Colorado to FL

So after 10 years of traveling between Colorado and Florida my husband and I finally have the luxury of taking our time! On the way there it will be just the two of us so we’d like a few suggestions on great places to eat. We will be traveling through Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee so any suggestions are appreciated.

Now on the way back to Colorado is where I’m having the most trouble. We will have our adult son and elementary age nephew traveling with us and we want to stop at fun, quirky, odd and beautiful places. I’m open to different routes back, not staying on main highways but would like a fairly continuous trek back to Colorado, reasonable detours would be within 25 miles off route. Lastly, I would like our stops to be free or under $10 if possible.

Thank y’all for taking the time to read and respond, looking forward to reading your suggestions!

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Colorado and Florida are both large and/or strung-out states, so if all we have to go on for endpoints of your RoadTrip are the states, we really can't be of much help. For example, Cortez to Pensecola and Julesburg to Jacksonville are both 'Colorado to Florida' but are two completely different routes separated by 500 or so miles along their entire lengths, so finding specific restaurants and attractions "within 25 miles" of your route will require quite a a bit more precise knowledge of your starting and ending points.

AZBuck

My apologies

We’re leaving from Colorado Springs, Colorado and arriving in Palm Coast, Florida.

CO-FL we’ll be traveling through Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee

FL-CO we’re thinking of going through Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Since you're going both ways, you can look at different routes in each direction and perhaps one will meet you needs for one set of people better than the other. The two basic different routes are within 25 miles of each other in total length but traverse different parts of the country. Starting with your rough outline of your route in your first post, let's cover the 'northern' route first. That would be US-24 to I-70 to St. Louis, then I-64/I-57/I-24 to Chattanooga, I-75 through Atlanta and into Florida, and finally I-10 over to I-95 and down the Atlantic Coast to Palm Coast.

The 'southern' route would have you leaving Colorado Springs on I-25 south to Raton NM, then using US-87 to cut over to I-40 west of Amarillo and taking that east through the city to US-287 southeast to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I-820 will get you through those cities to I-20 east then it's on to Shreveport and I-49 down to I-12 to Baton Rouge and finally I-10 to I-95 and south to Palm Coast.

As you can see, those are two totally different options. Each would require about four days to drive comfortably with time for a few short stops each day. If you could add a fifth day then you'd have time to really explore a bit more. Personally, I think the southern route would be more suited to the trip back with your son and nephew as it stays along the Gulf Coast for quite a while and could also include New Orleans and DFW as well as the Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo. Once you've decided on a route and checked with your nephew as to what he'd really like to see or do, even in a general sense, we can get down to more specific recommendations.

AZBuck

I don’t know if it’s feasible, but if you head toward the Florida gulf coast, consider Weekie Wachee State Park. You sit in an underwater theatre and watch a live mermaid show. You won’t see this anywhere else! There are other things to see and do there including a boat trip down the crystal clear river. The small buccaneer bay water park is included with admission.

https://weekiwachee.com

Be aware that the park has been closed for a year to undergo extensive renovations. They were supposed to have opened months ago but keep putting off the full opening of the park. Don’t bother going if the mermaid show and boat trip are not yet in operation. Phone them to be sure. Also check if parts of the water park will be closed certain days of the week.