TravelingMom

My parents, brother, and sister-in-law live in Virginia Beach and I'm in Pittsburgh with my husband and 10-month old. My brother and I would like to give my parents a weekend getaway for all of us as their Christmas present. We'd probably actually be going in the spring.

The criteria are really pretty flexible, except for the price. We'd like to spend $600 (preferably less) for the weekend lodging - maybe a small cabin or condo that we could rent for the weekend. Ideally, we'd like somewhere we can meet in the middle but anywhere within a 6 hour drive for all of us would be OK. Beach, mountains, rivers, lake - we enjoy them all. We'd probably prefer to avoid big cities.

Any suggestions? Are we being completely unrealistic?

Ann41

Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, is pretty much midway for everyone. I haven't actually been there, but my boss used to go there every summer for a week and loved it.

ronkala

Look into the Strasburg (VA) Hotel in Strasburg at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley.. It is just below the confluence of I-66 and I-81. Easy to reach from both cities via the interstates.

Strasburg is about fifteen minutes south of Winchester. The charming hotel was built about 1907 I believe. It is our favorite eating spot for special occasions. The town is big on antique shops, and route 11 south to New Market has several very nice towns. You can even climb the Woodstock Tower and look down on the seven bends of the Shenandoah River.

SusieQQ

How about Berkeley Springs WV. It is a spa town with cute shops and restaurants.

hugglynn

Spots in WV were my idea, also, since I'm not far away from where you will be starting. I think Deep Creek is a nice area, but a lot closer for you than them.

You could rent a cabin at the Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs--that would be about 1/2 way, I know the hotel rooms can be pricey, but not sure about the cabins--although they do have packages available that include meals and other amenities.
Also is the Homestead in Hot Springs, VA, just a little northeast from White Sulphur Springs. http://www.thehomestead.com/
I'll keep thinking about this one and post anything else I think of.

ronkala

per freetrip.com
Strasburg to Pittsburgh 205 mi 3:30 hr
" to Va.Beach 237 mi 4:15 hr

Ann41

Whoops--when I recommended Deep Creek, I was thinking you said your family lived in Northern Virginia.

Shenandoah Valley is beautiful, and I've climbed the Woodstock tower--wonderful views.

I've also been to Berkeley Springs and was sorely disappointed. I was expecting the whole nice shops, cute town thing. The springs were interesting to look at, and there were maybe 2 or 3 decent shops. That was it. My husband and I drove out from DC to spend the night there--we ended up going home after 2 hours (including lunch) because the town was such a disapointment. Enjoyed the drive, though.

TravelingMom

Thanks for the responses so far. We had been thinking about Berkeley Springs, just because we drive through it when we're on the way to visit each other. The cabins at Cacapon State Park are reasonably priced. Like Ann commented, I'm a little worried that we'd be bored in the area. However, we'd probably be more interested in outdoorsy stuff - it seems like there would be enough hiking/fishing/etc to keep us busy for a weekend??

I'm looking into Strasburg, but it looks like it might be a bit too expensive for our budget.