ohio, indiana ...midwest trips?? (Columbus, Cleveland: amusement park, motels, camping)

[ixsie123]

ohio, indiana..which trip??
Hi!

We are two students from Europe and we are going to Cleveland to visit my relatives.So we are thinking to be in USA for 12 day.Would yo tell me please which places are the most interesting?I have just seen the Niagara falls, so this is not in our plan. We are not convinced to take the tour from Cleveland to Cincinnati to Columbus and back to Cleveland.What do you racommanded me?Or to take a 4 days trip in the Midwest?Or th tor aroun Lake Errie?
And which motels and restaurants are the cheapest?We are going to stay in motels for max. together 4 nights .
It is safety to go in campgrounds?My boyfreand is scare about.So we don't have a lot of money and we'are looking for the cheapest possibility.

Thank you very much for any info.

[MissingIndiana]

Are you making your trip soon or will this be later when the weather is warmer? I wouldn't recommend making plans to drive around Lake Erie in February. The risk for a snow storm making things difficult is too great. Since you are asking about camping though, I'm going to assume you are waiting until the weather gets warmer. Since you are starting out in Cleveland and you have 12 days there are a few things I might recommend.

One trip would be to head out toward Chicago. If you take this trip, you could stop by Cedar Point Amusement Park (Cedar Point Amusement Park, The Roller Coaster Capital of the World!) in Sandusky, OH and camp near there. After that, I would say you should drive about 4 hours west to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (U.S. National Park Service)), which stretches between Gary, IN and Michigan City IN. There are bogs, beaches, and sand dunes over 100 feet high and it's beautiful. The area has sections which is part of a national park and others which is designated as a state park. The state park section has designated camp sites which are very safe and a lot of people stay there. There is also the Dunewood Campground (Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore - Dunewood Campground (U.S. National Park Service)) which is not inside the state park, but is safe and only $15/night. This campground is also right on the South Shore rail line and has a station which you could easily walk to. From this station, it is a 1 hour and 20 minute train ride into Chicago. Fares and schedules can be found here (Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District)

I love Indianapolis and there are a lot of beautiful places in southern Indiana too, but that's a really far drive from Cleveland and if you're only going to be here for 12 days, I would say just head on out to Chicago.

Visiting the three C's of Ohio could be okay, but it's going to be really hard to explore all three of those cities in 12 days. I also can't think of many safe places where you would be interested in camping near Columbus or Cincy.

Another option I might recommend would be to spend a few days seeing some things in Cleveland where you could stay with your family. From Cleveland, its only about a 2 hour drive down to Pittsburgh, so you could head down there pretty easily and do some things. There are also other day trips you could make. You could still go to Sandusky for a day trip to Cedar Point since it's only about an hour away from Cleveland. You could also go down to the Amish country in Ohio for a quaint afternoon (Amish Country | Ohio | Dining). If you go to Amish country be sure to eat at Boyd & Wurthmann Restaurant at 4819 East Main Street, Berlin, OH. They have the best pie and open faced roast beef with mashed potatos and gravy. Again, you could stay with relatives and save some money that way.

I hope that gives you a couple of things you might be interested in. Good luck planning your trip.

That's ju

[MissingIndiana]

Sorry, this is the main link to the Amish Country website (Amish Country | Ohio | Visitor Information). I accidentally gave you the restaurant link. Again, good luck, and welcome to the midwest. There's a lot to do and see here!