I-81 through Pa. and NY; travel advice

I'm going to Rome, NY for a wedding on Columbus Day weekend. Will be taking I-81 from Hagerstown, Md. to Syracuse. Anything worth stopping for between here and there? On the way up, we may have time for a quick lunch, nothing too time consuming. We can take our time on the way back, though.

Grassy ass.

 

As long as you don't get stuck in traffic in Frederick, which can happen some times of day. But if you go this way you could hit some of the places mentioned in the Gettysburg thread or I think you can tour a pretzel or chip factory in Hanover. I think they give tours, but I'm not sure.

I've heard the Shamrock Restaurant in Thurmont, Md., on 15 south of Mount St. Mary's is good, but I haven't tried it for myself yet.

 

Good advice from Flying Headbutt...

In Frederick, the restaurant, Family Meal http://voltfamilymeal.com/, is definitely worth checking out. Excellent food; relaxed atmosphere; reasonable prices.

Once you are north of Mt. Carmel/Selinsgrove in PA, there is not much you will want to stop for until you get to your destination - - unless you want to stop and take pictures of good scenic views.

 

Unless you are dodging traffic, which you might be doing, you are going way out of your way. Baltimore, York, Harrisburg, Scranton is the way I always went and I traveled to Upstate NY almost every summer.

 

The best advice I can give you about I-81 is head south and not north! If you come though on a weekday, you'll be about 5 miles from me, 15 on the weekend. Stop in, we'll have laugh.

 

Voltagio's other non-fine dining place in Frederick, Lunchbox, is also good. It's downtown so getting to it from the highway and parking takes a few minutes, but an opportunity to get Top Chef food for less than 10 bucks.

 

Cooperstown would not be that far out of the way for you to hit. It's only an hour from Rome.

 

A little out of your way, but we enjoyed Ithaca, especially if the weather if nice.

 

Good call. Thanks. We'll probably do that. Didn't even consider 15 in the 5 minutes I took to look at Google maps. So yeah, I'm looking at I-81 from Harrisburg to Syracuse.

I'm assuming we'll be stopping for lunch somewhere between/around Scranton-Binghamton. And apparently, there's a casino between Rome and Syracuse, so, uh, there goes the weekend.

 

When you drive west of Frederick, you will be entering a wasteland of incest and unfiltered cigarette ends. They're not called butts when they don't have filters. These are unfiltered. These are people the Annapolitans and Silver Springers and even the Waldorfians and Ocean Citiots don't fully understand. These are West Virginians who have run out of couches to burn.

 

81 takes you through Cortland, which is about 20 minutes from Ithaca. On the way back, it'd be early into your drive, but it's a great little town, especially in the fall. There are some nice waterfalls and outdoor trails if you want to stop for a quick hike, and a great restaurant scene so you'd definitely be able to grab a quality lunch.