NYC to Orlando/Tampa w/baby

[pantrygirl]

Hi Everyone. What a great forum!

When it was just me and my husband we just packed a few things, a map and some snacks and let the road take us but as a new parent, I realize spontaneity will probably be best left for day trips.

Honestly, I never knew the amount of planning that is needed for road trips. My dad would pack us in the station wagon and take us on mini trips once a month and a major trip once a year. God bless him and my mom.

I'm a new parent who has in-laws and family in Florida. I'm sure we'll be road tripping several times a year to Florida and would like to receive advice from been-there-done-that folks.

Anyway, since we will be making this trip several times throughout our child's life I've been reading the wonderful threads here and jotting notes down for places and routes for when she is older and can enjoy the ride and sites more.

For her first major road trip (she's already had a few day trips to CT and PA), we plan to drive from NYC to Florida, with stops in Athens, GA, Orlando and Tampa.

Since she's quite young, we figure perhaps 1 site seeing excursion during the drive is plenty. We plan to start our trip in the wee hours of night so she sleeps through most of it. On the way down, we can stop at a few sites down south (any suggestions?). On the way up, we can stop at a few sites up north (Washington DC, perhaps).

I am allotting a total of 7 days for this trip with a 1/2 day stop in Athens, GA, 1-1/2 days in Orlando and 1-1/2 days in Tampa for the popular presenting the new baby to family.

My questions are:
Is this realistic, especially for a first time family/baby trip?

Any recommendations for the site seeing excursions we hope to do?

Are there any preferred routes we should take? She'll sleep through most of the first half of the drive.

My baby loves new sights and sounds and we originally thought a stop on a bottomless boat trip or an aquarium would be a nice little jaunt for her. Any recommended aquariums or the like? Honestly, any baby friendly recommendations are welcome. She's an inquisitive baby and loves new things.

We're trying to save our money and avoid $$$ excursions until she's old enough to remember and maybe understand where she is at.

I'm sure this has been discussed here before in various threads so thank you in advance.