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I'll be taking a two-week vacation soon. Our plan is to get on US Route 1 about 5 miles from our house (in Massachusetts) and drive south, seeing what we see, until we either run out of road in Florida or run out of time and have to drive home.
Can anyone suggest cool places we should check out on the way, or anywhere I could find such?
Thanks!
I'm only half joking, but it might take you 2 weeks to strictly drive US-1 from Boston to Key West. It's going to be a lot of slow going right through the heart of traffic in every big metro area in the corridor.
We're not trying to get to any particular destination. My wife and I have found our favorite parts of recent vacations are the places we happen to find, not the planned destinations, so this time we're not making any firm plans. We're just going to go as far as we get, seeing what we see along the way. That's why we picked US-1 instead of I-95. I don't think we'll actually get much past Washington, DC.
National Geographic magazine used to do these kinds of trips, just following a particular highway wherever it led and enjoying the sights and sounds along the way. In fact, in December of 1984 they published the article "Journey Down Old U.S. 1". If you're one of those people who have an attic or basement full of this venerable old magazine, or maybe have a local library that keeps past issues on microfiche, it might be worth digging up that old article for background and to see how things have changed in the intervening 25 years. The section along the Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut coasts is still quite nice for the most part as you go through some of the old seaport towns such as Mystic and New London. You'll also drive right by Yale University before getting into the more congested western Connecticut shore and New York City. Through New Jersey, US-1 is pretty much shopping center after shopping center and oddly skirts the city of Philadelphia along its western edge, so you might want to consider some judicious detours or side trips to make the journey more interesting. Once south of Philly, you'll be in Amish country before dropping down into Maryland to hit Baltimore and Washington.
So, there will be a good bit of variety on the road to DC, and if you're not in a hurry and are just looking for whatever you happen to find, this could still be an interesting drive of discovery.
AZBuck
Buck, your ability to store away knowledge at times still amazes me. How you'd remember a specific article from National Geographic 25 years ago is really beyond me!
I only remembered that there had been such an article, and similar articles on US-40 and a few other highways. I then went on-line to National Geographic hoping that I could find it and link to it. Unfortunately, articles from that long ago have not been digitized.
AZBuck
I was watching a show about this a couple of years ago. After a week they weren't even close to Key West (they had started in Maine, however).
Some things along US-1:
Mystic Connecticut and the ships and the aquarium.
Hammonasset State Park in CT - right on Long Island Sound.
A short distance from Yale University in New Haven, CT
Bronx Zoo
There are many, many others. The great thing (for choices, if not for the actual drive) about that route is it goes through such a heavily populated area. I'd be interested in hearing about any great finds you make along the way.
If you're looking for a short detour off of Route 1, I'd suggest taking Rt 114 from Providence along the east side of the Narragansett Bay. No offense to Warwick and East Greenwich, but the drive through Barrington, Bristol, Portsmouth and Newport is very nice, with plenty of interesting things to see.
Plus, you'll avoid any TF Green traffic - driving slow at your own pace is a lot more enjoyable than at someone else's.