USA Road Trip

[Stuffragette]

I'm 40 next March. We've had a tricky year and my head teacher has let us have two extra days before Easter off so now we have three weeks to go away. Yey! Plus we've just had a bit of a windfall so thought we'd go on a US road trip. I've no idea where to start. Has anyone got any recommendations/tips? I'm so excited already .

I'd love to do the West coast, from Seattle down to San Diego. I've been along the coast from Monterey to LA and it is stunning- beautiful towns, big craggy coastline, redwoods etc. We've done road trips in the southwest as well, around Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Great if you like the desert! Look up the following national parks for some ideas:
Monument Valley
Capitol Reef
Arches
Zion
Bryce Canyon
Canyonlands

Yellowstone is also amazing but is HUGE, almost a road trip in itself.

I am very jealous, I love the US, some of the most spectacular scenery on earth!

My favourite trip was San Francisco, Napa Valley, Vegas, Death Valley, San Diego, Phoenix.
Have fun! It is easy to cover long distances in the US without any of the hassle you get here.

Whoops, forgot about the Grand Canyon in that trip!

Weirdly, the Grand Canyon is not one of my favourite national parks (parts of it are v touristy). That probably tells you a bit about how bloomin awesome US national parks are!
Katiekaye- I absolutely love California. Sooo many things to see and do there, it's my favourite state.

Agree we all like different things. I was so disappointed in Yosemite, because it was so incredibly crowded when I visited. But then I have limited mobility, so was in the popular touristy bits.
Love California too!
OP, if you like roller coasters have a think about Magic Mountain up in Valencia. Just amazing and an easy day trip from LA.
Death Valley is an all time fave because it is easy to get to places there where you do not see another person. And watching the sunset from Dantes View was amazing. Another great memory was riding through the Arizona desert at dusk.

I didn't put Yosemite on my list for that reason katiekaye. It's so, so beautiful but very crowded, to the point of traffic jams in some places Love some of the places nearby though- mono lake, toulumni meadows and Sequoia Kings Canyon. YY to desert sunsets! I love the desert (whereas my California based relatives love our green fields).

I'd love to do New England

Years ago we did the following:
LA, San Diego, Scottsdale, Vegas, San Francisco, Grand Canyon, Yosemite -this is not the correct order (!) - great trip.

Have a look at www.completenorthamerica.co.uk for ideas

Just want to mention that you might enjoy the Road Food website!

Make sure you plan enough time to really appreciate what you're seeing.

We did out Vegas - Death Valley - Yosemite - San Fran - PCH - LA trip too quickly. We had the problem of having two major events to squeeze it in between, in Vegas and LA, so we didn't spend enough actual time in places appreciating it.

We also had horrific fog driving down the Pacific Coast Highway so couldn't see any of the awesome scenery, but because we had to be in LA by a certain date we couldn't wait until the following day when it was clear as anything.

So please make sure you build in enough time where you're not rushed. You'll appreciate it a lot more that way.

Oh and hire a fun car :)