Where can we stretch our legs on Thanksgiving Day?
November 22, 2008 12:48 PM Subscribe
Thanksgiving Day dinner drive: we're driving on Thanksgiving Day — with our three year old boy. We'll need to stop. And run. And climb. And jump. And throw things. It's easier if the weather is pleasant but what if it's not…and everything is closed. Suggestions for this route through mid-south Ohio or across the middle.
Will anything be open? We've stopped at malls on our trips northeast but don't know if malls are open on Thanksgiving Day or even where they are. Outdoor suggestions welcome as well. Maybe the weather will be good. Certainly we will be driving the same route again. (And no, movie theaters are not an option.)
Will anything be open? We've stopped at malls on our trips northeast but don't know if malls are open on Thanksgiving Day or even where they are. Outdoor suggestions welcome as well. Maybe the weather will be good. Certainly we will be driving the same route again. (And no, movie theaters are not an option.)
The fast food joints will mostly be open - especially the ones at the Interstate exits. The ones with the indoor play areas will great for letting him burn off some energy.
posted by COD at 1:11 PM on November 22, 2008
posted by COD at 1:11 PM on November 22, 2008
Seconding the fast food joint option. McDonald's has a trip planner here that will show you locations along your route and whether or not they have a playland.
posted by saffry at 1:42 PM on November 22, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by saffry at 1:42 PM on November 22, 2008 [1 favorite]
I'm driving from NYC to Columbus, Portsmouth, Dayton and Marion, OH, for Thanksgiving and I definitely recommend taking 70 all the way (I assume you're going to Morgantown to avoid the tolls) instead of the hilliness that is between Parkersburg and Chillicothe. McDonalds playgrounds are great for traveling with kids, as are rest stops, city parks, high school practice fields and big box stores, which are always open. In my experience it rarely snows around Thanksgiving in Ohio, although it might be cold and rainy.
posted by billtron at 2:24 PM on November 22, 2008
posted by billtron at 2:24 PM on November 22, 2008
Response by poster: The McDonald's/fast food idea did cross our minds and the trip planner looks helpful. Thanks, saffry and COD.
Maybe I should have been more specific though. I am looking for specific places to stop on both of those routes (e.g. for drives south on I-79, we've learned of a park in Fairmont which has served us well as picnic and playground). In Morgantown, we've found that park on top of that knob (I don't know the name) which has also been great.
I am not interested in a recommendation of one route over another (we've driven both many times without the 3-year old). I am interested in specific information like the McDonald's planner offers -- this information might make us choose one route over the other (e.g. more McDonald's likely to be open along I-70, for example). Perhaps we stop and run about the Hopewell Mounds in Chillicothe…although again, the question "is it open?" looms large. (My memory is that the mound area in Chillicothe, for example, is not gated. Maybe that has changed or my memory is wrong.)
billtron: for us, I-68 is a much more comfortable drive west, with lighter traffic to link to 70 in Ohio, than taking all the way from Hagerstown.
posted by Dick Paris at 3:41 AM on November 23, 2008
Maybe I should have been more specific though. I am looking for specific places to stop on both of those routes (e.g. for drives south on I-79, we've learned of a park in Fairmont which has served us well as picnic and playground). In Morgantown, we've found that park on top of that knob (I don't know the name) which has also been great.
I am not interested in a recommendation of one route over another (we've driven both many times without the 3-year old). I am interested in specific information like the McDonald's planner offers -- this information might make us choose one route over the other (e.g. more McDonald's likely to be open along I-70, for example). Perhaps we stop and run about the Hopewell Mounds in Chillicothe…although again, the question "is it open?" looms large. (My memory is that the mound area in Chillicothe, for example, is not gated. Maybe that has changed or my memory is wrong.)
billtron: for us, I-68 is a much more comfortable drive west, with lighter traffic to link to 70 in Ohio, than taking all the way from Hagerstown.
posted by Dick Paris at 3:41 AM on November 23, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kiltedtaco at 1:06 PM on November 22, 2008