<p>My D is finishing a 1 yr. internship in Santa Maria, CA in mid August. When she started, we bought her a car there and now are wondering the best way to get her and the car back home to Ohio. We could fly home and have the car shipped, but I was wondering about the possibility of a long cross country road trip.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any recommendations about a route to take? Google offers 3 different routes: I-40, I-70, and I-80. D is a very inexperienced driver so I would probably be driving most of the time. </p>
<p>To those of you who know, is one route any easier than another? If we wanted to work in some sites to see, would one route be more “fun”? I would have 6 or 7 days total for the trip.</p>
<p>If you have 6 or 7 days, there are many options! What interests do you two have? What have you seen before?<br>
Sounds like a good trip to make memories for the two of you!</p>
<p>We flew our D to CA and got her set up, then flew home. The only things she or I have seen of the distance between here and there are what we observed from the airplane. With limited time and a whole country of possibilities, I feel a bit overwhelmed. </p>
<p>I guess I’m looking for the easiest drive home with opportunities to get in some sightseeing along the way. We are open to any ideas.</p>
<p>I say do the road trip. I’ve done similar ones a number of times including coast to coast car deliveries for/with my kid. If you’re willing to spend some extra time seeing a few sights then all the better.</p>
<p>You can take some fairly wildly different routes and they all end up within a few hours of each other so it’s best to pick one that has some sights you;d like to see along the way.</p>
<p>The I-15 to I-70 to I-80 route takes you through Las Vegas, which has some things to see if you haven’t been there and some restaurants worth eating in if you’re into the big time chef restaurants.</p>
<p>it then takes you into Utah where it’s very near the western side of Zion NP which is worth seeing. Even better, make a slight detour and head to the main (Eastern) entrance of Zion (along route 9), then head to Bryce Canyon NP along route 89 to 12, and then, if you have the time, keep heading east/north along route 12 through the Escalante area. This last part is considered one of the top scenic roads in America and I can vouch for that. You can stop at the Escalante Forest state park and see some petrified logs. If you’re still interested in national parks you could stop at Capitol Reef NP as you work your way up to the interstate. All of these national parks have some motels in the area although sometimes they can get full (but I’ve never had a problem finding a place to stay without reservations). Then, if you want to see yet another NP, you can stop and see Arches NP at Moab which isn’t far from I-70.</p>
<p>After Utah you head into Colorado and then will head into the mountains for a beautiful drive including through the Glenwood Springs area where it was a feat of engineering to build the freeway in the area. There’s also a large hotel/spa with hot springs there although I’ve not stayed at it. [Visit</a> Glenwood Springs, Colorado Vacations](<a href=“http://www.visitglenwood.com/]Visit”>http://www.visitglenwood.com/) . You might want to do some hiking/biking/rafting in that area. Along the way to Denver you’ll pass by a number of famous ski areas that often have various summer activities but are scenic all the time.</p>
<p>At around Denver you can decide whether you’d rather head across on I-80 or I-70 depending pn which route works best for you or has more you’re interested in seeing.</p>
<p>There’s also the I-40 route which also has places to see but will generally be hotter which usually isn’t that big of a deal with an air conditioned car.</p>
<p>I’ve driven cross country on all of these routes.</p>
<p>You can check the map (Google maps) for additional things to stop and see once on the Eastern side of the rockies.</p>
<p>Depending on what you like to see/do I think it’s worth the drive assuming you don’t mind doing some long drives. You can always break it up a bit by finding places to stop and look around and/or getting a snack every 2 or 3 hours or so. There’s some spectacular countryside from California through the rockies especially. There can be some good bonding time while doing the trip.</p>
<p>Rose: we drove a month ago from upstate NY to San Diego. Most of our route was the old route 66, the faster version.<br>
Note: We took the southern route because my husband drove out to NY with the dd and since she has a tiny yaris, they couldn’t make it up the mountains of colorado with all of the luggage.<br>
We plotted our route with the AAA trip tik. It’s online and you can plan out your hotels on there as well as read review of the hotels.</p>
<p>Gladgraddad and I think alike regarding much of the route. </p>
<p>However. Rather than Las Vegas, I’d head out on I 10, cutting over to I 40 through northern AZ to see the Grand Canyon. Head out of the canyon, angle up through the Navajo reservation and Kayenta. Pay the fee and go in to view Monument Valley. Stop in Moab for a night, and at least drive Arches National Park, and get out and hike a bit in the Windows section, if not more. Fantastic park, but most Arches require at least a bit of hiking. </p>
