10 Days, 8 States, 5 National Parks: One Awesome Roadtrip
- nicole elizabeth
- Jun 8
- 30 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
One of my traveling goals is to visit all 50 states before I turn 50, and to visit all of the continental US National Parks. About 3 years ago, my boyfriend and I decided to embark on a random 10-day road trip across some of the Eastern - Midwestern US States, and some of the not-so-popular National Parks. While not as glamorous as some of the crazy South Western and PNW road trip options the US has to offer, this was definitely an unexpected gem of a road trip! If you live on the East Coast, I highly recommend adding this road trip to your US road trip bucket list! We spent a few weeks planning this trip, and it went better than I could've ever imagined. Even though we really only spent one day in each place, we were still able to see and do so much in the time we were on the road! Whether you're looking for your own road trip inspiration, or just planning to visit some of these places on your own, I hope this post inspires you to get out there and explore what the less explored part of the US has to offer!
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Table of Contents:
Overview of the Road Trip:
This trip did involve a lot of driving (I mean come on, it's a road trip), however, it was so worth it. We took 10 full days (10.5 total if you count getting to our first destination) and really tried to minimize the time we spent driving and maximize our time at each stop. Over the course of the 10 days and 2,900 miles, we experienced 8 states, 5 national parks, 2 state parks, 1 concert, and 1 amusement park, and the trip was a good mixture of cities and nature, which kept it interesting the whole time.
This Road Trip Covers-
West Virginia
Kentucky
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Ohio
Pennsylvania
National Parks-
New River Gorge National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park
Gateway Arch National Park
Indiana Dunes National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
State Parks-
Maumee Bay State Park
Kinzua Bridge State Park
Amusement Park-
Knoebel's
Planning our Roadtrip:
Knowing we had a lot to cover in a limited amount of time, we wanted to have a sort of structure for our trip, so we pre-planned our hikes, where we were going to stay, and the things we wanted to do at each destination. The first thing we did while planning this trip was to test out some different routes and see what made the most sense with the time we had. I found that using the app Roadtrippers really helped with this part, because we were able to add possible destinations, and it told us the distance from place to place, as well as showed us stops and gas stations along the route. Once we narrowed down the basic loop that we wanted to cover, we started looking more in-depth as to how we could incorporate the national parks in these states into our trip. This helped us determine how long we would spend in each place, how we would break up the longer drives, and decide which towns made the most sense to stay the nights in. After nailing down our route, we started looking for places to stay. We knew we wanted to do a combination of camping and staying in hotels, so I mainly used the app Campendium to look for campsites in the more rural areas we were visiting and mainly used booking.com to book the hotels when we were staying closer to or in a city. The last thing we did, was decide what we wanted to do at each destination, whether that was picking out some hike options, finding a concert in one of the cities we were visiting on the night we would be there, booking tours, etc. I mainly used the AllTrails app to help me find hikes, especially in the parks and used recration.gov to help find and book our tours.
I'm a type A trip planner if you can't tell, so once everything was planned out, we embarked on our packing adventure. While we weren't planning on sleeping in the car at all, we still didn't want to pack more than we needed. We limited ourselves to one duffel bag each, which as a chronic overpacker was so hard to do! I found it to be most effective to pick my outfit for each day, roll the articles of clothing up, and put each outfit in a gallon-sized ziploc bag labeled with the day (although nowadays I have graduated to packing cubes). This helped me really only pack what I needed, and also helped with my indecisiveness when choosing my outfits in the mornings! We also condensed all of our camping gear into one container, and packed our tent along any other camping necessities.
Finally, after a few weeks of planning, and the hard task of packing as little as possible for 10 days on the road, we grabbed our EZ-Pass and hit the road!
Day One: Hitting the Road
Day One was pretty uneventful- we took off on the road after we were finished work around 4:00 pm, and our only intention this day was just to drive to the hotel we were staying at in West Virginia. Leaving from Philadelphia area, the total drive took us about 6.5 hours, which was our longest drive of the trip. I know that my boyfriend loved me playing "Country Roads" by John Denver on repeat to get us in the spirit of our first destination! We tried to pick an area pretty close to New River Gorge National Park, our first true destination, to stay the night, and we stayed at the SureStay Hotel by Best Western. After we arrived at our hotel, we had a very uneventful night of eating Chic-Fil-A and going to bed early to prepare for our official day first full day!
