Trade Michigan for chocolate, coasters and crisp Pennsylvania fall days. Hershey makes a memorable long-weekend road trip for families ready to venture a little farther.
Hershey may be the destination, but in October, the drive from Michigan makes a compelling argument for taking your time getting there.
From Metro Detroit, the trip is long enough to require a full travel day. The reward is a route that changes as the miles pass: familiar Michigan gives way to northern Ohio, then the landscape begins to roll and rise as you cross Pennsylvania. By the time you reach the wooded ridges of the Laurel Highlands, fall color can turn an otherwise practical drive into one of the prettiest parts of the weekend.
The trick with kids is not to stop more often. It’s to stop better.
Choose one place to eat that couldn’t be anywhere else. Trade a highway rest area for a trail through the woods. Let the kids wander through a museum strange enough that they’ll still be talking about it when you reach Hershey.
Here are the stops worth considering.
Eat a Toledo Original at Tony Packo’s
If your family leaves Metro Detroit in the morning, Toledo arrives a little early for lunch. That’s not necessarily a problem.
The Original Tony Packo’s on Front Street has been part of Toledo since 1932, when Tony and Rose Packo opened a sandwich and ice cream shop with a $100 loan. Its signature Hungarian hot dog uses Hungarian kolbasz sausage, sliced in half and topped with chili sauce.
But the food is only half the reason to bring the kids.
Look at the walls.
They’re covered with signed hot dog buns, a tradition that began when Burt Reynolds signed one in 1972. Thousands followed. Packo’s also became nationally known through M*A*S*H, when Toledo native Jamie Farr’s character, Corporal Klinger, mentioned the restaurant on the show.
It’s lunch with a story attached, which is exactly what a road-trip meal should be.
Best for: Families who want to eat early and keep moving.
Trade the Turnpike for a Trail at Cuyahoga Valley
If everyone can make it a little farther, save your first substantial break for Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
This isn’t a five-minute bathroom stop. Give it 90 minutes and let everyone actually get tired from something other than sitting in a car.
The Tree Farm Trail is particularly well suited to a fall road trip. The 2.75-mile loop takes about 1½ hours and travels through gently rolling woodland, hardwood forest, evergreens and open fields near a former Christmas tree farm. The National Park Service specifically includes it among its recommended family hikes.
In autumn, that’s a far better reset than another fluorescent rest plaza.
It also gives kids a job: walk. Talk. Look for deer. Burn some energy. Then pile back into the car for Pennsylvania.
Best for: Families leaving Michigan early enough to give the drive an extra couple of hours.
Let Pittsburgh Get Weird
There comes a point in every long family drive when nobody wants another beautiful view.
That’s when you go to Bicycle Heaven.
Tucked into a former industrial building on Pittsburgh’s North Side, Bicycle Heaven calls itself the world’s largest bicycle museum and shop. Its collection includes close to 6,000 bicycles spread through seven rooms on two floors, alongside artwork, sports memorabilia, a model train display and bikes connected to movies. One of its stars is a bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.
It’s colorful, eccentric and refreshingly unlike anything you were expecting to do on the way to Hershey.
Admission is $15 for visitors ages 5 and older; children 4 and younger are free. Free parking is available, and no reservation is required. One accessibility consideration: the museum currently reports that its elevator is out of service, so stairs are required to reach the second floor.
Best for: School-age kids and teens who have had enough of the back seat.
Save a Hike for the Laurel Highlands
If Cuyahoga Valley doesn’t fit the outbound schedule, save your walking shoes for Pennsylvania.
Laurel Hill State Park, near Somerset, offers something particularly valuable on a long travel day: an easy walk that’s beautiful enough to justify leaving the highway.
The Copper Kettle Trail is a 1.25-mile out-and-back trail along the western shoreline of Laurel Hill Lake. It’s rated among the park’s easiest hikes and has a crushed-stone surface. Even better for road-tripping families, the trailhead area includes modern restrooms, drinking water and picnic tables.
In fall, the lake reflects the surrounding forested hillsides. Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources specifically includes Laurel Hill in its fall-foliage recommendations for the region.
This is where I’d stop if the family needs fresh air but nobody is interested in a strenuous hike.
Best for: A picnic, easy walk and final reset before Hershey.
Don’t Try to Do Everything
Tony Packo’s. Cuyahoga Valley. Bicycle Heaven. Laurel Hill.
Please don’t attempt all four on the same day.
They’re options, not a checklist.
For a family with younger children, I’d choose one significant stop and one memorable meal. Families with older kids and teens can reasonably work in two longer stops if they leave Michigan early.
And consider saving one for Sunday.
There is something psychologically wonderful about knowing the trip home includes a place you actually want to visit rather than eight hours of retracing your route.
The best road trips aren’t necessarily the ones with the fewest stops or the fastest arrival time. They’re the ones where the places between home and the destination begin to feel like part of the trip.
Hershey gives Michigan families a very good reason to head east.
Fall gives them a very good reason not to hurry
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