Scenic routes Boston-San Francisco

Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops. I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that would
take through the most interesting countryside.

On 29 Apr 2007 05:59:15 -0700, wrote:

Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops. I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that would
take through the most interesting countryside.
There are a jillion possibilities.

Go in the fall and enjoy western Massachusettts.

Alternate is drive north through New Hampshire and Vermont to Montreal

Skip Buffalo, Cleveland, Gary, and Chicago by going through Canada
north of Lake Huron -- but you will miss Niagara Falls

Visit Door County Wisconsin

Enjoy Dairyland Wisconsin and cross the Mississipi at Prarie du Chien
(visit Wyalusing State Park)

Alternatively go to St. Paul then down the Great River Road to Lake
Pepin and southwest to cross the Missouri at Omaha and finally to
Denver: Take I90 from LaCrosse to I35 to I80 to I76.

Drive through Colorado and zigzag through Leadville, Black Canyon of
the Gunnison and down to the San Juans (Ouray, Telluride) or go
through Colorado Springs and drive to the top of Pikes Peak then as
above:

"America The Beautiful
Katharine Lee Bates wrote the original version in 1893. She wrote the
2nd version in 1904. Her final version was written in 1913.
Here is a note from Katharine Lee Bates:
'One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to
14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had
to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very
tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of
America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.'"

Visit Monument Valley
Visit Bryce and Zion , but Grand Canyon (North Rim) is too far south
unless you want to divert to Las Vegas and visit Valley of Fire State
Park, Hoover Dam, and Lake Meade as well). You can also look up Cedar
Breaks and the Coral Pink Sanddunes.

Visit Salt Lake City

Drive to Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, San Francisco

Doing all these things could easily take a month and would be pretty
much impossible in less than two weeks.

In article om,
wrote:

Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops. I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that would
take through the most interesting countryside.

How many days are you allocating for this trip.

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On Apr 29, 11:36 am, JAlves wrote:
In article om,
7- 10 days each way



wrote:
Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops. I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that would
take through the most interesting countryside.

How many days are you allocating for this trip.

--
Please reply to the group, not by email. The email address in the
header is not valid unless you remove the obvious.

On Apr 29, 8:59 am, wrote:
Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops. I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that would
take through the most interesting countryside.


Drive the Atlantic Coast down to Charleston, S.C., then Savannah,
Atlanta, Birmingham, Montgomery, the Mississippi Delta, New Orleans,
through Texas, Santa Fe, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and then to San
Diego and then up the Pacific Coast to San Francisco.

wrote:
7- 10 days each way

Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the
nation has become one big strip mall

She's right, but O so wrong!

looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that
would take through the most interesting countryside.

Any route you choose will be filled with wonders and spectacle. All
you have to do is decide what types of things you prefer to see.

My choice would be to go via Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee,
Minneapolis, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Seattle, Portland, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Cañon de Chelly,
Carlsbad Caverns, San Antonio, New Orleans, Atlanta, and the District
of Columbia.

Twenty days, however, is many too few for a trip that's likely to
exceed seven thousand miles.
--
__________________________________________________ _________________
A San Franciscan who's visited 49 of 50 US states.
http://geocities.com/dancefest/ --- http://geocities.com/iconoc/
ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 ------- IClast at Gmail com


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wrote in message
oups.com...
On Apr 29, 11:36 am, JAlves wrote:
In article om,
7- 10 days each way



wrote:
Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation
has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops.
I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that
would
take through the most interesting countryside.

Round trip or one way ?
I used to drive out to west coast across middle and return along bottom
in two weeks ( one each way ). The TRIP itself was the drive. but from
that I can tell you what I used to do:
East bound - take PCH to either 40 or 10 to 20 all the way to Atlanta/
Jacksonville then up the coast - take Rt 1 and others , NOT Rt 95 unless
pressed for time. LOTS of stops - even for say Barves game in Atlanta,
then Charleston/ Wash DC / Boston / Bar Harbor / Nova Scotia ( far
enough? )

This winter I drove Boston - Naples FL via 95 and then back along the
ocean the entire way ( see trip report here for specifics)

Then West-bound: Rt 90 to Rt 70
Boston - rt 90 to Niagra Falls nonstop. Sleep a few hours there ( use to
be really dumpy area but the falls were impressive) . May be nicer now -
maybe not ( local input ?? ) Then I'd head to Philadelphia - Rt 70 to
Indianapolis (Speedway) / St Louis Arch/ Anheiser Busch brewey
tour/Clydesdales/ on to KC then maybe further north - Rt 29 to 90 -
Dakota Badlands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badlands
maybe Yellowstone -
loved Denver -
maybe train ride to Salt Lake City to see the mountains and back ( to
get your car - or maybe can put car on train ?? not sure)
http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/routeguidecazephyr.pdf

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...209 &ssid=133

from Denver to Vegas ( if you haven't been in a few years) - Yosemite
( via other nearby nat'l parks) to SF

wrote:
Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation
has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops.
I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that
would
take through the most interesting countryside.

How many days are you allocating for this trip?

7- 10 days each way

I'm not being a wise-guy when I ask: Are you doing the drive to visit
towns/cities ? ( and spend time in some of them? ) or to see the
countryside from the car and then get a hotel for the night ? I ask
only because obviously they are totally different trips.
SO think it over - what do you want from the drive ?
TO " see stuff" or to meet people/experiences ?

From San Fran to Boston in a straight line is 3111 via maps.google.com
( BOS to SFO) so for 10 days you'd have to average 311 miles. That's
5-6-7 hours a day of driving ( less in rural areas more near cities with
their rush hours etc). That doesn't leave much time for " stopping and
seeing " stuff per day. So if it's drivng/seeing the countryside you
want it can be done ( When I was 18/19/20, we used to drive to Vegas
from Boston and back every year in 2 weeks). But THAT type of drive
would be a totally different route than planning on seeing cities/sites
each day.
e.g: here's ONE entry in the westbound directions:

Take the exit onto I-80 W toward Council Bluffs/Omaha - passing through
Nebraska, Wyoming, Entering Utah for 1,052 mi - kinda boring if no stops
planned.

Have you considered picking parts of the country ( maybe the top /
bottom/west/east ) and covering all of it. Dead head there and THEN
start the "scenic / slow " part of the trip. That would allow time for
stops. I did just that this winter - drove straight from Boston to
Florida, turned around and then spent a month coming back ( rather than
2 weeks down and 2 weeks back).

For ideas on what to do in certain parts of the country/world I like :
http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/3...ee/default.htm
it gives me an idea of "what's to see " and how much time to allow per
city.

On Apr 29, 5:59 am, wrote:
Here's my challenge: I want to drive cross-country, Boston-San
Francisco, but I have to persuade my wife -- who thinks the nation has
become one big strip mall, with golden arches and starbucks shops. I'm
looking for suggestions for a northern and southern route that would
take through the most interesting countryside.

My husband and I are looking at doing the same thing, but SF to
Boston. We don't want to spend more than 5-7 days driving, but we
want to at least have some interesting dinners planned along the way.
We're thinking of starting each day at 4am, drive for four hours and
stop for a short breakfast, then drive pretty much nonstop until 8pm,
when we will stop and have a good dinner and get a good sleep. So
we're looking at the fast roads--not a sight seeing trip, but a
relaxing way to spend time together and get the car across country.
Let me know what you end up doing.