Day Two: West Virginia & New River Gorge National Park
Day two started off by making the 20-minute drive from our hotel to New River Gorge National Park. Designated as a national park in 2020, New River Gorge is the newest US National Park. Free to enter, there are so many activities to do here, and I definitely plan on returning here one day. The park offers whitewater rafting, rock climbing, hiking, and of course the bridge. The New River Gorge bridge was completed in 1977, and is one of the longest single-span arch bridges in the western hemisphere and the actual gorge has ties to Appalachian coal mining. Our first stop once we got to the park was the Canyon Rim Visitor Center on the north end of the park. New River Gorge is a very long park and takes about an hour to drive from one end to the other, so our plan was to travel from North to South throughout the park. A few steps away from the visitor's center was our first hike, the Canyon Rim Overlook Boardwalk. This is a short .5-mile boardwalk out-and-back trail that offers close-up views of the bridge and beautiful canyon views.
After finishing our first hike, we drove about 10 minutes to our next hike which was the Long Point Trail. This trail is another simple one and is about a 3-mile out-and-back trail, with a little over 300 feet of elevation gain. This hike offered another perspective of the bridge with more of the mountains and the river down below, which was neat to see. We probably spent the most time hanging out at this viewpoint and just admiring the different views. This was also the site where my first viral tiktok was filmed LOL
Once we finished the Long Point Trail hike, we drove another 50 minutes to get to the Castle Rock/Grandview Rim to Turkey Spur Rock combination trail, which I believe ended up being about 5-5.5 miles round trip. This was another out-and-back trail with an elevation gain of about 250 ft. This combination trail was a great way to see some of the views the southern part of the park had to offer. Our original plan wasn't even to do the combination trail of all three, as we didn't realize that all of the trails were around the same entrance and even offered a combination route, but I'm glad we did because I feel like we were able to see multiple cool views in one hike! This was probably my favorite hike that we did! If we had more time in the park, I would have also added the Endless Wall Trail, a 3.2-mile loop trail with an elevation gain of about 300 ft.
After completing all of our hikes for the day, we decided to make one last drive to the Sandstone Visitor's Center which was about 20 minutes from the Castle Rock Trailhead. Our original plan after leaving New River Gorge was to camp in Lexington, KY for the night as a midway point to our next destination. However, a few days before we were supposed to leave for our trip, eastern Kentucky got hit with terrible floods, which included some of the routes we would've had to go through to get to our campsite. The day before our trip, we made a last-minute switch and decided to just get a hotel room in Erlanger, KY to ensure our safety. After leaving the park, we made our way to our hotel in Kentucky about 4.5 hours away. We stayed at the Red Roof Inn Cincinatti Airport in Erlanger, KY , which definitely wasn't the most glamorous option, but for being a very last-minute booking, was fine for a place to sleep. We got to experience this beautiful, post-storm sunset on the drive there too!
Day Three: Kentucky & Mammoth Cave National Park
On day Three, we woke up early and made the 3-hour drive from our hotel in Erlanger, KY to Lost River Cave located at 2818 Nashville Road, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I've never been to Kentucky before, and Bowling Green was a great place to start. Lost River Cave has a very historical past; it served as a shelter for Native Americans over 10,000 years ago, a campground during the Civil War, and a hideout for outlaw Jesse James. It transformed into Cavern Nite Club in the 1930s, a unique underground nightclub that you are able to check out during the river boat tour. We started off our morning at Lost River Cave with a River Boat Tour, which was so much fun! This boat tour takes you right inside of a cave, and it is Kentucky's only underground boat tour. The tours are about 45 minutes long, and start off with a walk from the visitor center through the park to the actual cave. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable, and even though it was absolutely down-pouring when we went, it was such a neat way to explore a cave. Lost River Cave is open year-round, excluding Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. The cost of the tour is $23.95 for adults, and I highly recommend booking your tour ahead of time online. After we finished our tour, you guessed it, we hit the road again!
From Lost River Cave, we made the 40-minute drive to Mammoth Cave National Park located at 1 Mammoth Cave Pkwy, Mammoth Cave, KY 42259. Mammoth Cave National Park is home to the world's longest-known cave system, with more than 430 miles of the cave explored. This is another historical site, and was used by Native Americans for thousands of years, mined for saltpeter during the War of 1812, and officially became a National Park in 1941. Entrance to the actual park is free, however, it does cost money to book one of the cave tours. Mammoth Cave offers several cave tour options, and to go inside of the caves you have to sign up for a tour ahead of time. Our first stop in the park was the visitor's center, which served as the meeting point for our cave tour. We decided to do the Historic Tour, which took us about 2 hours. You can read about the different tour options and choose which one works best for you on Recreation.gov
What was neat about this park, was not only did it offer some amazing tour cave options, but there were also some other hiking options around the park. Once we finished our cave tour, we chose to do the 5-mile Green River Bluff, Echo River Springs, Sinkhole, and Heritage Combination Trail. I definitely recommend this trail if you're looking for a hike that will show you a lot of the above-ground area of the park! This is a 4.5-mile loop trail with about 550 feet of elevation gain, although not a difficult hike by any means. This is a mostly wooded trail, so I didn't have high expectations for the views, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised once we hit the viewpoint. I will say that doing this hike in the humid, August, Kentucky heat and humidity was not our brightest move!
