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OT: 3-5 Day Vacation ideas within driving range

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JERZEE73

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Dec 21, 2001
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Loooking for ideas to take my high school aged daughter & maybe 1 or 2 of her friends. Probably no further than 7 hours drive from Central Jersey. Ideas I’ve thought of are Assateaque/Ocean City Maryland, Knoebel amusement/water park Pennsy, Niagara Falls crossing in to Canada (Depending on Covid restrictions), & Ogunquit Maine. Not in to a NYC trip, obviously prefer something less big city for the most part.
Appreciate any ideas.
 
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JERZEE73 said:
Loooking for ideas to take my high school aged daughter & maybe 1 or 2 of her friends. Probably no further than 7 hours drive from Central Jersey. Ideas I’ve thought of are Assateaque/Ocean City Maryland, Knoebel amusement/water park Pennsy, Niagara Falls crossing in to Canada (Depending on Covid restrictions), & Ogunquit Maine. Not in to a NYC trip, obviously prefer something less big city for the most part.
Appreciate any ideas.
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Gettysburg.
Just an experience of Freedom and Liberty that is breathtaking as you walk the trails and steps of History. What men this Nation had, the first time we fought for the freedom of someone else.
If you go you won't regret it.
 
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JERZEE73 said:
Loooking for ideas to take my high school aged daughter & maybe 1 or 2 of her friends. Probably no further than 7 hours drive from Central Jersey. Ideas I’ve thought of are Assateaque/Ocean City Maryland, Knoebel amusement/water park Pennsy, Niagara Falls crossing in to Canada (Depending on Covid restrictions), & Ogunquit Maine. Not in to a NYC trip, obviously prefer something less big city for the most part.
Appreciate any ideas.
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Wear a hard hat if you stay within a Driving Range.Those are hard little balls.
 
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Any coastal location down to OC, MD makes sense. The shorter the drive, the better the choice imo.
 
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JERZEE73 said:
Loooking for ideas to take my high school aged daughter & maybe 1 or 2 of her friends. Probably no further than 7 hours drive from Central Jersey. Ideas I’ve thought of are Assateaque/Ocean City Maryland, Knoebel amusement/water park Pennsy, Niagara Falls crossing in to Canada (Depending on Covid restrictions), & Ogunquit Maine. Not in to a NYC trip, obviously prefer something less big city for the most part.
Appreciate any ideas.
Click to expand...
Over the years we did trips with our son to places like Cape Cod, Newport, the SE VA area, coastal Maine, the Finger Lakes, and we also did Assateague, and the Niagara Falls area. However, we also did trips to Baltimore, DC, Philly, NYC, Boston, Montreal and Quebec, as we really enjoyed being in cities, as opposed to day trips to cities - big difference to us, as we had a "home base" and didn't have to fight traffic and could walk around our "neighborhood" at any time (especially true for NYC/Philly, which we do day trips to). We also did about a 7-day Civil War tour of all the famous sites in PA, VA, WV, MD, and NC.
 
JERZEE73 said:
Loooking for ideas to take my high school aged daughter & maybe 1 or 2 of her friends. Probably no further than 7 hours drive from Central Jersey. Ideas I’ve thought of are Assateaque/Ocean City Maryland, Knoebel amusement/water park Pennsy, Niagara Falls crossing in to Canada (Depending on Covid restrictions), & Ogunquit Maine. Not in to a NYC trip, obviously prefer something less big city for the most part.
Appreciate any ideas.
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Can you take my 16y/o too. Pretty please.
School ends next week and she's already bugging me.
Just make sure she wears sunscreen!
God bless you willing to drive 7hrs in the car with teens. Lol
 
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Bagarocks said:
Gettysburg.
Just an experience of Freedom and Liberty that is breathtaking as you walk the trails and steps of History. What men this Nation had, the first time we fought for the freedom of someone else.
If you go you won't regret it.
Click to expand...
Gettysburg is awesome. But I am not sure if the high school girls would be into it.
 
