Roadtrip from Detroit to Atlanta - winter time / christmas

[Schmierer14]

Hey community,

I'm having an internship over here at Bosch in the USA. I want to make a roadtrip from Detroit down to Atlanta and back to the Detroit on a different route.

We already investigated a lot and search for places which got to be visited. Such is for example Hocking Hills in Ohio.

With posting this in here, I just try to get some feedback from you and to make sure that I didn't forget any special place which I must see on that trip.

Please suggest some places. The route is not settled yet, so I'm flexible.

Looking forward to read a lot of suggestions.

A thousand thanks in advance!!

best regards

Georg (from Germany)

[Foy]

Hello Georg,

It would be helpful to know of your interests and particularly how much time you have for your RoadTrip.

Your mention of Hocking Hills leads to my belief you're interested in the outdoors as opposed to indoor attractions such as museums. If that's the case, the most direct route between Detroit and Atlanta is I-75, and alternate routes can be assumed to be reasonably close to the I-75 corridor.

If that's correct, you can consider Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Cumberland Falls (near Corbin, KY), Mammoth Cave, KY, Lookout Mountain, TN, among many others. Driving northeast from Atlanta on GA 400 brings you to the Georgia section of the Blue Ridge Mountains and a bit further up US 19 brings you into the Smoky Mountains of the GA-NC border area. There you'll find (season and weather permitting) innumerable outdoor activities including hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting (but many of the rafting services close by early November). There are also opportunities to travel some of the Blue Ridge Parkway northeast of Cherokee, NC, visiting Mount Mitchell (highest peak east of the Mississippi), and Grandfather Mountain, near Blowing Rock, NC. Weather is the big variable on this suggested return route, where the higher elevations in the Smokies and the Blue Ridge see more snow and colder temperatures than even Detroit does, and as a result many attractions are closed in winter or at least after major snowfalls.

Foy

[AZBuck]

Willkommen! Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

For the reason you cite (Why take the same roads there and back when there is so much new to explore?) loop RoadTrips are my favorite. In your case, there is a relatively straightforward such loop that can be done in two days each way - plus however long you want to spend at the various attractions along the way. Described in a clockwise manner (although you can go either way) it goes like this:

From Detroit, head for Hocking Hills and then continue southeast to Charleston WV and use the West Virginia Turnpike (I-77) to cross the Appalachians. At Charlotte NC switch over to I-85 south to Atlanta. A few of the attractions along this general route include the New River Gorge in West Virginia, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in Virginia, the NASCAR shops around Charlotte, and several Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields.

Return from Atlanta using I-75 to Chattanooga, then I-24 to Nashville, I-65 to Louisville, and finally I-71/I-75 back to Detroit. On the way you can check out the Nashville music scene, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the US Air Force Museum in Dayton among other venues.

AZBuck