70 and back-up again to NJ, due to the awful toll roads and traffic in IL.

Your plan almost begs a fly-rail-drive combination. As your plans begs a lot or road time in a short amount of time for the distance to driven, it might be a more enjoyable option to explore alternative options.

It is easy to train from downtown New York City (or the New Jersey suburbs) to downtown D.C. Stopping in Philadelphia along the way is also an option to see some Independence sights. From D.C. you can fly or train to FL (fly from DCA to Jacksonville, FL or Orlando, FL; training has several nearby city options from DC to DeLand-area).

If you are driving, riding the AutoTrain from just south of D.C. (Lorton, VA) to just north or Orlando (Sanford) is an alternative. You pay for the vehicle and the passengers. It is basically a noon to noon 24-hr trip (the train leaves at 3:45p and arrives at 9:00a, but your car needs to be check-in and loading and unloading; dinner and continental breakfast are included).

I love Road Trips. But I have the opposite feeling regarding traffic jams. And NYC and DC are traffic bogs (actually the greater NYC area plus greater DC from Aberdeen, MD to Fredericksburg or Richmond, VA). It is even worse if you run into all weekend beach-related traffic jams at several points along I-95.

NYC and D.C. are great cities. Both have superb museums--NYC mostly paid admission and DC almost all free (Smithsonians). NYC has Broadway, Central Park, deli's; D.C. has museums, monuments, and more.

If you choose a road trip it you might want to start plotting plans on a spreadsheet. My take is that 400 miles can be a long day logistically with 3 teenagers in-tow.

I doubt if you will need anything for tolls in Florida. Their system is called SunPass but it seems to be mainly in the Miami area, some in Tampa or traveling their toll road mid state, all which you can bypass if you’re going to Deland. EZPass could make your trip easier, especially if you end up where there’s only electronic tolls and no toll booths but while it’s accepted by many states every states sell their own and I have no idea how the prices work out between different states. Investigate it to see if it’s worth it. Also, you can avoid it on the Virginia side of DC (Maryland side doesn’t have tolls) by paying attention to what lanes you are in, especially on I-95 south. I would highly suggest avoiding the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) lanes around DC as they have variable rates and can get very expensive. It’s not unusual to pay up to $18+ for the I-95 south lanes from DC to Fredericksburg. Also avoid I-66 inside the Beltway (I-495) because it is all tolls and ridiculous rates.

There are tolls all around Orlando, all which honor SunPass and broken stretches honoring EZ-Pass. That is a consideration if going to any of the many entertainment sites around Orlando such as Disney World. The FL turnpike is all a toll road which if you stay around DeLand and Daytona won't be needed. I remove my EZ-Pass (velcro'd to windshield) and place it in an RFID enclosure so I am not double-billed by the SunPass sticker and EZ-Pass.

The most common expressway between NYC/North Jersey to Delaware/MD is the NJ Turnpike, a toll road. Several highways towards the beach in NJ are also toll roads. All, or nearly all, the bridges around NYC are double-digit tolls. Being from rural MT you probably won't like those or city driving!!! Instead of dodging pronghorn the sport is how close can you come to a pedestrian ;)

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Originally Posted by NowthatIamretired

I doubt if you will need anything for tolls in Florida. Their system is called SunPass but it seems to be mainly in the Miami area, some in Tampa or traveling their toll road mid state, all which you can bypass if you’re going to Deland. EZPass could make your trip easier, especially if you end up where there’s only electronic tolls and no toll booths but while it’s accepted by many states every states sell their own and I have no idea how the prices work out between different states. Investigate it to see if it’s worth it. Also, you can avoid it on the Virginia side of DC (Maryland side doesn’t have tolls) by paying attention to what lanes you are in, especially on I-95 south. I would highly suggest avoiding the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) lanes around DC as they have variable rates and can get very expensive. It’s not unusual to pay up to $18+ for the I-95 south lanes from DC to Fredericksburg. Also avoid I-66 inside the Beltway (I-495) because it is all tolls and ridiculous rates.

