Seattle-Virginia Roadtrip. things to see on the way and best route?

[cheska11]

Hi, my boyfriend and I are going to be moving to Northern Virginia and planning on driving from Seattle, WA. We have approximately 8-9 days for this roadtrip and we want to see as much as we possibly can during our drive. From Seattle we plan on taking I-90 and down headed towards the Nevada. We want to take a stroll in the vegas strip maybe for a few hours and do our first stretch here. We will most likely take a i-40 route from there and want to strop by the Grand Canyon and then Shenandoah Valley/Smokey Mountains. Other than what ive mentioned we arent too familiar with other must see places. This will be our very first road trip and would like to make the best out of it. If you know other places that we can maybe drive through (scenic routes) or nice areas to drive by then do let us know! We dont even mind stopping by must eat places or what not. We plan on doing this early February '13. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

You can do your trip fairly comfortably, but I'm not sure you realise how much driving will be involved. You say "Do your first stretch" in Vegas, of which I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but it is a full 2 day journey from Seattle to Vegas with a little time to walk around the Strip. That will leave you a further 5.5 days roughly of driving to get to Virginia. With a side trip to the Grand canyon and Smokies it won't leave a lot of time to stray from Interstate, but it should make for quite comfortable days. From the Grand canyon you could go via Monument Valley and Four corners and back down to Albuquerque and maybe Memphis and Nashville might hold an interest for you.

We don't do 'must see' places as that comes down to individual tastes, but you could get an idea of route attractions along your route by visiting the RTA Map centre in the 'Maps' section of the green tool bar above. Each attraction has been added by an RTA contributor from first hand experience of the place.

[cheska11]

Thanks for the prompt reply :) I will surely check those places out. and yes i didnt realize how far the drive was.. think googlemaps did say that its approximately 19 hrs for a continuous drive.

[Southwest Dave]

The trouble with computer generated mappng programs is that they do not take human factors into consideration such as the need to eat, rest, fill with gas and delays through construction and congestion. For planning purposes you should consider 550-600 miles a 10 hour day on the road allowing for such stops and slow downs. On a multi day trip such as yours we don't recommend trying to do much more than this when you have to get up the next day and do it all over again. It soon becomes tiresome and work like rather than an enjoyable road trip. Add onto tose times any major sight seeing you wish to do. For example a 'quick' detour to the Grand canyon can easily eat up half a day or 4 hours at the very least !

If you got to Vegas in 19 hours you would not be in a fit state to stroll along the Strip and then continue your journey, that's of course if you arrived safely in the first place. Driving takes it's toll on the human body and mind and safety is a big issue, that's why professional drivers are limited by law to the amount of hours they can drive.

Have a safe trip !

[cheska11]

We changed our routes and taking the north all the way. taking i-90 all the way. I am just a bit worried with the mountain area in between Montana-Wyoming. Should i look into a different route? Or since its a main road, should i not worry?

Also, planning on stopping at South dakota mounth rushmore. anything else worth seeing on that route?

[Midwest Michael]

I-90 actually stays at a lower elevation than most of the other cross country Interstate routes, including I-80 and I-40. That often can make it one of the better winter travel routes. Having said that, there is always the chance of a storm, and you should be prepared for the possibility that you'd have to wait a day or so for conditions to improve and for plow crews to do their thing.

Mt. Rushmore is just one of dozens of year round attractions in that part of the country. You'd also have Devil's Tower, Custer State Park, Jewel or Wind Cave, and the Badlands, just to name a few things around the Black Hills. RTA's Map Center can help you find dozen more stopping points along your entire route.