<p>Head across I 70 in Colorado. Rocky Mountain National Park can be seen if you take a route right along the front range. Boulder can be quite fun, and could be your third night’s stop before angling up to I 80 through Nebraska. You can stop in Omaha or Lincoln for the night. There are some very pretty state parks with accommodation in eastern Nebraska, along the Platte River, though they book fast. </p>
<p>The Amana colonies are just off I 80 in Iowa. From there, well, it depends on which part of Ohio you’re headed for. </p>
<p>I drove my S to San Diego a few years ago on much of this route. It was a great time, and a treat to be with him. Have fun!</p>
<p>I would not go to Las Vegas, but intead do Grand Canyon, Albuquerque, maybe head up to Hannibal . MO to see Mark Twain stuff. I’d do Kansas City over St. Louis because we have to eat BBQ there. :)</p>
<p>I’d start off the trip by stopping in Kay’s Country Kitchen in Orcutt. I had the best breakfast of my life there. A very short detour on a trip that should be filled with lots of detours.</p>
<p>I agree a lot with what GladGradDad and great lakes mom said. I’ve driven across the country a few times, (eastern PA to Los Angeles) and loved it every time. I will disagree with great lakes mom in saying the Yaris wouldn’t have been able to do the mountains of Colorado. If you’re doing in a warmer months it shouldn’t be a problem. You might be part of the slower traffic at that point, but my fully loaded five year old Focus hatchback had absolutely no issues getting around there. It also seems a shame to miss out on some of the most scenic miles of highway.</p>
<p>Here’s a dream route I’d take: [E</a> Main St to Unknown road - Google Maps](<a href=“http://■■■■■■/maps/xVbQF]E”>Google Maps) There’s still about a billion things you’d be missing, but it’s still an amazingly fun time. Here’s the list of parks/places I included (way too much for a 6-7 day trip, this would be at least two weeks).</p>
<p>Los Angeles!
Grand Canyon NP
Zion NP
Bryce Canyon NP
UT-12, one of the most scenic roads in the country. Truly breathtaking.
Capitol Reef NP
(If you can, I recommend staying in the Rodeway Inn just east of Capitol Reef. It’s in the middle of nowhere, so bring some food for dinner. After dark drive half a mile in either directly and you’ll be isolated from any artificial lighting. When I was there I was able to see the Milky Way before my eyes even adjusted to the dark. It was the first time my girlfriend had ever seen the stars outside of the 13 or so you can see inside of large cities.)
Arches NP
Canyonlands NP (Islands in the Sky section is actually really amazing, and the drive up there is beautiful, as well. Should be less busy than Arches that time of year since it’s a more overlooked park.)
Drive through I-70 into Colorado.
(I didn’t include Colorado National Monument because I haven’t been there, but I imagine it’s pretty cool.)
Drive north through Colorado and Wyoming in the upper planes grasslands.
Devil’s Tower National Monument
Mt. Rushmore
Badlands National Park
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (Former site of a nuke silo hidden in plain sight.)
Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD (A good town to stop for a quick lunch and grab a little “corny” Americana while you’re at it.)
Boring drive for the rest of the way! (I imagine some posters here from that part of the country could actually fill in with neat stuff to do through the last bit of the drive.)</p>
<p>Another optional route would be to start off by going north/east. Either drive Route 1 or hit up all of the Central CA parks (Sequoia, King’s Canyon, Yosemite). Then drive through Lake Tahoe (beautiful that part of year). Head east through mind-numbing Nevada. See the longest stretch of highway without an exit in Utah (plus the salt flats which are pretty amazing in their own right). Maybe stop in Salt Lake City. Southern Wyoming isn’t very exciting either, but you could cut north to do the places I outline in the other link. There’s also a few caverns that are supposed to be very neat in that part of the country (Jewel and Wind Caverns, I believe).</p>
<p>It was not me who said anything about the mountains of Colorado and vehicles. My S’s elderly Honda Civic did just fine on I 70 through Colorado. </p>
<p>Now back when, I did drive the mountains of Colorado with some artists heading for NYC from Monterey, and the '36 Cattle truck was loaded with gigantic canvases. Thirty MPH was top speed in the mountains on that trip. Forty on the flats, and we saw the details on that adventure! Modern cars, no issues.</p>
<p>Oh, my bad. It was aunt bea right above you. Good to know there’s someone else with a small car that agrees the mountains shouldn’t pose a problem, though. :)</p>
<p>No problem! We’ve all confused posts at times. My dad used to love Colorado Nat’l Monument. I think I remember camping with a great view, but that’s about all.</p>
<p>I love I-40, think it’s a great way to travel, appreciate the number of rest stops, how well-trafficked it is (so you aren’t the lone car out there), think that the scenery is amazing, and wish I had had more time to explore it when I drove on it.</p>
<p>But I would caution against that route in August. You’re going to be travelling through a 120-degree desert. Yes, you can stop a lot, and yes, you can carry a flat of Gatorade in the car (which is what I did), but you’re travelling through the hottest part of the country in the hottest month of the year. </p>
