Northern US (southern Canada?) road trip suggestions?

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:01 pm

Oh gosh Beth! Can I come?
In 1986 Jeff and I had a 2 week trip all booked. We would fly to Seattle, rent a car, drive into Canada through Vancouver, head north, then east through Banff, then Calgary...It would have been a heckuvalota driving, but we were into that back then. Well, then my father-in-law needed bypass surgery, Jeff had to hold down the business, and our trip was scratched. Feeling sorry about it, Jeff's dad sent us to San Francisco for a few days. I was 7 mo. pregnant and Jeff needed to push me up some of the hills. It was fun. Someday though....someday we will do our Canada trip.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:25 pm

Last summer we drove to Michigan via the REALLY scenic route. From Buffalo we skirted the south shore of Lake Ontario and up past Toronto (worth an overnight) to the Bruce Peninsula. Took a ferry to Manitoulin Island (largest freshwater island in the world). From there, up into Ontario and West to Sault St. Marie. Back into the US via the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and down to St. Ignace for a side ferry trip to Mackinac Island (ferry might not be running this time of year). It's circuitous, but very beautiful. From there westward, you're on your own.

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:29 pm

I drove cross country many years ago. My trip stretched to about 25 days and is in many ways the trip of my lifetime. I had friends to see and certain sites that I wanted to visit. Everyone has different likes and dislikes, so what I like may be of little to no interest to someone else.

Is it 5 to 8 days total, or each way? It takes 48 hours of straight driving time to cross the country, so that doesn't leave much time for anything else. Are you camping or moteling? Do you have friends enroute?

If 5 days total, I would scrap the westward plan and tour parts of Maine and nearby Canada that you haven't seen. I spent a week in Maine, camping, hiking and eating lobster, and it was one of the highlights of my trip. Even 8 days is a real stretch to make it to Yosemite. Closer are the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Yosemite is EXTREMELY crowded during the summer. For camping, reservations are a must, and on weekends there are no motels available for 50 miles either. Yes, I think it is a bad idea, to drive all the way across country and then have to fight traffic and crowds in the park.

Best time for Yosemite is week after Easter break. The waterfalls are gushing, the roads are usually open, and the park is not so crowded.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:06 am

jsluder wrote:
avanutria wrote:... Possibly Yosemite Park as well ...
Did central California make a sudden leap to the northeast?

You know, I knew there was something wrong when I wrote that but I wrote it anyway, lol. I meant Yellowstone!

But anything's possible at this stage!

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:13 am

djm wrote:If you can fit Niagra Falls and Mt. Rushmore into a five day road trip you won't have time to do any more than drive and drive. You could easily spend your vacation in just the New England states, let alone driving half way across the country. Instead of trying to dazzle, why not just pick a nice area or two, take your time and try to get to know it over a few days. This might leave more of an impression than mind-numbing endurance driving.

I've driven across the country (NY to WA, ID, or OR, and back again from two of them) five times now, have a good idea of the travel times involved, and quite enjoy marathon drives - but as I said we are still working out the time frame. Part of our trip is going to be spent doing other activities in NY and PA and I don't know how much time we're allotting overall yet.

We've already done New England in depth and want to make this one a road trip rather than a stay-in-one-place trip.

Izzy - I'll PM you with the NY/PA details, maybe something is possible!

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:09 am

avanutria wrote:I'm sketching out a possible road trip for July of next year. It would begin in Western NY and head west along the northern states spanning something between 5 and 8 days probably - this is very rough at the moment. The time frame is still open to adjustment.

Niagara Falls and Mount Rushmore would be included stops. Possibly Yosemite Park as well; I'm trying to work out the difficulty of getting there and back.

Can anyone suggest other noteworthy things to see/places to go, and an endpoint to aim for that has an airport capable of flights to Philadelphia and/or back to England?

Of particular interest are things that demonstrate American culture and/or just the "bigness" of the western states.

The floor is open to suggestions!

Oklahoma is not the north, but I'd not mind it if you swung by this way.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:54 pm

OH OH Pick me Pick me!!!! SW Michigan. Not too far off the beaten path. And/Or go up to "The Soo" as we call Sault St. Marie and watch the lake ships go through the locks.
See Whitefish Bay and the Edmond Fitzgerald Museum.
I'll follow in my car and give you a fascinating historical account of everything. What I don't know I'll make up.
Then head west down I-94 and up through Wisconson and Minnesota and on into the Dakotas.

We can find Thurlowe too. And Markb lives near Ottawa I think.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 12:57 pm

Ottawa is in entirely the opposite direction.

djm

gonzo914 · Post by **gonzo914** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:18 pm

Flyingcursor wrote:Then head west down I-94 and up through Wisconson . . .

Which take you right past . . . . .

The hotel has burned down, or burned up, however you want to say it, but you can still find pieces of it in the rubble --

The restaurant is still there but is no longer open.

But its memory lives on at Requiem for the Gobbler Motel, and in Remembering the Gobbler Supper Club -- A Turkey of a Restaurant, and of course, here in this shameless plug.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:22 pm

djm wrote:Ottawa is in entirely the opposite direction.

djm

I meant Windsor. Stupid me.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:39 pm

Oh, goody. A map. Hey! There's Janesville, WI! That's where they made my truck. Kudos to the good folks in Janesville for a job well done.

djm

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:50 pm

I will probably be residing in Philly, maybe we could have a tune?

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:09 pm

Beth, if you two are anywhere NEAR Yellowstone and you DON'T stop over here for at least a fast hello ther'll be some 'splainin to do!

Flying Cement · Post by **Flying Cement** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:09 pm

If you end up going to Boston, you have a place on my air mattress or futon.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:24 am

Brian - we're trying to see if SLC might be our exit point, not sure yet. But maybe it'll be an excuse for another Badgertown session!

Unseen - sounds good!

FCement - thanks for the kind offer. Boston was a different trip, May/June of 2005. martin got to experience his first plane landing during a Nor'easter, and I spent the next year trying to teach him to pronounce it.

FCursor - at least it's not just me making geographical errors!

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Northern US (southern Canada?) road trip suggestions?

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