Between our early morning wake up call, all of the hiking/walking we did, and the Kentucky heat, we were so tired by the end of the day, and and had planned to camp in the park for the night. After finishing our hike, we drove to Waldens Barbecue located at 18597 Louisville Road, Smiths Grove, KY 42171 and got dinner. This was definitely not my favorite meal of the trip, but I honestly think it was just what I ordered, because I was recommended this place multiple times before heading on this trip and my boyfriend loved his meal. After finishing dinner, we made one last stop before heading to our campsite to Cave City Coffee and Creamery located at 201 Hubbard Ln, Cave City, KY 42127 to get some ice cream, this place was awesome!
Mammoth Cave offers a few different campground options throughout the park, as well as a lodge. After our long day, we were so excited to head to our campsite at Mammoth Cave Campground, have a fire, relax in our hammocks, and turn in early for the night. HOWEVER, when we got to the campsite and took everything we needed out of the car, set up our hammocks, and got a fire set up, it started to rain. This was also when my boyfriend informed me that my tent did not have a rainfly (which I thought was odd, but was so tired from the day I didn't even bother to double check). We decided to then take everything out of my car, and put it under tarps and set ourselves up to sleep in my car for the night. We lasted about 2-minutes before the humidity got to us, so we repacked the entire car before deciding to get a last minute nearby hotel room for the night when we saw the rain was supposed to last all night. We were so eager to get to sleep we just chose a random red roof inn and went straight to bed! From our short time here, it did seem like a great campsite. Now we look back at this story and just laugh!
Day Four: Missouri & Gateway Arch National Park
Day Four, we woke up early again and made the 4.5-hour drive from our hotel to St. Louis, MO. Our first stop was Gateway Arch National Park located in downtown. The stainless steel arch is 630 feet tall, and is a tribute to Thomas Jefferson and westward expansion. By area, this is the smallest national park, but like the other parks we already visited this trip, it's full of history. The arch was completed in 1965, and is the tallest man-made monument in the US. The actual park is free to enter, however it does cost money to actually go up into the arch. Any problem we experienced this roadtrip was extremely minuscule, but this is when we experienced our third problem...St Louis traffic! We didn't hit traffic the entire drive, until we were about 10-minutes from the arch. We had a tour scheduled to go inside to the top of the arch, and weren't sure how strict they were with being on time for the reservation, which is why this was an issue. After finding parking, and going through security at the arch, we ended up being 20 minutes late for our tour, but they let us in the next group with no problems! We took the tram to the top of the arch, and the views were amazing, I definitely recommend doing this at the arch, and have a whole separate blog post about visiting the arch!
Once we were done spending some time inside and outside of the arch, we headed to Forest Park and ended up doing about an unintentional 5-6 mile walk here along the paved trail. Forest Park was so cool and had so many things inside of it, such as museums, a zoo, a golf course, etc.
We were exhausted and hungry after our walk and set out on a mission to try toasted ravioli before we left, because if you don't know, St. Louis is known for their toasted ravioli, and as a toasted ravioli enthusiast, I needed to try it! After a few failed attempts, we ended up at STL Toasted. The toasted ravioli was amazing, I got plain cheese ravioli, and a lemon blackberry butter cake dessert ravioli and my boyfriend got buffalo chicken toasted ravioli.
Once we finished our food, we set out on our 1.5-hour drive to our cabin in Illinois for the night. We stayed at The Kampground in Mechanicsburg, IL where we got to experience a beautiful sunset in the middle of nowhere Illinois!
Day Five: Chicago, IL + LANY Concert
We started day five with the 3-hour drive in the pouring rain from our cabin in Mechanicsburg to Chicago, IL. We arrived in Chicago around noon and since the weather was still pretty crappy, decided to make our first stop lunch. We went to The Northman Beer & Cider Garden and while the food and atmosphere were amazing, according to Google, they are a seasonal place. This is where my boyfriend got to try his first ever Chicago dog!
After finishing lunch, the rain finally let up, so we walked over to Millennium Park to see the famous Bean! I know the first thing I always think of when I hear Chicago is the Bean. Millennium Park is one of the city's most visited spots and is located in downtown Chicago in the Loop District. Millennium Park is a part of the larger Grant Park and has several other attractions besides the Bean including Crown Fountain, The Jay Pritzker Pavillion Lurie Garden, and the BP Pedestrian Bridge. The park is typically open daily from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm and is free to visit. If you're not familiar with the Bean, it's a massive, stainless steel sculpture in the shape of, you guessed it, a bean. It was super crowded here and since it was still raining a little bit , we only spent a little bit of time here, but it was still cool to finally see in person!
