Are you planning a family road trip between Florida and Indiana? Are you searching for fun things to do, places to go and quick stops (leg stretchers) along the way? If yes, then this is the perfect post for you!
This journey, from Florida to Indiana (and back) was our family’s first big road trip adventure with our children (ages 3, 6 & 8.)
Below is our 11-day travel itinerary. (We added an additional week in Indiana to visit family, but I only listed our 11 days of traveling and sight-seeing here.)
Our road trip began in Florida and traveled through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky on the way up. Then on our return home we drove through several states but mainly stopped to see sights in Virginia on the way back. We also added an out-of-the-way (but important) side-stop in Washington DC.
In this post I’ve included the sites we saw along this route, with details on what places our kids loved the most (and the least)!
I hope that this post (and our experience) will be able to help all of you busy Moms and Dads out there find a ton of fun things to do and more easily plan your own perfect Florida to Indiana road trip!
Our Florida to Indiana Road Trip Adventure!
Driving from Florida to Indiana (and back) is an absolutely amazing route for a road trip, especially for families! The scenery is beautiful, the history is rich and the people are incredibly friendly. Plus it is absolutely bursting with amazing things for families to do!
For our family, this is the vacation that began it all.
Planning Our Southeast United States Road Trip
For this trip, our youngest was 3 years old, our middle child was 6 years old and our oldest was 8. We were ready to hit the road! But I was really nervous because we had never done a big, several week, driving trip with our children yet. And we weren’t exactly sure how it was going to go.
I spent months researching and preparing, trying to create the perfect road trip. A road trip that would open our family’s eyes to our incredible world. Yet also, a road trip that wouldn’t leave us frustrated and overwhelmed so that we might not want to travel again.
And then while we were on our vacation, I secretly watched for what sparked our family’s interests, caused our eyes to light up and made our smiles grow. I wanted to learn from this road trip so that I could make every family vacation that we took each year, even better!
This family road trip, across the Southeast United States to the Mid-West, was not only about helping our children begin to discover our world; it was also about trying to discover more about each other, our passions and to begin finding our “Traveling Feet” as a family.
Our Florida to Indiana Road Trip Route
- Day 1:
- Driving from Florida and into Georgia
- Museum of Aviation, GA
- Day 2:
- Day 3:
- Great Smoky Mountain National Park, NC/ TN
- Mingo Falls, Oconaluftee Indian Village, Roaring Fork Road
- Great Smoky Mountain National Park, NC/ TN
- Day 4:
- Cumberland Falls, KY
- Day 5:
- Day 6:
- Day 7/ 8:
- Drive to Washington D.C.
- Day 9:
- Day 10:
- Day 11:
- Our Drive back to Florida
Our Road Trip:
DAY 1:
For our family, our journey began with a 7 hour drive from our home in Florida to our hotel, just south of Atlanta. (460miles) (This is one of the downsides to living in Florida. It takes FOREVER to drive out of the state!) And because we live in Florida, we did not stop at any sights on our way out of the state.
If you are looking for fun places to go in Florida then check out my post on Top Florida Sights Here.
Once in Georgia, I planned for us to stop and stretch our legs at the Museum of Aviation. This is a free airplane museum that is only a few minutes off of I-75 at Warner Robins AFB. I thought this sight would be a 30-45 minute leg stretcher with our young children, but it turned into a 2 hour adventure!
MUSEUM OF AVIATION
Warner Robins, GA (This is 1hr 40 mins S of Atlanta, right off I-75)
Website: https://www.museumofaviation.org/
Museum of Aviation, GA
Why You Should Go:
The Museum of Aviation is a Free Museum that sits on 51 acres and has 4 large (air-conditioned) buildings that house over 80 historic U.S. Air Force Aircraft!
Museum Highlights:
The Museum’s highlights include a P-51 Mustang, a F-84 Thunderjet and a P-40 Warhawk.
This airplane was called “The Jenny” so we had to get a picture with it.
What Our Family Loved The Most:
I was really impressed by all of the great information and wonderful displays throughout the museum. And our kids loved that they were able to climb into several airplane cockpits and pretend they were pilots.
