Niagara falls Canada to ???

[_mike_]

Hi there,

I am a fairly new member and have come across some great suggestions to others but unfortunately nothing around my area.

My girlfriend and I are looking for a cheap and relaxing vacation for about 5 days in the 2nd week of August. Because we are so close to the border, staying in Canada is not required. We are open to any and ALL suggestions and driving time does not matter. However, I would ideally like to keep it to 15 hours or less total distance from our house.

Things we'd like to do on the vacation:

*see things we're not sick of (Toronto, Niagara Falls, Casinos, Malls)
*spend a day or 2 at a beach (East coast ocean would be ideal)
*we're not interested in night life, partying or shopping
*driving can be major interstate but would like to see scenic areas
*museums or attractions (cheap ones), we considered going to Washington DC for this, but open to other suggestions/direction/locations :)

We're not limited to these but really don't know where to begin,

Hope someone has some ideas, if not I'll still enjoy this great site!

Take care

[Mark Sedenquist]

I am a fairly new member and have come across some great suggestions to others but unfortunately nothing around my area.

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! There several posts about upstate New York, Niagara Falls and Toronto, so I am not sure what you meant by "my area" but it looks to me that you are looking for a five day retreat with minimal driving (~400 miles/650 Km) based on the 15-hour window. { My idea of a five day relaxing vacation would be to stay home and sleep, but I digress...}

One of the places I have always enjoyed this time of year is the Allegheny Forest of Western Pennsylvania, in particular, I like those little towns and back-road lanes found along State Route 66 and 948. I would go there and hang-out, find a nice inn and take some walks.

*spend a day or 2 at a beach (East coast ocean would be ideal)

One possible east coast beach would be Cape Ann near Gloucester, Massachusetts

Another idea, would be to head west and go to the Blueberry Festival in South Haven, Michigan.

Well, maybe that is a start.

Happy Planning!

Mark

[_mike_]

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! There several posts about upstate New York, Niagara Falls and Toronto, so I am not sure what you meant by "my area" but it looks to me that you are looking for a five day retreat with minimal driving (~400 miles/650 Km) based on the 15-hour window. { My idea of a five day relaxing vacation would be to stay home and sleep, but I digress...}

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LOL I apologize, I guess that truly does show my newb status. I was only reading NEW posts for the last little while, and wow that search tool works great!
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One of the places I have always enjoyed this time of year is the Allegheny Forest of Western Pennsylvania, in particular, I like those little towns and back-road lanes found along State Route 66 and 948. I would go there and hang-out, find a nice inn and take some walks.

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I've heard of Allegheny before but have never visited, I thought it was more a of a campground as opposed to a day trip/drive through. But I'll definately look into it.

As for the distance, yes it would be nice to relax and stay home, but we both want to do something different. Festivals would be great or any interesting museums (Washington DC etc). You were dead on about the distance though, I would like to keep it within 400-500 miles.

I have heard mixed opinions about Cape Ann's beaches and we were looking for a relaxing time vs partying on the beach. Do you know if they are over crowded? I'll try and do some more researching after this and double check.

One idea we came up with while browsing and searching around was the possibility of Atlantic City. It's about 7-8 hours interstate (not very exciting, open to suggestions), but it seemed to offer alot of options. Of course there's the Casinos, boardwalk and partying which isn't entirely what we're looking for, but could be worth seeing for a day. I'm hoping there is some cheap or free sites and shows to see if we do decide to go, but I'll have to research that some more. As for hotels and beaches, Atlantic City doesn't really seem to be what we're looking to relax in, so I found this link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/shore/

There's dozens of beaches and communitys along that and I've been trying to read about each of them. They all have their pros and cons but we've never been out this way before and don't really know what to expect. Some say Atlantic City is beautiful, some say it's a dump :P

I appreciate the time and effort you put in with your reply and look forward to any suggestions and opinions you or any others might have.

Thanks again!
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[staceykozak]

Ok, I know you said you didn't want to stay in Canada/Ontario, but here are some options in Ontario that would make a nice 4-5-6 day trip. Algonquin provincial park....canoe trip into the backcountry for 3-4 days(don't stay at one of the campgrounds if you can avoid it). Canoe trips there are awesome. Lots of outfitters in the park where you can rent just about everything. Lots of info on the net. Its about 250kms north of Toronto.

Top of the Bruce Penninsula in Ontario--a couple of hours north of TO as well, is a really nice place to camp/swim in Georgian bay, kayak, and go hiking. Can't remember the name of the provincial parks near there right now, but i'm sure you could easily search them out on the net. Many b&bs there as well. Beautiful lakeside country.

Upstate New York has so many opportunities for hiking. Several cool tourist caves there too.

[_mike_]

Thanks for the Algonquin recommendations, it is an amazing place. We go every year and that's why we wanted to do something a little bit different.

We're still deciding on what to do, since it is an awful lot of driving for the amount of time we have. There seems to be some really nice places along the NJ Shore, but we're still looking at other opinions like Ocean City, MD which seems nice. We'd like to avoid camp sites for this trip and are mainly looking at things to do during the day. Some of the examples I came up with were the DC museums and Atlantic City attractions.

I did have a suggestion for the Blue Berry festival, and am still trying to see if there's any other festivals or things to see and do in and around that area.

Thanks for the reply! :)