Pittsburgh to Seattle

[wootwoot]

Myself and two college friends have 10 days to go from Pittsburgh to Seattle. All of us have different places we want to see but not enough time to do it all. Besides main attractions like the Grand Canyon and Rushmore, we also want to do/see quirky things and try and get off the beaten path. Any suggestions on what not to miss, best routes to travel or places that most tour guides normally miss would be great.

Thanks,
Ned

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think the first thing you're going to need to do is figure out some of the logistics of this trip. 10 days seems like a lot of time, but its a big country, and even on a direct route you need to average 250+ miles per day.

Having said that, The Grand Canyon will be tough for this trip, and it will be close to impossible for you to visit both the Canyon and Mt. Rushmore. There's just too much milage for a trip of this length. I think you'll wind up being much better off if you focus only on things in the northern half of the country.

Beyond that, I'd highly recommend taking the Roadtrip Compatability Quiz and make sure you and your companions are all on the same page for this trip.

[wootwoot]

The place that all 3 of us agree on is Vegas. We also know that we won't spend more then a day at a stop and that we are all for driving through the night to make things work. Our theme of the trip is "Do it for the Story". It's kind of our last hoorah before Senior Year.

[Midwest Michael]

Well, if that's the case, then I think you should head to St. Louis, take I-44 and I-40 to Arizona, take a quick tour of the canyon, continue on to Vegas, and then book it for Seattle.

This works out to about a 3600 mile trip, so you'll need to plan to drive about 7 hours a day. Certainly feasable if you're not planning on spending a lot of time at any one spot. This route does follow the path of Route 66, so you should also be able to find plenty of quirky little things along the way.