Time to fill in Penn/Virginia/Maryland area

[Tay]

I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions of what to see/do in this area in late April? We are interested in history, outdoors activities.

Our plan at the moment is to hire a car in Washington DC and visit Gettesburg and Lancaster (my husband's family homestead has been turned into a museum, so it really is a must see for us) before returning to DC.

We have three days (two nights) to fill, so I thought we should be able to fit some other things in, but I am struggling a bit to figure out how far is reasonable to drive and what we could get to in that time.

An american suggested we do some of the Skyline Drive. I have been told by other Kiwis that it is a bit underwelming if you have been to the South Island of NZ, but I thought they might be being excessively parochial - is it worth doing?

TIA

[Dominic Longo]

To hire a driver will make this hard because there are certain laws restricting how long a hired driver can drive in a day. Unless you mean renting a car? If you are coming from anywhere outside of the country, Washington D.C. is enough to look at for the 3 days. York may have some interesting stuff. Bethlehem, PA has a historical Main Street if you'll be heading east and north of Lancaster.

[Tay]

Sorry, I didn't manage to make myself clear - by hiring a car I just mean renting one, we will be driving it ourselves.

We already have 3-4 days in DC in addition to the three we want to spend driving around the region a bit. Then after that 3 days in NYC.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

If you have basically three days to get from Washington to New York, by way of Lancaster, then you should probably forego a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Instead spend a day driving up to the old family homestead and enjoying the museum and Amish Country in general. Then on the second day head into Philadelphia, and besides the historic sites associated with our Revolution (Independence Hall and related buildings) also take a stroll down South 9th Street through the outdoor Italian Market, and maybe visit either the Zoo of Franklin Institute, or even stand with arms raised a la Rocky Balboa on the steps of the Art Museum. On your third day, you can head over to the coast if that appeals to you and approach New York from the south, or head up along the Delaware River to approach New York from the west.

AZBuck

[Tay]

Thanks for the advice - we hadn't really considered Philadelphia so will definately look into that some more.