Lancaster

Thanks for all the replies and the advice. I think it's safe to say that I'm going to seriously reconsider the Canada option and look to see a bit more of the USA instead.

I'll get a map out (or Google map) later and have a close look at the routes suggested.

sdg1871 - Sincere thanks for the invite to join the 25th July meet. I'm going to have a good, long think about that. I need to factor in the issue of my turning up in a rented Crown Victoria (and there is definitely some good comedy potential there ), against the possibility that we might hold things up. Though we could get round that somehow. I will definitely have to make sure my brother hasn't already organised any "Surprise stuff" on that date too.

Needless to say, if anyone ever needs any inside info for a trip to Scotland...

Thanks again.

sdg1871

No prob. It doesn't matter to me what you show up in. If you can't bear showing up in a rental car, I could drive you and your son at the meet. I've got 2 open seats in the car. Just come meet me at my place in NYC and we could go from there.

melimel

why dont you take the train up to the city.. take the path into manhattan and go to the statue of liberty.. empire state.. south street seaport. brooklyn bridge they just re-opened the light that lady liberty holds. so you can get up there now with sick views of at least 4 boroughs. brooklny, manhattan, n.j. and staten island. youll see all the bridges. experience the magic of manhattan, ride the nyc trains, see the wackos, its great. shop in the village. welcome and have a safe flight!

daven

I'd second that 'Melimel'. I've worked at JFK a few times and always make sure I take the time out to see the sites. Mind you I certainly wouldn't bother driving! Spent enough time blasting down the Van Wyk expressway at 0 dark hundred
Does the Manhattan/JFK helicopter service still operate? As that is IMO a worthwhile trip!
In the city I actually enjoyed the walking.........although got pulled by a copper on a horse when I/we wandered into a less than celubrious (sp?) area.
Wish you guys would look after the Concorde a bit better
I've just got back from Boston.... that is one lovely city! and the weather was fantastic (I understand it had been pretty shitty for over a month!).
All that walking and I saw the grand total of one/uno e60 several x3/x5 though

Rudy

Two quick things...

If you make it into PA towards Lancaster & the Amish, you may want to consider Hershey, PA as a stop for a day or so. There's a fantastic amusement park there and, if you're someone who likes chocolate, you can find a ton of it there.

The other thing would be to remember to get in the rental car on the left side and drive on the right side of the road!

one4thethumb

Also, if your travels should take you to PA, consider going a bit further west of Amish country and go to Gettysburg to get a sense of one of the epic battles of the Civil War. Though I am a Pennsylvania native, I have been to Gettysburg but once, at age 8 (40 years ago), and my memories of the battlefields and the related tour are still vividly etched in my mind.

After Gettysburg, you could loop southeast to DC.

FYI: Traveling to Toronto and the Falls from Trenton by car is at least an 8 hour drive and does not take into account the time suck that is customs at the border.

Also consider traveling south to coastal Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.

Lancaster

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

I've just got back from visiting the Open at Turnberrry so now I can mug up ahead of tomorrow's flight.

Cheers.

sdg1871

Have a safe flight. Even if you can't make the July 25th meet, if you want to meet up at some point during your trip, PM me.

Lancaster

sdg1871 - Please see my PM.

Thanks again to everyone who responded. I just wanted to give some feedback to let you know I took quite a lot of the advice and used it.

We took the advice to give Canada a miss and went to;

My brother and family near Trenton, NJ.

Lancaster PA (Amish culture)
Front Royal
Appalachian Mountains
Richmond
Colonial Williamsburg
Washington (got very wet at night)
Six Flags
New York City
We did some other stuff with my brother and his family, so it was a busy couple of weeks.

We did eat at the Plain & Fancy restaurant as recommended and it was certainly different (and good).
In general we found some good, plain US style restaurants to be friendly and high quality.
Probably the fanciest spot we went to was the Princetown Grill but it was worth every Dollar and I would recommend it. Great atmosphere both within the restaurant and around the whole area.

Our rental car turned out to be a Dodge Charger with Texas plates.

m630

sounds like a great trip, glad you enjoyed the northeast !