Hi! I do one big road trip every year and am already thinking of next summer. I was wondering what are your favorite road trip destinations? Do you have any recommendations?
Are you located in The US?
If so, in which region of The US are you located?
How far are you willing to travel from your current location for this road trip?
Ergo…If you live in…let’s say…the Pacific Northwest, do you want road trip recommendations in New England?
It depends where you are. Even though my daughter is on the East Coast, she and her husband took a trip last summer to Yellowstone via the northern route. They said that South Dakota and Yellowstone were the best parts of their trip. This year, they flew to Salt Lake City and drove north fo the eclipse. Then they spent a week touring the Utah national parks. They loved them.
If you’re looking for a really, really serious road trip that you’ll remember for the rest of your life, you can’t beat the Lincoln Highway. It goes from NYC to LA, and is the first transcontinental highway built. Every year car clubs, motorcycle clubs, seniors groups, and history buffs make the trip. I recommend looking it up. There’s a lot of information on the subject on the internet.
Vermont during leaf season Oct 10 or so, Adirondack State park a week earlier or in summer. Acadia National Park (Maine). Glacier National Park (Montana) Summer- The Highway to the Sun was closed on the 4th of July by a blizzard the year we went.
THe Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains are nice too.
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The OP may not like the same things I do but I do know I will never forget the time I lost and can’t get back from going to Epcot and Disney World. I would have rather spent the money on a root canal.
Edit: Any National Park is worthwhile.
Well on the way to the cabins I love hwy 33 out of Baraboo wi, to Lacross, then up 61 along the river to Red Wing MN, though the east side in WI isn’t bad, but the West side, hwy 61 is great. 101 in CA is great, especially if you stop at Fern Canyon in Redwoods park.
Disney World, DC, Presidential libraries, Black Hills-Mt. Rushmore, Badlands and Wall Drug, yeah Yellowstone. If you like baseball, one year we did a tour of all of the parks/games we could going east from Minnesota. New Orleans-once is enough, Padre Island, etc. Lots of stuff to see in the US but check on storm damage first now.
Big Sur is quite enjoyable . . . weather permitting
- Highway 1 between Santa Barbara & Carmel (breathtaking views, good for photography)
- Highway 50 between Delta Utah and Fallon Nevada (Old pony express route)
- I80 between Salt Lake City and Wendover Nevada (Bonneville Salt Flats)
- Between Durango and Silverton Colorado
- Through Death Valley, California, then to Las Vegas
- Through Zion’s Canyon National Park, Utah
- From Boston to New York City (seems an unlikely route for a favorite trip, but its really quite a nice drive, but bring lots of change for the toll road fees. )
As far as as destination cities where I like to stay a while, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.
The old Lincoln Highway is actually an amalgam of many different roads, and as a result it meanders all over the place. That makes it great for seeing the sights in many rural locations, but it doesn’t make for fast travel, by any means.
In my part of Central NJ, Route 27–which is one lane in each direction–is The Lincoln Highway, and that is the route that I take each week to Princeton. That route is extremely historic, beginning well before the advent of The Lincoln Highway.
Originally, it was an Indian path, then the colonists widened that Indian path and it became the stagecoach route from Elizabeth, NJ to Princeton, Trenton, and points south. During the American Revolution, it was the route followed by Washington and his army as they traveled from The Battle of Trenton to The Battle of Princeton, and subsequently into retreat in the hills of NJ. Later, Washington took the road again, to his final military headquarters in my town, where he wrote his Farewell to The Continental Army.
In the early 20th Century, it was paved, and in the '20s (?) it became part of The Lincoln Highway.
Today, there is–to the best of my knowledge–only one marker on the entire length of Rt. 27 denoting it as The Lincoln Highway, and if you asked most people where The Lincoln Highway is located, you would just get a blank stare in response.
If you drive the Pacific Coast Highway (Cali Highway 1), stop at stop at the Hurst estate near San Simeon and visit the Hurst Castle. It is a fabulous art exhibit. If LA is on the way north or south on the PCH, visit the Getty Museum in Westwood, another fabulous art exhibit.
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It is definitely a fabulous place to visit, but unless things have changed drastically since my visit there in the '80s, you have to make reservations at least a few weeks in advance. There are at–at a minimum–3 different tours of that massive estate, and most people only have the time for one of those tours in a day. If somebody just shows-up, it is unlikely that they will be accommodated.
It has been 25 years since I travelled there. Even then, we had to make reservations for one of the three tours.
Yup!
If somebody just “shows up”, he is likely to be very disappointed.
I’ve been to the Hearst Castle. Never had reservations and just showed up. Must have been about 2011 but the years kind of just flow together now. I remember it well because I was fighting a sinus infection and the dust or something in there set me off like a bull in a china shop until the pills took effect. Interesting place though, but if you are that close, take in the Reagan Library.
Since retiring I have traveled through the contiguous 48 states to enjoy seeing all the notable locations but taking the old routes instead of the Interstates was as enjoyable as seeing the wonders. I visited the Grand Canyon via Flagstaff but enjoyed the drive from the Canyon park eastward through Four Corners and Colorado more. And along the Gulf Coast the old highway still has one lane bridges with traffic signals and somewhere in Louisiana there was a manually operated swinging bridge to allow shrimpers to bring their boats up the bayou to home. And as has been mentioned the Pacific Coast Highway is spectacular. I have traveled it from Monterey to Santa Barbara in both early spring and mid summer and found it beautiful both times but it isn’t for the squeamish.
Kancamagus Highway (rte 112) in New Hampshire. Bring an old sportscar or motorcycle and enjoy.
When I was in the East Coast my favorite drive was the 15/Merritt hwy, esp during fall but also during snow season. For a few years that was part of my daily commute. You could also take route 8 to some nice areas north and east of CT/NY.
On the west coast, route 1 next to the ocean is great. I usually would drive to Santa Barbara, rent a bike and ride up and down the coast.
No doubt, US 89. This is the highway that was built to link the National Parks (at that time) together. I would suggest spending as much time in Southwest Utah/Northern Arizona as possible. For a special treat, when you leave Bryce Canyon NP, turn right on state highway 12 and drive down to Cannondale. From there, go south on the dirt road to the Grand Staircase-Escalante NP and visit the Willis Creek slot canyon. Its an easy walk and kid friendly. The back to 12 going east, the scenic highway to The Devils Garden and Calf Creek Falls.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/slot_canyons/willis_creek/canyon.html