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Flew to Vegas, rented an RV and drove it to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone then to Zion.
Around my 17th birthday my brother and I drove for 3-4 weeks and saw:
* the skyline of Chicago
* the rolling hills and farms of Wisconsin
* The SPAM factory, hog farms, and corn fields of southern Minnesota
* The Missouri River crossing in South Dakota
* Wall Drug/Wall
* Thousands upon thousands of bikers riding to Sturgis
* The Badlands
* Black Hills/Mt Rushmore/Crazy Horse/Deadwood
* Yellowstone
* Glacier NP
* Flathead Lake/Valley/Flathead National Forest
* Teddy Roosevelt NP
* The northwoods of MN/WI/MI
I took a road trip with my husband up through the Great Plains states all the way to North Dakota, stopping at various parks and landmarks along the way. Then we turned West until we got to Glacier National Park in Montana (where we stayed for about a week over 4th of July, giving us the chance to see fireworks over the mountains) before swinging South to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.
We have a tradition of listening to audiobooks on long road trips. We started Wheel of Time on Going to the Sun Road in Glacier so I have a strong mental image associating Dragonmount with the soaring heights of Glacier.
For sheer excitement, the first time my parents were out of town when I was 16 I took the keys to the family car and drove several hours to a big city with a friend. For no reason. Without permission (actually in explicite violation of the rules against).
I’ve done some epic ones all over the country, some of which I can’t really describe the why or what made them great.
Salt Lake City –> Yellowstone –> Williamette Valley, Ore –> Seattle –> San Francisco / Oakland area –> Reno –> Salt Lake City
About half of the nights were tent camping, otherwise we stayed in hotels or with friends.
Nature, beer and wine, lots of baseball (saw Mariners and Giants and A’s), gambling, and lots of fun.
I’m usually one to consider flying to far away destinations (being in the southeast, everything is kind of far away).
Still, once drove up from Mobile AL all the way up to Toronto and back, with a few small stops mainly for photo ops. Not really any reason besides hanging out with a few online friends at a MLS soccer match and because I could (Also had some bulky objects that needed to be handed off to family members in the Chicago area)
In ‘95, my sister was 16 and I was 15. We took her Honda civic (no power steering, locks or windows lol) from Miami to NC, and followed along with the Alanis Morrisette jagged little tour. It was so fun.
Tied between two:
Salt Lake City to Spokane
Western Montana and the neck of Idaho are by far the most scenic places I have ever seen from an interstate.
NYC to Phoenix, but specifically between Blacksburg, VA and Nashville, TN in October. The blue ridge mountains with a backdrop of the late afternoon sunset mixed with the turning of leaves was incredibly picturesque.
I drove west from Kansas City, MO, through Kansas, out to Denver, then headed north through Wyoming to Jackson Hole. Then headed back through South Dakota and Nebraska. It was my first time really seeing the extent of the Great Plains, and my first glimpse of the Rockies not from an airplane. Not to mention the Black Hills and the Badlands. The difference in scenery that you can see just from your windsheild in this part of the country versus the east and midwest is like watching Lawrence of Arabia on IMAX compared to on a 16 inch TV screen.
Mine was a civil war battlefield road trip I took from Atlanta to Gettysburg. I stopped at 28 battlefields over 3 weeks. Drove through the blue ridge mountains and Shenandoah valley. It was sobering, entertaining and beautiful in equal measure.
From Los Angeles north to San Jose via the Pacific Coast Highway, with stops at Pismo Beach, the Nippomo Dunes, bombing around rural farm backroads in that valley, then back up the PCH stopping at Carmel, Monterrey and so on.
One summer my Dad and I drove down the east coast seeing a ball game in every park. It was pretty great.
My sons and I did Route 66 from Chicago to LA. It’s a pretty amazing trip, we did as much of the original road as possible. There are so many iconic/historic hotels and diners along the way. Cool museums, the caves in Meramec, the Grand Canyon, etc.
Right after I graduated high school me and some friends drove from Missouri all across the southwest, then back through Colorado. About 2 weeks of national parks and other points of interest. Some camping, a few hotels. Lots of great memories.
Plus this was back in the 1990s when gas was $1.25/gal and before the national parks were overrun with dipshits. So we were actually able to park and hike all the trails we wanted without issues, permits, shuttles, and crowds of selfie sticks, influencers, and people blasting pop music on a bluetooth speaker while hiking in nature.
Flew into Denver -> Colorado City (Garden of the Gods, Pike’s Peak) -> Buena Vista CO for some whitewater rafting on the Arkansas river -> Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park -> Million Dollar Highway -> Mesa Verde National Park -> Monument Valley -> Lake Powell -> Grand Canyon North Rim -> Zion National Park -> Bryce National Park -> Capitol Reef National Park -> Vail -> Back to Denver and flew back home.
