West to east in 2 weeks, young couple from Oz

[lized11]

Hi all,

We're a 29y/o couple from Australia planning a west to east road trip this time next year (June).
Great info already on this site so hopefully won't be asking people to repeat themselves too much. I just wanted some guidance from people of similar age/interests to which might be a more interesting route for us, we've got either end sorted but have a few options for the middle. We're interested in the cafe/small bar scene, arts/culture/music (dare i say the hipster scene, sigh!), strolling around neighbourhoods rather than sightseeing' as such, so keen for places with a youthful vibe and food/drink scene rather than museums/history per se.
We've driven across Australia (40hrs total, done in 4 days!), and driven all round Europe incl Rome to London so well accustomed to longer driving stints!

Our definites so far are
- LA
- Vegas
- Grand canyon
- New Orleans
- Washington DC
- NY (and have noted lots of comments re leaving car in DC and bussing up to NY - will likely do this)

Likely from grand canyon onwards we will take the NM / TX route rather than through CO.

Then options are:

- south coast - via Jacksonville / Charleston / up to Washington
or
- up via Tennessee; Memphis / Nashville / Asheville to DC

Would love some opinions on places really worth going through. Appreciate 2 weeks isn't a long time but we're happy to do longer days followed by a day or two of shorter/nil driving.
Cheers