It’s going to be a very scenic drive through Pennsylvania’s Amish Country today on your way to Gettysburg. We know the roads where you can see untouched and unspoiled countryside overlaid with carefully tended Amish farms. Be sure to watch for the Amish buggies as you meander along the roads. They are still the only means of transportation used by many families to make their way from place to place. There are several Amish country farms and homesteads open for touring. You can also select from tours of yummy factories which produce Pennsylvania food products, The Lancaster Heritage Museum illustrates more fully, the story of local life.

We recommend starting your visit in Gettysburg at the National Park Service Visitors Centre. It’s a great way to get a good overview of this very crucial Civil War battle. The three days of action are illustrated in sequence. Next door, the newly renovated Cyclorama holds a circular painting that makes the battle start to come alive. Once out on the battlefield, the enormity of the action begins to emerge.

Traversing these enormous fields, you can begin to envision the thousands of soldiers who overran shocked farmers as the action raged. Standing on Little Roundtop it becomes immediately apparent why this high ground had to be held at all costs. Memorials to the 20th Maine illustrate just how long a line they had to defend. Up on Confederate ridge, you’ll wonder why the Confederate army didn’t just keep its positions on that high ground. After two days of victories, Lee’s ego got the best of him when he ordered his troops to charge across the open ground of the battlefield to claim an ultimate victory. Pickett’s Charge, in which Union troops massacred thousands of Confederate soldiers coming down off the ridge, was the result. Be sure to take the audio tour of the battlefield. with you as you drive. At some places you’ll want to get out and listen to the silence. At others, try to envision more of the action.

In addition to the battlefield, the Eisenhower National Historic Site paints an interesting portrait of Ike and Mamie at home. You can see the comfortably furnished family room where Khrushchev visited with President and Mrs. Eisenhower. It’s hard to imagine this event that changed history in such an ordinary home.

Accommodation: Doubleday Inn or similar

Ever dream of cruising along one of America’s most beautiful roads, discovering historic towns just off the roadway and meandering in no particular hurry? Sound appealing? On today’s trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway, an All America Road and National Scenic Byway, you can do just that.  The first portion of the road today will take you to Roanoke. During the next two days, you can take the rest of the drive from Roanoke to Boone and Boone to Asheville. It’s a rare opportunity to slow down, take a breath and enjoy  incomparable and endless views. While traveling over hill and dale, your eyes are always reaching out for the next vista. Soon you can extend your vision to the farthest Appalachian Mountain ridge lost somewhere in the expansive blue haze that gives the Blue Ridge its name.

No matter when you choose to travel, the Parkway is one of the few roads where every season isspectacular in its own right. In spring, the flowers are out and leaves are budding on the trees.

Summer boasts a lush strong green. In fall, Mother Nature puts on her best dress and delivers a roadway shrouded in blazing color. In winter, the reds and golds give rise to snow covered mountains. Sometimes in silence, a newly fallen snow appears like magic, after which the myriad of greens return again.

Just a few miles from the start, Humpback Rocks Visitor Center has spectacular vistas spreading across the valley. Otter Creek Visitor Center is the trail head for the 3.5 mile Otter Creek Trail. The James River Canal Trail takes you to the restored James River and Kanawha Canal Lock built in 1845. At Milepost 85.6, the Peaks of Otter Visitor Center sits across the road from Abbott Lake which features a 1-mile loop trail. You’ll find the Center in the Square, the Western Virginia History Museum, the Farmers Market and other interesting locations in downtown Roanoke.

Accommodation:  Hotel Roanoke or similar

After another drive on the Parkway today, you have the opportunity to visit to one of the greatest landmarks of grandeur ever created in America. There’s so much to see and do at the Biltmore Estate, that you may want to visit it tomorrow when you have the whole day to spend.

Built by George Washington Vanderbilt in 1895 as a country retreat for friends and family, at 250 rooms the Biltmore Estate is America’s largest home. It’s like stepping back into another world of luxury.

The art collection, furniture, and the magnificent mansion itself are worth the visit and as grand as anything you might see in Europe. Like America itself, it's now open to everyone. Beyond a retreat, Vanderbilt envisioned a “working estate that would sustain itself and benefit the community,” with acres of gardens, parklands and managed forests. Touring this most opulent French Renaissance Chateau, it will be hard to focus on the fact this was once a self-sustaining “working farm.”

