We’re talking about a vacation this summer so we can plan ahead. My mother (who will pay for it) said she’d love to go to Yellowstone, but it looks like it’s about a 24-hour drive for us. Still, I like the idea of going to a national park. We’re in Indiana, so this image shows about the limits of where we’re willing to drive. Maybe 14-15 hours at most, which puts most of the ones in the image in range.
However-
• We’ve already been to Indiana Dunes and Gateway Arch.
• My daughter is scared of caves, so Mammoth Cave is out.
Out of the rest, which would you most recommend so I can suggest it to my mother?
Is there anything not in Indiana that is within this area that you think is more worth visiting than a national park that also would take a decent amount of time to visit and see different things? (Not a city, obviously.)
Any advice appreciated. Thanks!
Isle royale is on my list because its so wild. May not be great for a family though because its so hard to get to.
Shenandoah is really nice. None of the East Coast parks are going to be as mind-blowing as the famous ones out west. And you can also go to the Great Smokey Mountains area if you plan the route correctly.
Yeah, that’s the real shame. You can’t really compare with something like Yosemite. But it’s just too far away. Great Smokey Mountains is sounding like the best bet so far. There’s stuff in Gatlinburg I know we would like to see as well. My daughter loves any aquarium anywhere and it has one, and there’s a pinball museum. My daughter and I both love pinball. I can tell it’s a tourist trap, but between that and the national park, I think we’ll have a lot to do.
Ripley’s aquarium is in Gatlinburg, we went there last year during our vacation to the Smokey Mountains and thought it was awesome. We haven’t been to a lot of aquariums, but it’s the best I’ve been to.
There’s stuff in Gatlinburg I know we would like to see as well. My daughter loves any aquarium anywhere and it has one
Depending on how much driving around you want to do, it might be worth heading down to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. (Take this route for a scenic drive including the Tail of the Dragon and the Cherohala Skyway.) You’re also kinda within striking distance of the Georgia Aquarium (the largest aquarium in the US and the 4th largest in the world), although the drive isn’t nearly as scenic.
Awesome. Thanks!
I have lived near Smoky Mountains for years. Especially if you have kids, they will not go bored and the park is nice and not infested with people. (You just gotta go through the people to get to the park). Make sure to get to Clingman’s Dome for nice pics. There’s lots of trails for all experience levels too.
Hot Springs in Arkansas.
I have no idea why the St. louis Arch is listed as a national park here. More like a national arc at best.
Having been to all but voyageurs go to either the smokey mountains or new river gorge. I was going to put mammoth cave on that list but, you know fears and stuff. I will say mammoth cave does not feel like your typical cave, it’s way larger, and has been adapted for tourists.
I’ve been to Mammoth Cave before myself and really loved it, but she doesn’t care how big the cave is. She says she just doesn’t like the idea of all of that rock above her head. We tried to convince her a couple of years ago, but she’s dead set against it. Smokey Mountains sounds like the best choice.
Note on Yellowstone, Grand Teton is just south of it, and is much smaller, but significantly more dramatic (If you expect to summit anything there without a ski lift, good luck).
As for the east coast, New River Gorge WV is very active with guided activities, last I checked. One of the good places for rafting, also the Greenbank National Radio Observatory is within a days drive. If the Virginia(s) is your direction, in addition to the national parks, you also have the estates of some of americas founding fathers in the area, along with old battlefields that are open to the public, if history is on the menu. I would argue that the best park for hiking on the US east coast is White Mtn. State Forest in NH. Middle of ski country for the winter and summer is peak hiking for the best section of the AT (the Presidentials will kick you and your cars ass, Mt. Washington is up there and you can drive to the weather facility at the top)
I live in VA and I find Shenandoah to be the most boring national park I’ve visited. Unless you can catch it during foliage season, I’d go somewhere else. That said, Skyline Drive is a mess during foliage season. Great Smoky Mountains is nice.
Not a national park and kind of on the outskirts of your radius, but any thoughts on the Finger Lakes region of NY? Lots of hiking, waterfalls, lakes, etc.
