Summer Road Trip to the North East

Wow...there is a lot to see up in this area (I am from NH, and formerly from the DC area) in such a short time. You might want to limit your scope a bit since you can't see it all. I recommend the same things lots of others have - Acadia NP in Maine - go see sunrise over Caddillac Mountain and have tea and scones in the park. You can do a whale watch tour (bring a barf bag), and get great ice cream down on the docks. Take the coastal route (US 1) in Maine at least part of the way when you are in southern Maine, go see LL Bean in Freeport. In NH, stay in the White Mountains - there are many great campgrounds. With kids, I would recommend Chocorua KOA (lots of activities) and it's near the Kancamagus highway which goes from Conway to Lincoln, NH through the presidential mountain range...drive this at least once. There are many pull overs along the way (not with the trailer, though) where you can go for short or long hikes to see waterfalls or go swimming in the rivers - Sabbaday Falls is beautiful and a short hike from the highway. While in the white mountains, go see Franconia Notch state park (hike), Polar Caves, Lost River, and with small kids you should go to Storyland and Santa's village at least once (which haven't changed much since they were built - sort of old timey). Go see the Mount Washington Hotel and have their breakfast buffet on the weekends. The roads around Squam and Winnepasauke in the NH lakes region are beautiful any time of year. You can head over to Vermont and travel up and down route 100, which is one of the prettiest roads in the US.

To visit Boston, find a campground anywhere from southern NH to RI. An hour drive into and out of Boston is not a biggie. Parking in Boston is a PITA - I like the underground parking garage at the Boston Common, or the garage next to the Aquarium ($ but the most convenient to Fanueil Hall and downtown). You can do the freedom trail and the aquarium, and the Boston MFA all in one long day.

For NYC, I would proabably stay near the CT coast and take the train in from New Haven, Stamford, or Norwalk; or stay in the Hudson Valley and take the train, etc. Driving in or around NYC is an experience. The list of things to do in NYC is very, very long...but generally avoid times square, IMHO. Go see a play if you can. A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is hysterical.

Washington DC is the other natural attraction if you are passing by - the Smithsonian alone takes at least 2 days. Drive up the eastern shore of MD and eat some crabs along the way.

Padlin wrote:
You making stops along the route or just point to point?

Looking for (a) base(s) around those areas so that we can park the trailer and then drive around with the truck. Most likely stops and not point to point.

DrewE wrote:

Bill/Diana wrote:

If you opt to stay at this campground let me know and I can assist with your travel details & logistics. If you stay a few days in this area you can click here for other local attractions. Hershey Park could be a fun day for the kids.

While I wholeheartedly agree that HersheyPark is great fun for the kids (of whatever age), I wouldn't exactly call it a local attraction to Philly!

Knoebels is also a great amusement park, a little smaller and a little more traditionally oriented. Both HersheyPark and Knoebels have campgrounds associated with them, too.

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

The campground I suggested is in Hatfield which is located 35 miles north of Philadelphia. From Hatfield to Hershey Park is a 105 minute drive...door to door via the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Oak Grove Campground is located about 3 miles from the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The OP wanted a campground near Philly with an easy train commute and Oak Grove definitely meets that criteria.

Bill/Diana wrote:

If you opt to stay at this campground let me know and I can assist with your travel details & logistics. If you stay a few days in this area you can click here for other local attractions. Hershey Park could be a fun day for the kids.

While I wholeheartedly agree that HersheyPark is great fun for the kids (of whatever age), I wouldn't exactly call it a local attraction to Philly!

Knoebels is also a great amusement park, a little smaller and a little more traditionally oriented. Both HersheyPark and Knoebels have campgrounds associated with them, too.

Toronto to Montreal; stay at St Philippe and drive in.(Montreal South KOA ?)

Montreal to Quebec City; Stay at Camping Transit CG in Levis and take the ferry to the city.

Quebec to the Bay of Fundy; Overnight at Grand Falls, NB then on to Moncton or Amherst. (Loch Lomond CG)

Bay of Fundy to Boston; Overnight near Bangor then on to Boston. (Boston Minuteman CG in Littleton is good and you can take the Red Line into town.)

Have fun

smcrea wrote:
Planning out our trip day by day.

Got a couple more questions:

1) Finding RV parks within train ride distance of Philadelphia is not easy. We want to be north of Phili if possible because we are going heading north afterwards. So far I have found Timberlane Campground at Clarksboro NJ. Does anyone have any other recommendations?

2) Next question is New York!.. pretty scary for us! :-).. We'd like to setup base at an RV park North of New York and then catch the train in. Does anyone have any suggestions? The plan is to walk the length of Broadway (Ive done this but tyne family hasn't) We may even stop the night in which case our RV parking spot would just be that.. an RV parking spot for a trailer. Any ideas?

Thanks!

I would highly recommend Oak Grove Park which is about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. Click here to view their website.

The campground is family owned and very clean. All sites are gravel, level and nice size. The campground is located in Hatfield, PA which is a very quiet and safe community. I live 2 miles from the campground and have been storing our motorhome there for the past 9 years.

To get the train into Philadelphia it is a 8 minute drive from the campground to the train station. The train ride into Philly is about 50 minutes via the Septa line.

If you opt to stay at this campground let me know and I can assist with your travel details & logistics. If you stay a few days in this area you can click here for other local attractions. Hershey Park could be a fun day for the kids.

Please let me know if I can be of help.

You making stops along the route or just point to point?

If we we want to travel from Toronto to Nova Scotia and then down to Boston.

Can anyone please recommend:

1) Some central strategic bases to park the RV and explore (how many would be ideal

2) What are the recommendations for locations (bases & must see places)?

Thanks!

These last few posts about traffic in the NE just go to reinforce my contention that you're trying to do to much in four weeks coming all the way from CA. Just putting a route together covering all the places you're want to visit adds up to 8000 miles. That's averaging 300 miles a day every day for the whole trip! :E That's about six hours of driving with gas, lunch and potty stops. Plan another hour setting up and breaking down camp and another hour for meals and you're down to three or four hours a day at most that you'll have for sightseeing. Mostly, you'll do nothing but spend hours and days in your vehicle.

Right now, I'm planning a three week trip to the same area. We will fly right into DC, so we'll save well over a week of driving to and from CO right there. But even with three weeks, I'm having a tough time seeing just the few places we want to go. So we're concentrating on only four areas: DC, Williamsburg, Boston, and Acadia. We'll be in a car (tent camping this time) so can easily travel faster and more miles per day when needed, and still we have to miss a lot of stuff. It takes quite some time to get around with all the traffic in these areas.

If you read through these responses and those in your previous question (1/30/15) in the Routes and Roads section, you'll see a lot of people are making similar comments, most of whom have driven cross country and know of what they speak. So please reconsider this "vacation". Either fly out and rent a car or take six weeks to do something other than look at the windshield of your vehicle. Your kids deserve no less and will thank you for it.

X2 on avoiding I95. I take thruway to I84 to Rt8 to Ma turnpike. Or take thruway to I90 East (MASS PIKE) there are tolls but much better roads and unless an accident better traffic