Road trip- any ideas?

[Freyja]

I´m looking for ideas for a fun 3-4 week road trip in the US next year. 2 adults and 4 kids (Me, DH, DS 12, DD 10, DD 5 and DD 3).

Any ideas? We don´t mind driving a lot...

 

[LgTmDisFan]

We drive alot for business and we love it also, What kinds of things are you intrested in seeing? Where will you be starting from and where would you like to end up?

Some of the trips we love are going throw the national parks,(WDW, DL, theme parks and ocean and gulf views. We also enjoy the historic sites. What time of year makes a big difference, do you enjoy outdoor sports?

I would be happy to help.

 

[lindalinda]

Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black hills, south dakota. Yahoo Falls and Cumberland Falls in Kentucky.

Whats your starting point? There so much to see.

 

[Freyja]

Starting points would preferably be: NY, Boston, Minneapolis, Orlando or San Fransisco (these are the only destinations Icelandair flies to). We would like to go through at least one national park, one reservation maybe, coastal view would be a plus and of course theme parks are always fun

 

[buzzlady]

What time of year?

 

[Freyja]

What time of year?

Either Easter or June/July/August

 

[snowwite]

I´m looking for ideas for a fun 3-4 week road trip in the US next year. 2 adults and 4 kids (Me, DH, DS 12, DD 10, DD 5 and DD 3).

Any ideas? We don´t mind driving a lot...

We loved Pennsylvania. We drove to Hershey Park,Amish country (Bird in Hand,Intercourse,Blue Bell etc).
Maine can be a lot of fun. Fly into Portland and explore there a day before you drive up the coast. Stop at Kittery for shopping,the Maine Diner in Wells, explore Ogunquit, go to The Desert of maine and LL Bean in Freeport, explore rocky coasts and get lobster in Brunswick , drive to Bar Harbor then go to Acadia National Park. From there you can take a high speed catamaran called the CAT and explore Halifax,Nova Scotia in Canada amd see some whales on your way back. It took us 4 days to complete that trip.

 

[Freyja]

We loved Pennsylvania. We drove to Hershey Park,Amish country (Bird in Hand,Intercourse,Blue Bell etc).
Maine can be a lot of fun. Fly into Portland and explore there a day before you drive up the coast. Stop at Kittery for shopping,the Maine Diner in Wells, explore Ogunquit, go to The Desert of maine and LL Bean in Freeport, explore rocky coasts and get lobster in Brunswick , drive to Bar Harbor then go to Acadia National Park. From there you can take a high speed catamaran called the CAT and explore Halifax,Nova Scotia in Canada amd see some whales on your way back. It took us 4 days to complete that trip.

Sounds great althouh we would probably skipt the whale watching. Got enough of them around here

 

[snowwite]

Starting points would preferably be: NY, Boston, Minneapolis, Orlando or San Fransisco (these are the only destinations Icelandair flies to). We would like to go through at least one national park, one reservation maybe, coastal view would be a plus and of course theme parks are always fun

We live just north of Boston.
You could start in Boston -go on a Duck tour and walk some of the Freedom trail or dine in the NortH End at one of the small family owned Italian restauraunts and be sure to go to a Trattoria for cannolis and cappacino,go to Six Flags Amusement park about an hour from Boston,explore Sturbridge village, mount wachusett then to the North shore/cape ann and explore Salem MA where there is the country's oldest candy store Ye Olde pepper Shoppe located across from the House of seven Gables of Hawthore fame,the Freidnship,the East India trading company, the witcvh museum and the Pirate museum, take the train to Rockport where you can see salt water taffy made and visit the small shops and rocky coast and go to the beaches and have seafood in Gloucester. Explore the Harold Parker State park. Go to local fairs. If you go to Boston order Citrypass online ahead of time and go to museums for a lot less.http://www.mass-vacation.com/jsp/index.jsp

 

[snowwite]

Sounds great althouh we would probably skipt the whale watching. Got enough of them around here

Oh yeah. That was kinda dumb of me

 

[Freyja]

Oh yeah. That was kinda dumb of me

Not dumb at all. Not everybody knows how common they are around here. Even I wasn´t aware of how many there were until they started having organized whale watching tours only a few years back.

 

[snowwite]

We just went to the women's show in Boston and met the travel reps from Iceland Air who gave me a DVD and trip special info about Iceland. I thought it was all ICE! The lady was laughing as she explained that um no theat would be Greenland. The photos of the Northern lights and the water look pretty cool.

