Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Road trip Seattle to North Carolina
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April 23, 2012 at 6:01 pm #602991
MaxineParticipantWe (2 adults and possibly a small dog) are contemplating taking a road trip from Seattle to North Carolina (maybe there in a rented RV & fly back)and wonder if anyone has some ideas for an interesting & scenic route we might take.
Thanks!
April 23, 2012 at 6:16 pm #756142
365StairsParticipantDevil’s Tower and Mt. Rushmore are not that far apart…good drive through before dipping south…
April 23, 2012 at 7:18 pm #756143
skeeterParticipantWhen I drove cross country I went through the Michigan Upper Peninsula. I thought that was pretty cool.
April 24, 2012 at 4:28 pm #756144
KenParticipantmake sure you see what WA has to offer just off I-90 on the way east:
http://www.seattlemet.com/travel-and-outdoors/articles/central-washington-road-trip-april-2012/
and
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/geology/publications/inf/72-2/sec5.htm
I have driven coast to coast with time on my hands several times and mainly I remember that there is a very good reason why most of it is called “flyover” country. Cross the Smokies on I-40 in the daytime if you can.
April 24, 2012 at 4:47 pm #756145
sbreParticipantDale’s Diner in Lizard Lick N.C. serves the best pork chop I have ever eaten, and that’s saying a lot if you’ve ever tasted my wife’s fantastic cooking.
Of course there is Kill Devil Hill where the Wright Brothers did their thing. It’s amazing to see the markers in the ground representing each flight attempt and how far they traveled.
And by all means, make sure you get a tall, cool glass of ‘sweet tea’, bet you can’t drink just one!!!
Enjoy your time on the road.
April 24, 2012 at 4:50 pm #756146
365StairsParticipantExactly 1,250 miles to WALL Drug – South Dakota (if you go I-90).
Trust me…you will see signs.
Don’t forget the Reptile Musemum too.
April 24, 2012 at 6:18 pm #756147
GAnativeParticipantPull over and take your picture at the Continental Divide on I-90 in Montana.
You would have to detour a little south: the St Louis Arch and BBQ in Memphis.
Or head way south from here and see the Grand Canyon.
Once you get to NC: Biltmore House in Ashville
April 24, 2012 at 6:28 pm #756148
herongrrrlParticipantI’ve done that trip a couple times, with some variation in routes. We didn’t make a lot of stops because we were a bit pressed for time, but did enjoy stops at Devil’s Tower and Yellowstone. We went to Wall Drug, but mostly so we could say we’ve been there…if you really need a jackalope, though, you should stop. :)
On one trip we stopped at Squire Boone Caverns; the caves were great, although the “Village” was pretty tourist-trappy. http://www.squireboonecaverns.com/
Another time, there was a rockslide blocking the interstate we were planning to take through Tennesee into NC, so we wound up detouring along Hwy 71 through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (a fascinating slice of Americana for this Seattle native to witness) and driving through Great Smokey Mountain National Park into NC. That turned out to be a beautiful detour, and we came out at Cherokee where there is an interesting museum.
And depending on the route you choose and your time constraints, if you have any interest in pioneer history I can’t give a big enough recommendation to visit the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA (just off I-81). It’s a large living history complex and really well done.
Of the routes we’ve taken, I recommend the northern tier for scenic value. I thought western North Dakota was beautiful, and wished we had had more time to spend in Wisconsin. Taking I-90 through Wyoming into South Dakota does give you the options to stop at Mt. Rushmore and/or Devil’s Tower, as well as Yellowstone.
We also enjoyed the portion of the drive home from Colorado through Wyoming (diagonally from Caspar, taking Hwy 20/26/287 through Shoshone National Forest and Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone–breathtaking scenery!), but we didn’t enjoy driving across all the flatland between Kentucky and Denver to start that run.
One thing to note, if you don’t know this already–once you get east of the Mississippi, it seems like there are no direct routes between anything major. I remember a lot of hours in the car getting from point A to point B on the backroads between Iowa and North Carolina.
April 24, 2012 at 6:38 pm #756149
sam-cParticipantwhen are you doing the road trip ? if you are going in the beginning of August, I have some advice and could go on…. but I won’t bore with the details otherwise.
(ie, the sturgis rally in the beginning of August)
for example, we wanted to stop in deadwood, SD to take a look, but there was absolutely no parking (tons of harleys to check out as we drove thru town slowly). I do want to go back to Deadwood-looked interesting.
similarly, Wallace, ID was a nice stop
visit the corn pallace in Mitchell, SD !
(I guess I like old towns and kitschy stuff)
there are lots of good places to stop and visit along the way, just some things to keep in mind:
dogs aren’t allowed at mt. rushmore. we had to take turns checking it out while one person stayed in the car with the dog with the windows rolled down.
we went in summer and it was so hot during our road trip that we basically had to stay in the car or the hotel. and ended up eating a lot of fast food because it was too hot to leave the dog in the car, and too hot to leave the dog tied up outside which is a bad idea anyway.
depending on where you will want to stop, having a dog with you can make some things hard to see. just something I realized when taking a road trip to the mid-west.
April 24, 2012 at 11:48 pm #756150
KenParticipantIf “kitschy stuff” is on the menu, you have to see Pigeon Forge TN. Dollywood raised the bar and now the whole town and most of the county is either part of the empire or trying to pick up abundant overflow of the quintessential resort for those who never read Faulkner.
April 25, 2012 at 2:01 pm #756151
JoBParticipantSam-C
the dogs and i enjoyed Mt Rushmore
from the scenic route through the park
each tunnel perfectly frames the view
April 25, 2012 at 2:05 pm #756152
JoBParticipantMaxine..
no matter which route you choose..
you will have more endless spaces to cross than you want…
so just choose some things in the middle that interest you and plot a course between them :)
if you look for it, there is something interesting almost any place you choose to go
April 25, 2012 at 2:42 pm #756153
shihtzuParticipantI’ve driven across th country a few times. If I had the time, I would go around the middle and either explore the badlands and northern Midwest states or go way south. The back roads of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are excellent for road tripping.
April 25, 2012 at 3:53 pm #756154
sam-cParticipantyes.. we enjoyed lots from the windows of the car.
but then sometimes, you like to get out of the car, stretch your legs… chat with other road trippers, read plaques, talk to park rangers, buy a postcard.
I was providing an example of how a road trip is different when you have a dog with you and it’s 105 degrees outside.
we all (dog included) got to visit Jamestown, ND (giant buffalo!), wall drug, etc.
and then again, maybe a rented RV would retain the air conditioned temps. longer.
April 25, 2012 at 5:45 pm #756155
JoBParticipantSam-C
pups and i stopped at some of the viewpoints…
driving alone i didn’t have the option of leaving them in the car in the heat.
it was still pretty warm as i drove across…
but what sunsets!
April 26, 2012 at 1:01 pm #756156
redblackParticipantif you’ve never been to hot springs, you can find some in southern idaho – pocatello, maybe? it’s a relaxing way to end a driving session.
April 26, 2012 at 2:44 pm #756157
JoBParticipantApril 27, 2012 at 5:13 pm #756158
MaxineParticipantThanks everybody – some wonderful tips and ideas!!
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