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I am planning a road trip from Boston to San Diego for Summer of 2014. What would be the must sees or what is the best route?? I will be leaving end of June and there is no time constraints.
In summer... take the north route (I-80, I-90 etc) west; then south along the coast.
This. ^
I moved from Savannah to Seattle in May 2011 and this is the route I took...
From South Dakota onward was some of the best scenery I'd ever seen in my life... and Mt. Rushmore was pretty darn cool.
There's plenty of scenery in Washington and I made my first trip down to Oregon this summer to see the Oregon coast, Columbia River Gorge, and Mt. Hood.
The PNW is gorgeous... definitely plan your travel accordingly
Those pictures are outstanding and I can see why you recommend this route. Just a thought but if you plan a more southerly route you might get to see the Grandcanyon. It is awesome!!
I am planning a road trip from Boston to San Diego for Summer of 2014. What would be the must sees or what is the best route?? I will be leaving end of June and there is no time constraints.
I moved from Savannah to Seattle in May 2011 and this is the route I took...
From South Dakota onward was some of the best scenery I'd ever seen in my life... and Mt. Rushmore was pretty darn cool.
There's plenty of scenery in Washington and I made my first trip down to Oregon this summer to see the Oregon coast, Columbia River Gorge, and Mt. Hood.
The PNW is gorgeous... definitely plan your travel accordingly
Those type of pictures are precisely the reason I absolutely loooove road trips. You can't get those kind of views from an airplane, and if you're on a train you can't stop and smell the roses and fresh air at your leisure. Long live road trips !!
I will be leaving end of June and there is no time constraints.
No time constraints? <<envy>>
Take the freeways as needed, but also take state highways or even smaller roads whenever yo can. If I were you, I'd book it pretty much nonstop to I-25 in CO and then spend about a month for the rest of the trip from there to SD. Consider taking Hwy 50 from Pueblo to Montrose and then south from there through Ouray and Over the Million Dollar Highway. From Durango make your way west throughout he 4 corners area and see all you can of Southern Utah and Norther Arizona. The Grand Canyon is of course a must-see but there are plenty of other lesser known areas in that region worthy of at least as much time.
If you go through Chicago, that may be worth a stop. I highly recommend the architectural boat tour. And some of the local cuisine (Italian beef sandwich, Chicago-style hot dog, deep-dish pizza).
The rest of Illinois, Iowa/Missouri, Nebraska/Kansas (depending on your route) is likely to be very boring. There may be some individual things worth seeing, but I'm not aware of any. So I agree with otterprods to expect to spend most of your time in Colorado and west of there. The highway westward out of Denver is fabulous.
In Utah, you'd need to decide whether to use I-80 and see the Wasatch and Salt Lake (prettiest and ugliest places in the USA, respectively) or else go the southern way through the 'rock' parks (Arches, Bryce, Zion et al).
The highway southward from there towards Las Vegas is surprisingly scenic. It's the same river valley as Zion, and while not quite as spectacular is still quite pretty. Then there's Vegas itself, which is probably worth seeing at least once - preferably after dark because the glitz shows up better. Near Vegas is Red Rocks State Park, which I've never been to but looks like it might be worth a visit. South of Vegas is Hoover Dam, if that interests you.
South from Vegas will again be boring, pretty much whatever route you take. And it will be desert, and hot. Make sure your vehicle is super-road-worthy and carry loads of water. Consider driving it at night to avoid the heat. You could go due south through Lake Havasu City down to Yuma and then across to San Diego. That would probably be more interesting, but significantly slower. Or you could go southwest on I-15, which might or might not be faster because ...
... at Barstow you get to decide whether to stay on I-15 (faster but boring) or head south on highway 18 towards the Big Bear area (slower but far more scenic). If you head toward Big Bear, don't do that stretch at night because it'll be more demanding to drive in the mountains and you'd miss out on the scenery.
From Big Bear, you might be tempted to drive west on Highway 2 (aka Angel Crest Highway). It's a gorgeous drive. But it means you'd then have to drive through Los Angeles (lots of traffic 24/7, and don't even bother to do it during rush hours) to get to San Diego. Once you're south of LA and Orange County, though, you're driving along the coast, so that may be a good enough reward for tolerating LA traffic.
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