Anonymous wrote:We went over the summer. It took 3 hrs to get to Fredericksburg. I took the kids into Chuck E Cheese and then they ran around kicking the soccer ball for an hour in the parking lot. CEC is in an office park type area so once you move away from the CEC building, the parking lot is empty.

Seriously? Wasted hours at CEC and playing soccer? Wow. No wonder it takes families on DCUM Many more hours to make it to their destination

We used to travel to OBX many years ago, when my daughter was 18mo and up. We just drove straight through. The only stops we made were a couple farmers markets, the Grave Digger place, and a country store. In and out, not for hours. I couldnt imagine taking that long to reach the destination.

Now we travel south down to Wilmington NC area with my 2 grandkids, and it is the same thing. Since infancy, we hardly stop. Would rather just make it to our destination and the kids are great about it.

Anonymous wrote:64 is painful. I drive that a lot visiting my family in Va Beach.

What about Pierce's in Williamsburg? It's at the Lightfoot a Exit. Good BBQ and picnic tables outside. Lots of grass to run around in.

Another vote for Pierce's - I grew up in Williamsburg and it really is fantastic.

We went over the Chesapeake bay bridge and drove south down through the Eastern Shore last time. What a welcome change of scenery from 95! It's a tiny bit longer but literally ZERO traffic at all. And it's frankly more interesting to see all the little ESVA towns than just the dreary 95 scenery.

Anonymous wrote:Save time by staying in your driveway...it will be much nicer than OBX

+1

Save time by staying in your driveway...it will be much nicer than OBX

We went over the summer. It took 3 hrs to get to Fredericksburg. I took the kids into Chuck E Cheese and then they ran around kicking the soccer ball for an hour in the parking lot. CEC is in an office park type area so once you move away from the CEC building, the parking lot is empty.

9:19 - great suggestion! I've always seen it in passing, but wasn't sure what it was.

64 is painful. I drive that a lot visiting my family in Va Beach.

What about Pierce's in Williamsburg? It's at the Lightfoot a Exit. Good BBQ and picnic tables outside. Lots of grass to run around in.

OP here - yeah we were thinking abt monster truck, but by that time, we are super close. It's that drive down 64 that kills us.

The monster truck place by the highway in NC? (or the farmers markets, but those are even closer to OBX)

Some good suggestions here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/403308.page#5539718

(Some clunkers too. Avoid all the ones that think you are traveling on 1-95)

Looks for parks or malls. We did well stopping at Barnes and Noble.

We are heading out to the OBX with our 18-month old and are trying to plan ahead/think ahead on good stops to let her get out and run a bit on the trip down. I know a lot of families in our area head down there - do you recommend any particular stops? We usually end-up at a chik-fil-a around lunchtime and it is an absolute nightmare with the crowd. Thanks!