need help with driving trip from dw to DC?

[cindermom]

We are planning on spending 9 days at dw and Universal and then driving up the coast for 5 days and ending up at DC (June23-july 8th 2006). My oldest son is a history major (planning to teach) and is more excited about sightseeing civil war sites and in DC then in our dw trip. There will be 5 of us, me, my dh, 2 ds (21 and 22) and dd (15). Everyone with 3 children knows this limits the hotels you can stay at somewhat. I am interested in any suggestions from some of you who live back east as far as whether this is even feasible to try and suggestions for places to stay. None of us have ever been back east other than 2 prior trips to DW (we are from Seattle area). We are planning on staying overnite in Savannah and Williamsburg (1 nite each) and 2 nites in DC. We are not sure about best place to stay between Savannah and Williamsburg. We want to stay in least expensive hotels, except maybe splurge in DC so that we can walk to the mall. (I have read that we absolutely should not try to drive in DC!) also any suggestions for organizing the dc part of the trip. It sounds very confusing with getting pretimed tickets?
Thanks so much!

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Hi, Cindermom.

I'd recommend asking this over on the Transportation Board. Many people along the I-95 corridor do drive, some will spend the night along the way if they are too far north, and may have hotel suggestions. I know many have mentioned exits 94 and 104 off I-95 in the Savannah area for hotels. Florence, SC, or Fayetteville, NC may be good halfway points between Savannah and Williamsburg.

If your son is a Civil War buff, I'm sure you'll be spending time in Richmond. Petersburg battlefield is just to the south, the Museum of the Confederacy and the Confederate White House are downtown, Monument Avenue has statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, among others, and there's also Hollywood Cemetery, where Jefferson Davis, James Monroe, John Tyler, and other historical figures are buried. Williamsburg is an hour east of Richmond, if he's wanting to go to Monticello that's an hour west of Richmond.

I can suggest areas of Richmond to stay in. I'm not that familiar with Williamsburg's hotels, but there are quite a few in the area of all the major chains. If you need any more pointers about Richmond, though, feel free to PM me.

 

[cindermom]

Thanks Obi-wan, I did not even think of the transportation boards. I will post over there and it sounds like I need to search those boards as well. I think I will look into stopping at Richmond for one nite and may have more questions for you. After reading some touring books, I get the feeling that we really need another 2 weeks to see everything! I can't wait to see the area.