This museum did a wonderful job telling the story of each airplane (and I learned a ton!) My husband, Chris, and son, Spencer, who both absolutely love airplanes, were in complete hog heaven here and they could have stayed all day!
Helpful Hint:
Try and see the outside portion of the museum before the heat of the day.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend at least 2 hours here. This place is HUGE!
Fun for Airplane-Loving Kids:
- Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes: Activity Kit
- The Big Book of Airplanes by DK
- Large Throwing Airplane Foam Glider for Kids
Traveling Tip: If you are driving through Atlanta, always take in account rush hour – it’s horrible!! We were traveling on a Saturday and that’s why we could stay south of the city and drive through it the next day on a Sunday morning.
DAY 2
The next morning we headed to the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta to be there when it opened.
THE GEORGIA AQUARIUM
in Downtown Atlanta, GA
Website: https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/
Whale Sharks and Manta Rays at the Georgia Aquarium
Why You Should Go:
The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the entire Western Hemisphere, with more than 10 million gallons of water! And it is also the only aquarium outside of Asia where you can see actual Whale Sharks, the largest fish species in the world! Incredibly, they have four whale sharks here (as of May 2022), so you’ll definitely want to take some time to meet them!
These whale sharks are not only amazing to see, but they have also provided scientists with invaluable information to help major conservation efforts to save their species in the wild. And on top of that, here at the Georgia Aquarium, these Whale Sharks have helped researchers create the first ever complete shark genome map!
The George Aquarium is also the only aquarium in the United States to house Manta Rays, and only one of four aquariums in the world to display this species! And there are four manta rays that live at the Georgia Aquarium! There names are Nandi, Tallulah, Raven and Blue. You won’t want to miss watching their graceful water dance. It’s spectacular!
The Georgia Aquarium had been on my top places to visit in the United States for a while and I was ecstatic that we were finally able to go!
What Our Family Loved the Most:
First, like most people, we had never seen a whale shark and so we were ecstatic to get this chance at the Georgia Aquarium! And if your family decides to go too, make sure you stay for their feeding time. It’s unbelievable! Sitting there, watching a whale shark open its 4 1/2 foot wide mouth to gulp down tiny krill was extremely cool!
Travel Tip: Look at the Whale Shark Feeding Times when you first arrive, and then plan the rest of your visit around this time. The whale shark exhibit itself takes a few minutes to wind through. So make sure you allow yourself enough time, before the feeding starts, to reach the end of the exhibit for what I think is the best place to watch. Here, there is a fantastic floor to ceiling glass window into the whale shark habitat. This is where we sat to watch the feeding and this is where we took the picture found above!
Another favorite was watching the beautiful Manta Rays swim their signature back-flips! This is something they naturally do in the wild and it was absolutely amazing to watch their beautiful dance! They are located in the same exhibit as the whale sharks.
Other family favorites include touching the sea anemones, touching the sting rays and getting to touch epaulette sharks! (My son Matthew is a huge shark lover and so this was an incredible highlight for him especially. And all of these touch encounters were free when we visited, which I thought was great!)
Another animal species that I personally enjoyed watching here were the funny garden eels who kept popping their heads out of their sand holes and then quickly hiding again. They made me laugh and I probably could have watched them all day.
Helpful Hints:
1.) Go early and preferably on a weekday to avoid the crowds.
2.) Look at the daily schedule when you first arrive. You’ll want to time your route so that you can see both the Dolphin Show and the Whale Shark Feeding Presentations. If you aren’t able to see both, then I highly recommend prioritizing the Whale Shark Feeding. Remember this is the only place in the U.S. where you can see this.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing approximately 3 hours here.
Fun for Ocean-Loving Kids:
CONSOLIDATED GOLD MINE
in Dahlonega, GA (1 hour North of Atlanta)
Website: https://consolidatedgoldmine.com/
Panning for Gold
Why You Should Go:
Did you know that there was a Gold Rush in Georgia in 1828? I sure didn’t before I read about this mine when planning for our southeast U.S. trip. As it turns out, the Georgia Gold Rush was the second major discovery of gold in the entire United States (the first being in North Carolina.) And the gold rush here even predates the California gold rush by twenty years!
