Best route from Toronto, ON to Gaithersburg, MD
 

We will be driving from Toronto, ON to Gaithersburg, MD at the beginning of February. Can someone please tell me what the best route would be to take? Will be traveling with 2 small kids. Any recommendations on where to stay about halfway? Thanks

With your own car with good snow tires? To avoid the New York State Thruway you can take US 20 east out of Buffalo to get to I-390 to I-86 to Corning/Gang Mills.
From Corning it is I-99/US 15 south through Williamsport PA and all the way into MD.

I would avoid any non-interstate road through Pennsylvania.

There really isn't any all Interstate route through PA that doesn't take you way out of a direct line, which is what Bing maps shows.

Bing has driving time as 9 hours or so, which means trip time will be closer to 12, weather permitting, of course, with stops for kids, meals, gas, so two six hour days?

Weather is the tough issue since much of the route is mountainous.

If you really, really hafta, gotta do this trip, I hope the dates are flexible.

Google shows 3 routes - we've driven them all (used to drive to State College PA from Toronto a lot). I think it will depend entirely on the weather and road conditions.

Please don't even consider US 219 south out of Buffalo in February. It is not as well maintained as US 15.
I drove US 15 when it was nearly all 2 lane north of Williamsport 40+ years ago. I graduated from WACC in 1969.
If you really HAVE to get to Gaithersburg on a certain date, fly to BWI and rent a car.

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately, we really do have to make this trip at this time. We are relocating to Gaithersburg (husband starting new job on the 8th), and moving company informed us that they cannot transport our car. So, we have to drive it down (unless someone knows of another way to get it there)?

There are companies that will move your car for you.

I travel the route tomfuller suggested frequently (from Rochester) with 2 small kids. From Toronto to Gaithersburg, it's about 8.5 hours, so 10 hours or so with stops. Williamsport would probably be the most convenient midway place to stop.

Corning, NY has the museum of glass, although that would probably depend on the age of your kids.

If you wanted to go farther than Painted Post/Corning, try the Microtel in Mansfield (24 miles south).
There is really not much between Mansfield and Williamsport.

You could go all interstate if you take I90 at Buffalo over to Erie, then just go down I79 through Pennsylvania to I68 in Wva and go from there across Maryland till you hit I70. Google estimates that at only one hour longer than the routes down the middle of PA, but when no weather problems. I drive that route from MD to Pittsburgh quite a bit and even in winter, it's not a difficult drive. I68 in WVa and Maryland is a very good highway. I'd prefer to go all the way down I79 to that rather than the turnpike in PA which I really dislike and it can take forever (I think that's I76, which runs east from around Pittsburgh). I often drive from Maryland up I70 and I68 over to Wisp to go skiing in winter, and it has never been a difficult drive. Of course, I don't go if there is a storm or bad weather happening.

When I moved crosscountry, the moving company just drove my car into the van and moved it like a big piece of furniture, wonder why they can't do that. Of course, I had a small sportscar, but those vans are pretty big.