<p>No matter what you do, leave LA either early in the morning or late at night. There is a mountain-type thing outside of Death Valley, on the route to Las Vegas, that is a freaking nightmare in the heat. There are just lines of cars pulled over on the side of the road with their hoods popped up. Hit that thing by 10 am or around sundown. I don’t care how good of shape your D’s car is in - that thing fells some very reliable vehicles.</p>
<p>There are so many nice places to see and variations of what I and others posted that you’ll need to just decide based on the time available to you and your interests.</p>
<p>I mentioned Las Vegas because a lot of people are interested in seeing it if they haven’t been there, including people who don’t drink or gamble (neither of which I do). It can still be fun to see some of the casinos, ride on some of the rides, see some of the freebie attractions like the fountains, volcano, etc., eat at restaurants by famous chefs, see a show like Cirque or Blue man group or something. </p>
<p>But if LV is of no interest to see, a detour to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon might be of interest if one still wants to stop at some of the NPs in Utah. Utah’s a truly beautiful state with a number of spectacular NPs and is worth trying to see on a drive like this.</p>
<p>The other point to consider is the time of year. If this will be in summer then some of these areas will be pretty hot and may not be so appealing from a hiking perspective. Keep in mind that the elevation has a big impact on the daytime/night time temperatures so while Arches NP might be hot, Bryce canyon (which is at a high elevation) won’t be as hot. The desert areas of Arizona/New Mexico/Texas will obviously be quite hot in the summer making the I-70 route through Colorado a bit more appealing from that perspective.</p>
<p>There are so many permutations of the suggested routes - get close and friendly with google maps and pay attention to features and attractions, including natural ones, semi-along the way that you might want to stop at. </p>
<p>I’m glad to see another poster (racinreaver) has the same opinion of Utah route 12 through the Escalante area as I do. It won’t be the fastest route but it’ll sure be a nice one.</p>
<p>Our family has done these road trips a number of times. Even the worst … which IMHO is the stretch from Denver to Kansas City … is considerably more interesting than the view from seven miles up. (“Grandma, what’s that tiny speck off the left side of the plane?” “That’s the Grand Canyon dearie.”) Our favorite route is Route 50 from Reno joining I70 east of Colorado Springs. Strictly for the adventurous unfortunately. So my recommendation would be I70. There really are no “bad” routes.</p>
<p>GladGradDad, I need to send you the pictures I took the last time I drove along it. It was in the fall, and there hadn’t been a hard frost yet. All of the cottonwoods along the river had changed color to gold, so you’d have these winding rivers of gold and blue running through the valleys. I talked to an Escalante park ranger, and they said it only happens like that once a decade or so. Later that day we also stopped at Cedar Breaks where we froze our butts off because we only had shorts. There was already snow on the red rocks. Every time I think about it I just want to ditch everything I’m doing and drive back there. :)</p>
<p>^^ Sounds great! It makes me want to go there again as well. Hmmm.</p>
<p>I visited Bryce Canyon once around Christmas time and every one of the orange spires has a little cap of white snow on top of it. The contrasting view of the orange with the white was something else. </p>
<p>We then drove south from there through Kodachrome Basin and Grosvenor Arch which was pretty cool - especially since we were the only people there.</p>
<p>Fall is sort of an unsung time for the SW, between the aspens and cottonwoods. Around Sedona I’ve seen those rivers of gold cottonwoods in November following the creek beds. The weather is stable, unlike spring, and places are relatively untouristed.</p>
<p>I am loving this thread. H and I have talked about our “dream trip”…which would be flying from our home in CT out to LA, renting a car, and driving the Pacific Coast highway up to Rt 50 and following it all the way back to the east coast. (Rt 50 is negotiable…) Trying to stay off interstates as much as possible. We love driving. (Well, luckily he loves driving and I love riding).</p>
<p>Anyhow, I’m loving reading about all these routes.</p>
<p>^^ Better yet, fly to San Diego and start from there. </p>
<p>You have a great plan - the PCH is very scenic and if you have the time, staying off the freeways and driving the highways gets you much closer to the surroundings and allows you to mix/match to what suits you.</p>
<p>On the PCH - Santa Barabara, Morro Bay, San Simeon/Hearst Castle, Carmel/Monterey, some of the coastal rain forest type state parks between Santa Cruz and San Francisco are all nice places. North of SF is Muir Woods, Bodega Bay (remember the Hitchcock film ‘The Birds’?), Napa/Sonoma wine country, and it goes on but by now it’d be about time to head east and pickup route 50.</p>