enzian

Next October we are planning a two-week visit to family in New York and Ohio, with some historic sites on the way. I would like your comments on that part.

My idea is to take the train from New York to Boston, where we will spend two nights. On Friday morning, we pick up a car and drive up to Andover (my husband wants to show me his school) and then to Poughkeepsie, positioning for a visit to the Home of FDR Historic Site the following day ( I will reserve in advance for that). Google says the drive from Andover to Poughkeepsie is 211 miles, 3.5 hours, so we should arrive there mid-afternoon.

Question: should we stay in Poughkeepsie or Hyde Park? We would like to get out for a walk before dark, so could walk either the grounds at the FDR home at Hyde Park, or the pedestrian bridge at Poughkeepsie. Any specific recommendations for a play to stay, and for dinner?

We will spend the next morning at the FDR Home, taking the 9:30 guided tour and then exploring. We will have a 6-hour drive to Fallingwater for the afternoon, and will need a light lunch before we start. Is the "Uncle Sam's Canteen" at the historic site any good?

Then we will spend two nights near Fallingwater for our FLW immersion. Any specific recommendations for lodging? I am looking at the Stone House Inn in Farmington but am open to other ideas. My husband does not like places that are too "quaint" or fussy.

Any suggestions for nice hikes (1-2 hours) in the area while we are there? I assume we won't be spending all day at Fallingwater, and we'll save Kentuck Knob for the following day. We have a short drive to Canton Ohio that day.

I appreciate your suggestions and comments.

Michael

We will spend the next morning at the FDR Home, taking the 9:30 guided tour and then exploring. We will have a 6-hour drive to Fallingwater for the afternoon, and will need a light lunch before we start.

Stop by the CIA (just down the road from Hyde Park) to see if its café has light lunches or even take out--it has a fabulous breakfast at a very good price.

cd

Just a heads up. Tours at Fallingwater should be purchased in advance as they are limited. We arrived without and would have had to wait 3hrs. Could not even get into parking to wait, would have had to leave and wait someplace else and come back to the grounds.

cd

http://www.fallingwater.org/82/tours-and-ticketss

enzian

Yes, I do intend to reserve our Fallingwater tour well in advance. I neglected to mention that.

And the CIA is a great suggestion for lunch--I will see if they have takeout for our lunch. Do they do dinner as well? That would weigh in favor of staying at Hyde Park.

Luv2travel15

We have been to Hyde Park twice now. We stopped on our way home to MA a few years ago and decided to stop and visit FDR home. We absolutely loved our visit and seeing his home. When we went into visitor's center to purchase our tickets we were offered the purchase of a senior pass for $10. and it was the best $10 we ever spent. You do have to be a "senior" to purchase it.

http://www.nps.gov/hofr/index.htm

We had a wonderful guided tour by a park ranger. We didn't have time to explore the library as it was getting late in the afternoon. We didn't stay over and decided to drive home to MA as it was only a 3+ hr. drive for us.

The next time we went we took the tour of the Vanderbilt Mansion which is also a NPS facility and located next door to FDR's home. Again, we had a very nice guided tour w/ a park ranger. So we were able to use our senior pass for this tour. Again, we did not stay over but drove home to MA. We stopped for a meal at the Everready Diner in Hyde Park. Make sure you stop there, the food is awesome and they have quite a menu!
http://theevereadydiner.com/locations/hyde-park

The Culinary Institute is close by and you can have lunch or dinner there.

http://www.ciarestaurantgroup.com/new-york-restaurants/

You can get views of the Hudson from the back of both places.

I did do a search for lodging in the area near FDR home but didn't see anything that was a place we wanted to spend a night or 2. There are some B&B's but on the expensive side.

Our next visit is to visit Val Kill, home of Eleanor Roosevelt. We may try to find a nice place to stay over as it would be nice to visit some of the vineyards and other attractions nearby.

Visiting Hyde Park was one of our favorite sightseeing adventures. We love history and seeing FDR's home was a wonderful experience. Don't forget to go to the basement and see his automobile!

We learned so much about FDR, how he entertained dignitaries, his home life, family, etc. It is truly worth a visit to this interesting place.

