Route Planning

[lady_karelia]

I's in need of some help, please. Does anyone know of a route planner that includes points of interest, such as state and national parks, maybe even museums or historical places? mapquest gives me the general directions only, freetrip includes hotels and travel plazas, but I'd also like some restaurants, mainly in the hope of being able to visit some old favourites, and, of course, points of interests etc. Help?

Comments

[ltgarrix.livejournal.com]

Well, for national parks, museums and such I have found that road atlases are great. The ones we have will even give things like shopping malls and such, but they have parks and museums on them and other little interesting places. I think we have a Rand-McNally that gives each state it's own page with zooms on the cities.

Restaurants I don't have any advice on.

If you know someone with a AAA membership, they can do a lot of that sort of stuff with TripTiks. If you have restaurant names, they can maybe even point those out. I don't know how much you can get off their website www.aaa.com but it can't hurt to look.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting I have a road atlas in the car ::shakes head::
Thanks for the aaa website! I've found some interesting stuff on there.

[ltgarrix.livejournal.com]

Glad to have helped. After several cross country drives in which we have decided on stops based on what's on the road atlas, I have learned it's a valuable tool. Mapquest is great for the directions, but it doesn't always help with some of those spontaneous side trips. Of course, one side trip we decided because we saw the sign at the exit

I wasn't sure how useful AAA would be if you weren't a member so I'm glad you have found it useful. If you have any questions about parts of the country, in the last 6 years I have moved from Norfolk, VA to Monterey, CA to Newport, RI via San Antonio and Charlotte, to San Diego to the DC area so I have criss-crossed a vast portion of the country and seen some cool things along the way.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

If you can think of something off the top of your head, anything interesting near the I-81 through VA, WV and MD?
Or is it labour time now? Haven't seen you online tonight! ::happy birthing vibes::

[ltgarrix.livejournal.com]

Starting in northern VA (can't say I know of much off the top of my head in MD or WV) is Luray Caverns which is really gorgeous. From there, it's not far to the entrance to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.

I take that back, there is Harper's Ferry in MD. I mention this because there is talk about them doing some development in that are that threatens the historic nature of the area. Last I heard they hadn't decided. It's about 20 miles south of Haggerstown, but there doesn't seem to be a quick and easy way to get there from the 81.

If you have time to kill, I highly recommend Skyline Drive which parallels the 81 on the ridge instead of through the valley. It's a park, so I think you have to pay unless you have National Parks card, but it's been years. I looked, and it's $15 Mar-Nov. I would make sure you have time as the speed limit is 35 and you will surely want to make several stops as it is utterly gorgeous. One time we made a stop to watch a black bear for about 15 minutes.

A short detour would be Charlottesville, which is about 30 miles east on the I-64. There is historic Mitchie Tavern, which is a great place to stop for lunch, along with Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's house which is amazing and worth several hours) and not too far from there is James Monroe's house, which while nice is kind of disappointing if you've just come from Monticello. LOL If you like wine, there are several vineyards in the area - I recommend Horton and Barboursville as they have the best variety. There is a Jefferson Vineyards near Monticello that has okay wine, but IMO the other two are the best in Virginia.

In Lexington, there is VMI, which has a really neat museum. The school has a long history and the Cadets did participate in the battle of New Market during the Civil War.

South of Lexington is Natural Bridge, which has historical significance in that Washington himself surveyed it. It's a short walk to the bridge and that's a very commercial attraction, but it is very cool.

Of course, the Shenandoah Valley is filled with Civil War battlefields. Another detour of about 30 miles would be Appomattox Courthouse. You would head from Natural Bridge to Lynchburg and then a little further on US 460, about 12 miles or so.

Can you tell that J is a Civil War buff? LOL For the most part, it has been a large number of years since we have done some of the attractions, 95 and 96 when we were at Annapolis. Charlottesville we used to make a day trip from Norfolk, so we have been there more recently and during the summer we will likely be heading down there again. And I'm sure we'll do Skyline Drive, too. It's not really far from here.

I hope this helps. If you have more specifics, let me know. I did this without my road atlas, just using Google Maps to jog the ol' grey matter. :D