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Consider fitting in college towns/informal campus visits and windshield tours even if she's a couple years away from the college admissions process.

For example, you might decide to swing through Charlottesville (UVa) in conjunction with going to Shenandoah N.P. and the caverns in that vicinity then looping around towards Williamsburg for historical sites and the Coll of William & Mary, and throw in an amusement park with Busch Gardens and/or Kings Dominion.
 
Hmmm... simple question.. did you ask the girls where they were interested in going? The kinds of things they'd enjoy?

You mentioned Niagara Falls.. maybe pair it with some of the finger lakes stuff? All the National and State Park stuff might be hard to do at this late date.. I heard demand for reservati9ons skyrocketed as the CoVid thing was ending... they the best places are always hard to get just winging it.
 
JERZEE73 said:
Loooking for ideas to take my high school aged daughter & maybe 1 or 2 of her friends. Probably no further than 7 hours drive from Central Jersey. Ideas I’ve thought of are Assateaque/Ocean City Maryland, Knoebel amusement/water park Pennsy, Niagara Falls crossing in to Canada (Depending on Covid restrictions), & Ogunquit Maine. Not in to a NYC trip, obviously prefer something less big city for the most part.
Appreciate any ideas.
Click to expand...

Jim Thorpe, PA is amazing and cheap. You can rent a camping cabin for like 50 a day. Go whitewater rafting and boating. Lots of bang for the buck here.
 
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lakejj said:
This place was always fun out near Pittsburgh: https://www.7springs.com/

And nearby white water rafting on the Youghiogheny River:

wilderness-voyageurs.com

Middle Yough Ohiopyle Rafting Trips | White Water Rafting

Explore Middle Yough Ohiopyle rafting trips. Best easy white water rafting family fun you can have, no experience needed! Serving families since 1964
wilderness-voyageurs.com wilderness-voyageurs.com
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My son's scout troop does "Ohiopyle" every other year. The white water rafting is great, there is good hiking in the area, and there are some fun natural water slides nearby. Seven Springs has a bunch of activities, including a huge zipline course(really good), downhill mountain biking, alpine slide, etc.
 
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GoodOl'Rutgers said:
Hmmm... simple question.. did you ask the girls where they were interested in going? The kinds of things they'd enjoy?

You mentioned Niagara Falls.. maybe pair it with some of the finger lakes stuff? All the National and State Park stuff might be hard to do at this late date.. I heard demand for reservati9ons skyrocketed as the CoVid thing was ending... they the best places are always hard to get just winging it.
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Of course I asked, but being young teenagers, all they’re interested in is being on their phones face timing each other. Nothing with me is fun. Of course every time we do something she has fun, but going forward, she has short term memory. Just the way it is. Also the reason I’m asking for suggestions. Need places with lots of activities they’d enjoy. They’re at an age (15) where they enjoy leaving me behind & doing things together. Daughter & her friends are good kids, so I understand & just make sure they’re safe
 
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The Flume, up in the White Mountains of NH, is a great place to visit and a great area just to be outdoors and get away from things. Can get to other spots once you're up there, too. I'm sure there's plenty to do, although it's been many years since I've been up that way.
 
JERZEE73 said:
Of course I asked, but being young teenagers, all they’re interested in is being on their phones face timing each other. Nothing with me is fun. Of course every time we do something she has fun, but going forward, she has short term memory. Just the way it is. Also the reason I’m asking for suggestions. Need places with lots of activities they’d enjoy. They’re at an age (15) where they enjoy leaving me behind & doing things together. Daughter & her friends are good kids, so I understand & just make sure they’re safe
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..and as long as they stay together.. drill into them now that when they go someplace together.. they LEAVE that place together.. no matter what.
 
Cape Cod ftw. We are leaving for the Cape tomorrow for our 25th straight year with our two boys (19 & 17), our daughter (20), and 6 of their friends that will be coming in/out over two weeks. Plenty to do for the kids- beaches, Provincetown, Hyannis, hiking, fishing, food choices galore, options at any budget.
 