My boyfriend and I aren't big city people but still wanted to walk around a little bit to see what Chicago had to offer. We spent some time in downtown Chicago exploring some of the shops before making our way to Navy Pier. This was personally my favorite part, and I really enjoyed walking around here! Navy Pier is located at 600 E Grand Ave, Chicago, IL, and is free to enter. I highly recommend checking this area out if you're spending some time in Chicago. Here you'll find a 50-acre entertainment hub on the water. It was originally built in 1916 with the intention of being used for shipping and recreation but has evolved into a popular tourist destination. Some of the top attractions at Navy Pier include the Centennial Wheel: a 200-foot enclosed ferris wheel offering panoramic views of the city. It does cost $18 to ride the Ferris wheel, but in my opinion, it's well worth it! We actually got lucky when we were here, and just as we were at the machine about to buy our tickets, a couple approached us and gave us their extra tickets that they weren't going to use. The views from the top of the wheel were absolutely amazing, and ofefred such a unique way to see the city. Some other popular attractions here are the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, lake cruises and boat tours, a carousel and children's rides, summer fireworks shows, and polk bros park: a green area featuring fountains, and live performances. Navy Pier also has plenty of casual places to eat and drink including Girodano's, Harry Caray's Tavern, Tiny Tap, and Offshore Rooftop. This is a quick walk from Millennium Park and there is a parking garage on site. We spent a few hours here walking around and taking in the sites Navy Pier had to offer before heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.
We stayed at the Best Western Grant Park Hotel, and decided to eat dinner at Quartino Ristorante located at 626 N State St, Chicago, IL 60654. This food was probably some of my favorite this whole trip, and I just loved the overall vibe of this restaurant.
When we were planning this trip and trying to come up with an idea of how to spend the night in Chicago, we found out that coincidently, one of my favorite bands, LANY, was going to be performing at Huntington Bank Pavilion the only night we were here, so that's how we decided to spend our night! Huntington Bank Pavillion is a waterfront music venue which was a really neat experience, and of course, the concert was 10/10! If you're in the Chicago area, especially in the summer, I recommend checking out what concerts/ events are taking place here, and trying to pay a visit if you can. If this concert wasn't happening while we were in Chicago, our original plan was to drive to Indiana Dunes National Park this night, and camp in the park, which I still want to go back and do one time!
Day Six: Indiana Dunes National Park & Grand Rapids, MI
Day six, we took the 45-minute drive from our hotel in Chicago to Indiana Dunes National Park located in Chesterton, IN. Indiana Dunes is another one of the newer US National Parks, and was established as a National Park in 2019. The park covers 15,000 acres and has 15 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. The park offers 50 miles of trails, lakeshore beaches, wildlife and bird watching, and camping. The park is $25 per vehicle to enter, or free with one of the annual or lifetime national park passes. I have a separate post that goes more in depth about the park and the hikes that we did that you can check out here. Our first stop was to the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center where one of the awesome volunteers told us about the Diana of the Dunes Dare challenge, a 1-mile out-and-back hike along the Dune Succession Trail. If you want to learn a little more about the background of this challenge, click here! After completing this hike, and stopping back at the visitor's center to collect our sticker, and headed into town to Red Cup Cafe & Deli located at 115 Broadway Ave, Chesterton, IN 46304. for some lunch The cafe was really cool and the food was great!
After finishing lunch, we headed back into the park to complete our next hike, the Cowles Bog Trail. This is a 4.3-mile loop trail and was a great way to see the different terrains of the park. We had intentions of spending some time at one of the lakeshore beaches after finishing this hike, but unfortunately, as you can tell from the pictures, the weather took a turn for the worse and it actually started to thunderstorm. Since the storm was supposed to last the rest of the afternoon, we decided to cut our time at this park a little short. If I come back to this park in the summer, I'd definitely like to camp here. If you have more time to spend in this area, there is also a nearby Indiana Dunes State Park down the road.
Once we left the park, we set off on our 2-hour drive to Grand Rapids, MI where we stayed at the Red Roof Inn Grand Rapids Airport. This was originally just supposed to be a halfway, spend-the-night spot before our next destination and I'm not going to link this one as I do not recommend this Red Roof Inn, it was dirty, and I just felt generally uneasy and unsafe here. After arriving at our hotel for the night, we got ready and went to dinner at Brewery Vivant located at 925 Cherry St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506. This was my favorite meal of the whole trip, the food was so good! It was here that we got the best beer cheese I've ever had! (at the beginning of the trip, we made it a random goal to find the best beer cheese). When we finished dinner, we headed to Furniture City Creamery located at 958 Cherry St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506 for some ice cream before heading back to our hotel for the night!