At The Consolidated Gold Mine you will get to walk down into a REAL Gold Mine, 200 feet under the ground, and learn about it’s fascinating history. On this 40 min tour you will learn about the gold mining process, the miner’s struggles and hear the tales about what their life was like at the turn of the century.
What Our Family Loved The Most:
First, our children simply loved the idea of walking down into a mine while wearing a hard hat. (It’s funny how sometimes it’s the little things that kids love the most.) But this was their first time venturing into the earth and so to them this was a really big deal.
For me, I was extremely impressed with the history and mining information they provided. It was fantastic! And as an added bonus, all of the Underground Mining Adventure Tours include a free gold panning experience, which was a huge highlight! This was our children’s first time panning for gold and honestly, their expressions were absolutely priceless when we struck it rich with 13 flakes!
We found gold!! 13 flakes total!
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing approximately 2 hours to experience both the 40 minute Underground Mining Tour and the Gold Panning experience.
Fun for Kids that Love Discovering Treasure
DAY 3
SMOKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK
North Carolina / Tennessee
Website: https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
Their First Mountains!
Why You Should Go:
Did you know that the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited National Park in America! And it’s not hard to see why. This park is filled with beautiful sweeping mountain views, old historic buildings and over 800 miles of trails! And visiting this park is completely Free! The Smoky Mountains are a perfect and convenient addition to any Southeast United States family road trip!
Smoky Mountain Park Highlights:
Newfound Gap Road (US-441) is the 33 mile long road that is the main route through Smoky Mountain National Park. This road connects Cherokee, NC with Gatlinburg, TN. And this gorgeous drive easily provides visitors with stunning mountain views and gorgeous scenery as you traverse the park.
Clingmans Dome, found near the boarder of North Carolina and Tennessee along US-441, is a fantastic sight! Here you will drive up to the highest mountain peak in the park at 6,643 feet and discover a spectacular 360 degree view.
Cades Cove is an incredibly beautiful area in Smoky Mountain National Park filled with historic cabins, barns, mills and churches from the early 1800s.
What Our Family Loved that Lies Right Outside the Park:
Roaring Fork Road
Just outside Smoky Mountain National Park, on the Gatlinburg side, is the incredibly picturesque Roaring Fork Road! This was my absolute favorite site near the park and it was beyond gorgeous! Roaring Fork Road is a 5.5 mile narrow one way loop that you won’t want to miss. I have heard that it can get pretty crowded (bumper to bumper) especially on the weekends so keep this in mind when planning your trip. We chose to drive this road early (~8am) on a summer weekday morning and we were fortunate enough to be practically the only ones on this slow, beautiful drive! And it was fantastic!
Update: Roaring Fork Road now has specific hours that it is opened and closed. This caught us off guard when we went to drive it again in 2023 and found out that now this road doesn’t open until 10am! So definitely check out what time it opens before you try and visit.
Roaring Fork Road
Mingo Falls
Another family favorite site, but on the east side of Smoky Mountain National Park is Mingo Falls. Mingo Falls is considered the tallest (at 120 feet) and one of the prettiest waterfalls in the Southern Appalachians! And lucky for us, to reach this waterfall, it is only 0.4 miles, which makes it perfect for hiking with kids!
To find Mingo Falls go just outside the east part of Smoky Mountain National Park, near Cherokee, NC, to Mingo Falls Campground and Pigeon Creek Trail.
Mingo Falls, NC
Oconaluftee Indian Village
Another highlight that lies just outside Smoky Mountain National Park is the Oconaluftee Indian Village. Here we learned all about the Cherokee Native Americans that have called the Smoky Mountains their home for hundreds of years. Located in Cherokee, NC, this village is set up so that you are immediately transported in time into an authentic working Cherokee village from the 1760s.
Here my boys especially loved their blow gun demonstration and I was completely fascinated to learn how they made their canoes without an ax!
