Man, I hope this is sarcasm cause I don't even know where to start. |
Totally agree with these two. I learned more about about the civil war and secession from the Union than I remember learning in school. The African American Museum is definitely worth a visit as well. We also went to Fort Moultrie, which was interesting. Williamsburg is a good stop, if you haven't already been, if you focus on colonial history and Jamestown. In MA, I'd go to the Adams Historical Park, maybe Lexington, probably Plimoth Patuxent, in addition to the obvious Boston sites. On the way north what about going to Hyde Park? You can do Franklin and Eleanor there. |
Emily dickensen house? Eric Carl’s museum is great and maybe kids will relate to that even if it isn’t technically hostory |
My family is from the newburgh area and my mom went to HS there but I wouldn’t recommend it for this troop. There are better destinations if you will be going through the Hudson valley. Like Hyde park. |
Love this aea of the country but it’s pretty out of the way and not worth driving out of the way for this. If you’re going to be up by Seneca Falls, Cooperstown might be a fun add. Honestly we’ve never been to Seneca falls because it is so far from everything! For the drive, I love The Rest is History podcasts. They are Brits so have a different take on American history but they are very funny (in a British historian way) and I think their podcasts are a lighter listen than some of the other history podcasts like History That Doesn’t Suck (which is basically like an AP history class — it’s very good but incredibly dense on detail so gets a little draining if you listen to all of them.). |
I’m not OP but I get this — sometimes you want to do the vacation you want to do, and it’s okay to tell your teens to stretch their boundaries a bit and have fun with something that’s not their idea. Some kids are game for that (my son would be, but my daughter complains about everything that isn’t her first choice). Honestly it’s how most of us grew up — my family did a cross country trip when I was a kid and I guarantee they did not ask my opinion about the itinerary (except the San Diego zoo, which was my requested stop). Would I have picked the Henry Ford museum or Linton’s birthplace? Maybe not but they were both awesome. She’s probably being about 50% tongue in cheek. |
Please, oh please, give us day by day updates when you’re on the road. |
Do you know about Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts? |
This sounds like the kind of person who probably won't let their kids watch iPads on the long drives, too. |
I'm curious if you think this is a bad or good thing. FWIW I think long drives are basically what radio dramas were made for. |
It’s Plimoth Patuxent. |
DP. These are teenagers. Hopefully they’re allowed to put on headphones and pass the driving time however they prefer. (Perhaps they’re even old enough to help out with the driving?) |
The U.S. Park Service has guides that are incredibly knowlegeable about their parks. We took a tour of the Manassas battlefield and even though we were only looking at beautiful countryside, the guide made the battle come alive. |
That’s sad that you have no control over your children |
+1 kids need to be taught that the world doesn’t revolve around them and sometimes you do things that you don’t particularly want to do for a family member or friend (or because your parent tells you to). In our family we travel a lot and try to plan vacations that include a mix of activities that all will enjoy but some are naturally more kid centric and less fun for the parents (waterparks, Disney etc) while others may be more geared to a parent’s interests and the kids can similarly deal with it. |