Michael

Dinner at the CIA is quite expensive, as I recall. It has several restaurants, and I suspect that reservations are necessary, but none were for breakfast in its café.

starrs

Sounds like a great trip. I'm envious. Glad you are doing Kentuck Knob too.

I can HIGHLY recommend the Holiday Inn Express in Dongeal, PA. It's not the typical HIX. Check out the reviews here and on TripAdvisor. Great hotel and perfect location for seeing FW and KK.
http://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress...pa/hoteldetail

SharonG

I love Hyde Park and CIA is great. My sister and I went there for lunch and dinner in the same day and it was fantastic. Not overly expensive. We went back the next morning for breakfast at the cafe/bakery and bought many yummy treats including their homemade candy. Don't miss it.

HappyTrvlr

Don't stay in downtown Poughkeepsie rather Hyde Park or Just south of. Poughkeepsie

J62

Anywhere along Rt 9 in the Poughkeepsie area is ok. There are several chain hotels near Marist College & the IBM campus that are conveniently near the CIA and FDR. Courtyard, Hilton Garden, Hampton Inn types.

SeaF

Laurel Caverns makes for a nice tour. It's not far from Fallingwater.

LindainOhio

We visited Fallingwater years ago and stayed at Nemocolin Woodlands which was very nice.

You will be close to Ohiopyle State Park that offers hiking and biking. There is also a bike trail that runs through the area. The Great Allegheny Pathway?? The GAP. It runs from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C..

You have family in Canton? We live about 30 miles from Canton. If the weather is nice, have lunch or dinner on the patio at Gervasi Winery.

HowardR

When you visit the FDR site, definitely make time for the museum. It's incredible.....and, frankly, it's more interesting than the home! The FDR automobile mentioned in a previous post is in the museum, not the home.

IMDonehere

One of our favorite places in the Lower Hudson Valley is Storm King, an an outdoor sculpture Garden on 500 acres. It should be beautiful in October.

http://www.stormking.org/

Do not stay in Poughkeepsie. Although it has improved some it is not the nicest place to visit or stay.

Some other places if you have the time and inclination are Hudson, NY, Rhinebeck and Cold Spring.

IMDonehere

Also Google's time estimate is probably optimistic.

Michael

You might want to read my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...east-coast.cfm

enzian

This is great---very helpful!

I had not heard of Storm King but it looks great. We'll add it to theist of places to walk. And we will definitely stay near Hyde Park rather than Poughkeepsie,thanks to your advice.

I am wondering if we should extend the trip by one day to spend more time Innthe Hyde Park/Hudson area, as it appears there is much to do.

Starr's---thank you for suggesting the HI Express on Donegal. The price looks great and I would not mind accumulating a few points in their IHG program that we can use later.

LindainOhio--the Nemacolin Woodlands looks wonderful, but their weekend rates (when we will be there) are very high. This will be at the end of a trip that includes London and Rome, and at this point we will be happy to stay in more modest ( read less expensive) lodging.

And now I will go read Michael's trip report for more ideas.

HowardR

To help you work out your Hyde Park length of time, figure that to fully appreciate the FDR site, plan on spending at least 3-4 hours there. The museum underwent a $20,000,000 updating last year and it is really quite impressive.
The Storm King suggestion is a good one. It's our favorite Hudson Valley destination. And, an October visit is perfect, as it's the most beautiful time = of the year to visit the site.

starrs

enzian, it's truly an out of the ordinary HIX. We picked it based on TA reviews and I'd go back to it or another owned by that franchise owner in a heartbeat. It looks more like a mountain lodge than what you'd expect to find in PA, but everything is a step up from normal - the pool, the breakfast, the staff, the service. GREAT place.

A former boss always recommended Nemacolin to me but it was pricier than we wanted to spend. We did eat lunch there and walked through the resort. It was a bit strange, actually. Perhaps a good place to spend a few days, golf, use the spa or have a meeting, but for us it wasn't impressive. Walking through the adjoining buildings was like walking through several theme hotels connected together. I was traveling with a fellow Fodorite and neither of us were impressed.