Road trip! Where would you go?

This is our long road trip. I'd like to repeat this road trip we took about 3 years after I retired. It took a year & 1/2 until we were fit enough to hike in places we wanted to hike.

Drove over to San Diego to see the zoo. Up to the southern entrance to Yosemite stayed a week at fully equipped cabins. Hiked several trails. Including the one Mariposa trail that led to the redwoods that burned recently.

From there up to Sacramento to ride cable cars. Over to Salt Lake in Utah to see great salt lake [kind of stinky]. Up to Idaho road signs advertised "get a free Idaho potato" [never found that].

Over to Yellowstone western entrance. Stayed a week at a motel. bought picnic supplies at a small local grocery store. During our picnic we watched buffalo grazing off in the distance. Hiked the board walks & found you could watch Old Faithful from a mound about a quarter mile behind Old Faithful. Wife did NOT like going back up the stairs that led to the bottom of the Grand canyon of Yellowstone. https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/hike-yellowstone-national-parks-uncle-toms-trail

Over Bear Tooth mountain range stopped at top to have snowball fight from left over snow. Down into Montana nothing special there.

Lucky to find lodging to be able to watch reenactment of Custer's last stand. Was awesome.

Over to the Black Hills of So. Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore. From the visitors center there are two small trails that go under the carvings & end at a viewing area.

Down thru Neb. Over to Townsend Tn. Toured Cade's cove. Did this

Over to Nashville to see the Grand Ole Opry

Headed west to San Antonio TX. to see the Alamo & the River walk.

Next stop see White Sands & petrified forest in New Mexico.

Up to Denver to experience the mile high city. Then over to Moab Utah to hike The Arches Nat. park. Rented bikes to bike flat rock. Rented a condo for the week that was really reasonable then.

Last stop Flagstaff AZ. to see Grand Canyon southern entrance. Long before skywalk was built. Walked part way down didn't have enough water to chance getting to the bottom.

Of course along the way there were interesting things to stop & see. Like in the middle of Nebraska we stopped at a town of about 700 people that were having a town picnic. Very welcoming people & great home made foods to buy & eat.
 

This is our long road trip. I'd like to repeat this road trip we took about 3 years after I retired. It took a year & 1/2 until we were fit enough to hike in places we wanted to hike.

Drove over to San Diego to see the zoo. Up to the southern entrance to Yosemite stayed a week at fully equipped cabins. Hiked several trails. Including the one Mariposa trail that led to the redwoods that burned recently.

From there up to Sacramento to ride cable cars. Over to Salt Lake in Utah to see great salt lake [kind of stinky]. Up to Idaho road signs advertised "get a free Idaho potato" [never found that].

Over to Yellowstone western entrance. Stayed a week at a motel. bought picnic supplies at a small local grocery store. During our picnic we watched buffalo grazing off in the distance. Hiked the board walks & found you could watch Old Faithful from a mound about a quarter mile behind Old Faithful. Wife did NOT like going back up the stairs that led to the bottom of the Grand canyon of Yellowstone. https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/hike-yellowstone-national-parks-uncle-toms-trail

Over Bear Tooth mountain range stopped at top to have snowball fight from left over snow. Down into Montana nothing special there.

Lucky to find lodging to be able to watch reenactment of Custer's last stand. Was awesome.

Over to the Black Hills of So. Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore. From the visitors center there are two small trails that go under the carvings & end at a viewing area.

Down thru Neb. Over to Townsend Tn. Toured Cade's cove. Did this

Over to Nashville to see the Grand Ole Opry

Headed west to San Antonio TX. to see the Alamo & the River walk.

Next stop see White Sands & petrified forest in New Mexico.

Up to Denver to experience the mile high city. Then over to Moab Utah to hike The Arches Nat. park. Rented bikes to bike flat rock. Rented a condo for the week that was really reasonable then.

Last stop Flagstaff AZ. to see Grand Canyon southern entrance. Long before skywalk was built. Walked part way down didn't have enough water to chance getting to the bottom.

Of course along the way there were interesting things to stop & see. Like in the middle of Nebraska we stopped at a town of about 700 people that were having a town picnic. Very welcoming people & great home made foods to buy & eat.
Sounds like a fantastic trip!
 
