Pennsylvania in June....what to do....

[o_mom]

Polymath park, which is a FLW site. But I liked it way better than Fallingwater.

For universities, add Dusquene to the list in PGH. It's a small/medium Catholic university and it has a beautiful campus (IMO).

[Philly Mom]

In Philly, I would do Reading Terminal Market, the Constitution Center, The American Revolution museum, the Barnes and the art museum. I would skip the zoo. It’s just a zoo. In June, the Spruce Street area down on the water may be open again. Great place to chill.

If you are looking for hikes, the Wissahickon has hikes in the city limits. Further out, I like Cheslet which is managed by Natural Lands. It is a great hike through farm land and forests.
I love Longwood Gardens but if you are looking at a place closer to Philly and want gardens, Chanticleer is great. Beautiful gardens. Very manageable. Lancaster County is great and unique. Don’t go on a Sunday. I actually like Chocolate World in Hershey. I like making my own chocolate bar. There is a really cool cave to visit nearby.

PM me if you have specific questions.


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[jgenie]

We adore Hershey. It is a great small theme park. We love roller coasters so tacking on an amusement park is always a win in our books. We had a great time at the Philly zoo. We need to go back to do the history stuff now that my kids are bigger.

[ett]

My kids love history so they really like Gettysburg, the Museum of the American Revolution, National Constitution Center, Liberty Bell.

[echoesofspring]

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater is about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, and it’s amazing! Pittsburgh also had a great zoo. You can take the incline to the top of the hill for a great view of the city. If you want to look at colleges, both Pitt and CMU are right next to each other.

This ^^ . There's great hikes near Fallingwater as well if that's you're thing. I loved Pitt's cathedral of learning and it's Nationality rooms the first time I visited in high school. In non pandemic times, there's a lot to take in in Pittsburgh - Phipps conservatory is beautiful (across the street from CMU), it looks like there will be ...some amount of live events for the annual 3 Rivers Arts festival that usually takes up most of June. If you're into biking there are a great rails to trails paths. We used to scoff at the riverboats, but we did a cruise when we were last there in '19 as a family and it was a perfect post brunch activity (fancy brunch at the Grand Concourse). The incline is fun, but not a lot in an of itself, better to combine with something nearby. Lots of museums , including the Warhol , national aviary, etc.

Pending getting vaccinated we'll be there in June for 2-3 weeks visiting my family.

[AnnieW625]

Thank you for all of the recommendations!

Here is our proposed schedule:
Saturday: travel
Sunday-Monday: Philadelphia
Tuesday: Lancaster/Gettysburg (unless we find something else to do in Philly and don’t mind driving straight through with just a stop in Gettysburg to Pittsburgh)
Wednesday: leave Gettysburg and travel to Pittsburgh
Thursday-Friday: Pittsburgh
Saturday: family event
Sunday: travel home

Philadelphia: We arrive late Saturday afternoon and it is about an hour from the airport to my aunt and uncle’s house in Ambler. We will have Sunday and Monday for sure and maybe Tuesday. Dh wants to see the Rocky steps as well. The Reading Terminal Market looks cool as well. I would love to eat a Philly Cheese Steak (Gino or Pats?!) or at an Italian deli or pizzeria (a few have been recommended via some podcasts I listen to...Tocanellis, and Angelos....although I am sure there are a million Angelos Delis/Pizza in Philly). My cousin lives in the Philadelphia city limits (in Allegheny West per Google maps) so I will probably leave the food recs. to her. We probably won’t do Valley Forge local unless it super compelling reason we should go. Last time I went we walked/hiked a lot of it (we took a wrong turn going to Washington’s headquarters and ended up hiking over Valley Forge’s Mt. Joy in sandals) and while it was okay I don’t know if I would do it again. My aunt later told us that most people just drive around it and listen to the audio tour.

Lancaster: still looking for a list of things to do and see here. I remember we went to a few fabric and gift shops and maybe ate lunch but I don’t really recall everything doing more than that.

Hershey Park/Chocolate World: DD2 and I are very comfortable with Disneyland type of attractions; the only ride neither of us will go on is The Incredicoaster (formerly California Screaming) in California Adventure, but Dh and DD1 love it. Dh and Dd1 like a few more thrill rides and have been to Six Flags Marine World in California and will ride most of the stuff there, but even DD1 has said that she probably won’t do the super thrill rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain or the one really large coaster at Knotts Berry Farm. I was severely disappointed in Legoland California even when the kids were under 7. With all of that said I am not sure I want to go to a theme park in June due to the potential for humid weather.

Reviews of Hershey’s Chocolate World were atrocious on Trip Advisor (and tbh I can’t figure out if it was just “stick in the mud” or just highly critical people who seem to hate and review everything). Plus it is on the expensive side at $26 pp but Dd2 loves Hershey and would probably love the experience. I just can’t figure out how big the chocolate bar is.