 

[Mr. Peabody]

Massachusetts is nice.

 

[Planogirl]

Driving from San Francisco to San Diego would be a blast. You'd have beaches, historic sights, redwood forests, wine country, Disneyland and so much more. Of course flying to San Francisco would take quite a bit longer.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Everyone seems to have assumed you will be traveling in the US. Did I miss that somewhere?

I am more interested in the historical sites in US compared to when I was younger. What is the location of your trip?

MIkeeee

 

[DawnCt1]

One of the best road trips we took was flying into San Francisco. We spent 2 nights there, visited Alcatraz which I loved, toured SFO, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, had breakfast in Saucilito, explored Muir Woods and the giant trees. By noon of that day made it to Napa Valley and thoroughly enjoyed the Mondavi Vineyard tour. After wrapping up the tour and grabbing a quick lunch we arrived in Lake Tahoe where we stayed for three nights. We loved the lake and the surrounding area, hiking, swimming, parasailing. After three nights we headed south towards the East Gate of Yosemite. En route we saw Mono Lake, stopped into Bodie the Ghost Town which was fascinating and enjoyed 3 two nights in the Yosemite area. When we left we drove through the Mariposa Grove of Tall Trees and took the tour. It was wonderful. We drove through Fresno and arrived in Cambria where we spent the night. After a night in Cambria across from Moonstone Beach and a wonderful dinner at Robins, we were off to San Simeon and the Hearst Castle for Tour #1. Loved it! We drove up through the Big Sur, spent a night in Monterey and toured the Sea Aquarium, saw the cars for the Concourse de Elegance and the street aution of the cars, visited Cannery Row. From there we went to Santa Cruz which was "Santa Carla" in the movie the Lost Boys and rode the roller coaster. By 10 pm we were back in SFO and boarding our flight home. After 9 days and 1500 miles we saw a lot of that part of California. I liked the S. California route we did a couple of years after that too.

 

[Freyja]

Everyone seems to have assumed you will be traveling in the US. Did I miss that somewhere?

I am more interested in the historical sites in US compared to when I was younger. What is the location of your trip?

MIkeeee

I did mention it in the OP

The location is preferably any of the destinations Icelandair flies to, aka: Boston, NY, Minneapolis, Orlando or maybe even San Fransisco. Our last trip was however to California so we might want to try something "new" this time

 

[Freyja]

Another idea could be a Florida road trip, that is if we would ever make it out of WDW

Any recommendations for such a trip? How much should I budget for meals for 2 adults and 4 kids (2,5,10 and 12)? What would be realistic to spend on accomodation?

Thanks again.

 

[crz4mm2]

We did the west tour 3 years ago and it was fabulous. I would do that. Start in Calif and go to the redwood national forest, yosemite, mt rushmore, crazy horse, grand canyon. There are SO many beautiful places to see and if you have 3-4 WEEKS. wow. what a trip you could have.
We did 4300 miles in 2 weeks!!
We left the first of June and were gone 2 weeks. Didnt' have any reservations (and I was extremely concerned about that. I am a big planner) but had no problem finding hotels along the way. We just drove til we got tired, stopped when we wanted to see something and had a wonderful time.

We're going back to South Dakota next year.

 

[shortbun]

I would recommend into one city and out of another. San Francisco to Minneapolis would work. Up the California Coast, Point Reyes and the Redwoods , the the Oregon coastal fishing villages into the wine region south of Portland, along the Columbia River (Hood River is really cool, lots of windsufers)and maybe into central Washington into Montana and perhaps down into Wyoming or down further into the Rockies of Colorado then continue northeast across the Badlands and Black Hills of the Dakotas into Minnesota and Minneapolis. You could finish at the Mall of America!!! The other really cool diversion would be north from Washington into Vancouver and east by train across and into the Canadian Rockies. These would be summer trips and I would alot 4 weeks to either scenario. Also, the National Parks of the U.S. and Canada require reservations. If you wanted to go south from San Francisco, you could come in late April, cruise the California coast right down to San Diego zoo and their five pandas, then east across into the Navajo/Dine area of Arizona, the sejuaro of Tuscon, the resorts of Phoenix and north to the zen of the Grand Canyon and Sedona. From there a drive to Las Vegas is easy. You can fly quickly and cheaply from Vegas back to San Francisco. Can I come along?