Roadtrip 36 nights in the US

Hello
My name is Cassandra and I am from Sweden. This summer me and my future husband are going on a honeymoon to the US. We arrive in Miami, and are going to drive all the way to San Fransisco. I know that it is a long trip, but we really wanna do it in a car and will not fly anywhere once we are in the US :)

My question is really if you guys can give us tips on our route. It's hard to know how to plan the route, and if the cities we have chosen are the "right" ones. Here's our route:

Miami 2 nights
Clearwater 2 nights
Orlando 5 nights
Destin, 1 night
New Orleans 4 nights
Galveston, 1-2 nights (Nasa)
San antonio, 3 nights
Dallas 2 nights
(I really need tips on where to stay between San Antonio and Amrillo, Dallas is just a suggestion)
Amarillo, 1 night
Albuquerque, 2 nights
Flagstaff, 1 night
Las Vegas, 3 nights
Mammoth Lakes 1-2 nights
Somewhere near Yosemite, 2-3 nights
San Fransisco 5 nights

I am very grateful for all the tips that you can give me regarding the route :) Sorry for a long post!

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

We all love road trips here and avoid flying when we have the opportunity to be on the road, so we understand !

Whether or not you have chosen the "right cities" or not is really down to you and what it is that attracts you to them. The thing that stands out to me is the amount of time you are spending in them with very little attention to the natural beauty. If you are city people and that's where you want to go, that's fine but you have the option to build routes to exactly where you want to go. One example is 2 nights in Albuquerque and 3 nights in Vegas and only 1 night in Flagstaff where nearby you have one of the worlds greatest wonders, the Grand canyon.

What I tend to do is look at a good map and look for the places I would love to visit and then create a route around those, rather than make a list of places along a route, if that makes sense. As I mentioned, it's your trip and it's all about what you want to do and if those are the right places for you then it'll work. If you have any specific questions about parts of your trip, please ask.

Thank you very much!

Well great, we also love to be on the road! This is my fourth time in the US and my husbands first, so we are really looking forward to it!

Yes of course, I understand that in the end it is up to us. All though there's so much to see in the US that it's hard to chose what to see :)

About Flagstaff. Is that a good place to start from if you wanna see the grand canyon? From what I understand you can drive from there to the south rim? Is the south rim a good place to see the Canyon?

Our thoughts with this roadtrip is to combine a little of both nature and cities. I've heard both good and bad things about Dallas, is there another nice city that you can recommend between San Antonio and Amarillo?

There's to much too see! haha :)

See my threadreply :)

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About Flagstaff. Is that a good place to start from if you wanna see the grand canyon? From what I understand you can drive from there to the south rim? Is the south rim a good place to see the Canyon?

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Yes it is a good place and the south rim is within the National park and the best spot to fit in with your trip. Tusayan is closer or you could check out the Cameron Trading post on US89 which is close to the east entrance of the south rim and in my opinion, the nicest way in. If you had more time for the natural wonders you could also visit Monument valley.

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Our thoughts with this roadtrip is to combine a little of both nature and cities. I've heard both good and bad things about Dallas, is there another nice city that you can recommend between San Antonio and Amarillo?

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I thought that might be the case but you have picked major cities for all your stops until you get into California. I can't help with your question as I am not a city person [they all start to look the same to me) and I would be going straight through to Amarillo and then visiting more of the wests beautiful natural wonders.

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Originally Posted by Southwest Dave

I thought that might be the case but you have picked major cities for all your stops until you get into California. I can't help with your question as I am not a city person [they all start to look the same to me) and I would be going straight through to Amarillo and then visiting more of the wests beautiful natural wonders.

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Yeah I understand. Orlando is because of the parks ^^ Is it okay to drive from San Antonio to Amarillo, isn't it to far?
Do you have any suggestions of small cities that you should visit in texas, that isn't major but something that is great to see? I am open for suggestions, fun to see other things than touristplaces, but so hard to know what they are if you understand :)

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Is it okay to drive from San Antonio to Amarillo, isn't it to far?

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It is up to you, like I say each trip is different but the drive would be OK to do in one day, but you would be driving most of the day with time for short rest breaks and lunch etc. I can't help you with Texan cities so maybe someone else will chime in but what I would recommend, is to do some of your own research by studying maps and searching around this site. You have many links both at the top and bottom of each page that will help you. You could check out the map wizard where you will find lots of attractions listed by RTA members.

I understand there are a lot of options (thousands of them) and it can be confusing, but when you start to look into things a little deeper around your basic itinerary you will find new ideas. If you are happy with your trip as it is then there is nothing wrong with doing that either. Sorry if I am confusing matters,. :-)

From your previous trips did you bring home any maps or a road atlas? If you did, this paragraph may help you. It is timeless, and never loses its value.

