Hi everyone. First of all, I just want to say these forums are great. I just starting reading through a few threads and I've learned more in 15 minutes than I have in 2 hours reading a book on road trips.

I'm going to be working in Conway, NH the first week of August. I'm flying down to NYC at the end of the week to visit some friends on Friday and will probably spend the weekend there. At the end of that weekend, I'm going to be driving with a friend down to Washington DC and help him move back to California. I would like to spend a day or so in DC just to see the Smithsonian and the monuments again.

We've got about 10-12 days to go from DC to San Francisco (Bay Area). I'm still not sure what cities/sights we want to hit...that's why I'm here. Since my friend has done the cross-country thing before, he's letting me choose all the stops. I'd like to see as much of America's beauty as possible. I live in the Bay Area and travel down to Los Angeles frequently, so I want to limit my stops and travels to outside of CA. We'll probably be stopping in Denver and Chicago to visit friends, but I'd also like to see stuff like Mt Rushmore and Glacier Park. What place and/or routes would people recommend for me given my time frame?