Where to go with grandkids

nice advice Oasisbob. Trying to work our a late April trip somewhere warm and I will be taking your advice! Me and my DW and three young kids need some electronic down time!

Take some board games, leave the electronics at home. Take lost of pictures. Invest your time. Make those solid gold memories. Location is secondary to this.

Pigeon Forge Tenn. Hiking, water parks, anything you want to do. Lightning bug thing at Elkmont CG 2nd and 3rd week of June is amazing.

Mountains would be a good option, doubly so if you're all able to do a little bit of hiking. Shenandoah NP is not a bad suggestion for that.

Knoebels in Elysburg, PA is a fun amusement park option. They have a great selection of rides and activities that are suitable for the younger side, and the free admission/pay per ride option works out nicely for groups where not everyone wants to spend all day being mechanically thrown to and fro. I'd think a week might be a bit much there.

While it's somewhat further away, Letchworth State Park in New York is fantastic, especially if you like some hiking. Many of the trails (or at least segments of them) would be well within the comfortable range of a five year old.

Hungry Mother State Park is an incredible getaway. We live an hour from it. Probably 1.5 hours south of roanoke, va not far off I-81. Canoeing and hiking on a beautiful small lake.

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/hungry-mother#general_information

Water parks! Anywhere!

We have two daughters who are now 11 and 8, very active, love the outdoors and most anything that is "nature" involved.

1. They LOVE Point Lookout, Md, which is about an hour outside the DC Metro. There are lakes, the Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River to swim in, a great, active nature center with a Jr. Ranger Program (check the dates), lots of trails, canoes and kayaks to rent, bike paths, a fishing pier, crabbing areas, etc.

2. Hershey Park is a great place for kids and ours really enjoyed it. We did a day in the park, took a day to just lay around (it was raining) and then did another day at the park. Worked well, nobody was too tired.

3. Jellystone in Luray, VA has so many activities within the park, then there is also Luray Caverns that youngsters definitely would enjoy.

4. Virginia State Parks has many parks in the area that might meet your requirements - there is
a. Mason Neck SP
b. Leesylvania
c. Sky Meadows
d. Shenandoah River
e. Caledon
f. Westmoreland
g. Lake Anna

If you just look up Va State Parks, you can click on either of these to see what they offer. Many offer pools, bike trails, hiking, bird watching and horseback riding.

Just a few of my thoughts within a couple of hours of DC.

We took our granddaughter to Jellystone in Tabor City last year. They have tons of activities for kids and the pool area is great. We had just purchased a new TT and this was a short drive to test everything out.

We have enjoyed our visits to Shenandoah National Park with our children.

We haven't been there, but we've heard good things about Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park, near Natural Bridge, VA. You may want to take a look at their website.