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

Start with maps. Not GPS, not software, not Google, but real honest-to-god paper maps that show you your entire route, that you can mark up (and erase), that you can stick pins in, and that show something about the land you'll be driving through. Those are your essential tool in any RoadTrip planning process. Start by marking all the places you know you want to visit. Then connect the dots. Then look for more places of interest and scenic routes along the lines connecting the dots. Repeat until you've got as many sites and roads as you think you want.

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If you do not have any maps, or local access to maps, I suggest you order a Rand McNally road atlas from the RTA store, via the link at the bottom of this page. It is an excellent atlas, with good detailed maps which include all natural attractions, as well as historical and touristy ones. If you order it now you will have it in a couple of weeks.

Each of the attractions and cities/towns you will be able to research on the web and decide if you want to include them in your itinerary. As questions arise, ask, you will always get an answer here.

Enjoy the planning.

Lifey

Thank you so much! I've been looking around here and i've found a couple of really interesting places! Thank you for your help!! :) No matter what, I think this is going to be a great roadtrip, whatever we do haha so I just need to trust my instincts! haha :) You are absolutely not confusing, I understand! :)

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Originally Posted by Lifemagician

Each of the attractions and cities/towns you will be able to research on the web and decide if you want to include them in your itinerary. As questions arise, ask, you will always get an answer here.

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Yes I have a map and I will take your suggestion. I think that will help me to do as you both say, see what I want to see and than plan out of that :) And I am so happy that I found this forum because there's so much information here!

Thank you!

Every state has multiple cities and in many cases, if you've seen one you've seen them all. But there is only one Grand Canyon, one Everglades, one Yellowstone, one Death Valley etc etc. I am currently on vacation in Florida (visiting my wife's father). I am near Clearwater but am taking in the natural attractions such as snorkeling with the manatees in Crystal River, visiting Homosassa Springs State Park, etc.

Look for the natural wonders or unique experiences that are found nowhere else.

For example, rather than staying in Miami, you could drive down the Florida Keys to Key West. You could even take the ferry 70 miles out to sea and visit DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK for the day.

When you are in the Orlando area, check if there are any rocket launches at Cape Kennedy. Not a natural wonder, but a unique experience.

When you get home and share your vacation experiences with others who have visited the states, they will be surprised at what they had missed.

Hello again,

I have a question regarding Yosemite. We are planning three nights in Mammoth Lakes. Is that a town that can be a base for visits to Yosemite? Or is it better to drive trough and live somewhere on the other side?

One more question, is there a function to search on this site? There's sooo many treads but it's hard to find what I am looking for :)

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Originally Posted by cassandra92

One more question, is there a function to search on this site? There's sooo many treads but it's hard to find what I am looking for :)

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You will see the search function at the right hand toip of this page, just above the green bar. - just below your user name

Lifey

Thank you for your answer.

Yes I understand what you say. It's just hard to know what is out there when I've never been. And we also like cities so to just to natural wonders is not our kind of trip either, we want to combine nature and cities.
We are planning to go back to Florida and do a roundtrip just there so I will save your tip about Key West until then! :D Thanks!

I think it's easy to plan to much into one trip, but unfortunatly we've already bought the flight. We are really looking forward to our trip and hope to make the most of it, even though it's a long way! :)

Thanks!! I've totally missed that!

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We are planning three nights in Mammoth Lakes. Is that a town that can be a base for visits to Yosemite?

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Mammoth lakes is not a good base for visiting Yosemite NP as all the main areas of the park are on the other side of the mountains. There are lodgings inside the park but you can also find some in Mariposa, El Portal and Groveland etc. Oakhurst has a larger selection of lodgings, but is about an hour away.

Okey, then I'll drive trough Yosemite and stay on the other side. Do you know how much it costs to go into the park?

It's $30 for a vehicle and occupants valid for 7 days. If you were visiting 4 or more major parks it's cheaper to buy the annual pass for $80

For your accommodation, don't overlook the Yosemite Bug, a rustic but very nice and welcoming place at Mid Pines (from memory). It is some years since I stayed there.

Lifey

Okey, can I read somewhere which parks that are in included in the annual pass? :)

Thanks for the tip, unfortunatly it was booked at my time of arrival :/

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Originally Posted by cassandra92

Okey, can I read somewhere which parks that are in included in the annual pass? :)

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All national parks as found on nps.gov.

Great!

I have a question. We are going to Mammoth Lakes, are there any cool places that we can't miss there?

The whole area is pretty cool so see what you have time for. You have the Mammoth scenic loop, June lake loop road and Mono Lake are all very nice, they just get a bit overlooked and less appreciated because of the sheer magnificence of Yosemite NP.