See the USA...

We're considering taking an extended three-part vacation next year. The first third would be a cross-country trip from California to Tampa, Florida where we would then catch a transatlantic cruise to Portugal. From Portugal, we'd bum around Europe (if you definition of bumming involves Bed and Breakfasts) until our budget ran out or we were too tired to continue.

Our motivations aren't all fear-of-flying based. We just want to take a super-vacation where we meet our three major travel goals: See America, take a cruise and visit Europe again.

The cruise and Europe are fairly easy to plan. However, we're a bit clueless about the best way to travel across America. A friend suggested Highway 90 versus 80. Or was that the other way around? We want to definitely hit Chicago, Boston, New York, Charlotte (my parents will be living there next year).

And recommendations on good routes? Good books about driving through America?

We're more interested in scenic rather than quirky routes.

Comments

[J. Fournier]

Having lived in the Northeast for all of my life, I can tell you that if you make it this far north, driving 95 south will be a good way to see a lot of New England, but not all of it. 95 will take you through Boston, Providence, along the coast of Connecticut and through New Haven (home of Yale university). It won't take you to Cape Cod, though, and that's something you'll probably want to see while you're here.

[iggy]

From Florida, you could swerve southward to Brazil. You can buy a 5-stop airpass (a sort of aviation version of the Eurail pass) and do any number of incredibly wild and strange things. And you can go in the off-season and live cheaply, since the seasons are reversed and the $R (real) is circling the drain. It's three continents rolled into one, is Brazil, a living remnant of Pangaea,and occasionally pandemonium. Go in Feb. and see Carnaval in Rio! But if you must see the leaning tower and samples the sins of Amersterdam, why then, you must. Europe doesn't have monkeys, though, or moths the size of seagulls ...

[megan]

books: Roadside America and Eat Your Way Across the USA!

[mark]

If you make it as far north as Montana, you must take the "Going to the Sun Highway" through Glacier National Park. One of the most spectacular mountain drives in the country. From there make your way south to Jackson Hole WY and see the Tetons.

[Paul]

Old Route 66 would be pretty cool, methinks. It'll hook you right up with Chicago - and then you can continue east to Boston from there. That would be mighty cool.

[Alison]

I don't have any suggestions, but I just want to tell you that you will be LIVING MY DREAM if you do this. I haven't found the time, yet. But I will.

[uberchick]

if you head down to charlotte from new york, stay away from i-95...the jersey parts are hellish to drive through and ugly. i-78, though less city-passing, has beautiful wooded views and less industrial wasteland.

[Carla]

I'm so glad someone is going to Portugal. Where in Portugal would you go? Lisbon? I don't know Lisbon that well but if you're going to spend some time in Portugal, you have to check out Porto. It's just beautiful (so is the rest of the country, but having lived there, I like it more) there and one cool thing to do would be to tour the Port wine factories in town.

[Karan]

When do you plan to travel and in what condition is your car and marriage? If in the summer, avoid the southern routes...too too too hot, bad for car, bad for marriage. If in the dead of winter, avoid the northern routes, way too cold and not so good for the car. Get this book and plan your trip by what you want to see between where you leave and where you launch. "Eccentric America: The Bradt Guide to All That's Weird and Wacky in the USA" Have fun!

[Laura]

Are you taking a Chevrolet?

[Lisa]

Mena:

I've not a clue as to directions/mapping, so I'm checking in to see what others offer. In this house, we keep talking about driving cross country to see the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, etc.

Your sounds like a wonderific plan but then again, I'd rather walk cross country than fly.

[david]

I-90 across the west is spectacular. I've driven cross country twice taking a couple different routes. My sense is that just about any route across the west is spectacular. The problem starts when you get to the midwest and realize that you are permanently mired in corn. Of course, the permance lifts at some point, proably when you drive into the Atlantic ocean. If I were doing it again, I'd probably take an extreme northerly (canada?) or southerly route (gulf of mexico?) across the east, then just about any route across the west. Choose carefully in the east, else you wind up needing some form of drug abuse to stay awake - not a good idea while driving. ;->

[Christine]

Having driven up and down all of the East coast, I would say one of the most spectacular scenic drives is Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah Valley, VA. Even as a cynical New York teenager I was blown away by its beauty while on a family vacation. Driving through the mountains will just take your breath away. It could certainly be on your route down to Charlotte from NYC. It's not too far off of I-81...

[Bill]

jamie jensen's "road trip USA" (moon travel handbooks) is a swell guide -- literate, opinionated, thorough. an all-around good read and useful resource, it got my wife and me from LA to denver and back on some off-the-grid routes we wouldn't have found otherwise. highly recommended.