That night, we encountered dilemma #4 of the trip! Our original plan for the next day was to drive to Toledo, OH, spend the day at the Toledo Zoo, and spend the night there before heading to Cuyahoga National Park, HOWEVER, upon going to buy our zoo tickets the night before, we found out the only day of the week that the Toledo Zoo is closed is Tuesdays and you can probably guess what day we were planning on going to go! We made a last-minute decision to spend the entire next day in Grand Rapids instead, and I'm glad we did! I know in the beginning of this post, I mentioned that I am a very type A trip planner, however, once I'm on the trip, I am definitely a flow goer (for the most part lol) once I'm on the actual trip. Especially with this road trip, I knew nothing was that serious, and any missed opportunity was just an excuse to go back, and an opportunity to find something new that we otherwise wouldn't have done or seen.
Day Seven: Grand Rapids, MI & Camping at Maumee Bay State Park
We started off day seven by checking out of our hotel and heading to Outside Coffee Co. located at 734 Wealthy St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503. This coffee spot was so cool and unique and the coffee was amazing! It was outdoor cafe, established in 2018 and serves coffee from a converted 1956 Dalton Travel Trailer located in a garden-like courtyard. The owners also own a lifestyle brand store, Woosah Outfitters which was right next door. We checked out this shop too and it was great. Unfortunately, while looking up some information about this coffee company for this post, I found out they actually closed this location in October of 2024 due to sustainability issues and financial contraints. It does look like the location in Douglas, Michigan is still up and running though, along with Woosah Outfitters! After coffee, we walked over to Wolfgang's Restaurant located at 1530 Wealthy St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 for fantastic breakfast!
After breakfast, we drove about 10-minutes to Frederik Meijar Gardens & Sculpture Park. This was definitely up there with my favorite stops during this trip. Located at 1000 East Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI, there was so much to see at this park, and everything here was so beautiful! This is a 158-acre park opened in 1995, attracting over 750,000 visitors each year, and for good reason. In the park, you can see the Lena Meijar Tropical Conservatory, the Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden, the Lena Meijar Children's Garden, and other themed areas and smaller gardens. In addition to all of the different gardens, the park also serves as a sculpture park with over 300 sculptures by renowned artists. The park does cost $20 to enter, but the entire park is handicap accessible.
When we finished at the gardens, we drove about 40 minutes to Windmill Island Gardens located at 1 Lincoln Ave, Holland, MI 49432. This is a cute little Dutch-themed town and park with some shops and an authentic windmill that you're able to go up into! The park spans 36 acres and costs $13 to enter. This park is open from April 14th to October 5th and is most popularly visited in early May for the Tulip Festival, called Tulip Time. The Tulip Festival is held annually and features tulip displays and performances. The park features over 150,000 tulips during this time! We came here in August, so unfortunately we missed Tulip Time, but it was still a really unique park to walk around at. Within the park, you'll find a children's garden, an antique Dutch carousel, an Amsterdam street organ, replicas, gift shops, and Little Netherlands Village. We spent some time in the village walking around the different shops before heading over to the main attraction, the De Zwaan Windmill. This windmill is a 125-foot-tall working Dutch windmill that was built in 1761. It arrived in Holland, Michigan in 1964, and was the last windmill permitted to leave the Netherlands. You can go inside all 5 stories of the windmill and enjoy overhead views of the gardens down below. This was such a fun and interesting stop during our day in the Grand Rapids area!
We had one more quick stop before leaving Holland to the Oz Sculpture Garden located at 300 S River Ave, Holland, MI 49423. This is a free outdoor exhibit located in Centennial Park. It begins with a giant, living, mosaic book and continues down the iconic yellow brick road which leads you to the Herrick District Library. Here you'll find seven life-sized bronze statues of Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, a Munchkin, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, a Fighting Tree with flying a monkey, and the Wicked Witch. This was a really quick, but fun stop! After we finished here, we took the 3-hour drive to Maumee Bay State Park where we were going to be camping for the night. Maumee Bay is located at 1400 State Park Road, Oregon, OH 43616, and is a 1,336-acre park along the western shore of Lake Erie. The park offers different trails, bike paths, beaches, and lodging options. I loved camping here, and we got to experience yet another amazing sunset! If you remember back to my Kentucky rainfly story, this was the place we discovered that my tent did indeed have a rainfly the whole time!