Helpful Hints:
Due to the popularity of Smoky Mountain National Park, it is best the start your day early and try to beat some of the crowds. Cades Cove and Roaring Fork Road are the most effected by the crowds so try, if possible, to visit them during off-peak hours.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend spending at least a full day here to explore this beautiful park. But if you are short on time you could easily just drive straight through and see the beautiful scenery along the road in a little over 1 hour. Or on the other hand, you could just as easily spend days here hiking the many trails and exploring the fun nearby sites.
Fun Books to Get Kids Excited to Visit the Smoky Mountains
Read More: A Family Guide for One Incredible Day in the Smoky Mountains.
DAY 4
We began our morning with a 1 hour and 25 minute drive for a quick stop at the Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Now with all of the fun things that I just mentioned you could do in Gatlinburg, you may be asking why we left to go to this science museum. Well, the picture below will show you why I wanted to go.
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND ENERGY
in Oak Ridge, TN (1.5 hours from Smoky Mountain National Park)
Website: https://amse.org/
Experience the Hair-Raising Van der Graaff Generator!
Why You Should Go:
The Museum of Science and Energy is a fantastic museum that focuses on teaching people about the science of energy and about the role that this “secret city” of Oak Ridge played in the Manhattan Project. Honestly, much of this museum’s information was far too advanced for our children (ages 3, 6 and 8), but there was also a lot of kid-friendly hands-on science displays that made it fun for everyone.
But the science displays are actually not why we wanted to visit this museum with our young children or why this museum made our list of top places to go in the Southeast U.S. For me, the reason I just had to visit with my kids is for their fantastic 45 minute presentation with their hair-raising Van der Graaf Generator! This was a presentation that I myself remember going to when I was 5 years old, and that’s saying something!
What Our Family Loved the Most:
Without a doubt, our family absolutely loved seeing and participating in the hair-raising Van der Graaf generator presentation! In this presentation you will learn all about what a Van der Graaf generator is and what it does. Then they put on a small show to show you how it works. And lastly, they will invite people in the audience to come down and touch the Van der Graaf generator themselves so they too can experience its amazing hair-raising effects! This is definitely an experience you’ll remember forever! (see picture above)
Family Tip: If your child is nervous about touching the Van der Graaf generator, they will let your child link with another individual who is touching it, and both of you will be able to feel it’s awesome hair-raising effects! This is what we did since our youngest wanted no part of touching the Van der Graaf generator, but after holding hands with his brothers, he loved it’s fun effects!
We also really enjoyed touching their cool plasma ball, picking up items with the museum’s robotic arm, solving their brain teaser puzzles and playing with all of their other hands on science displays.
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing for approximately 2 hours to visit (maybe longer if your kids are older and especially if you’re also going to the 45min Van der Graaf presentation.)
For Kids that Love Science & Experiments:
MUSEUM OF APPALACHIA
in Clinton, TN (This is 30 minutes from the Museum of Science and Energy)
Website: http://www.museumofappalachia.org/
Fantastic Farm Village
Why You Should Go:
The Museum of Appalachia is set up as an authentic mountain farm village from the 1800’s. Here, there are more than 30 log structures in the village that you can visit, including a family cabin from Mark Twain!
What Our Family Loved the Most:
We really enjoyed the thousands of time-period artifacts displayed throughout this village and in the Display Barn. And our kids had a lot of fun trying to figure out what some of these items might have been used for. I personally loved how these artifacts and displays gave us a real glimpse into what life was like here in the mountains so long ago.
The Museum of Appalachia is not a living history museum, so do not expect time period costumed employees to be wandering around. Instead this museum is simply set up how a village in the mountains here would have looked like. I felt that this made the village feel very quiet and peaceful, like it would have been in the mountains so long ago.
The Displays had Incredible Detail
An Unexpected Highlight:
There are beautiful peacocks everywhere just roaming around the village. We were ecstatic so be so close to so many of these beautiful exotic birds. This was a huge highlight for our kids!