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Not national parks, but Elephant Rock and Johnson Shut-Ins in Missouri are both pretty neat.
I would suggest Shenandoah National Park. Partly for the beauty of the park itself, and partly because the drive from Indiana will go through some gorgeous terrain. I would suggest taking route 33 through Wayne National forest in Ohio. You can stop in Athens as a halfway point, it’s a picturesque little college town nestled in the hills.
If you’re going by Athens anyways, you should definitely check out Hocking Hills! It’s a very pretty state park with some fantastic waterfalls.
As a Michigander Hocking Hills literally changed my view on Ohio. Incredible place. We did an early spring trip with a cabin and hot tub. We want to go back in the summer during better hiking conditions.
My wife and I have been to Athens because my brother went to school at OU and I also know southern Ohio because I went to a training school in Chillicothe. We also just drove through northern Ohio to take a trip to Niagara Falls. I don’t know if we’ve had enough Ohio yet or not.
Fair enough, if you end up going that way anyhow, it might be worth taking route 7 along the river. It’s minimal Ohio and a very pretty drive.
Thanks!
Isle royal isn’t very easy to visit. But the parks department operates 2 “national lakeshores” in MI that everyone should see. Sleeping bear dunes is west of traverse city and is super accessible and close to lots of lodging in TC. Pictured rocks is perhaps my favorite place on earth. But, driving up to the UP is a bit of a trek.
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Just looked it up. From us to Copper Harbor (the farthest port) is less than 11 hours by car and I wouldn’t really count the ferry in the travel time because that would be part of the experience, so honestly that doesn’t sound too bad. Also, we’d drive through both Chicago and Milwaukee if we wanted something to do on the way there or back. It’s not a terrible idea, although @Null’s suggestion of the Smoky Mountains is appealing since I’ve driven through them and it was beautiful, but it would also be cool to go somewhere none of us have been. Thanks!
If you are considering either sleeping beat dunes or pictured rocks I would suggest taking the MI route instead of Wisconsin. Less traffic through Chicago and Milwaukee. The drive up the coast on US131 or US31 follows Lake Michigan the whole way and has beautiful scenery.
I’ve only been to Indiana Dunes and Voyageurs, but they’re both nice enough. Voyageurs is like, bring a canoe and camping supplies, though, not necessary a day trip.
Consider some state parks! Turkey Run in Indiana is gorgeous, and Pipestone State Park in Minnesota is beautiful, historical, and unique.
We’re pretty close to Turkey Run and we always tell people to please go to Turkey Run and do not go to that horrible Shades State Park which is definitely not nicer in pretty much every way imaginable and will have an unpleasant lack of a giant line of people going down the trails.
Haha fair. I really liked Turkey Run when I went there, is all.
But seriously, check out Pipestone.
Shenandoah tends to be very very packed. It’s cool but it’s full of people. The Smoky Mountains also can be quite busy depending on the exact season that you’re visiting.
And then it just depends what you want to do. National parks are national parks for a reason but then again there are a lot of great state parks that might suit your interests.
Gateway Arch? I think you meant to say City Museum.
City Museum is awesome, but we’ve been there twice.
Yeah it is! And in that case, my recommendation is Shenandoah. Tube down to Harper’s Ferry and climb Maryland heights. Find one of those trails in the hills that follows a stream that slides down long smooth rocks into cool, clear pools.
The boundary waters area is really great, but maybe not for a family. Honestly, I don’t think any of these areas are going to compare to Yellowstone in terms of the purely sublime combined with ease of access with children.
New River Gorge is nice, but, like a lot of these options, it’s “take your kids for a weekend” kind of nice, not “my mom is paying for a multi-generational meeting at a national park visit” kind of nice.
It’s all what you make if it though. Were I you, I would figure out how to go to Yellowstone. Especially considering it’s the preference of the person, you know, paying for it.
I agree.
OP, just bite the bullet and go to Yellowstone. I live in Illinois and have been to several of these other parks / areas. Yellowstone is on a completely different level and it’s not even close. It is one of the best, if not the best, parks in the world. This is not an exaggeration.
