suggestions for 7 day road trip, last week of May

[Pink]

Hi
I want to take a road trip for about 7 days. We will start from Westchester NY. Ideally we would like to go to mid-west but not sure if that is too ambitious as we have to be back on the seventh or latest by the eighth day. We have already been to most of the bigger cities like Chicago, Madison, Denver, Columbus etc. So we want to make this trip more about national park / monuments, smaller interesting cities/ towns etc. Any suggestions about how far should we aim from east coast and any points of interest in Mid-Western states are welcome.
Thanks a lot.

[Dominic Longo]

I assume to you want to see as much as possible and not just stay on the road. So places like Kansas/Nebraska/South Dakota for example will be out of your range. If you want to see as many places as possible and not just stay on the road the whole time Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois would be possible. Michigan, too. Wisconsin may be a stretch. Would Kentucky or West Virginia fall into your plans? It's not the midwest but there is a ton to see there as well as these other states. It all depends on how much you want to see and how long you plan to stay at each of your destinations. What are your plans as far as the time you are spending at each place?

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

As jimzdj36 pointed out, there are lots of places that are reachable on a one week loop RoadTrip from the New York City area, and a lot that are simply unreachable on any kind of enjoyable schedule. So let me outline just one that might suit your needs. I used your criteria and tried to limit driving time to 3½ days so that you would be spending as much time seeing and enjoying places as you were getting to them. So start by heading west on I-78 to the Harrisburg area and switch to US-15/I-81 south, visiting Gettysburg, Antietam, Shenandoah National Park, and the Blue ridge Parkway on your way to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There turn west again into Kentucky to visit Mammoth Caves National Park. Now it will be time to start heading home while still visiting places on the way, so head up through Blue Grass and horse country via Lexington to the Ohio River and follow US-52 along the Ohio side to Charleston, WV. Take I-79/US-119 north to Uniontown, PA and follow US-40, the old National Road, to Fort Necessity, the Ohio and Chesapeake Canal, Fort Frederick and Catoctin Mountain National Park (Camp David) before retracing your steps on I-81/I-78 back to New York.

There are other possibilities, of course, but that should give you an idea of the area you can cover and still have an enjoyable drive that is a pleasant mix of scenic driving and relaxing places to stop.

AZBuck