Ever want to just get in your car and take off – venture
out across the open road – see the sights and find some hidden gems along the
way? We’ve all gotten the itch to take an epic road trip at one time or
anohter. While the following trips may require a bit more planning than just
hopping in your car, these are considered some of the best routes for road
trips in the good ol’ US of A. Happy travels.
The Pacific Coast
Highway
1,700 miles along the Pacific Coast from southern
California to Washington's Olympic Peninsula. The scenery is breathtaking with
stops that include Hearst Castle, Big Sur, San Francisco, Point Reyes National
Seashore, Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area and Olympic National Park. Open
the windows and enjoy the fresh air as you drive across the Golden Gate Bridge
and watch giant container ships glide underneath.
Florida State
Highway A1A and the Overseas Highway
This 600-mile trip traces Florida's Atlantic coastline
from northeast of Jacksonville to Key West. Interesting stops along the way
include St. Augustine, the oldest town in the U.S. (sort of); Daytona Beach,
where you can drive on the beach; Canaveral National Seashore; and the John F.
Kennedy Space Center. Highway A1A meets U.S. Highway 1 in Miami. Thus begins
the scenic 127-mile drive on the Overseas Highway that boasts 42 bridges,
including famed Seven Mile Bridge.
Newfound Gap
Road/Blue Ridge Parkway/Skyline Drive
This seamless, leisurely drive through three national
parks offers some of the East Coast's most scenic landscapes. Newfound Gap Road
(32 miles long) cuts across Great Smoky Mountain National Park and connects
with the Blue Ridge Parkway (469 miles), which connects with Shenandoah
National Park's Skyline Drive (105 miles). This wonderful drive is void of
billboards, traffic lights, roadside trash, and speeding 18-wheelers.
US Highway 2
The northernmost U.S. highway zigzags through mountain
ranges, traverses the northern Great Plains, and swings around lakes as it
connects Everett, Wash., with Houlton, Maine. The entire route, including a
700-mile stretch in Canada, covers 3,300 miles. In the West it crosses the
North Cascades and the Rocky Mountains. In the East it meets the Green and
White mountain ranges. In between it passes through small towns with local museums
and inviting coffee shops.
US Highway 395
Connecting southern California with the Canadian border,
this 1,300-mile drive traverses high deserts and mountain valleys through a
large portion of the scenic West. The highway runs in a north-south direction
through some of the most beautiful, but uncrowded sections of California,
Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The best portion is arguably California's Owens
Valley, which bisects two major mountain ranges.
Courtesy of USA Today:
http://usat.ly/1l5LsuP