It wasn’t marked by too many amazing stops but I still have to go with Chicago to Los Angeles, the southern route, December 1997. Really taught me a lot about America and its vastness. And it felt like a real accomplishment. We made it from Chicago to Amarillo, Texas, on the first day.
Not the longest, not the farthest, not that special anymore… but I will never, ever forget it.
On a motorcycle tour/trip from Zion to North Rim then through Lee’s Ferry to the South Rim.
The North Rim is heavily wooded/forested… and the ride near there is gorgeous. As you come out of the North Rim (67 I think) then hit the 89 and turn right… there’s some more woods and tight turns. Unexpectedly… as you come around a bend the trees/hills pull away like curtains and the Vermillion Cliffs are completely laid out in front of you. It was absolutely stunning. NGL… I about crashed. Pulled over immediately and just gawked at it for 5 or 10 minutes.
It’s one of the few things in my life that I’d give anything to experience again for the first time.
I just finished a 10 month, 32 state, 15k mile road trip around the country. Started in San Diego and went through the southwest, deep south, up the East Coast, stayed in Boston to make some cash and explored New England, hung out in the Midwest for a bit, then I chilled in the Rockies before hanging out in southern Utah, and now I’m back in San Diego
It was honestly the best time I’ve ever had. I learned a lot about myself and the country, and I’m now saving up so I can do it again and see more. I really wanted to see Tennessee, Missouri, Wisconsin, basically everywhere I didn’t go
Massachusetts was the standout (Boston is incredible), but all of New England was charming, and beautiful. I liked how I was never more than 10 min from a forest. Easily my favorite region outside SoCal
Chicago was great, mad respect for the train system. Omaha’s downtown was the most surprising, wasn’t expecting much from Nebraska but it was so nice!
There’s some great small cities out there. Santa Fe is so unique. Asheville was so artsy and crunchy. Burlington was amazing! Portland, ME was magical
Flew to Phoenix and it was 110° when we landed. Got a rental car and went through Sedona to overnight in Flagstaff. It was snowing and sleeting. From Flagstaff we headed north to the Grand Canyon and overnighted at one of the hotels there. We took 64 out of the canyon area and I think then over to 264 and down to Winslow and overnighted in Holbrook. Saw the Petrified Forest the next day. Traveled through the Apache Seagreaves National Forest and all the way down to Bisbee. We had another night stay somewhere in there and then stayed overnight in Tombstone.
Then through the Saguaro National Forest, Tucson where we overnighted. Then to Phoenix and we stayed overnight close to the airport.
We didn’t have any plans for where we would stay or any reservations at all. Best trip ever. Second best was when we flew into Boston and headed up the coast and through the mountains.
The one where I took the train instead. 🙂
Down the street to the local legal dispensary.
I have taken a lot of road trips, and they have all been spectacular, but I think the best one still might be my first – 15 years ago, when I drove a u-haul box truck from east coast to west coast for a cross-country move.
It was an obnoxious vehicle and I was on a schedule so there wasn’t a *ton* of time for leisure, but man oh man. It was a trip I will never forget. I had very little experience of amazing American landscapes before that. For all the great trips I’ve taken since then, it remains my favorite.
My personal favorite was a trip I did with a good friend right after we graduated high school.
We drove from Indy to west of Denver in the mountains in one day. We climbed a 14k peak the next day backpacking and got awful altitude sickness. We scrapped that. Recuperated for a day in Silverton.
Then we backpacked for four days, went down to New Mexico, went to Chaco Canyon and El Malpais. Visited friends near Gallup. Had a big potluck dinner with their Navajo acquaintances who I knew a little bit.
Then we did a flat out high speed burn back home via Texas and and Oklahoma then north.
We got back, washed the dust off and immediately turned around and moved my friend into his freshman dorm room so he could start orientation.
It’s the kind of thing I could do when I was young but would probably kill me these days.
It was mostly in the US, but my grandpa and I set off on a road trip when I was 12 and didn’t really have any destination in mind. We drove from the Detroit area to St. Louis, then to New Orleans, then down the Gulf Coast into Florida. After driving around Florida we made our way up the east coast, playing golf in Georgia, going to the Outer Banks Islands, through Virginia, into Washington D.C. then up through New York, Boston, before ending up in Maine. We then crossed the border into New Brunswick, then over to Nova Scotia and Prince Edwards Island before going to Montreal to see an Expos game. We then went to Toronto and Niagra Falls before coming back to Michigan.