Beautiful peacocks were everywhere at the Museum of the Appalachia
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing for approximately 2 hours to visit.
CUMBERLAND FALLS
in Kentucky (1 hour and 15 min from the Museum of Appalachia)
Website: https://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/cumberland-falls/
Cumberland Falls! “The Niagara of the South”
Why You Should Go:
Cumberland Falls is a dramatic 125 foot wide waterfall that plunges 7 stories into a gorge! This waterfall is also known as the “Niagara of the South” and it is the largest waterfall south of Niagara Falls in New York! This a great waterfall to swing by and visit on any Kentucky road trip.
Here at Cumberland Falls there are two separate viewpoints where you can view it. Both viewpoints are are just a short walk from the parking lot which makes it very convenient to see. But there is another reason as to why this waterfall made our top sites list. And that is because of it’s rare but famous Moonbow!
Moonbows are a rare phenomena in the world. In fact there’s only a few places in the entire western hemisphere where they are known to occur. This is because first, a moonbow is created by moonlight instead of direct sunlight. Second, the moon has to be low in the sky and it must be near a full moon phase. Third, the sky must be very dark. Fourth, water droplets must be present in the air in the opposite direction of the moon. And when all of this lines up, a moonbow appears. And it looks like a white rainbow!
Two places where moonbows are known to occur in the United States is in Yosemite National Park, CA and here at Cumberland Falls! So if you are a person that likes to seek out unique and extraordinary events, then checking out Cumberland Falls’ Moonbow on a clear moonlit evening would be a fantastic phenomena to try and see.
Helpful Hint:
In National Parks there is usually no data service for your cellphone. In other words, you can’t download new maps as you’re driving. Yet the GPS antenna in the phone still works. Therefore, prior to your vacation I highly recommend that you download the maps of where you will be. If you have exact addresses then the GPS will still work and you can continue to use Google maps to get directions to where you want to go next.
We found this out the hard way. As soon as we entered into each National Park on this trip, we lost service and then had no idea of where we were going! It was when we got home that we discovered this trick. I hope this tip can help you not get lost like we did!
Suggested Duration:
We recommend allowing between 30 – 45 minutes to view this waterfall.
DAY 5
MAMMOTH CAVE
in Kentucky (2 hour and 10 min drive from Cumberland Falls)
Website: https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm
There is a Time Zone Change to Central Time.
Why You Should Go:
Mammoth Cave is the World’s Longest Known Cave System with more than 400 miles of passages explored and new ones still being discovered today!
At Mammoth Cave, you too can explore this incredible cave system through several different tour options. And we highly recommend doing this! These tours take you through various sections of this enormous cave system with approximately 10 miles being open to the public. (Though on most tours you’ll only explore about a mile or two.)
What Our Family Loved the Most:
Our family chose the Domes and Dripstones Tour and we highly recommend it, if it is available. This is a 2 hour tour covering ¾ mile and it focuses on finding stalactites and stalagmites and learning about the science behind this enormous cave system. It was fantastic!
One of our family’s favorite moments on this cave tour was when the tour guide momentarily shut off all of the lights and we were able to experience its absolute complete darkness! This is an incredible experience in a cave that everyone should do at least once in their life! It’s crazy how dark, darkness can really be!
Family Tip: Make sure you hold onto your kids hands before they turn off the lights in the cave because some kids can get really scared of the complete darkness. By holding their hand, they’ll know you’re still there and it may hopefully prevent them from freaking out.
One aspect of Mammoth Cave that I also really enjoyed is that they didn’t ruin the cave experience with colorful lighting along the path or other types of unnatural theatrics. Instead they simply left this underground world as natural as possible. To me, this made our cave exploration experience so much better than some of the other touristy type of caves I’ve seen.
Helpful Hints:
Reservations are highly recommended for tours. Also the temperatures within the cave range from 50-60 degrees so you may want to bring a light jacket.
Suggested Duration:
This depends on the length of tour you choose.
