Late Oct - Early Nov Scenic trip of I90

I have a romantic idea of a road trip. I have a month from say Oct 15 to Nov 15. I am planning to do a road trip from Portland to Boston along I-90. Here is what I am looking for from the trip

1. Natural Wonders.
2. Scenic vistas - I am a hobbyist photographer and half of the reason for this trip is to get be at places where I can take nice landscape pictures.
3. I like snow, I have been saying staying in San Diego for the past six years I am soaked with southwest America. Although I have never been to Montana, but get a psychic feeling that that the kind of places I want to visit.
4. Different culture - again, most of my six years in America have been in California, Nevada, Arizona - want something different.

So I need help to plan this trip.

1. My first question is that is I-90 even open all the way from Oct 15 to Nov 15
2. I just choose I-90 because is in up north (passes through Montana) and is the longest freeway in America, any other suggestions.
3. Do you know of any road trip books about America for photographers

Thanks!

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

1] Interstates are designed to keep traffic flowing freely all year round. That's not to say they don't experience temporary closures during or after a major winter storm. These closures could be for a few hours or perhaps a day or 2 [rarely does it happen] while the experienced road crews go about their work.

2] Why choose an Interstate route ? With a month to spare [is that one way or return trip ?] you have time to explore the things you are looking for and meet people along the way. There are thousands of options to explore and I would suggest you search the RTA forums and road trip planning links above [with a good map to hand] and see what appeals to you. You will need to be aware of weather and road conditions as you travel. It's impossible to predict the weather, but you can get climate info by researching. Yellowstone NP for example could already be deep in winter when you travel and areas of the park start to close down in late Sept/Oct and by early November the interior roads are closed.

3] I don't personally know of any book to recommend , but if you put your cursor over the 'Shop' link in the green tool bar above you can select 'Road trip books' and do a search. However, my advice would be to find the places that have the right 'vibe' and go find your own images, there certainly won't be any shortage for them !

Do a little 'homework' and see what it is that appeals to you and then see how you can make it happen, but unless you really want to, there is no need to tie yourself to a route number. Once you have some dots on the map and more questions arise, just ask and we will try to help to fill in any blanks.

Enjoy the planning !

Having driven I-90 from Seattle to Boston a couple of times, I can assure you there is no shortage of attractions to keep you interested and fill your camera. Starting from Portland, will you be going via the Columbia Gorge Scenic area? If so, which route do you plan to take up to I-90? If it were me, I would be going via Boise and Twin Falls taking I-15 to Butte. Alternatively you could take 395 from Kennewick to Spokane, picking up I-90 at Ritzville.

If you a member of AAA, I suggest that you go there and get maps of all the northern States. You will find all the nearby National and State Parks and Forests marked on the maps, as well as other major attractions. Use the Map Centre on the green bar above to zoom in and locate further attractions along your route.

As for snow, you are not likely to see much along I-90, but there are a couple of places where you may find snow. The Beartooth Highway is one of these. It will probably be closed to through traffic, but even if it is closed, you will get some beautiful snowy mountain views driving up as far as it is open. Of course, you could be lucky and find it open all the way to the Pass. Otherwise your best option is to drop down to I-80 or I-70 and make your way through Rocky Mountain National Park. There are snowy mountain peaks to be seeing there, all year round.

Lifey

Thanks for the replies.. this post was just a homework as to is the trip even possible in fall and the chances of me being stranded for longer than I could afford. Thats for the tips and pointers - will check both the map links and AAA maps are also an awesome idea!

I'll do my homework and get back. :)