I've done Seattle to Ohio twice before (2007 and 2015). There are a couple of places I'd like to see again (Museum of the Rockies, in Bozeman, MT; maybe Mount Rushmore/Badlands of SD) and of course we want to see new sights. I'm more interested in natural beauty and small towns than big cities. Love tips on diners, local bakeries, etc.
We'll be touring colleges for my eldest child on the way, but also need to accommodate my youngest (age 4), who will need parks/playgrounds to run at least once a day. My 13 year old will be along too; need somethings to keep her happy.
We'll be driving a Toyota Sequoia.
Here's the tentative list of stops, not necessarily in their proper order--need some thoughts on that.
Seattle, WA
Bozeman, MT
Rapid City area, SD
Denver, CO area (Air Force academy)
Houston, TX (Rice)
New Orleans, LA (Tulane)
Atlanta, GA (Georgia Tech)
Nashville, TN (Vanderbilt)
Madison, WI (U-W Madison)
Evanston, IL (Northwestern)
Notre Dame, IN (Notre Dame)
West Lafayette, IN (Purdue)
Ann Arbor, MI (UMichigan)
Pittsburgh, PA (Carnegie Mellon)
Chardon, OH (visit family)
and somehow back to Seattle.
We can leave as early as July 15th and return as late as August 10th. We'll have two drivers, me and my 17 year old. She can do at most 2 hours of driving at a stretch. I prefer not to do more than 5 hours of driving in a day, but we could manage some longer days with the two drivers.
We'll stay in Chardon for at least 5 days.
Thoughts? You all gave me great input on our last two trips.