For Kids Who Love Caves:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S BIRTHPLACE
in Hodgenville, KY (45 min drive from Mammoth Cave)
Website: https://www.nps.gov/abli/index.htm
There is a Time Zone Change back to Eastern Time if coming from Mammoth Cave.
Why You Should Go:
Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace Memorial is a great place to learn about and talk to kids about Abraham Lincoln, who he was and why he’s so significant in American history!
And personally I thought that it was an incredible feeling to be able to walk here on the same land where Lincoln took his first steps and to stroll through the woods where he first played!
What Our Family Loved:
I loved visiting Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace because this created a wonderful opportunity to talk to our children a little bit about the history of the United States. It also provided us with an incredible opportunity to discuss Lincoln’s amazing journey from this small log cabin where he was born to living in the White House as president of the United States. This story really shows us that we can do anything (even become president of the United States) if we set our mind to it.
Family Tip: There is also a fantastic lawn here to let kids run and play. (This was desperately needed for our kids who had been doing so good for 5 days of driving and sites now.)
For me traveling is all about learning about our world and learning about my family. And here at Lincoln’s Birthplace Memorial I also learned a little about what makes my son Matthew’s eyes light up!
Matthew found a wild raspberry and it made his eyes light up like it was Christmas!
We were discovering where he finds joy.
Suggested Duration:
This free site can be seen in approximately 1 hour.
Side Note:
You can visit his boyhood home right down the road at Knob Creek. Unfortunately we were not able to visit this due to time constraints.
DAY 6
INDIANAPOLIS CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
in Indianapolis, Indiana (2 hours and 45 min from Lincoln’s Birthplace)
Website: https://www.childrensmuseum.org/
Why You Should Go:
The Indianapolis Children’s Museum is the World’s Largest Children’s Museum! It is also considered to be one of the Best Children’s Museum in the entire United States! Here at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum there are five floors of interactive learning that kids are sure to love!
Museum Highlights:
Dinosphere is the largest display of real juvenile and family dinosaur fossils in the entire United States! In Dinosphere you can also see a real working Paleo Prep Lab and touch a real T. Rex femur!
Discover a Mummy’s Tomb, explore a pirate shipwreck or stand face to face with a Terra Cotta Warrior in the National Geographic Treasures of the Earth exhibit.
The highlights list continues with saying hello to Bumblebee as you enter into the welcoming center, riding on a historic carousel, sitting in a real IndyCar and watching North America’s largest Water Clock at the top of the hour! This museum is absolutely amazing and should definitely be put on your list of places to visit!
What Our Family Loved:
Everyone in our family absolutely loved the Indianapolis Children’s Museum! And we especially loved how they made learning fun on so many different topics through hundreds of interactive exhibits.
But aside from the amazing exhibits, one of my favorites at this museum was seeing the spectacular 43 foot tall Chihuly Glass sculpture! This magnificent sculpture contains 3,200 stunning pieces of blown glass that rises five stories high! This was my first time seeing a Chihuly sculpture and I was hooked!
(Since then I have sought out Chihuly sculptures at his museum in Seattle, WA, St. Petersburg, FL and a traveling exhibit at the Biltmore in NC. Unfortunately at this museum, I was so overcome by the glass sculpture’s beauty, that I forgot to take a picture of it. But if you haven’t seen his glass art yet, I highly recommend checking it out. )
Suggested Duration:
We unfortunately only allowed 3 hours to visit because we didn’t think our 3 year old could handle more, but he literally had a melt down when we told him that we needed to leave. We easily could have (and probably should have) allowed time to stay all day.
CONNER PRAIRIE
in Fishers, IN (30 min from the Indianapolis Children’s Museum)
Website: https://www.connerprairie.org/
Learning How to Make Candles!
Why You Should Go:
Conner Prairie is one of the Top Living History Museums in entire the United States! And they do a fantastic job at bringing history to life!
At Conner Prairie you will step back in time into the 1836 Prairietown where you can study in a one room school house, watch an 1800s tradesperson work, interact with 19th century villagers or learn a new trade yourself.
In another section of this enormous 800 acre museum you can immerse yourself into 1863 and experience what life was like in the southern Indiana town of Dupont shortly after a raid by General Morgan during the Civil War.
