USA Road Trip - Reccomendations

Colonial Williamsburg is nice in a kind of bizarre tacky English tourist village. Strange place if you have even seen older towns and villages in England, it kind of looks the same but there are Americans everywhere, oh and it was 110*F when I visited.
I think it is much cooler if your are an American, if you are British it kind of looks like a standard old English village with a few people in costumes.
 
For 1 month I would recommend exploring just the east coast and mid-western states.

You can always do the west coast and the south as another adventure.

You need more than a day to appreciate the Grand Canyon for example!
 
Aye, hence the ">" that means a maybe - the general route will be; obviously once we are out there we will go with our moods and see what happens - i just want to be on the big open road, enjoy the scenry, the food and the banter and forget i am going to be jobless! lol

New York > Washington > Charlsetown > Nashville > Memphis/Oaklahoma / Flagstaff (memory lane visit for housemate > Vegas > LA > San Fran

Though LA may now be substituded with San Diego!
 
We did a driving holiday over there for our honeymoon, only takes a few minutes to get use to it especially if you get yourself a nice big auto :P

When you're at San Fran, I'd recommend trying to fit in a night at Mount Hood in Timberline Lodge, it's incredible and you'll recognise the exterior from "The Shining". It's one of the most beautiful drives and at the top you get a stunning view, I can't recommend it enough. It's expensive and we only stayed one night but I would have stayed for a week if I hadn't already booked places elsewhere!
 
Peño said:
For 1 month I would recommend exploring just the east coast and mid-western states.

You can always do the west coast and the south as another adventure.

You need more than a day to appreciate the Grand Canyon for example!
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Canyon is amazing, been before - It's one of the few places I have been where words/pictures simply can't help someone comprehend how vast it is!!

So a lot of critique on the route which is good... so any other suggestion of what is a must?

JD Distillery
San Diego

have both made the list so fa; Savannah could be a shout too.
 
Halfmad said:
We did a driving holiday over there for our honeymoon, only takes a few minutes to get use to it especially if you get yourself a nice big auto :P

When you're at San Fran, I'd recommend trying to fit in a night at Mount Hood in Timberline Lodge, it's incredible and you'll recognise the exterior from "The Shining". It's one of the most beautiful drives and at the top you get a stunning view, I can't recommend it enough. It's expensive and we only stayed one night but I would have stayed for a week if I hadn't already booked places elsewhere!
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Sounds good!!

I am seriously hoping I can get tickets for a night time Alcatraz tour!! :D
 
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Halfmad said:
We did a driving holiday over there for our honeymoon, only takes a few minutes to get use to it especially if you get yourself a nice big auto :P

When you're at San Fran, I'd recommend trying to fit in a night at Mount Hood in Timberline Lodge, it's incredible and you'll recognise the exterior from "The Shining". It's one of the most beautiful drives and at the top you get a stunning view, I can't recommend it enough. It's expensive and we only stayed one night but I would have stayed for a week if I hadn't already booked places elsewhere!
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You are confused between Portland and SF, Mount hood is near Portland (2 hours drive from me :D).
 
you could visit this guy

tuuvo.jpg
 
I'd definitely keep Philadelphia in there - having done the east coast a couple of years ago, both myself and my wife loved it! Exceptionally friendly people there and would go back in a heartbeat!

I don't think your itinerary gets you close but I can thoroughly recommend north of Boston and up towards Vermont - Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory is great! :D

Other than that I would definitely say go through Death Valley between San Fran and Vegas - the hottest place I've ever been to! There are signs to turn off your air-con as you are climbing the mountains and believe me you should!
If we hadn't then the engine would have most definitely over-heated - even without the air-con on, it got just about into the red on the temp gauge!

I wouldn't miss LA as a whole as it's worth it just as a freak-show! :p

God I'm jealous - just had a little boy so won't be going back to the US for a few year's I wouldn't have thought!
 
Sounds good, we're spending 3 weeks out there from mid April for our Honeymoon.

Las Vegas > San Diego > LA > San Fran > NY. Can't wait :)
 
McDaniel said:
So a couple of things:

I spent 4 days in New York 2 years ago so I have done most things there; as have the people with me - so I know it's not long - the reason for so many places is because it's a lot to do with the open road; these are guides so we could derail from them.

Flagstaff is because one of the guys did volunteer work there with ACE for 10weeks a few years back and wants to show us the area and re-live some memories.

I've been to Vegas twice in the last 5 years both for 2 weeks at a time so may shorten that journey also as want to spend a bit more time in San Fran.

Will def check out the Jack Daniel's distillery though - one of the blokes with me is a massive JD fan; so that will be cool.

I may review the LA Situation; a lot of people say the same, but I still want my own experience, I do like the sound of San Diego though (esp as I can have an excuse to quote Anchorman!).
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The only thing I see, is that unfortunately you're not going to have a lot of time to spend wherever you are. You're going to see a lot of great things on the road, however I would definitely consider sacrificing a couple of places, to have an extra day or two elsewhere. You'll be surprised how easily you won't want to leave a lot of places. Not only that, but you're going to come across SO many amazing places on the way, you'll be gutted you can't stop at them all because of your tight deadlines.

Let me give you an example, seeing as you mentioned Flagstaff.

