Seattle to Boston in 6 weeks

[duncanmac56]

Hi. We are going on honeymoon in September, and plan to take 6 weeks to drive from Seattle to Boston via Vegas, San Antonio, Savannah and Charlestone. We also expect to spend some time in Philadelhia, DC and New York.

We are at the start of our research, and would be grateful if anyone could suggest any good routes or particularly any "must sees". Also, any tips of places to avoid would be great, too.

Thanks,

Duncan

[Quebec Gen]

Greetings Duncanmac56 and welcome to the RoadTrip America forum!

We are going on honeymoon in September, and plan to take 6 weeks to drive from Seattle to Boston via Vegas, San Antonio, Savannah and Charlestone. We also expect to spend some time in Philadelhia, DC and New York.

If we knew more about your interests, it would be easier to help accurately! Is it a one way trip only? Here are some general tips on things to see between the west and the east coast. For tips on the north west portion of your trip, look for Judy's posts on this forum like this one for instance. For specific suggestions of Californian coastal romantic destinations, check out this post. Finally, here's a recent post about Savannah. Just browse through this forum and use the Search function. If you type the word "honeymoon", I'm sure you will find plenty of other useful infos.

Congratulations and happy planning!
Gen

[duncanmac56]

Thanks for the info. The links you gave me have been very helpful.

We want to travel across the states because we did a road trip from San Diego to the California Wine Country a couple of years ago and really loved it. Although we would love to repeat the highway 1 experience, we want to see other things, too.

Generally, we are interested by historical sites, good food, and places where you get to see the people rather than a varnished touristy product (apart from Vegas, which sounds so outrageous that we really want to see it). We are less interested in art galleries and museums than exploring an interesting place.

Any motels or good/interesting places to stop-over would be gratefully received.

We would like to spend some time in the vineyards around San Fran (didn't spend long enough there last time).

Provisional thoughts were travelling from Seattle to Portland, exploring Oregon, down Highway 1 to LA, and across to Vegas. Would it be realistic to do this in about 2 weeks if we want to spend about 3 days in Vegas and 2 by the grand canyon?

Between Vegas and San Antonio, we don't really have much idea about what to see. Either Phoenix to El Paso, or via Santa Fe? Is there anything much in AZ, NM or TX that people can recommend along the way?

I've read good things about Dallas, and would also like to see New Orleans again. Then maybe Memphis, Nashville, Savannah, Charlestone and up the East Coast.

Thanks for taking the time to help - I know my wife to be will be very grateful too!

[Traveling Wilbury]

Duncan, I'm not the best person to offer advice on distance and time, but your itenerary seems very optimistic, if not unrealistic, to me.

I did a quick search on a few of the cities you mentioned on your second leg, and these are the rough distances Google Maps gave me:

Dallas to New Orleans: 528 miles
New Orleans to Memphis: 396 miles
Memphis to Nashville: 212 miles
Nashville to Savannah: 697 miles
Savannah to Charleston: 116 miles

Obviously, the third and fifth pairs I listed are doable routes. Being that the cities are so close to each other, they make for common roadtrip destinations. But, looking at the other mileage, it looks like you would be logging a ton of miles in just that one section of the country. I forget what the average roadtrip speed is (I want to say 52 MPH...perhaps one of our fellow members could verify/correct that), so you are looking at a solid full day or more of driving for quite a few of your destination points. Factor this into how long you'd like to stay at each place, and it isn't inconceivable to eat up at entire week or more just in the south.

I am no expert, and only trying to offer advice, but I would suggest you take a look at your trip again and cut down some of your plans. I think Seattle to Boston in six weeks is plenty of time if you are going in a generally straight line, but when you enter in travelling into the deep South, you have to add on weeks and weeks. Good luck!

[Mark Sedenquist]

Generally, we are interested by historical sites, good food, and places where you get to see the people rather than a varnished touristy product (apart from Vegas, which sounds so outrageous that we really want to see it). We are less interested in art galleries and museums than exploring an interesting place.

Honeymoon roadtrips are a great idea, (I did one -- a long time ago). But I wonder if both of you are as interested in the magnitude of this undertaking? Like "Traveling Wilbury" has suggested, you are going to be spending alot of time --in the car -- or on the move for most of these six weeks. There is something to be said for kicking back, sleeping in, taking slow meandering walks when you are on a honeymoon.

Generally, the time-tested rate of travel (ignoring all of the science) is an average speed of 57 mph in the west and 54 mph on eastern highways. This assumes that most of the time, when on the road you will be going closer to 75+ mph -- but over 8-10 hours of travel 57 mph is about as fast as you can go.

Provisional thoughts were travelling from Seattle to Portland, exploring Oregon, down Highway 1 to LA, and across to Vegas. Would it be realistic to do this in about 2 weeks

If you have the budget, I would suggest a week at the Stanford Inn in Mendocino is about as romantic as it gets.

if we want to spend about 3 days in Vegas and 2 by the grand canyon?

You could spend a week in Las Vegas and only scratch the surface on the fun things to do. Here are some ideas from a local's perspective.

You could have an awesome six week roadtrip if you limited your travels to Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. If you really need to travel to the other sections of the USA -- we will give some more recommendations. Even though you are about to be married and probably know much about your spouse to be -- you might find this compatibility quiz helpful when planning such an involved roadtrip!

Mark

[duncanmac56]

Thanks for the advice. I wondered if I was biting off too much, and your replies seem to confirm that I have.

Does it sound achievable to start the trip in Vegas then 6 weeks via San Antonio, Dallas, Memphis, Savannah, Charlestone, DC, NY and Boston? Or is that still pushing it?

[Mark Sedenquist]

Does it sound achievable to start the trip in Vegas then 6 weeks via San Antonio, Dallas, Memphis, Savannah, Charlestone, DC, NY and Boston? Or is that still pushing it?

Sure, that would be reasonable. But, again, make sure that such a driving adventure is really how you want to spend your first weeks as a married couple. If you are both thrilled by the prospect, than -- go for it!

Mark

[duncanmac56]

We are starting our honeymoon in Hawaii for 10 days (relaxing and doing nothing). Thanks for the help - the trip across the states is one of our big "must dos".

[PNW Judy]

I think 6 weeks is plenty of time to do Seattle to Boston with some meandering detours and stops along the way. I do think you will want to do some serious planning so you don't get behind schedule and don't miss out on any of your "must see" places to go. I do think your trip would flow better if you stay to the northern and/or middle sections of the country and save the southern routes for another trip. Of course, if you really want to see the southern part of the US, you could opt to start in LA or San Francisco instead of Seattle and cross-country from there.

After the relaxation and romance of Hawaii, I think a roadtrip like this would give you great fun and honeymoon memories. Of course, only if you're truly compatible for this type of trip. If not, well....it might start things off on a negative tone. Just be prepared for compromising with each other.

I always think the best way to plan an adventure like this is to get a good, fairly detailed map of the entire US. It will be fairly big. But hang it on a wall and use pins or a highlighter to mark those things that you really want to see the most. Then scan for highways connecting these places to get an idea if this is reasonable. Once you have a few more of these basics in mind, come back here for more suggestions. And read through the forums for ideas.

Anyway....I think cutting down your trip might be premature at this point. You can always do that later but, for now, plan the big dream and see where it leads.

Hoping to help you more later....and congrats on the upcoming nuptials!