Dressing up like soldiers in the Civil War
Museum Highlights:
The 1836 Prairietown and 1863 Civil War Journey are definitely the museums top highlights that shouldn’t be missed. Other highlights include being able to feed, pet, and play with farm animals inside a barn on a real working farm!
The “make and take” activities are also a highlight! These include candle dipping and basket weaving for ages 4+; baking “Cracknels”, metal casting a pewter pendant or using a hammer to make a copper bracelet for ages 8+; making cheese for ages 10+; and even learning how to load and fire a Civil War rifled musket (no live ammunition is used) for ages 14+.
What Our Family Loved the Most:
Our family really enjoyed how all of the staff was in character the entire time. For example, when you enter the school house, the teacher was teaching an actual lesson that would have been taught to children in 1836. And when you talked to any of the villagers, every question was answered as if you were really living in 1836.
We also loved all of the interactive learning there was in this museum. Here, our boys learned how to pick seeds out of cotton, pull the string on a spinning wheel and then use a small loom to make cloth.
They also learned how to pump water from the ground and walk on stilts!
This complete immersion into another time period was an absolutely amazing experience and was a fantastic addition to our Florida to Indiana road trip.
Suggested Duration:
First of all I had no clue how amazing this site would be and I thought we’d only need a maximum of 3 hours to visit. In these 3 hours we did manage to see most of the museum, but I felt a little rushed. So to others I would recommend allowing at least 4 hours, especially if you really enjoy history or want to participate in the many “make and take” activities they have.
Traveling Tip: I also made the mistake of trying to see the Indianapolis Children’s Museum in the morning and Conner Prairie in the afternoon of the same day. I was trying to maximize our time and I had no clue how incredible both of these sites would be. Therefore, personally I would recommend seeing these museums on two separate days. But do know that if you are short on time, it is possible to see both of these sights in one action-packed day.
So, at this point in our trip we went to stay with family in Indiana for a week. It was nice to have a relaxing break after such an action-packed week!
DAY 7 and 8
After visiting with family for a week, we began our long drive to Washington D.C.
Now, D.C. is definitely not on the way home when traveling from Florida to Indiana and back, but we felt that this would be a more important stop for our kids than other places along a more direct route home.
If you are looking to follow this schedule for your Indiana to Florida road trip then it would probably be a 2 day driving adventure (or one really long day of driving) from Indianapolis to Washington D.C. since it is 9.5 hours of driving. This is why I listed this drive as Days 7 & 8.
DAY 9
WASHINGTON D.C.
Why You Should Go:
Washington D.C. is a city that should be on everybody’s list to visit at some point in their life! There are so many things to do and so many learning experiences that it can be challenging to narrow it down.
For us, we decided, since our children were only ages 3, 6 and 8, that we were going to just focus on the highlights of our Nation’s Capital and on anything specific that we thought they would enjoy or learn about in school. We knew that our brief visit in Washington D.C. would be just a taste of all that this great city has to offer and it definitely gave us the itch to come back later and explore some more.
City Highlights:
We chose to focus on the area around the National Mall. On the National Mall you can find The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial, The Capitol Building, The White House and 11 Smithsonian museums and galleries! You could spend more than a week just seeing what the National Mall has to offer! This is where I’d recommend any first time visitor to start when visiting Washington D.C..
My top Smithsonian Museum recommendations for a family visiting the National Mall are the National Air & Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of American History and the National Gallery of Art. And admission to all of the Smithsonian Museums is free, yes free!
This makes museum hopping is a wonderful option for anybody that is looking to sample a wide variety of topics or is simply short on time. For us, we chose to focus on specific displays that we thought our children would be interested in. When our children are older, we will definitely be back for a more in depth visit to these incredible museums.
What Our Family Loved:
Here are a few of our family’s favorites.
My Son Spencer absolutely loves history and airplanes. He was ecstatic to see the actual Wright Brothers Airplane (at the Air & Space Museum) and stand next to George Washington’s sword (at the museum of American History)!
