Me and the girlfriend have off the week of the 4th. We're planning on going to Myrtle to visit a friend of hers who lives there, but it looks like plans may end up changing and we'll have a few days to kill, so I'm looking for a fun trip for us to do.

I'm out of the Eastern Panhandle of WV and have been browsing some sites looking for ideas and was just wondering what else is out there worth doing in that amount of time. I've looked at the PA grand canyon, which is about 3 hours away, Asheville, NC, which is about 650 miles away, Western, WV, and the Smokey Mountains. I don't want to do the Dragon and I want to stay away from places that will be too touristy like Beaches unless it's a smaller beach town without a lot of people that will be crowding it for the weekend of the 4th.

So what ideas does everyone have?

 

Don't know much about the riding down there, but I've decided that I also, am not interested in doing The Tail Of The Dragon. Have you ever done 70 to 68 to New River Gorge, and 77 south? It's in your own backyard, I've been on most of that route in the car, and thought it would be nice on 2 wheels. Also, I know you've been up to the canyon, but there's lots more up here. Letchworth State Park in central NY, and lots of nice riding around the Finger Lakes. I'd like to go to Mt Washington in NH, but don't think I'd ride the bike to the top. I think there's an incline (similar to Johnstown & Pittsburgh) that goes to the top. If you don't want to get into New England, go through upstate NY, to Watertown, and across route 3 to Lake Placid. There's a gondola ride up Whiteface Mountain that's pretty cool, and bike parking is easy there. If you want to get into New England, there's a ferry across Lake Champlain, at Fort Ticonderoga, which isn't far from Lake Placid & Whiteface. Then take in some stuff in NY & PA on the way back. Just a couple ideas because I know more things to do & see up here, than further south. Let me know if you want more detail.

 

I spent 4 days in late May riding the Blue Ridge Parkway, seeing water falls, Clingsmans Dome, Cherolaha Skyway, etc. There are a lot of great roads in and arround the Maggie Valley area. Stayed at the Holiday Motel in Maggive Valley and the owners both ride and with give you plenty of great ride routes. The group I was with didn't want to ride the Dragon and I've already ridden it twice. I prefer the BRP and roads south of Ashville. If you are a gear head you could spend a day in the Wheels of Time Museum alone.

 

I haven't been to the canyon, it was just a destination I was looking at. I also looked at New River Gorge. I have friends who live in Morgantown, so I've been as far as MoTown and even the hiway out there is great compared to anything East of here (mid Md, in to Baltimore, DC, or NoVa, it's all straight with no character).

I just want to make sure where ever we end up there's some stuff to get in to. I don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere with no real options. We like hiking, and doing the museum thing and what not. We were in Philly last Summer at the Mutter museum, Eastern State Penn, and several other places and had a blast. We also spend the day in DC last Winter hitting up all the Smithsonians we could in one day.

 

I thought about Skyline and the BRP, but I've been down that way alot. I'm about an hour out of Front Royal and have done numerous cruises with local VW groups, and solo rides on the bike. That's basically a day trip for me.
Anyone been on the bourbon trail?

 

US50 West to Grafton, then North on US250 to Wheeling. Tons of twisties. Wheeling is an interesting place to visit. I think you'll like it.

 

If you haven't been up here then, you definitely should. GREAT riding up here, and lots to stop & see. You wouldn't be able to do everything on just an overnighter. Here are some pics. The twisty is a little "Tail Of The Dragon" that's nearby! You could pick a "home base", and do all these things in a few days, as well as rides around the NY Finger Lakes, and winery tours. Stuff like that.

 

If you go to Finger Lakes, Watkins Glen makes a great home base. Plenty of restaurants and hotels. You are on the lake so going for a boat ride is an option. You also have the track, see what is going on that weekend. You mention hiking, the Glen Gorge is a beautiful hike. Then you can ride up and down the lakes, wine making and all of that.

 

Go southwest WV and eastern KY....nice hills, twisties....you can stay in Benham KY at the old school house Inn...go over black mountain....Benham & Lynch have a coal mining museum, it's the town international harvester built... ???? Quaint areas and if you look on google maps and zoom in enough you will see nice roads.you can go more west and ride from Pineville to Somerset in the Daniel Boone national forest, that's nice"

 

Southeast Ohio, Hocking Hills Area, Portsmouth and the Flood wall mural, Up/donw the Ohio River, Columbus the AMA museum, Cleveland the Football hall of fame and the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. There are several twistie roads in the area,Ohio 555 (The Triple Nickel), Ohio 669, Ohio 26 out of Marietta. Ohio 93. East central Ohio in Amish country.