We’re planning on renting a car and traveling cross country for 2 months starting the day after labor day. Any suggestions as to where to go. Since some parks close in October, we’re planning on traveling a northern route first and then heading to the south in October.
Where are you starting from?
We started in NYC, took AmTrak to Buffalo and drove north – Ontario, Torronto, Montreal, then Maine, MA, DC, Williamsburg. It was 5 weeks and we had a great time.
We also had a road trip starting in Seattle, Mt Ranier, Crater Lake, and went south all the way to Sequoia. Another trip, we went from Las Vegas to many of the national parks in SW, then stopped in LA.
Much depends on where you’re starting from, what you want to do, how long you want to stay at each place, etc.
S enjoyed the badlands so much going west last year that they went there on his return east this year. Suggest airbnb or vrbo for places to stay. We’ve had pretty good luck with both.
One place that’s really easy to visit is the Painted Desert/Petrifued Forest. It’s right on US 40 and not at all crowded.
If you have time, you could visit Chaco Canyon. It’s also off highway 40, but quite a ways off and the last 15-20 miles is not paved. You can camp there and people describe that as quite a spiritual experience.
https://www.nps.gov/pefo/learn/historyculture/pdi.htm
https://www.nps.gov/chcu/index.htm
Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons are magnificent but I don’t know how early the snow starts. I would love to see the Badlands and Devil’s Tower one day.
I personally loved the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD. It’s a very interesting place.
I did a similar trip back in the Stone Age. Northern route…saw the Badlands, Mt Rushmore, Wall Drug, Corn Palace. Camped in Yellowstone. Went to Grand Tetons. Then to Crater Lake. Drove then to the coast of Oregon…drove south on rt 1. Which I thought was terrifying! Lots to,see in CA. We went to redwoods, Sequoia, and and Yosemite…camped in all of the parks…but there are lodges too!
Went to San Francisco. Loved the botanical gardens there. Went to the Hearst Castle. Saw Alcatraz. Went south…and went to Disneyland. Ended up in Long Beach where we visited friends.
Drove back the southern route…through Death Valley. Went to that side of the Grand Canyon somehow (I do not remember the exact way we went). Loved driving through New Mexico. Stopped in Phoenix. Drove then to Texas, and Oklahoma.had a fabulous steak someplace in OK.
Then we headed back to Ohio.
If I were doing it now, I would add a stop in Napa.
I echo the previous poster. How can we give suggestions when we don’t know where you are starting from?
Hopefully, as you swing thru the southwest you won’t be too late for chile roasting season. In AZ, you may have to seek them out at farmers markets, in NM they will be in every grocery store parking lot!
http://albuquerque.about.com/od/fooddrink/a/Chile_Roasting.htm
There is a map out there online that shows how you can drive and see every state, not that you want to do that but it could give you some ideas.
There’s also sites that tell you about services on various highways. Here’s one:
starting in ct
St Louis Gateway Arch
Two words: Grand Staircase
Don’t shoot me but I am a seller on South Dakota.
Santa Fe and Taos NM
Telluride CO
Oregon Coast
Coastal Highway 1 in California
California and Washington State wine country
This is like a month out - do you have some sort of route planned? If you could tell us which states or regions of states you plan to visit we could help you out more. For instance, to me, Michigan is an amazing state. But will you be in that area? What are your interests? Can you walk a lot or do you have limitations? Anything you don’t like to do? Do you want nature or museums? Want to visit some college campuses (just for fun)??
Agree about coastal route 1 in CA. Nothing like it. But many really love it best coming down from San Francisco, through Big Sur (stop at Nepenthe, Hearst Castle, the mid-coast vineyards and more.) Imo, the views are slightly better coming south. And San Diego/Coronado is lovely,worth it. Also, the empty desert east of Palm Springs, at night, is a wide open sky full of stars. Doing part of a road trip at night, isolated area, with the different traffic patterns, et al, is quite something.
We’ve been to SF, LA and SD in California so we don’t plan on heading there. We’d like to see Yosemite and Death Valley. Right now our first stop is Cleveland for the Rock and roll museum, then to Chicago. We’d like to go to northern Michigan but it seems pretty far out of the way from going to Chicago. Of course we could skip Chicago and drive up to northern Michigan. We plan on the Pacific northwest, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park etc. One problem is going to Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Colorado and the Pacific Northwest. It isn’t clear how to drive that.
You could spend some serious time in Cleveland! In addition to the RR Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Museum of Art is fabulous. If you are into music and can see a concert at Severence Hall, well worth it. The orchestra is top notch…but the building is a gorgeous one.
Sports? See if the Browns are playing (nice stadium, and you can always get tickets to see the Browns!).
I would so love to do your trip! Just having that much time to travel would be so great. we’ve always had to rush it seems.
Although it can’t always be helped, I’d stay as much as you can on interstates for traveling. In some western states, there’s some really desolate areas. Getting to yellowstone is tough; i prefer going to it from the north off 1-90; or we’ve also come from 1-80 from the south; but going across WY from the east is rough. I think one of the prettiest driving routes to the northwest is along 1-90; from bozeman - spokane. hope to hear your final route as its fun to dream about these things.