RU#1fan said:
This.
Great train ride there as well.
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keep in mind dam release days for the Lehigh if you are Jim Thorpe bound and whitewater rafting is of intetest... and there is paintball nearby.. but that's more of a boy thing.

Whitewater Dam Release Dates for 2021 are May 15, 22, 29 and 30; June 12, 13, 26 and 27; July 10, 11, 24, 25 and 31; August 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29; September 4 and 5; and a MEGA dam release on October 9 and 10.
 
RU#1fan said:
This.
Great train ride there as well.
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Train rides for teenagers? They probably want their freedom, with some required adult time. A trip they can tell their friends about as a cool trip.

Cant go wrong with a beach town. Any beach town, imo.

Let us know what you choose.
 
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I believe Canada is still very tough at this point. We are having issues with a M&A and getting a number of Canadian sites up and running as teams cannot even cross providences without a 14 day Quarantine still.

I have seen camping ideas but curious if HS girls want to do that...

If not and something different and perfect for HS girls are places in RI like Newport.
 
yesrutgers01 said:
I believe Canada is still very tough at this point. We are having issues with a M&A and getting a number of Canadian sites up and running as teams cannot even cross providences without a 14 day Quarantine still.

I have seen camping ideas but curious if HS girls want to do that...

If not and something different and perfect for HS girls are places in RI like Newport
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No idea about HS girls specifically, but camping (particularly glamping) has become quite popular and fashionable with younger gens. Because of that, there are some truly impressive options out there now (safari-style tent resorts, tree houses, glass cabins, cantilevered cliff dwellings, etc etc), although many of them are priced like luxury hotels.

It no longer has to bear any resemblance to "roughing it."
 
JERZEE73 said:
Of course I asked, but being young teenagers, all they’re interested in is being on their phones face timing each other. Nothing with me is fun. Of course every time we do something she has fun, but going forward, she has short term memory. Just the way it is. Also the reason I’m asking for suggestions. Need places with lots of activities they’d enjoy. They’re at an age (15) where they enjoy leaving me behind & doing things together. Daughter & her friends are good kids, so I understand & just make sure they’re safe
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Where are you gonna go?
 
Easiest decision ever. I'm going to give you a gift -- New York City. 15 year old girls wanna be NY socialites bro. Make every day instagram worthy; you'll be her ****ing hero!

Step 1: Set aside $2,000; assume 3 day trip
Step 2: Hotel rental downtown (battery park / wall st). One for you; one for them (prob gonna be $400 a night all in, $200 per room per night is a good target)

Day 1: Let em run free in battery park and surrounding: wall street bull, oculus with the connected mall and shops

Hot dogs and peanuts and street cart fair on the menu for lunch;

Post lunch: central park - obelisk, belvidere castle; java chip starbucks under the sun; the works.

Walk through the plaza on 59th. Finish up with the tram across to roosevelt island and a freakin NYC Pizza for sunset. (if you wanna get cute and expensive, high Tea at the plaza is also an option)

Day 2: Yankee game (ideally day game). No mets! Foul or home run territory seats ONLY!! You want ball flying action. Take the subway up (4 train to 161 st yankee stadium).

Give em the true New Yorker experience with some ballpark franks; cracker jack;

After the game back to manhattan, Little italy for dinner and gelato

Day 3: Subway to coney island and brighton - do coney island first for the cyclone and sights, then if they're keen to swim, Brighton is your spot (they won't wanna swim in Coney, and no one will blame them for that...)

Lunch - on the boardwalk

Late afternoon - subway back to brooklyn heights. Show em the promenade. walk em around. Finish off with a walk over the Brooklyn bridge back to Manhattan

That's 3 spectacular days right there my friend. You would never believe the freedom of being able to do ALL THAT without a car. Your daughter and her friends will feel the pulse of the city by the time they're done.
 
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