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Sorry to be an "east coast snob", but I don't see the appeal. Sounds like an enormous amount of driving through not very inspiring and flat countryside. And not many interesting cities, though I tend to prefer denser more pedestrian oriented ones. But a friend (who's from Massachusetts) did a trip in roughly the same area and really enjoyed... so maybe there's more there than I realize. But besides that New England trip, I think the Pacific Northwest has the best combination... great coast, mountains and cities. And maybe venture down into California some ways.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah, my next trip to New England will be in winter, as I just gotta do the Sno-cat thing up Mt Washington...lol. I think it'd be nice to see the "real" Boston without the tourist factor - just like visiting New York City back in '01. And to catch a bona-fide Nor'easter in action - oh man, I'd be in heaven.
As for my planned trip to the places I've mentioned, you might want to google Eureka Springs - it's anything but flat, and it's very compact and walkable - I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. And as for flat land, I do crave wide, open spaces of the prairie - it's just something "different" for me to experience. And who can resist a gondola ride over the mighty Mississippi...lol.
As for the preference of taking in-country road trips as opposed to flying overseas - I just think there's something special about being able to load up the auto voiture and striking out for lands far away, carrying the comforts of home with you, and seeing the country along the way. Living in Atlanta, it's amazing how much of a reach I can achieve in a single day's driving - from tropical Florida to the prairies to the Midwest and even parts of the Northeast (although the Syracuse - Atlanta run was a bit of stretch...lol.) Not to mention all the awesome places I can drive in 3 or 4 hours, such as the Blue Ridge Parkway and my favorite restaurant.
That said, I'd *love* to visit the Pacific Northwest, but this presents the same problem as Europe - the whole having to fly / rent a car / flying back thing, adjusting to time zone changes and whatnot - a chore I'd like to avoid if possible. Not that I won't do it, but a good ole-fashioned road trip is tops in my book.
As for the preference of taking in-country road trips as opposed to flying overseas - I just think there's something special about being able to load up the auto voiture and striking out for lands far away, carrying the comforts of home with you, and seeing the country along the way. Living in Atlanta, it's amazing how much of a reach I can achieve in a single day's driving - from tropical Florida to the prairies to the Midwest and even parts of the Northeast (although the Syracuse - Atlanta run was a bit of stretch...lol.) Not to mention all the awesome places I can drive in 3 or 4 hours, such as the Blue Ridge Parkway and my favorite restaurant.
I'm more of a mountain person as you might have been able to tell. For me, there are lots of great destinations up to 5-6 hours away. Past that, there are some nice things but they're not really worth the extra driving time. I don't really enjoy very long drives, get frustrated sitting still and highways are dull.
That's the Shuswap River east of Vernon. The water pretty clean this time of year (low water time). The same cannot be said about June when the river rises to the point of flooding a few cow pastures. Notice the salmon jumping on the right. I took the picture from my canoe in the middle of the river.
I'm more of a mountain person as you might have been able to tell. For me, there are lots of great destinations up to 5-6 hours away. Past that, there are some nice things but they're not really worth the extra driving time. I don't really enjoy very long drives, get frustrated sitting still and highways are dull.
I love the look of the snowcapped mountains out west. It would be nice if we had some more Fall pics from the Rockies or Cascades.
The crowds were mostly ok, it was more just that it seemed most there appeared to be tourists. On the plus side, I didn't feel like we stood out as much stopping to look at a map, though maybe we seemed obviously not Spanish by dress and appearance anyway. Mid-afternoon one site was too crowded but it may have been a tour bus pulled in at the time — two Australian tourists we met didn't have any issues half an hour earlier. As for prices, if you mean hotel prices we stayed in Madrid which is a half hour, $28 round trip train journey from Toledo. A lot of the passengers were tourists, I heard some German next to us and the announcements were made in English and Spanish, unlike the other train we took which was Spanish only. Madrid hotel prices were reasonable for a big city, not cheap, but the same or slightly cheaper than an American big city.
Salem, MA is fine crowd-wise outside of October, might be better on a weekday, there were local events going on when we were there. It's just again lots of people there are tourists and the town center seemed tourist geared. I wouldn't recumbent mid-winter, the weather is unpleasant, though some have strange ideas on pleasant weather. A good coastal New England roadtrip could be start from Boston and then visit some old towns along the coast (did something like that last summer but it was mainly as breaks on the drive to Acadia): Salem; maybe Gloucester or Marblehead; Portsmouth, NH; Portland, ME; there are a bunch on the Maine coast (I think I stopped at Belfast); and then end at Acadia National Park. The White Mountains are only 1.5 hours from Portland, so you could make a detour there on the way back
Sorry to be an "east coast snob", but I don't see the appeal. Sounds like an enormous amount of driving through not very inspiring and flat countryside. And not many interesting cities, though I tend to prefer denser more pedestrian oriented ones. But a friend (who's from Massachusetts) did a trip in roughly the same area and really enjoyed... so maybe there's more there than I realize. But besides that New England trip, I think the Pacific Northwest has the best combination... great coast, mountains and cities. And maybe venture down into California some ways.
I always planned to do a trip where I would fly into Las Vegas, and then drive to Phoenix (stopping at Grand Canyon) then on to Tucson and then over to San Diego via Yuma and Gila Bend, up to Mojave, over to Death Valley and back into Las Vegas. Would love to do that in the winter, though the Grand Canyon area then is very cold and might be closed.
Anyone wanna take a wild guess what I will use these pavers for stacked up like that? Each year in Spring I lay them out as a walking path in the garden then every fall I stack them back up.
RAlex knows whats lying on the ground. lol I had enough looking at them. Sweet Bell peppers still that green? WTF die already! LOL
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Yeah, my next trip to New England will be in winter, as I just gotta do the Sno-cat thing up Mt Washington...lol. I think it'd be nice to see the "real" Boston without the tourist factor - just like visiting New York City back in '01. And to catch a bona-fide Nor'easter in action - oh man, I'd be in heaven. 
Can you say F.R.E.S.H.H!!! Wow that looks awesome and pure. You don't want to see what southern NY water looks like. LOL!!
A good coastal New England roadtrip could be start from Boston and then visit some old towns along the coast (did something like that last summer but it was mainly as breaks on the drive to Acadia): Salem; maybe Gloucester or Marblehead; Portsmouth, NH; Portland, ME; there are a bunch on the Maine coast (I think I stopped at Belfast); and then end at Acadia National Park. The White Mountains are only 1.5 hours from Portland, so you could make a detour there on the way back
