road trip in a week

[garbo]

any ideas, I want to take a road trip just to clear my mind and im kinda stuck. im starting off in niagara falls and want to land up on the west coast. and then back but all in a week any suggestions.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm sorry to say the first step towards clearing your head is going to be to finding a piece of reality.

The simple fact is you're looking at a 4 day trip one way, minimum, to the west coast. There's no way you can safely make it there and back in a week.

There are lots of places you can go to clear your head, and a roadtrip is a great way to get out and get away from things, but unfortuantly, with just a week to work with you are going to have to limit your trip to places a little bit closer to home. If the west coast in a week is your biggest priority, then you really will need to start with an airplane...

[RedCorral]

Hi,

As Michael says, if you want to do a round trip you need more time. However, you coud rent/drive one way and fly the other. It is certainly possible, but not necessarily economical.

For me, the best way to clear one's mind is to go where there are few folks to clutter it with their noise and confusion. If you are leaving from Niagara headed west, make your way to the northern highways where there are fewer people. A sunrise drive through the Badlands of South Dakota will give you pause, and a visit to Devil's Tower will make you consider your place in the universe (taking a DVD player with a copy of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to watch in your car at the base of the tower would be extra cool). Bypass Yellowstone and turn northwest toward Glacier National Park where you can get those high vistas and avoid the crowds. Then on west across the vastness of eastern Washington to the Grand Coulee Dam and a hike on Mt. Ranier, flying out of Seatac without even a ride to the top of the space needle, unless you must.

Sounds like a healing, mind-clearing trip to me. And the only punishment you'll have to endure is the cost of dropping your rental car.

Peace,

Craig Sheumaker
co-author of the travel guide: America's Living History-The Early Years

[garbo]

thanks for the ideas, i was thinking oh going 8-9 days now, what do u think of cali? where would u go?

[RedCorral]

Hi,

It is interesting to me that people outside of California find ways to abreviate, such as Cali and Frisco, but I don't know anyone who has lived in the state for any length of time who does that. Not a big issue, just an observation.

Regarding your wish to include California in a longer trip, sure, but you don't really have any more time than you did. It is still an 8-9 day journey, round trip, with little time to stop and smell the salt air. That said, I'd make a bee-line to San Francisco and explore the area north and south visiting the redwoods in Big Basin, the coast highway, the wine country. There are lots of interesting, small towns to explore like Half Moon Bay (whenever I told anyone I lived in Half Moon Bay they always sighed and said it must be the most romantic place in the country - it is very nice, but ironically not right on the water), Guerneville, Inverness, Bodega Bay, etc. You really can't go wrong, but because of the slow driving along the coast you only have a day to enjoy the atmosphere before heading back home. And that route is pretty much restricted to I-80 both ways because of the time it takes to traverse the 5,300 miles round trip.

An alternative might be the UP of Michigan and the road around the Great Lakes. You still get water and small towns, and you save yourself days and days of driving.

Good luck with clearing your mind. And remember that the journey is as important as the destination.

Craig Sheumaker
co-author of the travel guide: America's Living History-The Early Years