We were gone over a month and drove like 5,000 miles.
Sadly it was the last trip we took before he had a stroke which brought on dementia. The next summer we were going to drive to California and I wish we could of.
During the X Files years I took my 12 year old son on a trip down the Extraterrestrial Highway. We started in Las Vegas at the marshmallow factory tour.
We stayed three nights at The Little Ale-Inn, which was a couple of double wide trailers with no cable but each room had a VCR and tapes of alien autopsies and other proof. One night we parked out in the dark and saw strange lights in the sky. Another night we drove out to the road that leads to Area 51. Sat in the dark silence for an hour or so. Then without hearing their approach three dark SUVs raced by us down the road towards the fence. You know, the one that says “Don’t Cross on Pain of Death”. My son watched the red taillights with the binoculars until they disappeared over a ridge. He turned to me and said, “I love you mom.”
From LA to San Francisco and then Yosemite
We’re in Michigan. Last summer, we drove from Michigan to Nebraska (to pick up a friend) then through the Tetons to eastern Idaho, backtracked a bit to do Yellowstone, then to Craters of the Moon then drove down through Utah and Colorado to Dinosaur National Monument and then back.
This year, we did Michigan to Niagara Falls, NY and then through Vermont and New Hampshire to Maine, and then came back though Montreal and Toronto.
One year we drove to Florida though Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, and later went all the way down into the Keys.
My favorite though was flying to Fairbanks, Alaska and renting a car and driving up the Dalton Highway.
Sacramento
Reno
Boise
Coeur d’Alene
Spokane
Seattle
Olympic National Park
Portland
Lincoln City
Eugene
Sacramento
My brother and I in the late 90’s. Took about 10 days. Visited family and friends. Explored and had lots of good food, beer, and wine.
Any of you ever do Phish tour?
La to the Grand Canyon
Summer 2013. I had just graduated college and my then girlfriend and I left our apartment in Austin and drove to Big Bend & Marfa. Drove up to Amarillo to hit Route 66 and spent about two weeks on it and off it hitting some great spots. White Sands for a day, Santa Fe for a few, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon for a few, up Hoover Dam, Vegas for two nights all the way back onto it and into San Diego.
Once we got to San Diego it was the second leg of our trip. San Diego Zoo, beaches, up to LA, Universal Studios and Hollywood Blvd, all the way out to Palm Sprints for a night and then back into the coast. Drove up the 101 from Ventura to Monterey where we stayed for awhile. Went into San Francisco and stayed I think 4 days. Into Napa for a few days too although at the time I wasn’t into wine. Took the 5 all the way up. Stopped in Ashland and hiked a bit of the Pacific Crest Trail. Went back to coast and traveled back down into Redwoods. Back into I-5 for a bit and went to Crater Lake for a day. Up to Portland where we crashed with a friend for almost a week and then to Seattle where we stayed almost another week too with another friend. Drove into Vancouver to say we made it into Canada and then back into Washington to stay and get ready for our big trip down.
Our goal down was to hit the major by then we were exhausted and our driving days were much longer (our biggest stretch in the first two legs was maybe 10 hours?). Our goal was to hit as many National Parks as possible. By then it was mid/late July (we left in late May) and we had to be back by September. We also didn’t anticipate the parks to be so packed and were a bit ill prepared for the long stretches of nothing and lack of accommodations. Scary drive to Glacier where we ran out of gas. Spent a about three days in our car right outside and would ride in for day parking because that’s all that was available. Tried to plan ahead for Yellowstone but didn’t realize it would take us two full days to get there. Showed up late and missed our reservation. Stayed in some nice couples RV that could have killed us but didn’t. All the way down into Utah where we both got fucking sick and stayed in bed for about 4 days. Drove through arches but didn’t stay because we were too sick for the heat. East into Colorado where we finally felt much better and spent about another week hoping around friends and families places. Durango, Pegosa Springs, Telluride, up into Denver and Rocky Mountains. Once in Denver we were with friends and pretty much exhausted and done. Made it all the way from Denver to Dallas in a day and slept, then drove home to Austin.
All in all was about 3.5 months of traveling. We saw so much but we also missed so much. Tons of places we wanted to see we couldn’t. We didn’t plan for shit and it was not a very practical road trip. We made lots of loops and would waste days going out of our way to visit places we had probably been closer to prior. We slept in our shitty car more nights than we wanted. Stayed at some of the shadiest motels and crashed with very distant acquaintances last minute. Maxed out my very low threshold credit card. Did my car in. Had to work three jobs to undo the financial damage and ended up breaking up with my girlfriend 5 months later but GD it was the most amazing summer of my life.