Day Eight: Ohio & Cuyahoga Valley National Park (OH)
Day Eight started with a 1 hour 45-minute drive to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We had taken a trip to this park earlier this year, so our goal was to see everything we didn't get to see the first time! The park is located at 6947 Riverview Road, Penninsula, OH 44264, and covers 33,000 acres. Established as a National Park in 2000, this is definitely another underrated National Park, and while it's nothing super spectacular, I love this little park, plus it's another free to enter park! I'll have a separate blog post all about spending 2 days at CVNP.
Our first stop in the park was of course the visitor center, but after collecting our souvenirs, we walked across the street to the the Blue Hen Falls/ Buttermilk Falls Trail, a 4-mile out-and-back trail with an elevation gain of about 500 ft. This was a pretty quick and pretty easy hike that takes you to two waterfalls, Blue Hen Falls standing at about 15 feet tall, and Buttermilk Falls standing at about 30 feet tall.
Once we finished this hike, we stopped at Century Cycles to rent bikes so we could ride some of the Towpath Trail. Century Cycles is located at 1621 Main Street, Penninsula, OH 44264. This shop is open Monday-Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and Sunday from 12:00 pm-5:00 pm. I believe the cost to rent a bike here was about $10 per hour. While the Towpath is 87 miles total, our goal was to bike to Szaley's Market located at 4563 Riverview Road, Penninsula, OH 44264.
This is a family-owned farmer's market that was established in 1931 and sells fresh produce, flowers, sweet treats and more. This is a seasonal farmer's market that opens in early June and closes in late October. While the actual market is open seven days a week, Szaley's offers three outdoor weekend eatery huts that are only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from early June to early September, and open Saturday and Sunday only from early September to late October. From mid-September to late October, the farmer's market also has a fall corn maze and other fall activities. Be aware that Szaley's is cash only, but they do have an atm inside. We grabbed lunch here before continuing our biking adventure to Indigo Lake to have a picnic and relax by the lake.
This is a small park, featuring a small lake and makes a great spot to fish and just hang out around the water. Because this lake is pretty far from where we rented our bikes at Century Cycles, we took the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad back to the bike shop. This railroad runs between Cleveland and Akron, with several stops within the park. It costs about $18 to ride, and bikes are allowed onto the train.
Once we returned our bikes, we stopped at the visitor center to get some of our favorite ice cream, Mitchell's ice cream (a must-try here!) before heading over to our next hike. After finishing our ice cream, we headed over to do a 3-mile hike on the Brandywine Falls Loop Trail to see Brandywine Falls. This is definitely a more popular waterfall in the park and is about 60 feet tall. Formed by the Brandywine Creek, it is accessible by a boardwalk to the upper viewing area, and descending stairs to the lower viewing area. If you don't want to take the time to hike to the falls, this can be a much quicker stop, as there is a parking lot right outside of the trailhead to the boardwalk. While this is a cool waterfall, I definitely prefer the Blue Hen / Buttermilk Falls more.
If you have more time in the park, some other hikes / areas I recommend checking out are Beaver Marsh, Everett Covered Bridge, Canal Exploration Center, and The Ledges. We checked these places out our first time at the park, and they're all pretty cool stops as well.
We finished our day at the park and drove to our favorite campground in the area, Silver Spring Campground where we camped for the night. We've stayed in this campground before on a previous trip to this park, and really enjoy it. Definitely recommend this campground! This night, we also had some little raccoon visitors, so pro tip, make sure to get rid of your trash!!
Day Nine: Pittsburgh, PA
We started day nine with a little under 2-hour drive from CVNP to Pittsburgh, PA. I've lived in Pennsylvania pretty much my entire life and this was somehow my first time ever in Pittsburgh. We got there around noon, so of course our first stop was Primanti Bros to get some of the famous sandwiches. If you're not familiar with Primanti Bros, they are a very popular sandwich shop in Pittsburgh known for their piled-high sandwiches complete with coleslaw and fries inside of the sandwich. I just need to show you the picture of my boyfriend's sandwich for the full effect.
After picking up our sandwiches, we walked over to the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain and had a little picnic with our sandwiches while we admired the view of the cathedral across the street. The fountain was designed by sculptor Victor David Brenner and was completed in 1918. The fountain commemorates Mary Schenley, a philanthropist who donated over 300 acres of land to the city, which led to the creation of Schenley Park, which was our next stop. Schenley Park is an urban park that has several trails. Botanical gardens, a conservatory, a lake, a disc golf course, a golf course, and Flagstaff Hill, a giant hill that is popular to hang out at. We spent some time walking some of the trails in the park and admiring the views of the city from the top of the hill.