Oh and it is an hour north of Lancaster and Gettysburg so not really on the way to Gettysburg.

Gettysburg:
Other than the Battlefield I am looking for other things to do. I found this list that has some other things to see and do. Dd1 like the idea of Little Horse Land (due to being anything that is remotely related to the tv show Parks and Recreation) and the Eishenhower house looks cool but will most likely be closed. Also bummed that the historic Gettysburg Hotel is closed until July as I stayed there last time and while it was cramped it was still awesome to stay in something so old. Not sure if the B&B’s are kid friendly so we will probably end up at a Hilton or the somewhere near there.

Pittsburgh:
Definitely want to check out the Fallingwaters, Warhol, and Carnegie museums.

The only bummer is that the Fallingwaters is closed on Wednesday and it is east of Pittsburgh so we would have to do it on Thursday or Friday. Wonder if would make more sense to do that on Friday and then spend the night in Johnstown (near the family party, which is actually in Hastings about 30 minutes north of Johnstown) since it looks to be an hour from Fallingwaters to Johnstown (and an hour plus from Pittsburgh so why double back to Pittsburgh?)? We were already planning to go there on Saturday morning anyways. Also the website said that Fallingwaters is currently only open for outdoor tours....is it still worth it? I would hate to give up a day/evening in Pittsburgh if it isn’t worth it because the indoors are closed to tours.

I am looking at Air B N B vs. suite type hotels in the waterfront or Oakland/Shady Side areas. I don’t really plan on cooking and shopping too much since we will only be there a max of 3 nights so I might just stick with a hotel. Any recs. would be appreciated.

I would also love to do a waterboat tour.

[lizzywednesday]

... I would love to eat a Philly Cheese Steak (Gino or Pats?!) ...

Pat's has better bread and a smaller footprint, so it feels less touristy (but, let's be clear, it is 100% still touristy) than Gino's.

DH prefers Tony Luke's. (I don't get the steak at Tony Luke's; I get the roast pork w/broccoli rabe and sharp provolone.)

I prefer the roast pork from DiNic's with sharp provolone & greens if I'm patient enough to wait in line for it. (Go at an off time if you can; there'll still be a line, but it has the advantage of being a tiny bit shorter. If you can, split up to try different things while you're ordering from places at RTM. DH and I always split up - he likes a deli place while I tend to try different places. Last time we ate there, I had a fancy grilled cheese from MeltKraft that I'd certainly order again.)

[SnuggleBuggles]

Lancaster and Gettysburg aren't really near each other but you could drive around. All the -burg towns along rt. 30 are cute. We really aren't history buffs so we haven't made the trek to any battlefields. Make sure you go to Lancaster County not city of Lancaster if your hope is to see Amish things.
Some other ideas to consider:
https://www.pennscave.com/ a really cool cave that you tour by boat
https://www.turkeyhillexperience.com/ do the taste lab part and make your own ice cream flavor. It's fun! More geared to under 10s, like Chocolate World, but still fun.
check here for info on visiting Amish country https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu...nsylvania.html


I'll give a plug for Kennywood in Pgh over Hershey but the Hershey overnight might make more sense for your itinerary. It has great coasters but also some more family friendly type rides.

[AnnieW625]

Lancaster and Gettysburg aren't really near each other but you could drive around. All the -burg towns along rt. 30 are cute. We really aren't history buffs so we haven't made the trek to any battlefields. Make sure you go to Lancaster County not city of Lancaster if your hope is to see Amish things.
Some other ideas to consider:
https://www.pennscave.com/ a really cool cave that you tour by boat
https://www.turkeyhillexperience.com/ do the taste lab part and make your own ice cream flavor. It's fun! More geared to under 10s, like Chocolate World, but still fun.
check here for info on visiting Amish country https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu...nsylvania.html


I'll give a plug for Kennywood in Pgh over Hershey but the Hershey overnight might make more sense for your itinerary. It has great coasters but also some more family friendly type rides.

This would really change the “how we get to Pittsburgh” route but Penn Cave, and Turkey Hill look cool; dd1 is lactose intolerant and hasn’t eaten ice cream in months, but I am sure she would still willingly participate. We could do both and then drive straight to Pittsburgh or is the Penn Cave an all day thing?

Yes I remember that Lancaster City is a normal city vs. Amish Lancaster County; we stopped in Intercourse PA the last time I visited. I honestly think my kids would be okay with just seeing the horse dwarf carriages and stopping in at a few spots.

We aren’t really history buffs either and I have been to Gettysburg before, but I have a feeling my kids and dh would have fun in a cave tour and seeing animals vs. just seeing the battle fields.

Thanks for the Kennywood recommendation maybe that would be something fun to do if we decided on a third full day in Pittsburgh.

Dh also doesn’t like to be over planned so I have to keep that in mind as well.


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