Honeymooon Road Trip -- 10 weeks plus!

Dear Jamie,

I am getting married next May and for our honeymoon my fiancée and I are driving around the country for 10 weeks. We are starting in central PA heading west to Chicago and hitting the Badlands, Yellowstone, and Seattle on our trip west. We are going to stay along the pacific coast and head as far south as LA.

On the trip back east we want to hit the Grand Canyon, the southern Utah national park area, Santa Fe, San Antonio to New Orleans. We are meeting some friends 6 weeks into the trip to spend a few days in Disney World. Then the last 4 weeks Savannah to Nashville to St. Louis and finishing in DC.

We are going to be doing a lot of car camping and outdoor camping.

My question for you is what are some interesting spots between our stops that you would recommend? It will be a lot of highway driving, but what kind of scenic routes are along the way? Thanks for your help, your book has been an invaluable resource in planning this trip, but I just couldn't resist emailing you personally.

Thanks for all the help

Tony

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Dear Tony --

Thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA, and I hope I can help you plan a great honeymoon road trip. 10 weeks driving around the country? I'm jealous!

I cover quite a few of your planned roads in my book, Road Trip USA, and on the website -- I guess you've checked these out. For the Chicago and west section, I have many good suggestions in my "Oregon Trail" chapter, which follows old US20 and some of the even older Lincoln Highway (which is especially good across Pennsylvania). I also cover the whole Pacific Coast Highway, as well as Route 66 (for your LA / Grand Canyon / Santa Fe tour).

I have tried to include lots of good recommendations in the book -- squeeze them in , is more accurate. There is so much to see and enjoy along these routes, I am sure you will have fabulous time.

In addition to the places you listed, I definitely recommend you explore Portland and the Columbia Gorge / Mount Hood area (Timberline Lodge would be a good splurge, for a meal or an overnight, or even just to see it. ) I also really like the Olympic Peninsula area west of Seattle, and the San Juan Islands / Port Townsend area.

You didn't mention Las Vegas, which is honeymoon central -- and despite the inevitable tackiness, it does offer some opportunities for indulging yourselves; if you've been car-camping in the desert, you'll appreciate luxuriating in a huge marble bath...

Out west there are too many scenic routes to mention -- in southern Utah, almost every road is scenic. For a couple more great stops, I'd suggest you look into visiting the ancient cliff palaces in Mesa Verde and Canyon de Chelley national parks -- I really get a kick out of these beautiful and enigmatic structures. Same goes for the "mound cities" you can find all over the eastern US, in Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio and Georgia -- these are pretty thought-provoking places, and usually very pretty to look at, too.

I'm not sure if these are the sorts of ideas you were looking for, but I am sure you will have a fantastic time on your trip.

Happy Trails, and congratulations,


Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA