How to Celebrate America's 250th Birthday

Honor America’s 250th birthday with memorable trips suggested by AAA Travel Advisors. “With these unique itineraries, our members can see the landmarks and learn the history that shaped the country that we are today,” says Gouri Pamadi, a AAA Travel Advisor in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Guided tours

• Visit Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, on the AAA Member Choice Vacations tour Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary. Just outside Boston, explore Lexington and Concord battlefields, where the first shots of the American Revolutionary War were fired. Stroll George Washington’s Mount Vernon mansion, south of DC. Dine at New York City’s Fraunces Tavern, where the founding fathers once gathered, and in Philadelphia, see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

• Hop on the eight-day AAA motorcoach tour Celebrate 250! Witness the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Walk the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of a turning point in the Civil War. Cruise to the Statue of Liberty near New York City, and see tall ships in Boston’s harbor. Julia Phillips, a AAA Travel Advisor in Sandusky, Ohio, highly recommends this trip. “How awe-inspiring to be standing at Boston Harbor knowing that this is where the tax protests began with the Boston Tea Party,” she says.

• Take one of Tauck’s 12-day In Freedom’s Footsteps tours from New York to Washington, DC, which feature films by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan. Enjoy a welcome dinner at the One World Observatory with panoramic views over New York City, a behind-the-scenes tour at the National Archives in Washington, DC, and a private tour of Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution.

Cruises

• Sail with American Cruise Lines on a 12-day American Revolution Cruise itinerary between Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that includes Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia. The specialty cruise also stops at the port city of Annapolis, Maryland, where the ratification of the Treaty of Paris finally ended the eight-year conflict.

• Take a 32-day Revolutionary War Cruise Tour with American Cruise Lines, which includes a nine-day Hudson River fall foliage cruise; a seven-day Northeast harbors cruise from Boston to Port Jefferson, New York; a Revolutionary War sites land package and a cruise from Washington, DC, to Philadelphia. Sail on small ships with onboard Revolutionary War experts, experience guided museum visits and enjoy lectures by historians.

Independent travel

• Road-trip through the Adirondack’s Revolutionary War highlights, recommends Roxanne Laks, a AAA Travel Advisor in Lexington, Kentucky. “Visit three stops in a beautiful area of New York for unexpected early American history,” she says. “Drive a total of three hours between Saratoga Springs, Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Stanwix in Rome, New York, for museums and reenactments.” Fort Ticonderoga was the first offensive victory for the Colonial forces in 1775. Fort Stanwix refused to concede in 1777, contributing to a British surrender in Saratoga later that year.

• Watch as fireworks illuminate Mount Rushmore’s 60-foot-tall sculptures on July 3. The patriotic pizzazz will cap the “biggest birthday party ever,” promises South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden.

• Dive into maritime history with Sail250, an international gathering of tall ships and military vessels in honor of our nation’s founding. Navigate to ports in New Orleans (May 28–June 1), Norfolk, Virginia (June 19–24), Baltimore (June 25–July 1), New York (July 4–8) or Boston (July 11–16) for ship parades and free visits aboard.