The Ultimate Road Trip on $1000 Budget

So you live in Northeast Pennsylvania and have a week off of work. What will you do for entertainment? How about a road trip, and not just any road trip, but the ultimate road trip! With a budget of $1000 I have come up with the ultimate road trip ($2000 total for two people).

First, load up the car with your best friend and some snacks. Our favorites are oreos, pretzels, crackers, and soda. We also pack up some peanut butter sandwiches in a cooler so we can spend less on food during the trip. After plugging in our ipod we start out on the first leg of our trip.

We travel 369 miles (about 6 hours) to Sandusky, Ohio. Here we will be staying at Castaway Bay (www.castawaybay.com) for two nights. For $452.92 we both get two nights lodging and one day admission to Cedar Point Park. This park is a favorite of ours because of their roller coasters. We spend the first evening utilizing the indoor water park at the hotel. The second day we spend at Cedar Point and stay at the hotel for a second night.

The next morning we are up bright and early and travel 388 miles (about 6 1/2 hrs) to Hershey, Pa. We check into the Hershey Lodge (www.hersheylodge.com) where for $674 we both receive two nights at the hotel and two full day passes to Hershey Park. We spend the first day there going through Chocolate World at the park which is a free ride that takes you through the process of making chocolate. We each receive our free chocolate bar at the end of the tour and spend a few minutes wandering around the Hershey store before heading into the park and spending our time at their water park. The second day we again do chocolate world (since it is FREE) and then head into the main park to ride the rides including quite a few roller coasters. We spend one more night at the Hershey Lodge.

We sleep in a little bit and then slowly make our way up 30 miles (40 minutes) to Lancaster, Pa. We shop at the outlets and then have dinner at Miller's, a great Pennsylvania Dutch buffet. We check into The Fulton Steamboat Inn (www.fultonsteamboatinn.com) which only cost us $100 total and make use of their indoor pool.

Our last day we again take our time getting around and then travel 85 miles (about 2 hrs) to Knoebels Park in Elysburg, Pa (www.knoebels.com). Knoebels is a great park set back in the woods and boasts no admission fee. You either pay as you go ($10 for a book of tickets) or you can get an all day handstamp for $38 which includes the wooden roller coasters. We also make sure to grab some pizza, the best out of any other amusement park.

We don't stay overnight anywhere since we are only about 20 miles (1/2 hr) from home. We head on home and recuperate until we have to go back to work. During this road trip we spent about $50 each on gas and being careful with our food dollars we had plenty of money to shop and even at times return home with some cash left over. So pack your bags and enjoy your trip!!