Me and a buddy decided one weekend to drive from LA to Phoenix, just for something different, came across a bunch of really cool little towns on the way, but unfortunately passed through as we were on a tight deadline. We got to Phoenix and looked around, realized that there really wasn't much there after catching a baseball game. As neither of us had been to the Grand Canyon, one quick look on the iPhone showed it was only another 5 hour drive away, so we decided to drive there too. On the way, we drove through flagstaff as it was the way the map took us, and we saw a bar so thought we would stop to freshen up. Both of us ended up falling in love with the place and people instantly, we decided to spend the next few days there, staying above the bar. After talking with a few locals over a couple of nights, they told us about this cool little spot near a place just south called Sedona. So we drove to Sedona. Which was a great little spot. Driving back to Flagstaff to finally head to the Gran Canyon, we heard of another little spot called Slide Rock.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=slid...rt=19&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:19&tx=59&ty=87

Literally a water slide carved in between the rocks by the water, where everyone just goes and has a great time, as its usually unbearably hot. A load of fun!

So anyway, moral of the story. What was supposed to be a weekend away, turned into a week and a half vacation, where we saw way much more than we ever thought we would, and found out about a lot of cool spots we would never have heard about, if we didn't stop in Flagstaff and love the place so much.

If you don't allow yourself the chance to stop, take it in and be spontaneous, you risk missing so much more than just another stop from your itinerary.
 
I would also add, seeing as I moved to LA, I definitely don't consider it a dump. I think its one of the best cities in the world to live.

If you try and fly through LA in a day or two, you miss everything it has to offer, as most people end up going to Hollywood Blvd or trying to see the sign.

If you spend a real amount of time here, thou find out just how great the city is. Certain areas definitely don't live up to the hollywood dream, but thats a good thing. It keeps the tourists in one place, and everyone else who knows what to avoid, in another. There are 1000s of gems in the city depending on what you're looking for, that you won't find anywhere else. If you decide to go to LA, give me a buzz and what it is you'd like to do here, and ill point you in the right direction!
 
Detroit_Waves said:
The only thing I see, is that unfortunately you're not going to have a lot of time to spend wherever you are. You're going to see a lot of great things on the road, however I would definitely consider sacrificing a couple of places, to have an extra day or two elsewhere. You'll be surprised how easily you won't want to leave a lot of places. Not only that, but you're going to come across SO many amazing places on the way, you'll be gutted you can't stop at them all because of your tight deadlines.

Let me give you an example, seeing as you mentioned Flagstaff.

Me and a buddy decided one weekend to drive from LA to Phoenix, just for something different, came across a bunch of really cool little towns on the way, but unfortunately passed through as we were on a tight deadline. We got to Phoenix and looked around, realized that there really wasn't much there after catching a baseball game. As neither of us had been to the Grand Canyon, one quick look on the iPhone showed it was only another 5 hour drive away, so we decided to drive there too. On the way, we drove through flagstaff as it was the way the map took us, and we saw a bar so thought we would stop to freshen up. Both of us ended up falling in love with the place and people instantly, we decided to spend the next few days there, staying above the bar. After talking with a few locals over a couple of nights, they told us about this cool little spot near a place just south called Sedona. So we drove to Sedona. Which was a great little spot. Driving back to Flagstaff to finally head to the Gran Canyon, we heard of another little spot called Slide Rock.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=slid...rt=19&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:19&tx=59&ty=87

Literally a water slide carved in between the rocks by the water, where everyone just goes and has a great time, as its usually unbearably hot. A load of fun!

So anyway, moral of the story. What was supposed to be a weekend away, turned into a week and a half vacation, where we saw way much more than we ever thought we would, and found out about a lot of cool spots we would never have heard about, if we didn't stop in Flagstaff and love the place so much.

If you don't allow yourself the chance to stop, take it in and be spontaneous, you risk missing so much more than just another stop from your itinerary.
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I fully agree - but we need "some" kind of plan to outline; the above are just our initial thoughts, who knows what will happen - as long as I am in San Fran by 4th May for my flight home - it's exactly posts like this that I want so I know what to look out for!

Slide Rock looks amazing, and something we can look to do.

Point of thread = these gems! :)
 
Loads to cover there so I will just make a few notes really.

Only one day to do NYC? Not enough. Bin Philly off and spend more time in NYC. You can do the NYC to Washington drive in about 5 hours.

Washington DC - I've done the Smithsonian Zoological park. It's nice, its free and it takes about 2 hours.

Barstow - lol. It will take you 20 minutes. Pop to one of the Outlet Malls, its like a ghost town. There is literally nothing in Barstow, which is quite cool from an 'errie' perspective.

As others have said, LA sucks. Tick the Hollywood sign box and then go somewhere else.

You have San Simeon there - I seem to remember there being nothing there. Perhaps a single motel and a bar? We stayed in Apollo Bay which I remember as being the last actual town before the start of the proper Pacific Coast Highway. I'd stay no further up than here - giving you all of the next day to do the best bits of the PCH.
 
Cheers Fox,

As i said already - i've done new york before anyway - so not missing out

Think San Simeon was more for a little bit of grub on the beach and a mellow night with some locals (population is a couple hundred!)
 
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