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If you find you may need the Florida SunPass, at least it is cheap, only $4.99 for the credit card size that sticks in the window. I even saved when I bought it out of state as they charged me Virginia sales tax, not Florida which is higher. Plus, the tolls in Florida from what I’ve seen are so much less than the DC and Northeast area. Here’s the link if you need info, https://www.sunpass.com/

Wow ok you've all given me a lot to think about. My brain is in overload.
Ok so what if we came into the d.c area (or nearby Virginia) and decided to park our car and use the train to go north to New York, stay a day or two, then back down to d.c. with a stop in Philadelphia?
Once in NY, where is the best safe Burrough to stay in for reasonable prices? Or outlying area? Best way to travel there?
Is the train a better idea, both time wise and money wise?

DC: Some hotels might allow you to park there a couple of days if staying there for a few nights as well. But, if driving a car, you will probably want to stay in the suburbs close to a Metro Line stop. Leaving the car at National Airport long-term parking is another option... just go there during non-rush hour. There is a Metro line to DCA (airport) but you'd better check on the summer maintenance plans.

BWI (Baltimore airport) has long-term parking, hotels with shuttles, and commuter rail service to DC and Amtrak service to NYC and Philly. You could also just take the MARC commuter train to D.C.'s main train station and walk around or hop the metro line to scoot around town. There is also parking at the BWI Rail Station where you could park for the trip to NYC.

NYC: One can often obtain reduced rates in the Wall Street area on weekends. There are also other less expensive options like the "cube hotels" to stay at. The benefit is having subway and access to the main train terminal.

I-95 to DeLand: The interstate is most direct and also very busy, lots of trucks and very bad on weekends. To clear southbound traffic through Richmond on a Saturday, I leave by 5am. That would also be true on Mon-Fri, although at that hour it can be fast and crowded! Other "exit areas" towards the beaches can also become very crowded. Approaching South Carolina, the 3-lane wide northbounds and southbounds neck down to 2-lanes in each direction, which can create some monumental back-ups.

I occasionally drive the southbound trip but take a detour to I-81 to Charlotte and from there go through Columbia, SC, to I-95. I stick to the interstates as the US highways through much of the South are full of small towns, unlike out West where towns are far and few or have a nice By-Pass.

Hang in there... yeah, lots of data to process. Get the kids involved in the process. And map it out using a spreadsheet and map, look at the costs for different options if that is a planning factor.

About the DC Metro....a few hints, learned by experience in summer 2018.

We stayed near the end of the Blue Line. Check with nowthatI'mretired since she seems to know what lines will be affected by the rehabilitation projects. Blue Line is near Springfield. We stayed at one of those places with a kitchenette -- Towne Place Suites in Alexandria. It was about 4-1/2 mile drive to the Blue Line, which had a good parking structure. We tried not to commute in/out with the Rush Hour crowd, so the trains were seldom "standing room only". Blue Line stops at Reagan airport (as does Yellow Line).

One thing we learned was to put enough on the WMATA rider card to be able to pay for parking each day. It saves you a couple of dollars in parking fees. (I don't believe there are charges for parking on Saturday or Sunday.) Yes, buy the SmartTrip card. If you live further than 100 miles away from DC, you can apply to have any monies returned to you that you didn't use for riding the train or parking your vehicle, once you return home. It will take about 4-6 weeks for processing.

Using the station at the end of the line ensured that we did not have parking issues. The structure at the end of the Blue Line was pretty large, accommodated our long-and-tall pickup, and there were always plenty of parking places when we'd go to the train around 9 or 10 in the morning. Often times, too, there was a train just sitting there, loading passengers, when we'd park and walk over to the train. Once again, that's because it was at the end of the line. I don't believe you could park long-term, though. The suggestion to use Reagan Airport's long-term lot is a good one.

We learned to read the WMATA map, and to change stations easily. Once you're on a train heading into DC, you can switch without incurring extra charges on your prepaid card. All rides are considered one way, so when you return to the original station, you'll be charged for another ride.

Learn the names of your line's stations on both ends, so that when you're in the Metro stations in DC, you'll be able to find your line and the direction you are going. For instance, we always knew that we were going to need Blue Line's Franconia-Springfield direction. Stations are well marked for what lines are where, and which direction they're going. They also have electronic signs that tell you how many more minutes until your next train will come. We seldom had to wait more than 5 minutes for a train when we were switching somewhere.

