Where to USA; when and why
Discussion
We've travelled a fair amount in America, Florida, California, Colorado, Utah, Hawaii and the islands, New Hampshire and some close by areas and other places like Yellowstone, Vegas, etc.
I usually end up driving a couple of thousand miles or so each time visiting places of interest, state parks, museums; sites with historical interest, places to hike etc.
Road trips like route 66 aren't really my thing, I'm probably biased towards the more scenic areas of natural beauty..
I'm now wondering what else would pique my interest in furthering travels in the US.
With that in mind, I put it to PH for suggestions about my next jaunt.
And it has to be North America.
TIA.
I usually end up driving a couple of thousand miles or so each time visiting places of interest, state parks, museums; sites with historical interest, places to hike etc.
Road trips like route 66 aren't really my thing, I'm probably biased towards the more scenic areas of natural beauty..
I'm now wondering what else would pique my interest in furthering travels in the US.
With that in mind, I put it to PH for suggestions about my next jaunt.
And it has to be North America.
TIA.
Great lakes, Last year we started from Cincinnati, across to cuyahoga national park, then back to Indiana dunes for some inland beach time, up the west side of Michigan and across the mighty Mac for picture rocks national lake shore, (we did Tahquamenon Falls and soo licks on a previous trip), followed lake superior copper harbour, houghton, porcupine wilderness lake of the clouds, copper peak ski jump on a previous trip, across to Duluth and up the north shore to the Canadian boarder, then back down for some upper Mississippi river before blasting back to visit friends in Detroit, but could have gone via at Louis and Kentucky etc. loads of waterfalls, interesting Lakeshore and mix of old industrial and wilderness.
Another alternative is fly to Washington DC, do shenandoah national park, continue on the blue ridge parkway down to the smoky mountains np, or head to New River George np in West Virginia, Mammoth caves in Kentucky and bowling green national corvette museum, all sorts of other interesting places in-between including the jack Daniels distillery, underground waterfalls in Chattanooga the list goes on
Out west you could do Washington, Oregon northern California. From Seattle you've got whale watching and spectacular coastline. Inland north cascades np, collie dam, Spokane, hells canyon, dry falls, columbia river gorge, mt rainier, Mt St Helens (visitors centre closed at mo) Mt hood, down through bend to crater lake np. Mt Shasta in northern California, Bernard falls, Lassen NP, out to the coast for redwoods NP and back up the Oregon coast, and olympic peninsula to catch a ferry and arrive back in Seattle the right way
South central, you could start in phoenix, various cactus national parks and monuments along the mexican boarder to Tucson, biosphere 2, white sands np, Roswell, Carlsbad caverns np, big bend tx is getting out there in remoteness in the USA, not sure what it's like now as visited 20+years ago and trumps been building walls and fences since.
8.4L 154 said:
South central, you could start in phoenix, various cactus national parks and monuments along the mexican boarder to Tucson, biosphere 2, white sands np, Roswell, Carlsbad caverns np, big bend tx is getting out there in remoteness in the USA, not sure what it's like now as visited 20+years ago and trumps been building walls and fences since.
Thank you for all the replies, plenty of food for thought.8.4L 154 said:
...do shenandoah national park, continue on the blue ridge parkway down to the smoky mountains np...
I keep having thoughts of doing that trip (Skyline Drive at the northern end). Looks like there's plenty of hikes and interesting towns along the way. The area around the Smokey Mountains has all the famous driving roads like 'Tail of the Dragon' that Americans get excited by (that look like a normal British B-road).The parkway roads are all heavily speed limited (40mph?) so you have to be in the mood to just cruise leisurely.
One consideration for the Blue Ridge Parkway or Skyline drive is the leaf cover, On the one hand in summer its nice and green on the flip side a lot of green close to the road is what you will see for a lot of the drive between turnouts, when we did the BRP it was Easter and the trees were not quite in leaf so views across the valleys and beyond were easier to find, but equally things are a lot less lush and side attractions might not be open or fully operational at that time of year.
Another aspect to tree cover is fall foliage, but that is about the busiest time to be on Skyline drive or the BRP
The speed limit on skyline drive means its a min 2 days to do the park with bare minimum stops/activities but doesn't necessarily feel tedious if the national park is as far as you're going. If you head down the whole BRP there are some sections with less interest and given the length it can start to be a frustration, But there are nearby interstates most of the way where you can drop out to and skip ahead a bit.
