DC'er

I am looking for recommendations on a good halfway point between Washington, DC and Cleveland, OH to meet an old college friend for a day and a half. Criteria would include: 1) Something that would be about a 3 to 3-1/2 hour drive for both of us. 2) a cute town with a couple quaint restaurants and a simple, decent hotel 3) near good hiking, scenery, biking and/or antiquing.

Any ideas?

xxx

Looking at a US map, the only thing I see is Pittsburgh.

Nikki

Hi there DC'er

Well our prime meeting location is in the Somerset PA area - there's Seven Springs for great hikes and the area around there has a couple hotels (Ramada and a couple B & Bs) and some decent restaurants (one called Jimmy's which was REALLY good) Have a great time!!!!

Mike

I was thinking something around Wheeling or Morgantown, W.Va. Beautiful areas.

helpful Henry

Middle-of-nowhere Pa is wonderful this time of year. The Dew Drop Inn is a nice place to eat and the skyline motel has a conference room.

Christina

I was going to suggest Wheeling, WVA myself. I have family from that area (way back, original immigrants from Germany) and just spent a day there last summer doing genealogy research, seeing cemeteries, etc, and thought it was more attractive than I had realized. It's got a nice section with beautiful old homes and an interesting location on the river. WVa itself has a lot of good park and recreation areas. I think it is about halfway. I don't know how exciting it is to live there as I talked to a long-lost cousin who does live there and he likes it, but said the economy is not so good and you have to go outside Wheeling for movie theaters and shopping. It should be cheap, anyway, although it may be larger than what you had in mind.

I've been to some other southern Ohio and W Va towns and liked Wheeling better than some of them.

For southern Ohio itself, I'd suggest around Logan or Athens. There are state parks there to the SW of Logan (eg Hocking Hills) and Wayne National Forest is right there. Logan has a big antiques mall
http://www.loganantiquemall.com/
and some other shops and galleries, I think it's supposed to be historic or quaint. Athens is nearby and is a small college town (Ohio U) so there should be stuff to do there, and enough restaurants and hotels if Logan doesn't have what you want.

Daniel Williams

I'd recommend Pittsburgh for your meeting. It's a city but there's a pleasant charm to Pittsburgh to my eyes. I enjoyed the views from the Monongahela Incline of the city. It'll be about a 4 hour drive for you and a 3 hour drive for her; I visited on a 2-day weekend from Baltimore once, so it's most definitely doable. There are recommended restaurants in the city on this site; I enjoyed Kaya near "the Strip" on my visit.

Rob

DC,

Go with Somerset. Exit 10 (Somerset) on the PA turnpike is about 3 hours for both of you and there are some mountain resorts and good scenery.

George

Somerset also gets you not too far from Frank Lloyd Wright country. Fallingwater, of course. But a short distance away is the Hagan House, AKA Kentuck Knob. Both well-worth the visit.

shannon

We live in Pittsburgh while I would recommend coming here...it isn't exactly MIDDLE...

my in laws live near Dulles and it takes us OVER 4 hours to get there. WE can get to Cleveland in 2 1/2.

I would agree with the other posters about the Laurel Highlands area. You can stop at Nemacolin for lunch/dinner. IT is a beautiful resort. IF you are into architecture at all....strongly suggest Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright. There are plenty of cheaper hotels in the area since Nemacolin isn't cheap but if it is an off weekend (winter) you can get a good rate on a pretty posh room!

tom

gettysburg is nice and very interesting