Help! I am in need of road trip advice

[rach123]

Hi, my name is Rachel, I am planning a surprise 2 week summer road trip for myself and my boyfriend in 2009. We both love scenic routes and picturesque countryside, and neither of us have ever visited North America (we both live in Brighton, England). I don't know where to start to get the best out of the country because I have heard about so many different routes. Can anyone tell me a good way to go to see some of America's best scenery and places where we can get a real feel of the country? Any advice would be brilliant.
Cheers
Rachel

[Foy]

Hello Rachel,

While you could certainly see a variety of sights over a 2 week Road Trip time period, it would be difficult to really the the "feel" of any one region in North America while covering a great deal of ground.

I think a lot of on-point suggestions would flow towards you if you could narrow down you choices, for example:

Forested mountains and wild coast of the Pacific Northwest

The California Coast, Yosemite NP, San Francisco, and Southern California

Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and the desert interior

The Mountain West: Colorado, Wyoming and Montana

Texas and New Mexico's Gulf beaches, interior Hill Country, and NM's deserts and mountains

Florida, and her Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

The Great Midwest: St Louis, Chicago, the great northern forests of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan

The Northeast: New England, upstate New York, and NYC

The Mid-Atlantic: Pennsylvania through Georgia, Washington DC, Dutch Country, Blue Ridge Parkway.

I think by studying a map of the US for a little while you'll realize you can see much of a single or a couple of contiguous regions within a two-week period, but you'd spend all of your time on the road if you tried to see large portions of the West Coast, the Rockies, the Midwest, and such all in one trip.

So, what's your particular fancy in terms of types of places to see?

Foy

[Mass Tim]

I don't know if there is one particular "feel" to the United States. If you travel to New England or the Mid Atlantic coast, you will find it quite different from the desert Southwest. You could spend a week in the deep South and then go to the Pacific Northwest, and be amazed that you are still in the same country. With two weeks you've got to be rather choosy. I would recommend the Southwest as a potential stopping place since it is so different than what you're probably used to. This doesn't preclude other areas of the country of course, but that would get my vote if I were coming from England.

[Southwest Dave]

Hi Rachel,

I also live on the South coast, Welcome to R.T.A.

I am in agreement with Tim on this one and would recommend the Southwest for your first trip [no surprises there taking my board name into account.] ;-)

The South west offers so much diversity, the city's of Los Angeles. Las Vegas, San Francisco to the National parks of Yosemite, Grand canyon, Zion, and Bryce to name but a few. There is the wonderful coastal highway and throw in the desert landscapes of Death valley and Monument valley and small towns dotted around and you will experience something that we never will in the U.K. Having said that, the States are vast and there are many places to choose from as Foy suggested so I would search the forums and Internet to gather some of your ideas and come back with some options and we can help you plan a trip.
For scenery you can't beat the the National parks and by navigating your way around there site it should give you an idea of what awaits. You are more than welcome to browse through the pics of our tour of the southwest.

With just the two of you your best way to get around would be a car rental and lodging.

Dave.

[rach123]

oh wow! i love it. thats what we are going to do. thank you so much :-)

[Southwest Dave]

oh wow! i love it. thats what we are going to do. thank you so much :-)

You're most welcome.

And once you have an outlined plan come back and maybe we can help "fine tune" it with you. Here's one of my favorite spots

[just to keep you going ;-) ]