Another aspect to tree cover is fall foliage, but that is about the busiest time to be on Skyline drive or the BRP
The speed limit on skyline drive means its a min 2 days to do the park with bare minimum stops/activities but doesn't necessarily feel tedious if the national park is as far as you're going. If you head down the whole BRP there are some sections with less interest and given the length it can start to be a frustration, But there are nearby interstates most of the way where you can drop out to and skip ahead a bit.
Grey_Area said:
We've travelled a fair amount in America, Florida, California, Colorado, Utah, Hawaii and the islands, New Hampshire and some close by areas and other places like Yellowstone, Vegas, etc.
I usually end up driving a couple of thousand miles or so each time visiting places of interest, state parks, museums; sites with historical interest, places to hike etc.
Road trips like route 66 aren't really my thing, I'm probably biased towards the more scenic areas of natural beauty..
I'm now wondering what else would pique my interest in furthering travels in the US.
With that in mind, I put it to PH for suggestions about my next jaunt.
And it has to be North America.
TIA.
Given you say North America rather than USA, have you tried Canada? Algonquin park is just beautiful.I usually end up driving a couple of thousand miles or so each time visiting places of interest, state parks, museums; sites with historical interest, places to hike etc.
Road trips like route 66 aren't really my thing, I'm probably biased towards the more scenic areas of natural beauty..
I'm now wondering what else would pique my interest in furthering travels in the US.
With that in mind, I put it to PH for suggestions about my next jaunt.
And it has to be North America.
TIA.
Guyr said:
An area you've not done is a big loop of Mid-East Coast:
Washington DC (loads of great Govt buildings and museums especially the Air Museum at the Airport)
Down the coast over a few days
Charlotte
Savannah
Asheville (including Biltmore House and Blue Ridge Parkway)
From DC out to Maryland/Delaware and down to the Chesapeake bay bridge/tunnel gets you out of the rat race quickly, from there your more or less straight onto the outer banks, Quick stop at Kitty hawk to see where flying began and then nags head before catching the ferries onto Ocracoke and then off the other end to continue on down to wilmington and further down the east coast Washington DC (loads of great Govt buildings and museums especially the Air Museum at the Airport)
Down the coast over a few days
Charlotte
Savannah
Asheville (including Biltmore House and Blue Ridge Parkway)
Alaska is incredible. Go there.
Katmai NP was a highlight for me. When I was there it was peak salmon run and I got to watch 20+ grizzly bears in the river catching salmon right in front of me. https://katmailand.com/. Backpacking in Wrangell St Elias NP was another highlight as was kayaking near glaciers in Kenai Fjords NP.
It can be extremely expensive though.
Alternatively you could go to Canada and places like Banff/Jasper. I did a PNW/Canada road trip one year that was Seattle > Mt Rainier NP > Glacier NP > Banff NP > Jasper NP > Olympic NP > Eugene > Crater Lake NP > San Fransisco
Katmai NP was a highlight for me. When I was there it was peak salmon run and I got to watch 20+ grizzly bears in the river catching salmon right in front of me. https://katmailand.com/. Backpacking in Wrangell St Elias NP was another highlight as was kayaking near glaciers in Kenai Fjords NP.
It can be extremely expensive though.
Alternatively you could go to Canada and places like Banff/Jasper. I did a PNW/Canada road trip one year that was Seattle > Mt Rainier NP > Glacier NP > Banff NP > Jasper NP > Olympic NP > Eugene > Crater Lake NP > San Fransisco
Edited by Matt.. on Wednesday 20th March 11:25
If it's North America rather than just USA, try a trip to Canada.
Fly to Vancouver and spend a few days there...it's lovely. We then picked up a car and spent a week or so driving through the Rockies to Calgary via Whistler, Kamloops, Banff etc. We timed the Calgary arrival with the Stampede...that's just awesome! Then we flew, but could've driven, to Montreal, a few days there then a train to Toronto with side visits to Niagara and Buffalo. We spend 3 weeks doing that - proper nice.
Fly to Vancouver and spend a few days there...it's lovely. We then picked up a car and spent a week or so driving through the Rockies to Calgary via Whistler, Kamloops, Banff etc. We timed the Calgary arrival with the Stampede...that's just awesome! Then we flew, but could've driven, to Montreal, a few days there then a train to Toronto with side visits to Niagara and Buffalo. We spend 3 weeks doing that - proper nice.
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