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I need ideas for a vacation.

Need Vacation Ideas!

  • I need (hopefully inexpensive) mid-Atlantic region vacation ideas. We live in central Virginia and are looking for someplace new and different to go on vacation this summer. The drive must be under 6-7 hours. We don't like cities or sandy beaches - so places like Williamsburg/VaBeach, Nags Head, NYC and Philly just aren't our cup of tea. We like really active vacations where we can spend our days hiking or riding bikes, so theaters, galleries, museums and fine dining are not important to us. We can camp, but prefer inexpensive motels (as long as they're clean!) We live 10 minutes from Shenandoah National Park, so we don't want anything there. We've been to Abingdon and biked the Virginia Creeper and hiked Mt. Rogers. We've been to Asheville and visited Biltmore and hiked along the Blue Ridge Parkway in that area. We've been biking along the Greenbriar River trail in West Virginia. We've been to Gatlinburg and Great Smoky Mountains NP. I am stumped for new ideas! Anyone have something brilliant to suggest?

  • Answer:

    I was going to suggest visiting Pennsylvania waterfalls, especially Rickett's Glen. I found this map: http://geology.com/waterfalls/pennsylvania.shtml A waterfall trip is not good during a drought, though, so keep the weather in mind. Eagles Mere is not far from Rickett's Glen and is a really nice small town on a small lake, surrounded by forests. You can bike around Gettysburg, not just the national military park, but through the apple orchards toward Fairfield, Arendtsville, Biglerville, and Bendersville. At Biglerville there's Pomona, with really good bread and where on some days you can get a great lunch/brunch. Bedford County PA is another good biking area. The tourist office has maps. Ask about Gravity Hill. Also there's a pike-to-bike trail along a disused stretch of the PA turnpike, which includes a tunnel. Hike a stretch of the Appalachian Trail?

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Have you been to Harper's Ferry? There are quite a few http://www.metafilter.com/contribute/search.mefi?q=Harper%27s%20Ferry&tab=comments&site=ask&sort=date with good ideas of what to do there. And here are a http://ask.metafilter.com/158418/Where-should-I-go#2272052 of http://ask.metafilter.com/22047/Weekend-getaway questions (including mine) asking about trip ideas close to DC -- some of those might fit the bill for you, too.

amarynth

If you go to the Ricketts Glen area, you should also consider checking out Knoebels Amusement park in Elysburg, PA. It's a pretty neat old school amusement park. Parking is free, admission is free and you pay for the rides that you ride. I do recommend Ricketts Glen, I have seen waterfalls all up and down the East Coast and I haven't come across many parks where there are that many in one place.

jefeweiss

How about visiting http://www.google.com/search?q=allegheny+national+forest http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/allegheny/ http://www.visitanf.com/ in north-central PA? Should be about a 7 hour drive from Charlottesville and it's a National Forest with a couple of designated wilderness areas.

The Michael The

Camping and white water rafting at any number of places in WV or PA? Maybe somewhere where you can learn to rock climb and then scale a cliff or two? I live in VA too, and given your restrictions I think you might have better odds finding something different to try in an area you have already visited. Has your hiking experience been limited to day hikes? Maybe spend 5 days on the Appalachian Trail if you have never done the real backpacking thing.

COD

Berkeley Springs, WV, is a great place to go. The state runs a place to take the waters and get a massage. Also, there are a lot of local artisans in the town who sell their wares.

jgirl

We had a really awesome time biking in the http://www.nps.gov/dewa/index.htm. Campgrounds are managed by state parks/forests in PA and NJ, and we stayed in http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/worthington.html. Hiking, fishing, biking, and pleasant small town exploring are all close by.

zachxman

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