After our time at the park, we headed to my favorite stop of the whole day, Randyland. Randyland is located at 1501 Arch St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, and is the home of unconventional artist, Randy Gilson. Randy turned his property into an art museum full of random, and obscure art pieces, and is regarded as one of the most colorful art displays in the U.S. The museum is free, and it was such a cool experience to really look around and read about the history and the idea behind the creation of Randyland. I love art, so being able to experience it in such an unconventional way was such a fun experience, we spent so much time here because there truly was so much to see!
After Randyland, we drove over to the Duquesne Incline located at 1197 W. Carson St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219. The incline cost $5.00 round trip (and yes you need exact change, cash only) and takes you the top of Pittsburgh- Mount Washington. The incline was opened in 1877 and is about 800 feet long. It was originally built to transport workers who lived on Mount Washington down to the factories in the city down below. The view from the top offered such a cool perspective of the city! Although there isn't too much to do at the top besides take in the views, we spent some time just walking around the neighborhood at the top, and there is a restaurant located up there as well! "
When we finished at the incline, we headed back to the hotel we were staying at The Sheraton at Station Square located at 300 W Station Square Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 to freshen up before dinner. We had a few dinner recommendations in the main part of the city, however, there was a concert that we were unaware of at the same time we planned to go to dinner, therefore everywhere downtown was packed! We came across a new brewery called Sly Fox Brewery located at 46 South 4th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 and were so glad we did because their food and drinks were amazing! We tried some classic Pittsburgh pierogis here too. We ended the night at The Milkshake Factory, there are a few locations throughout the city, and I honestly can't remember which one we went to, but we enjoyed some delicious milkshakes, and a beautiful sunset to finish off our day in Pittsburgh!
Day Ten & Heading Home: Kinzua Bridge State Park & Knoebels Amusement Park
The last day of our roadtrip started off with the 3-hour drive from Pittsburgh to Kinzua Bridge State Park. Kinzua Bridge State Park is free to enter, and is a 339-acre park home to the Kinzua Viaduct, which once acted as the longest and tallest railroad structure until it was destroyed by a tornado in 2003. In 2011, what was left of the railroad became reinvented as a walkway for people to take in the surrounding views. We spent the first part of our time here walking along the bridge observation deck and taking in all of the views below. We then took the trails down below to explore some of the destroyed remains of the tracks. It was really cool to see the bridge from both perspectives! Make sure to check out the visitor's center while you're here to learn all about the history of the railroad, the park, and the railroads fate after the tornado!
When we finished at the park we went into Bradford, where we were staying, to grab dinner at Kabob's at the Option House located at 41 Main St, Bradford, PA 16701. They're known for their kabobs, but have plenty of other food options as well! We enjoyed an amazing dinner, and then headed back to our hotel The Holiday Inn Express located at 30 Tarport Dr Ext, Bradford, PA 16701 for the night. The next morning, our official last day, we decided to make two more stops before heading home. Our first stop was to the Zippo Lighter Museum located at 1932 Zippo Drive, Bradford, PA 16701. This was a quick stop that was recommended by my best friend's mom, and a stop we were glad we were able to squeeze in! Even if you are not super familiar with Zippo lighters (like me) it was a really cool, and free museum to check out to see the evolution of the zippo lighter, and all of the famous and historical appearances the lighters have made throughout the years.
Our official last stop on our way back home was to Knoebel's Amusement Resort located at 391 Knoebels Blvd, Elysburg, PA 17824. Knoebels is a family owned and operated amusement park and is America's largest free admission amusement park. I had been to Knoebels once or twice as a kid, so it was really cool to go back as an adult. You pay per ride and there are over 60 rides to choose from. We rode a few rides, and grabbed some food before eventually making the last remaining leg of our drive back home.
Budget Breakdown
Okay, I know I mentioned at the beginning of this trip that we were trying to do this road trip on a budget, don't get me wrong, we definitely found ways to save some money, but this by no means was a cheap trip. This trip was about 3 years ago so while I don't remember the exact cost of everything, I'm going to do my best to break everything down based on the places we stayed, activities we did, average gas, etc. Keep in mind, most of this was split between the two of us, so I'm going to calculate the total per person.
