You mentioned beaches, and in that case i would say go south... but that is a LONG trip (driving from NY to Florida). How long are you planning to be gone? NC and SC have nice beaches (as does florida, obviously) and virginia has beaches, but it also has the blue ridge mountains and luray caverns if you wanted to see some nature, maybe do some hiking or something.
You could head south, stop in DC and see the city, head towards the western part of VA towards the blue ridge and luray, and see some nature; (or, alternately, go towards the eastern part of VA and stop by colonial williamsburg and virginia beach, there's also chincoteague where there's wild ponies or something). Then maybe make your way to eastern NC, see the beaches and head south along the coast... i'm not sure about Georgia, you'd have to look some stuff up... but then in Florida there are obviously georgous beaches, universal studios, disney world... etc.
hope this helps.
You could head south, stop in DC and see the city, head towards the western part of VA towards the blue ridge and luray, and see some nature; (or, alternately, go towards the eastern part of VA and stop by colonial williamsburg and virginia beach, there's also chincoteague where there's wild ponies or something). Then maybe make your way to eastern NC, see the beaches and head south along the coast... i'm not sure about Georgia, you'd have to look some stuff up... but then in Florida there are obviously georgous beaches, universal studios, disney world... etc.
hope this helps.