help with itinerary!
 

We are driving from Chicago to Pennsylvania. Our time frame for this trip is a week. We definitely want to see Gettysburg and Hershey Park.

Other than those two things --- what else would you suggest we do? I love mountains/nature and local sites, historical, etc.

Any suggestions much appreciated. We have never been to Pennsylvania.

I would suggest reposting with Pennsylvania in the title - that will help get you some answers. When are you going? I am a native Pennsylvanian from the central part of the state, but some places are better seen in the summer than the fall.

I've always wanted to visit the Flight 93 memorial, hopefully someday I will. Just a suggestion

I'd recommend Pittsburgh on your way out (an amazing city!) and Lancaster, home of the PA Dutch and Amish and a great downtown area. Exploring Amish country really gives you a unique look at another culture. Downtown is full of history, architecture, art, funky shops, great food and more. Lancaster's an easy 40 minutes east of Hershey.

I live in Lancaster and if you're looking for historical there are two things nearby that may interest you (aside from the Amish that is). First the Ephrata Cloister http://www.ephratacloister.org/ It's about 20 minutes from me, so probably about 30-40 from Hershey. Also Landis Valley http://www.landisvalley.org/ . This is right across the street from me but probably 30 minutes from Hershey.

Lancaster is no more than 25 minutes from Hershey, unless you hit lots of traffic. Just hop on PA283E which will join US30E. To get from Hershey to Ephrata you may want to take 322E from Hershey. To get from Lancaster to Ephrata, you can take US222N (limited access) or PA272N.

If you're coming here late August-October, you can check out the PA Renaissance Faire (http://www.parenfaire.com). It's a few miles north of Manheim but it's a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing. My niece and nephew went last year (ages 2 and 4) and had a blast.

As far as mountains/nature, there's not a whole lot as far south as Lancaster is but there is some nice scenery around the Wrightsville/Columbia area. The Susquehanna River comes in between those two towns. It is one of the main tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay and is fairly wide at that point.

For good mountains you'd have to head up a little north of Harrisburg (about 20 minutes west of Hershey) and check out areas in Perry County and Juniata County.

There's tons of things in Pennsylvania, so you may want to check out the state's tourism site at http://www.visitpa.com/

You can find discount HersheyPark tickets and/or coupons at the local Burger Kings and usually at the local supermarket (Giant). When you're in Hershey, be sure to check out Chocolate World. It's a free ride through the making of Hershey's products. It's very much like Disney's It's a Small World ride. You get a free sample of their latest product at the end of the ride. There's also a 3D movie theater there, but it's not free and is geared towards younger children. And of course, there's also a store where you can buy anything and everything Hershey.

Unless you're really big amusement park people, HersheyPark shouldn't take more than a day to see all of. Same with Gettysburg. Lancaster and the surrounding area probably has enough for a few days but bear in mind that most of the Amish stuff is horribly touristy and not really Amish. If you see a horse and buggy, do NOT slow down to a crawl and take photos - you will get rear-ended by impatient locals ;)

I've tried to mention a lot of things, so let me know if you have any questions.

correction: Landis Valley website is http://www.landisvalleymuseum.org/