Accommodations
Hotel in West Virginia- $83 / night x1 night
Hotel in Erlanger, KY- $85 / night x1 night
Hotel near Mammoth Cave- $75 / night x1 night
Cabin in Mechanicsburg, IL- $30 / night x1 night
Hotel in Chicago, IL - $263 / night x1 night
Hotel in Grand Rapids, MI- $50 / night x2 nights
Campground in Maumee Bay State Park- $37/ night x1 night
Campground near CVNP - $25 / night x1 night
Hotel in Pittsburgh, PA - $261 / night x1 night
Hotel in Bradford, PA- $110 / night x1 night
= $1,019
Gas
Based on the total miles we drove vs the amount of gas my car gets per gallon, I estimated that we probably filled up my tank about 9 times this trip. On average, it costs about $50 for me to fill up my tank
= $450
Activities, Entrance Fees, & Tours
America the Beautiful Annual National Park Pass (already had but $80)
New River Gorge Entry - FREE
Lost River Cave Boat Tour - $24 each
Mammoth Caves National Park Entry - FREE
Historical Cave Tour - $24 each
Gateway Arch National Park Entry - FREE
Tram car ride - $15 each
Chicago Concert Ticket- $60 each
Indiana Dunes National Park Entry- free since we had a pass but normally $25 per car
Grand Rapids, MI
Louis Meijar Sculpture Park Entry - $22 each
Holland Windmill Garden Park Entry - $13 each
Cuyahoga Valley National Park entry - FREE
Bike Rental from Century Cycles $10/hour x3 hours each
Train Ride from Indigo Lake to Century Cycles - $18 each
Pittsburgh, PA
Entrance to Randyland - FREE but donated $10
Kinzua Bridge State Park Entry - FREE
Zippo Lighter Factory Entry - FREE
Knoebel's Amusement Park Entry - FREE
Ride Tickets - $20
= $206 / each
Food
I'm going to be honest, I have no idea how much we spent on food on this trip. We did a combination of hotel breakfasts, packed lunches, and eating out, howeveer, I would say we probably ate out about 75% of our meals. My estimated total that we spent on food
= $300 / each
Souvenirs
Again, I honestly don't remember how much we spent on souvenirs, and this cost will vary for your trip, but if I had to guess I would say this was about my total amount spent on souvenirs
= $100 / each
TRIP TOTAL = ~$1,340.50 / each
Unfortunately, some of these costs, gas especially, are unavoidable. There certainly are ways to make this trip cheaper or more expensive to fit your budget, but this is what worked for us. If I could go back, in order to save some money, I would try to utilize campgrounds over hotels in some of the areas we stayed, and also try to make at leats 60% of our meals to cut down on the eating out costs. I don't regret spending money on any of the tours or activities we did, as I think they all added to our trip experience!
Food Recommendations by Place
Near New River Gorge National Park
Overlook at the New River Gorge Restaurant
Smokey's on the Gorge
Secret Sandwich Society
Pies & Pints
Cathedral Cafe
Southside Junction Tap House
Bowling Green
Anna's Greek Restaurant
The Bistro
Gerard's 1907 Tavern
440 Main
TRA DI NOI Ristorante
Wild Eggs
Near Mammoth Cave National Park
Green River Grill
The Lantern Cafe & Ice Cream Parlor
Maple Springs Coffee
Miss Betty's Diner
The Dog Pound
Walden's BBQ
Cave City Coffee & Creamery
St Louis, MO
The Fountain on Locust
Pappy's Smokehouse
Charlie Gitto's on the Hill
The Fountain on Locust
Toasted STL
Mechanicsburg, IL
Abe's Hideout and Saloon
Chicago, IL
Northman's Beer & Cider Garden
Quartino's Ristorante
Girl & the Goat
The Purple Pig Restaurant
Miss Ricky's
La Grande Boucherie
Au Cheval
Near Indiana Dunes National Park
Wagner's Ribs
Octave Grill
Red Cup Cafe & Deli
Grand Rapids, MI
The Old Goat
Littlebird
Beer City Bread Co
Wolfgang's
Founder's Brewing Co
Brewery Vivant
Furniture City Creamery
Near Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Winking Lizard
Darby's on 59
Szaley's Farmer's Market
Courtyard Cafe
Mitchell's Ice Cream
Pittsburgh, PA
Sly Fox Brewery
Ritual House
The Yard
Altius
Primanti Bros
The Capital Grille
Bradford, PA
Kabob's at the Option House
Beefeaters
Derrick City Diner
Map of Our Route
Final Thoughts & Highlights
This roadtrip was one I will truly never forget! Getting to visit so many places, new National and State Parks, new cities, try new food, camp new places, etc. was an experience that I am so grateful I was able to accomplish! While this trip took a lot of planning, and a lot of driving, it was so worth it in the end. I honestly don't know what my favorite parts were, but I think my overall favorite park that we visited was New River Gorge and I think my favorite city was Grand Rapids, MI. I truly had such a great time on this trip, and am so glad everything played out as it did. I hope this post inspired you to take your own roadtrip, and hope you find it helpful if you are planning on visiting any of the places mentioned above! Thanks for reading, and remember, there's always more to be explored!
~nicole elizabeth
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