My son Matthew is fascinated by rocks and nature. He was over the moon in the gem and mineral rooms of the National Museum of Natural History and he couldn’t believe his eyes when we found rocks that glow in the dark!
My youngest, Bryan, loved the National Mall itself best and was completely enamored by how large Lincoln was in the Lincoln Memorial!
My husband, Chris, loved the National Air & Space Museum the best but in reality all of the other museums were definitely a close second.
My favorite museum, being an avid art lover, was the National Gallery of Art. This was such an amazing museum for me to begin introducing the world of art to our boys.
Suggested Duration:
Washington D.C. is a city that you can try and skim the highlights in a day or take weeks to months to years to try and see it all.
Alternative Route Suggestion: Spend the evening of Day 8 walking the National Mall and seeing the monuments and then spend Day 9 in D.C. at the museums. This gives you extra time to spread out the sites and museums so you don’t have as much of an information overload.
Read More: A Family Guide for Spending One Day in Washington D.C.
DAY 10
LURAY CAVERNS
in Luray, VA (2 hours from Washington D.C – non rush hour)
Website: https://luraycaverns.com/
Why You Should Go:
Luray Caverns is my favorite decorated cave in the entire United States! This cave is full of immense beauty, with it’s delicately folded stone formations, enormous towering columns and spectacular displays of frozen flowing limestone.
Ten story high ceilings are exquisitely decorated with stalactite formations that are beyond compare. Large crystal clear pools create a mesmerizing mirror image of the greatly decorated stalactite ceiling that is simply spectacular!
Mirror Lake – absolutely gorgeous!
Luray Caverns completely took my breath away!
Cave Highlights:
Aside from this cave’s exquisite beauty, Luray caverns also contains the world’s largest musical instrument, the great Stalacpipe Organ! This Stalacpipe Organ gently taps on stalactites throughout 3 acres of the cavern. In doing this it is able to create the most amazing and beautiful music! I was stunned and I couldn’t believe my ears! Who knew that you could use stalactites to make music! This is something you just have to experience for yourself!
Luray Caverns would be an incredible addition to any Southeast United States road trip itinerary!
Suggested Duration:
Guided tours last about an hour and depart about every 20 minutes.
SKYLINE DRIVE
in Shenandoah National Park, VA (drive 15 min from Luray to join Skyline Drive going South)
Website: https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/driving-skyline-drive.htm
Skyline Drive
Why You Should Go:
Skyline Drive is one of the Top Mountain Drives in America! It is a spectacular drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 105 miles through the heart of Shenandoah National Park.
Park Highlights:
Milepost 32 – Mary’s Rock Tunnel was an engineering marvel back when it was built in 1932.
Milepost 41 – Stony Man Trail is a 1.6 mile kid friendly loop hike through a fern blanketed forest with awe-inspiring summit views.
What Our Family Loved the Most:
Our family favorite along Skyline Road was Stony Man Trail! The lush ferns at the beginning of the trail were so incredibly green and the views at the top of the trail were absolutely magnificent!
Stony Man Trail!
And my three year old was able to hike it with no problem!
When we reached the top, watching my kids expression as the trees parted and the spectacular view was placed in front of them was priceless!
In this moment I realized:
“You can tell someone about a mountain or show them a mountain, but let them climb up the mountain so that they can really know what it is.”
Suggested Duration:
Stony Man Trail took us about one hour and a half to hike.
Driving from Luray going south to the end of Skyline Drive at the Blue Ridge Parkway North Entrance, takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes with no stops. If you need to exit earlier you can get off at Swift Run Gap to get back on an interstate.
After exiting Skyline Drive we began our long drive home back to Florida.
Day 11
This was our long driving day to go back home to Florida.
And so our first big road trip with our children was over and it went so much better than I ever could have hoped for. Our children’s eyes had been opened up to our great big, beautiful world and they were already eager to see more. This simple road trip from Florida to Indiana (which started out as just a trip to go see family) really did begin it all for our family.
And now nothing can stop our 10 Traveling Feet!
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