[Andrea]

Whatever you do, stear clear of 75. It is boring and monotonous. And full up with billboards, certainly not the scenic option

[Kelly]

If you're planning to hit NYC, and traveling from the West, try and go through the western end of NY State, and you'll be able to visit Niagara Falls. It's pretty kitchy, and the city itself is an absolute mess, but if you've never seen the falls themselves before it can be really amazing. Plus, you can walk to the Canadian side and look from there, too.

[brian]

When I drove to California, I took Highway 50 across Nevada and Utah. It's pretty empty, but there are enough towns so as to not be dangerous. It's beautiful, and definitely less commercial than Highway 80 that runs north.

When I drove back from California I went through southern Utah and Northern Arizona. If we want to stop and visit the National Parks there, it's quite fabulous. But as for just driving through, I preferred Hwy 50.

Isn't On The Road the book to read while traveling cross country? Also checkout http://www.roadsideamerica.com/.

[Sara]

I was just on I-90 one week ago when I flew from DC to Iowa to visit my mom, then we drove up to South Dakota to visit my grandmothers. I-90 is certainly less crowded than I-80, but it's virtually the same landscape. Less towns in South Dakota and Minnesota along I-90 than in comarison to Iowa and Illinois along I-80. Two recommendations: on I-90, see the SPAM museum in Minnesota, the Corn Palace in Mitchellville, South Dakota and on I-80, see the eastern part of Iowa and visit the Amana colonies to eat, the I-80 truckstop (the largest in the world!), and road trip off a little to visit Dysart, home of the field of dreams.

[portia]

i'm going to use the road trip usa book (mentioned above) on my cross-continental voyage, because i'd like to avoid interstates as much as possible. i'm leaving in a few weeks and i'll probably write about it along the way. my hope is to get to see smaller towns and less touristy attractions...

[dana]

i-90, just s. of the wyoming/montana border, will allow you to see bighorn nat'l forest (so pretty it hurts; GREAT camping), takes you e. to see the black hills, into s. dakota to see the badlands (amazing just to see that kind of landscape *and* bison) and windcave national park (stop and take the 2 hour candle-lit tour of the cave, again, amazing). it was a whole-lotta america in one relativelty short strip of road, even if it is an interstate. you can jut off 90 and take the smaller state highways to find some neat little towns, people so american they seem foreign, and huckleberry ice cream. heading e. thru the rest of s. dakota is flat and uneventful (from the interstate perspective, that is), but the aforementioned stretch was worth it for me.

[Christine]

I just happened to be on the weather channel web site, and it turns out that they have a "scenic drive of the month" and you can select from the archives by state... complete descriptions and maps... could be helpful:
http://www.weather.com/activities/travel/driving/

[Jeff]

Mena, consider US Route 40 (http://www.route40.net/index.shtml). This goes from your neck of the woods and ends up in NJ. From there you can easily go north to NYC and Boston, then come down the East Coast.

I'd steer clear of the Interstates unless speed is a requirement. And be careful around NYC. Time of day can determine whether you feel you are actually moving or sitting in a parking lot. We just came back from visiting friends on Long Island and happened to hit the NYC to Hamptons exodus on a Friday afternoon. NOT a pretty picture.

[adamsj]

I think the Arkansas Ozarks are just about the most beautiful place in North America. Consider old U.S. 71 from Texarkana up to U.S. 62 in Rogers, then go east to Eureka Springs. Better, leave U.S. 71 and take Arkansas State 23 to Eureka Springs. Best, maybe, to turn left at Y City onto U.S. 270 over to Hot Springs, then head up Arkansas State 7 through the hills.

There's a wonderful book that Donald Harington wrote called "Let Us Build Us A City" that is his tour through eleven Arkansas "cities" that never grew into such. My in-laws live a mile from the Bump Chair Shop, my mother's family is from near Marble City (aka Dogpatch), and I've spent many a night hanging out in the cemetary at Sulphur City.

These are just rambles--if you decide to go through Arkansas, drop me a note and I'll send you more detailed recommendations (like my friend's restaurant in Eureka Springs).

[PJ]

On our way back from New Jersey to our home in Illinois, we went a bit south and made a 2-day stop at Gettysburg. (A really fine thing to see.) Leaving the town we took U.S. Route 30 for a few hours until we hit Pittsburgh, where we picked up the interstate again to head home. It wound through small towns, over hill and vale, it was springtime, the redbuds were blooming like crazy everywhere, the speed limit was about 35 mph and there were General Stores on Main Street. Our kids thought it was really cool that we could take a road that went from there all the way across the country and end up 2 blocks from our house. In Illinois Route 30 is also called Lincoln Highway and it was, I believe, the first paved coast-to- coast road in the country. In our area in southwest suburban Chicago, there are still remnants of the original paved road going through our town that are now part of the local biking/walking trails. I love this little bit of history right in my own backyard!