I would like to take a road trip to Haida Gwaii, an easy drive from here to the ferry then take the circular route and visit some smaller towns in BC. But with travel restrictions I won't be going anywhere, that's fine, I enjoy being an armchair traveller.
 

My wife and I will probably start taking road trips again once I'm retired in about 3 plus years. Until then vacation time is too valuable to be spent driving from one place to another.

There are two road trips I'd like to take. One is a trip close to where we went with the kids about 25 years ago. It took us through the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert and Carlsbad Caverns. This time we'd go to Grand Canyon again (we love it there) but maybe visit the north rim and also see Zion and Bryce and possibly Canyonlands. We might also stop in Moab and do some very easy mountain biking.

The second trip would be to over to Yellowstone and then north to Calgary and Banff in Canada. I'd love to stop in Medicine Hat where my great great grandfather and my great grandfather moved to from their homeland and where my grandfather was born.

I can highly recommend a trip to Sequoia National Park, the trees there are amazing. You could visit Yosemite before or after Sequoia and Lake Tahoe as well. If you want to see both types of redwoods (sequoia which are bigger around and coastal which are taller) you should make it out to the Pacific to see the coastal ones. There are all sorts of areas for seeing the coastal redwoods some close to San Francisco or San Jose and others off the beaten path further north of San Francisco. You can also see some impressive sequoias outside of Sequoia National Park but they aren't quite as impressive to me.
 
I'd love to go back to Yosemite Park. I'd like to camp out in a sleeping bag under the stars, make campfires, just BE!
I always travel alone so that doesn't bother me. I did that in 88 and a deer kissed me on the nose!
I think that would be so cool!
are you going to do it when the restrictions are lifted ? :)
 
I would like to take a road trip to Haida Gwaii, an easy drive from here to the ferry then take the circular route and visit some smaller towns in BC. But with travel restrictions I won't be going anywhere, that's fine, I enjoy being an armchair traveller.
Ditto my question above ?... remember peeeps, if you're able to make a trip don't put it off, this pandemic has, if nothing else... taught us , we cannot guarantee our freedom for tomorrow..something most of us have always taken for granted.
 
I've seen ads for traveling on a sight seeing railroad line in Canada through the Canadian Rockies. Once you drive to the embarkation point, you relax, observe and eat. That interest me.
You may choke when you see the price.

This was my dream trip too. In New Zealand we took a long day trip. As good as it was, it made me realize I wouldn’t like being on a train for several days.
 
Many years ago we had a family road trip across the northern states which was great fun as we kept off the main tourist trails.
We ended up in some strange places and in one, they were celebrating Christmas in July. They were chuffed to have a family from the UK dropping in.

I haven't seen much of Florida, only some time in and around Boca Raton, but I've always fancied a trip down the Florida Keys.
Mrs. L has a notion for Route 66. Trouble is that neither of us are keen on long haul flights.

Trivia: Don M mentions Banff, which amuses me as I live near Banff in Scotland. It seems that the first president of the Canadian Pacific railroad come from Banff in Scotland, and Banff in Canada was named in this honour.
 
Ditto my question above ?... remember peeeps, if you're able to make a trip don't put it off, this pandemic has, if nothing else... taught us , we cannot guarantee our freedom for tomorrow..something most of us have always taken for granted.
My retirement plans were shot when D/H passed away and I would not like to go by myself. It has been discussed with a friend but we will just have to wait and see where we are this summer. Well put, "we can't guarantee our freedom" I'd never thought of these times in those terms.
 
Where would you go and why?
If I didn't get one ailment or another every week I would return to my home in Alaska.
But even driving 16 or so hours a day is now out of the picture.
Funny you mention this I was talking about end of life things last weekend and he said not to worry he would drive my Tacoma back home and return my ashes to my camp on the Yukon river.... Actually made me feel good when he brought that up.