Many other things have also been restored at the property. The original lakeside vineyards have been revived and now produce grapes made into wines at the state of the art winery. An authentic French winemaker was recruited to produce the real thing. Frederick Olmsted’s original “genial” shrub garden and formal Italian Garden are now complemented with 2,300 roses and more than 1,000 azaleas. A visit to the Farm Village illustrates how the workers lived, worked and played in the 1890s. Interpretive exhibits illustrate antique equipment and the traditional farm animals that would have lived on the property. While there, you can also enjoy the bike trails, equestrian paths, a raft or recreational kayak and browse for treasures at the many shops, ranging from Christmas antiques and reproductions of Biltmore Estate items, to a bookbinder and wine shop. The Biltmore Estate has four sit down restaurants, several places to get a “quick bite” and a wine tasting room.

More shopping is located right at the entrance to the Estate in Historic Biltmore Village, originally designed as a planned community in the 1890s. Quaint tree-lined streets, brick sidewalks, and open air dining give this historic village a feel and quality unlike any other.

Stay 2 nights

Accommodation: Crowne Plaza Resort Asheville or similar

Today it’s time for a lovely drive through western North Carolina on your way to Raleigh, the state capital.

It took almost 200 years after Sir Walter Raleigh explored the Raleigh area in 1587 for the city to become the capital of North Carolina. Since then it has more than made up for lost time. Often referred to as the “Smithsonian of the South,” Raleigh has over 20 free premier attractions with the breadth and depth of the Smithsonian collection in Washington. Right in the center of Raleigh you’ll find the Capital Area Visitors Centre, the North Carolina Museum of History, and the North Carolina State Capitol which comes complete with a sculpture of George Washington wearing a Roman toga, and resident ghosts. Allegedly there are also secret rooms hidden in the structure.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is the southeast’s largest natural history museum.  Here you can meet the world’s only Acrocanthosaurus and “Willo”, the first dinosaur discovered with a fossilized heart. An exhibit titled “Mountains to the Sea” recreates five North Carolina habitats, complete with live animals and a 20-foot high waterfall. The North Carolina Museum of History holds more than 150,000 artifacts from six centuries. The museum is noted for a series of powerful exhibits illustrating everything from industrial progress to a chronological presentation of the clothing worn by North Carolinians over a 250 year period. When it’s time to stretch your legs, take

a walk through Historic Oakwood, a 20-block area with restored homes built between 1870 and 1912.

Accommodation: Sheraton Raleigh Hotel or similar

You can stay in the “beach” mode today as you travel up to Virginia Beach for an evening before departing for northern Virginia. When John Smith first landed here in 1607 — no he did not land at Jamestown, he landed at Virginia Beach — it must have looked like paradise! The lush coast of Virginia beckoned the colonists who survived four months of heaves and swells on the open ocean.

As they knelt to kiss the ground, they knew they had been delivered to the New World! The cross that sits on Cape Henry in Virginia Beach commemorating this remarkable event allows us to correct four hundred years of legend and lore.

Virginia Beach’s other claim to fame is its wonderful beaches. Here, you can get outdoors, catch a wave, hook a marlin or watch a whale!. Or, paddle in a quiet cove, watch birds in absolute silence, or glide through the water and drop a line. You’ll find Virginia Beach one of nature’s best treasures for the pursuit of happiness in the outdoor world.

If nature indoors is more your preference, visit the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center. The region’s premier marine science facility is equipped with a 300,000 gallon aquarium that has splashing harbor seals, nurse and brown sharks, stingrays and other large open ocean creatures.

The Atlantic Ocean Pavilion and Main Building are complemented with the Owls Creek Marsh Pavilion that reveals the story of life in the marsh and Owls Creek, the waterway on which the aquarium is located. An interpreted nature trail, complete with a 30-foot observation tower, connects the two

buildings. Take advantage of any informative 10 to 15 minute educational programs conducted throughout the day in both the main building and along the nature trail. There’s even a 45 minute IMAX movie.

Stay 2 nights

Accommodation: Springhill Suites Oceanfront or similar

As soon as you arrive in Washington, you can begin to explore the highlights of America’s capital city. There are many great neighborhoods in Washington, yet the key museums and historic buildings are concentrated around the US Capitol Building and the National Mall, which is lined with Smithsonian museums. Even though the attractions are free of charge, there are some important details that will make your trip most rewarding.

You can start your visit at the US Capitol Complex, which includes the Capitol Building, House and Senate Buildings and the US Botanical Gardens.  Standing on the Capitol steps looking out you can see the National Mall, a nearly two mile green space between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial which is lined with monuments and museums. The Washington Monument stands in the centre between the two. The cross axis of the Mall is anchored by the White House on one end and the Jefferson Memorial on the other.

In addition to the key anchors of the National Mall, the US Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument, the rest of the monuments and memorials on or near the Mall could fill your entire trip to Washington, DC.

Stay 2 nights

Accommodation:  Omni Shoreham or similar