This wasn’t pre smartphone but neither of us had one. We had put tons of money into a GPS system for the car that worked half the time. We both burned about 50 CD’s of our favorite music that we listened to over and over again. I picked up 3 Mitch Hedberg stand up CD’s in Austin before the trip and we listened to him almost daily. It was magical.
And it would fucking kill me if I even attempted that now.
Did a really great middle of the country road trip that I didn’t expect much of and ended up being my favorite so far.
Arkansas-Amarillo, TX – Santa Fe, NM – Denver, CO – Rapid City, SD – Sioux Falls, SD – Kansas City – MO – Arkansas
Amarillo, Sioux Falls, and Kansas City were 1 night stops. Amarillo was pretty boring, but Palo Duro Canyon right outside it was pretty awesome. Sioux Falls was a surprisingly cool town with some good food and breweries. Kansas City it stormed like crazy the whole time we were there, so no comment.
Santa Fe is an incredible city with a lot of interesting things to do. Great area if you love outdoors, food, and/or art.
Denver was a little disappointing. It seemed like a decent city to live in, but we kind of ran out of things to do in the city after a couple days as tourists and ended up driving into the mountains on both of our remaining 2 days.
Rapid City isn’t the greatest place to hang out, but all the national parks around it are amazing. If Badlands National Park isn’t on your bucket list, it should be. Mount Rushmore was kind of underwhelming. Drive by it, take a picture, but don’t pay the money to go in IMO.
I think the whole trip was just a hair under 3 weeks.
The one I just took last month for my birthday..
Destinations included New York City, Boston, Provincetown, Stellwagen Bank, Portland, Salem, Niagara Falls and Mackinaw City.
I’m on one right now. This one is pretty scenic. Oklahoma City, OK to Wilmington, NC. It’s a long one though so pray for me.
Coastal highway in the PACNW
I don’t really have one, but soon I’m going on a road trip with my girlfriend for the first time from Chicago to visit my family and friends in New York City and I’m excited for it. We might make a few stops on the way but we have nothing planned specifically.
My great-aunt and I drove east out of New Orleans. When we got to the Atlantic, we turned left until we got to Maine. It was late September and a glorious trip! We came home by the Blue Ridge Parkway. One of the prettiest road trips ever!
Me and my friends went from Wayne Nebraska to Mankato MN. Not a long one but we went to watch our college football team, who was well ranked, play MSU Mankato, who was quite good and in the top ten.
Anyways it was fun because we somehow made it in a friends piece of junk Bronco. We also passed by Mountain Lake and I joked “there aren’t so mountains, so where’s the lake” and one of my friends said “it’s a mountain of shit and a lake of lies.” So we always joke that Mountain Lake MN is a lie. I also had my first Chipotle on that trip.
Farthest I’ve driven was to Oklahoma City (22 hours each way.) The farthest I’ve been was Sand Diego California.
Portland OR to Seward AK – that was a life changing trip.
I’ve also done the entire length of the 101 from Portland, OR to Los Angeles, CA which was awesome.
Historic Route 66 from Flagstaff to Los Angeles is very cool
Houston TX to San Francisco, CA but mostly for personal reasons.
Portland, OR to Houston, TX but via Utah, stopping at all of the parks along the way.
Atlanta, GA to Grand Rapids, MI. It doesn’t sound like much but it passes through gorgeous countryside and we toured 5 distilleries along the way.
Denver—> Black Hills, SD—> Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, Badlands, Deadwood, Sturgis, etc.—> Devils Tower—> Yellowstone—> Grand Tetons—> Idaho Falls—> Salt Lake City—> Arches, Moab—> Canyonlands—> Bridges—> Hovenweep Ruins—> Four Corners, Mesa Verde—> Durango—> Denver.
We were supposed to go to Gunnison Forest after Durango but there were fires and we were tired. All told it was about 3.5 weeks.
I’m gonna be honest.
As someone who has gone on a lot of road trips, the recipe for the “best” one is really simple.
You need to go with people you really fucking like. The sort of people who just the simple act of being around them is a pleasure. And then you just go and EXIST for awhile.
Start driving, take an exit, stop at dumb roadside attractions, bring camping gear and hit up some state/national parks, eat at questionable restaurants in small towns where you wonder how the fuck they exist.
The best road trips are about the adventures and the random wacky bullshit that happens, not the shit you actually plan. Those are just checkpoints to make sure you’re progressing.
Northern California highway 1 from Fort Bragg down to Bodega Bay. Also the Humboldt county redwoods.
Milwaukee to Chicago, to Des Moines, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Austin, New Orleans, Miami, Savannah, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis.