So yesterday my wife, as we were getting up, went, "i'd like to show the kids where i went to grad school (Minneapolis/ St Paul area)" and i went, umm ok... we talked for a minute and she went, drive or fly, i went Driving would be cheaper getting there if we just "drove" there (takes about 24 hrs barring traffic)
so i do my morning then and go to work and an idea popped into my head,,,instead of driving straight, lets do a "vacation" (the movie- original not that new one) sort- amusement parks etc.
now i know the route, but no idea of what to see otw, so into google maps i go and my first thought was hersey park in Penn - about a 6.5hr drive- and in the general direction of mn (west)
then i from watching travel channel and discovery remembered there was supposed to be a great place in ohio, so googled amusement parks in ohio and got Cedar Point as the first response, and i was --yep that is the one-- added that (6 hr drive from hersey park)
so for the next stop i am thinking Illinois -there any good amusement parks near chicago area- that is not Six Flags? i chose raging waters(water park) just to switch it up some...(6 hr drive from cedar point)
then after chicago, it'd be another 6-8ish hrs to minn (valley fair is the nearest one there but i think the kids might be amusement parked out by then and we'll just "sight see" show the kids como park/zoo the state zoo, mall of america, etc...
i showed my "itinerary" to the wife and she liked it, so we will most likely do those 3 parks (definately doing hershey and cedar point) in some order and staying overnight a day or two at each spot... Most likely scenario would be skipping cedar point on the way out and doing that LAST on the way home. the reason i say that is travel distances.... can do boston to hershey in under 7 hrs, then hershey to chicago in 10 hrs, then to minn/st paul 6 hr then minn/st paul to sandusky in 11 hrs and then sandusky to boston in 10.5 hrs. (barring construction/accidents/traffic)
day 1 travel to hershey- overnight- park overnight- travel to chicago overnight park overnight travel to mn overnightx3 travel to oh overnight park overnight home so that would be 9 days...
there is one OTHER leg of the journey that is possible but we might skip it due to time - which is to go farther West and see mount rushmore/custer state park- and stay in rapid city SD for 2 nights. (~10hr drive there, overnight, do mount rushmore/park overnight, start heading back to home) that would tack on 3 days since we'd have to stop around chicago to overnight)
so what good restaurants/sights to see should i be on the lookout for around the Chicago area/ hersey park penn and sandusky oh areas, besides the obvious amusement parks (and the chocolate factory in hershey-my youngest son, when i went hershey park- he went, not going i hate chocolate!- i went, yes the hershey factory is nearby but, its an Amusement park with rollercoasters!)
so i do my morning then and go to work and an idea popped into my head,,,instead of driving straight, lets do a "vacation" (the movie- original not that new one) sort- amusement parks etc.
now i know the route, but no idea of what to see otw, so into google maps i go and my first thought was hersey park in Penn - about a 6.5hr drive- and in the general direction of mn (west)
then i from watching travel channel and discovery remembered there was supposed to be a great place in ohio, so googled amusement parks in ohio and got Cedar Point as the first response, and i was --yep that is the one-- added that (6 hr drive from hersey park)
so for the next stop i am thinking Illinois -there any good amusement parks near chicago area- that is not Six Flags? i chose raging waters(water park) just to switch it up some...(6 hr drive from cedar point)
then after chicago, it'd be another 6-8ish hrs to minn (valley fair is the nearest one there but i think the kids might be amusement parked out by then and we'll just "sight see" show the kids como park/zoo the state zoo, mall of america, etc...
i showed my "itinerary" to the wife and she liked it, so we will most likely do those 3 parks (definately doing hershey and cedar point) in some order and staying overnight a day or two at each spot... Most likely scenario would be skipping cedar point on the way out and doing that LAST on the way home. the reason i say that is travel distances.... can do boston to hershey in under 7 hrs, then hershey to chicago in 10 hrs, then to minn/st paul 6 hr then minn/st paul to sandusky in 11 hrs and then sandusky to boston in 10.5 hrs. (barring construction/accidents/traffic)
day 1 travel to hershey- overnight- park overnight- travel to chicago overnight park overnight travel to mn overnightx3 travel to oh overnight park overnight home so that would be 9 days...
there is one OTHER leg of the journey that is possible but we might skip it due to time - which is to go farther West and see mount rushmore/custer state park- and stay in rapid city SD for 2 nights. (~10hr drive there, overnight, do mount rushmore/park overnight, start heading back to home) that would tack on 3 days since we'd have to stop around chicago to overnight)
so what good restaurants/sights to see should i be on the lookout for around the Chicago area/ hersey park penn and sandusky oh areas, besides the obvious amusement parks (and the chocolate factory in hershey-my youngest son, when i went hershey park- he went, not going i hate chocolate!- i went, yes the hershey factory is nearby but, its an Amusement park with rollercoasters!)