Wanderlust strikes again...

There are lots of sickness bugs going around, and I've caught the travel bug.

I had it last year too. I planned for weeks and weeks for an across the country Amtrak adventure.
You can buy a month long ticket on Amtrak and see the country.

After a while the $$ started adding up in my mind and I dropped it. For a while.

One of those "travel for cheap" emails came thru from Jet Blue and snagged me.

We could fly from Ca to NYC for $318.
The game is on! I'm thinking this September or early October. After the heat of summer and maybe after school starts. The joys of homeschooling! We can go whenever we want.
ANY ADVICE on the best 2-3 weeks to come out that way??

Next comes checking out books from the library: see photo :)
Asking friends' advice, mapquest, travel guides online, reading other blogs, reading Yahoo questions, posting a question, Fodor's Itinerary ideas.....

The plan right now is definitely Washington, D.C. and NYC. Then over in mid New York state to see my brother and his family, the Erie Canal and Niagara Falls.
I'm also looking into seeing Philadelphia and Boston.

Anyone with advice on getting around once we fly to the East coast. Rental car, train, bus or flying?
With gas prices .... I'm thinking about Amtrack again. I don't know how much airfare will be going up.
The month long pass on Amtrack is a great deal, but we would have to pay extra for sleeping cars, which I think we would want. At least we could easily fulfill the "enter Canada" rule because we would be going to the Niagra area of New York.