San Diego, CA to Virginia Beach Road Trip--Need advice, tips...

[navydad]

Hi all! I'm doing a coast to coast move and planning on hitting the road first week of July with the wife and 10-yr old daughter. I have 14 days to complete this trip and as such would like to hit some nice spots i.e. national parks, historical sites and pretty much anything fun. As this is our first time to drive coast to coast, I really need some advice and tips from everybody here. By the way, I need to be on station in VA Beach NLT 15JUL. Lastly, any tips on where to spend the 4th of July? I think we'll either be in UT or Yellowstone by then. Should I include other states to visit like Colorado?

For now, this is my plan and the POIs to hit.

1. Las Vegas (of course =)
2. Zion national park
3. Arches Nat'l monument
4. Yellowstone
5. Mt. Rushmore
6. Chicago (at least a couple of days)
7. Fort Knoxx, KY to see a friend
8. PA for some civil war stuff
9. VA Beach, VA (new duty station)

That's it. Again, any tips, pointers, and additional places to see will be greatly appreciated as I want to make this once in a lifetime roadtrip to be very memorable for all of us. Thanks so much in advance!!

Best,
Rob

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome back to the RTA Forum!

I suspect it won't fit into your timeline, as it sounds like you won't be leaving CA until about July 1 or 2, but I'd be hard pressed to think of a cooler place to spend July 4th than Mount Rushmore - as they shoot fireworks above the monument. If memory serves, the fireworks are actually typically held on July 3rd, but more problematic is that they've had to cancel them the past couple years because of wildfire concerns. I haven't heard for sure if they're planned for this year yet.

If you think you'll be approaching Yellowstone around the 4th, I'd bet Jackson, Wyoming would have a nice celebration - set with the Tetons in the background.

I'd say the rest of your trip looks pretty good, although if you want to make Yellowstone a priority, I'd say that means Colorado is off your list for sure, and you might need to trim Arches off too. 14 days is a nice amount of time for a trip across country, but Yellowstone really needs at least 2-3 days all by itself, and when you add in a couple days in Chicago, and all the other great stops you've listed, your time is going to go by faster than you might think.

[navydad]

Thanks for all the info Michael! I was originally set to move to PA back in Feb/March but my orders got cancelled. At least I'm executing this trip in the summer now and not having to worry about the weather and park closures than if I were to leave late winter.

Based on what you said, I might leave a bit earlier than scheduled to give us more flexibility with our schedule. Can you think of any short stops that we can make in between these destinations--say between Rushmore-Chicago-KY-Pittsburgh? Again, thanks so much! - Rob

[DonnaR57]

Does your daughter enjoy the Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House" books? If so, there are three sights she might like to see, all of them just off of I-90. One is in DeSmet, SD, another is in Walnut Grove, MN, and the Big Woods is near Pepin, WI. (In CA, she may have read the Little House in the Big Woods book in 3rd grade. That is the one set near Pepin.)


Donna