Coast to Coast American Road trip with kids.

[Nigglenaggle]

We were thinking along the north of the country. Has anyone done this and what are your top tips? Any other highlights people have for that area?

I’ve done and it was great fun. Think about the time of year you want to travel. You will reach the Rocky Mountains which can get snow as early as September and as late as May.

We didn’t drive, but did coast to coast by train. New York to Chicago, then Chicago to San Francisco. It was fantastic.

That would be a spectacular trip. In the west, Glacier National Park in Montana is beautiful and slightly less well known than the parks to the south like Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain. (Though during high season, it will still be busy.) The Badlands of South Dakota are also a remarkable, desolate space.
Are you set on a car? I ask because it's also possible to do this journey by train. There's an overnight from New York or Boston to Chicago, and from there you've got several routes to choose from. The northernmost route runs from Chicago to Seattle or Portland (the train splits at Spokane, Washington) and includes a stop at Glacier. It also offers big-windowed viewing cars where you can watch the scenery go by. (And it's a bit more room for kids than a backseat!)

How long are you planning to take to do this?

Michigan is worth visiting if you’re going north. We spent a week near Traverse City and it’s very much like the Rheinland in Germany - lots of vineyards, fruit farms, cherries, dunes, boat trips. It’s like a less American America (if that makes sense?).

You want to choose a route with interest along all of it (if this is possible) there are long stretches which will consist of miles of dead flat, dead straight road, even in states which have a lot of excitement in places (I’m looking at you Wyoming). Some parts that seem dull, like the Cascades in Washington state, which from the road are mile after mile of trees, are anything but dull if you stop and explore the National Park. There are long stretches of no habitation in the northern states so you do need to plan your stops ahead.
You would have to choose where to linger and where to accept just driving for a day. Don’t underestimate how far apart things are.
In an ideal world I would take a couple of months to do this trip, that would give a chance to explore the interesting bits with the long dull bits spread more thinly. You want to give the National Parks plenty of time, for example.

Use Roadtrippers.com to help you plan. You can put all the places you want to see in and it will plan a route and recommend other things along the route based on your interests.

We don't have a couple of months, unfortunately, but I get 5 weeks holiday each year so I'm planning on taking that as a block. Car there and train back as the cost of flights home from the West coast is prohibitive. I like the idea of a train both ways although I think a car will give us more flexibility, and DH hates trains (we travelled the Trans Siberian railroad before we had children so its not like he hasn't tried). I was thinking of September to take in New England in autumn but snow in the Rockies needs to be taken into consideration as we planned to go East to West. Would major roads still be OK at that time of year? I'm actually counting on lots of it being dull as otherwise don't think we'll make it across in time!!! I will check out Roadtrippers. Thanks everyone so far :)