Not about Metro, but about DC: distances are very deceiving. We ended up walking more than 7 miles one day when we decided to see the sites along the Mall ... Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, Vietnam and Korean War memorials, etc. It was an exhausting day!

Oh, also, as far as I know, the Washington Monument is still closed. They've been fixing the elevator and building a more pertinent screening facility.

Finally, speaking of screening ... when you go into the city, leave all mace, pocket knifes, little bitty scissors, etc., back in your hotel. Every museum and the US Capitol Bldg makes you go through a screening to ensure that you are a safe visitor. When they took another woman's folding scissors (little bitty) at the Capitol Bldg., I was glad I'd left mine at home. Those are hard to find these days!


Donna

Washington Monument is now open but need tickets for going up to help with the crowds. Here’s a link, https://www.nps.gov/wamo/planyourvisit/fees.htm. Donnas advice is good for a place to find a hotel on the Blue Line. The construction it is now done but starting this summer on the Orange line so don’t go west of DC. Also I’m pretty sure there is no overnight parking allowed at any of the MetroRail stations. Reagan National would work or there is a parking garage at Union Station. Donnas also right about distances and walking. Plan ahead, there’s a LOT to see along the Mall. Oh, one word from a semi native to the area, the unwritten rule on Metrorail on the escalators is “stand right, walk left”. The locals greatly appreciate visitors who learn this quickly!

Such great information! Thank you everyone!

One thing to note about the DC Metro (as opposed to NYC Subways and many other city subway type systems) is that the rates are different during peak times (before 9:30am and 3-7pm) AND there are different rates depending on how far you travel (not to do with changing trains but the distance from your start point to your end point). They do have machines by the exits should you not have enough $ on your card, so you don't have to worry about being stuck (like the sort of famous song about the Boston MTA ;)).

They do offer a daily or 3 day pass, but you'd have to look and see what your plans are - if you are only riding in and out each day, it may not be cheaper than just paying the individual trip rates.

As I remember, you can add extra money in fairly small amounts, so you should be able to wind up with fairly little on a card, if you don't want to have to send it in as mentioned above.

Also, while looking at that info, happened to see that there are four locations that offer some (limited) multi-day parking (up to 10 days), one of which happens to be the Franconia station mentioned (limited for that meaning 15 to 17 spots, out of about 5,000 total, so who knows if one would be available when you needed it). The other 3 are Greenbelt, Huntington and Wiehle-Reston East.
So, pretty minimal (since they say 44 stations offer parking), but there is a small chance it would work out.

I'm not too surprised about those 4 stations that you mention that have long-term parking. Franconia-Springfield and Greenbelt are at opposite ends of Blue Line. Huntington is the VA end of the Yellow Line, and the Reston station is the VA end of the Silver Line.

I'd definitely compare rates between the Metro long-term and the Reagan Airport long-term parking, and check for security too.

Donna

Long term parking at DCA is $17 a day. It looks to be considerably cheaper at the 4 Metro stations ($4.95 to $8.95) but as said, spots are limited. If you are just going in for the day, you can park at any station and pay a daily rate from $3.00 to $8.95, Saturday and Sunday is free. The parking lots do not accept cash, you need a credit card or a SmarTrip card.

I'd stay at a hotel that has free parking, then just drive to the nearest Metro station to go into the city.

You might want to consider the Baltimore-Washington International airport both for long-term parking and taking the train to NYC and for day trips into D.C. on the commuter train. Long term parking is more like $8/24 hrs. Many hotel shuttles will drop you off at the BWI Amtrak Station for the MARC commuter train (and you might be able to long-term park there as well). It doesn't take much longer from BWI Amtrak to DC Union Station than from the bottom of the line in Springfield/Franconia. And you are an hour closer to NYC.

If you are going down to Mount Rushmore, you should make time for the Crazy Horse Memorial. It is an amazing piece of art and the history depicts an amazing amount of information for the area. If you like hiking, Bear Butte is beautiful too.