We are taking a 9 day trip from Washington - Toronto - Washington at the end of July. I have a day or two on the way back to spare and wanted your advice while driving back from Toronto. We are trying to find a city/town with character to spend a night or two. This will give us a chance to see a new place while making the road trip easy on our 11 month old daughter. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Initially we were thinking of going to Montreal but it is real of the path and probably not worth driving just for a day or two.

Thanks..

If you're looking for a place in Canada, I'd stop in Kingston, a small city with historic charm and character. You can also cruise the Thouand Islands from there or nearby Gananoque. Then cross the Ivy Lea bridge to connect with I-81 south.

I'm just back from a couple of days in/near Kingston, and echo the suggestion.

Going the other wayt, Niagara ont he Lake is the natural place for a 48 hour slow-down on the way home.

BAK

Here is another vote for Kingston. You may want to check out the Hotel Belvedere-they have spacious rooms and even tiny kitchens that are especially useful when traveling with little ones.

Thanks for the Kingston suggestion, however it is not really on the way... from Toronto it will take 3 hrs to get there and then another 8.5 to DC.

I guess I should target something in US. Any suggestions

You might want to consdier posting on the US forum...

If you are spending 9 days to go from Washington DC to Toronto you have time for Niagara on the Lake or Kingston for a few days. This would leave you lots of time for Toronto and traveling.

What route are you taking to Toronto--around the west side of Lake Ontario or the east side? If you're going to the west, you could visit Buffalo--probably an 8 hour drive from DC (takes us 7 hours from the MD suburbs to Rochester incl. a lunch break)or a town in southern NY, like Bath/Hammondsport. They're on one of the Finger Lakes and right off the interstate, about 5-5.5 hours from here. Lots of wineries in the area. Also, if you're interested, you could visit the Corning glass museum, which I have not visited in decades but have heard good things about.

Just ran across this thread on the US board: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1. Towards the end the poster describes the Corning glass museum if you're interested in going that direction. Sounds great.