Frontier Culture Museum is heaven on earth if you are a history enthusiast. I was absolutely enthralled, and since I went on a weekday in March, had the place mostly to myself.

Wonderful and lovely.

OP here. We had a great weekend! On the way down we went to skyline caverns and rode on skyline drive. We hit up Bella Luna for dinner and Klines for ice cream. Our hotel had a pool so that was the nightly entertainment.

We did the kids museum, a winery, a lavender farm, and the playground.

On our return we wandered around New Market Battlefield and then stopped at Dinosaur Land.

Our kids had a wonderful weekend. It was just the right amount of activities, all varied and interesting. Low key, inexpensive, quality family time. Just perfect for this young age.

NP chiming in to this thread to say my 9-year old and I will be visiting JMU the weekend of October 10-12. If anyone has suggestions for particular events/activities going on that weekend please share. I have never been, so enjoying reading about all the ideas posted so far.

Anonymous wrote:

Great ice cream place across from the Catholic Church - I can't remember the name though.

Kline's Dairy Bar? a must go!

Also JMU has some children/family friendly performances at their amazing on campus theatre--you should see if anything is going on.

Great childrens' museum. My 2.5, 4, and 6 yr old loved it. In fact, we were the last ones to leave.

Great ice cream place across from the Catholic Church - I can't remember the name though.

Football season starts so watch out for traffic for jmu's home games.

When are you going? There are always a ton of things to do around the valley. Lots of different caverns to explore, there is a corn maze in the fall, Route 11 potato chips is always fun. Later in September Edinburg is having their Ole Town Festival. This Saturday is the last day of the Shenandoah County Fair in Woodstock. If you go toward the winter you can ski, snowboard or tube at Bryce or Massanutten. Lots of pick your own produce farms. Lots of wineries.

Xenia has food middle eastern food

Lavendar farm not far away and Route 11 chips factory

Their children's museum and farmer's market are fantastic.

We love Bella Luna for dinner and Kline's for frozen custard.

JMU arboretum and the dream come true playground are great places for them to burn off some steam.

For food, try Carl's, which is just past the Massanutten entrance. The best dry ribs I ever had

Vito's Italian Kitchen on Port Republic Road is wonderful!

My dd has a peanut allergy, so we went to Cici's in Harrisonburg. She was delighted that she could have pizza, pasta and brownies!

We stayed in Harrisonburg for spring break last year as our home base as we explored the area. We went to the Frontier Culture Museum, Massanutten Water Park, Luray Caverns and Explore More discovery Museum. There was a good restaurant across the street from the Explore More Museum, but I don't remember the name.

Any recommendations for things to do? Places to eat? Etc. 5 year old and 2 year old.