My brother and I are planning a road trip this summer and we'd like some suggestions for routes to take and things to see along the way!

Here are the major destinations in our plan:

Start: Poughkeepsie, NY (my brother's home)
Columbus, OH
St. Louis, MO
Denver, CO
San Francisco, CA
Redwood National Park
Crater Lake Nat'l Park
Yellowstone
Minneapolis, MN (via somewhere in South Dakota)

After that we are going to drive across the Northern piece of Michigan and through Canada to Ottawa before heading back into NY.

We're still picking our stops for in between some of these destinations and looking for the best routes to take. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Hi there, it sounds like quite the trip! I did a cross country drive last summer but it was more across the northern part of the US.

I honestly don't have any great suggestions for you, but you might want to try out AAA's TripTik mapping doohickey... it's really helpful for planning a long route. You can type in all the cities you want to hit then drag the route around on the map and change the order of the cities and it tells you how far away they are and all sorts of stuff. I always have a hard time finding a direct URL to it since it varies by state... just google AAA TripTik.

For cities like Columbus, St. Louis, etc... are you doing there because there is something you want to see, or because you know someone there you are visiting? Just wondering.

Three of us did a road trip meandering across the US taking in the following:

Venice Beach & Santa Monica
LA, Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, Downtown
Malibu Beach, California
Las Vegas
Hoover Dam and Boulder City
Sedona & Oak Creek
Grand Canyon South Rim, Arizona
North Rim Grand Canyon, Arizona
Zion National Park, Utah
Bryce Canyon National Park
Monument Valley
Mesa Verde
Canyonlands & Arches
Salt Lake City
Garden City and Bear Lake, Utah
Thayne town, Wyoming
Grand Tenton range & Lake Jenny
Yellowstone National Park
Little Bighorn Battlefield
Deadwood & Hardin
Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave NP
Custer town, Custer State Park,
Fort Laramie
Rocky Mountain N.P. Bear Lake and Nymph Lake
Rocky Mountain National Park
Denver Colorado
Graceland and Memphis
Nashville the Music City
St. Louis
Chicago
Washington DC
New York City
Boston
This was part of our 12 month round the world trip and what a fantastic time we had.
Jean

We've done a bit of travel along the northern US leg of your trip so here are a few suggestions for before and after Minneapolis:

South Dakota:
• Black Hills and Mount Rushmore
• Badlands
• Wall Drug and the Corn Palace - hokey, but you MUST do them

Minnesota
• Pipestone Nat’l Monument (quick trip, right off the freeway. While you’re there, take in the view from Blue Mounds State Park)
• New Ulm for some Minnesota German culuture - beer and wurst
• Headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park
• The North Shore of Lake Superior (Duluth to Thunder Bay) is terribly beautiful and full of parks, bike and hike trails. Walk a bit of the Superior Nat’l Trail.
• The Boundary Waters for canoeing or hiking
• Grab the ferry to Isle Royale (from MN or MI)


Wisconsin and the UP
• If you want outdoor adventure, northern Wisconsin and hte UP is glorious. Very under populated wilderness with too few visitors. FIsh, boat, canoe, camp, hike, bike, etc etc. Bring strong, strong insect repellents, though
• Hike a leg of the Northern Trail
• The south shore of Lake Superior is less visually dramatic than the north shore, but has a lot of beautiful points Go to Bayfield and kayak or boat around the Apostle islands
• Mountain bike in the Porcupines
• See the Pictured Rocks by boat or kayak
• Go to the Shipwreck museum at Whitefish Point
• Head to Canada either via the Soo locks or the Drummond Ferry at the east end of the UP. If you do the latter, the north shore of Lake Huron is also beautiful

Very jealous!