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I've always liked driving around the southwestern USA. So much unique scenery to keep your eyes & mind occupied as you drive through. Southern Utah is a fav. spot of mine :love:
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That's some amazing scenery! I drove through there back in the mid-'80s on I-10 on my way to California and thought I was hallucinating. I didn't know about that area and the rock formations and was just looking at it going WTF?
 
I'd love to go back to Yosemite Park. I'd like to camp out in a sleeping bag under the stars, make campfires, just BE!
I always travel alone so that doesn't bother me. I did that in 88 and a deer kissed me on the nose!
I think that would be so cool!

Just thinking about camping out under the stars gets me excited and a must do for me. My sleeping bag, cook stove, coffee pot and cast iron skillet along with my hiking gear are at the ready. Now all I need is a destination. :cool:

I would appreciate your ideas Gaer. You mention Yosemite which I know is beautiful. What are some of other areas I might consider, keeping in mind I enjoy 'moderate terrain' hiking...as I enjoy watching the mountain goats from afar. :)

Like you, I always travel alone and prefer it that way. Around here they say "never hike alone" so I don't...I always go with a compass and a whistle. 😃
 
Just thinking about camping out under the stars gets me excited and a must do for me. My sleeping bag, cook stove, coffee pot and cast iron skillet along with my hiking gear are at the ready. Now all I need is a destination. :cool:

I would appreciate your ideas Gaer. You mention Yosemite which I know is beautiful. What are some of other areas I might consider, keeping in mind I enjoy 'moderate terrain' hiking...as I enjoy watching the mountain goats from afar. :)

Like you, I always travel alone and prefer it that way. Around here they say "never hike alone" so I don't...I always go with a compass and a whistle. 😃
Uh, . . . ALASKA! That might be a little way away for you though! I spent about a year traveling solo up there but I slept in the back of my Forunner at the time. Don't recommend sleeping out because of the grizzlies! (You can shower anywhere 50 cents a day)
Iloved Alaska so much! I don't even know what I'm doing here in the lower 48!
Yellowstone is wonderful!
Glacier Park is incomparably beautiful but very crowded!
I've camped out in Mexico on the beach but I wouldn't recommend it the way things are now! If you do Mexico, go all the way to Baja.
(way, way down the coast) Wow! I don't know!
I don't think you need a destination. Just GO and see where the road takes you! THAT'S WHAT'S FUN!
 
Just thinking about camping out under the stars gets me excited and a must do for me. My sleeping bag, cook stove, coffee pot and cast iron skillet along with my hiking gear are at the ready. Now all I need is a destination. :cool:

I would appreciate your ideas Gaer. You mention Yosemite which I know is beautiful. What are some of other areas I might consider, keeping in mind I enjoy 'moderate terrain' hiking...as I enjoy watching the mountain goats from afar. :)

Like you, I always travel alone and prefer it that way. Around here they say "never hike alone" so I don't...I always go with a compass and a whistle. 😃

I can highly recommend the Emigrant Wilderness just to the north of Yosemite National Park. You would need to backpack your way in or you can arrange trips with some of the pack horse vendors in the area. It's a very beautiful area with lots of nice and interesting lakes, wonderful streams and lots of granite. There are plenty of places there where you can get away people. When I used to go there 40 years ago we rarely camped with anyone we could see nearby us. I'm not sure what it's like now. I'd recommend going in from the Gianelli trailhead.
 
I love Islands...perhaps visit Nfld or Vancouver Island again and Ellesmere Island up North that the Military sent my husband back in the day and I stayed home. I feel I missed something.
 
Uh, . . . ALASKA! That might be a little way away for you though! I spent about a year traveling solo up there but I slept in the back of my Forunner at the time. Don't recommend sleeping out because of the grizzlies! (You can shower anywhere 50 cents a day)
Iloved Alaska so much! I don't even know what I'm doing here in the lower 48!
Yellowstone is wonderful!
Glacier Park is incomparably beautiful but very crowded!
I've camped out in Mexico on the beach but I wouldn't recommend it the way things are now! If you do Mexico, go all the way to Baja.
(way, way down the coast) Wow! I don't know!
I don't think you need a destination. Just GO and see where the road takes you! THAT'S WHAT'S FUN!
I went to Alaska in 2018 and loved it!
 


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