Honeymoon - USA Roadtrip - Looking for suggestions, good roads, things to see.
 

Hi Folks.

Just wanted to start a thread here to try and get some petrolhead recommendations of things to do on our honeymoon. We're from the UK, but planning our Honeymoon for June 2018. Myself and the wife-to-be are both into cars and plan to see and drive as much of America as we can in 2-3weeks.

We are in the VERY early stages of planning the trip but wanted to seek advise, generally ask questions, and make sure we don't miss anything that we really need to see along our journey.

We have made a start by looking at a very rough route of a few big cities we would like to pass through to get an a general idea of our path. Then sketched out all the scenic by-ways and routes along each State. It may be the case that we do as much of the below as we can, the fly the final bit as the misses wants 4-5 days just chilling in Miami. Ideally we'll be doing the trip in a nice muscle car.

Our current high level route is:

• San Fran (The Rock, Laguna Seca on leaving)
• LA (See Dom Turretto's house!)
• Flagstaff (old Route 66)
• Southern Rockies
• Roswell (aliens)
• Dallas
• New Orleans
• Miami

Any thoughts would be much welcomed :tiphat:

I-70 west from Denver, its amazing... or Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, you'll thank me.

since you are going to be in Flagstaff, head just south to Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon.
I like the mountain road, if it is not winter. :icon17:

Skip Dallas - got to Austin instead.

This post can not be overstated enough. Austin is amazing.

Then stop by Houston to visit with all the forum members there. It will be fun because they all make 2405789346 horse power.

Stay away from MI. Dangerous winds due to EW :ugh:

I think u got all da fun areas covered. Check out Malibu while in LA

Gotta recommend a drive through my second home range ... The blue ridge parkway/ Tail of the dragon/ smoky mountain range.

Lots of cool little towns to pass through in june, wine vinyards, breweries and some amazing driving.

Then head down to Atlanta.


Would say NYC is a must see but not if you're looking for a nice drive lol.

Cruise a few of the Hill Country backroads while you are in the area.

The single most significant thing I learned when on road trips, especially in smaller places, is when you get there don't look for the touristy things. Stop st a local diner or burger joint and ask the waitress what to see or do. Always get the most authentic experiences that way. I've had so many maps scribbled on the back of paper placemats or cocktail napkins. You'll find yourselves invited to all sorts of things that way too. That's the real american adventure :tup:

Florida Keys
 

If you are coming to Florida.... Miami is great but not so much for driving. What you want to do is go to the Florida Keys and drive the 7 mile bridge among other fun things. So much fun!! [IMG]http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g5...ps7dxd4gcm.jpg[/IMG]

:iagree: These guys have the right idea. Austin is amazing. Hit me up if you make it part of your route and I'll give you some suggestions for roads to drive, places to eat, or whatever you're interested in :tup:

Guys, appreciate all the replies! I haven't been on here in a while so just catching up with everything here!
Pikes Peak is a great call so will try and work that into the plan. Interesting that so many suggest Austin > Dallas will review that also!

We need to get back into planning this soon so I'll no doubt be back with questions!!

Just looking at the logistics we may well skip over New Orleans (which is a shame), but spend longer taking our time driving from San Fran East to TX, then maybe fly the gap to Miami.

Thanks again, Matt

In addition to checking out Laguna Seca south of San Francisco, you might also want to check out Sonoma Raceway (formerly Sears Point Raceway), which is not too far north of San Francisco.

OK, quick update as we've been hacking the route together in the evenings this week. It's taking shape nicely.
From the general feedback here, and from friends we are doing Austin, not Dallas. There are some cool things to see from a quick skim in and around Austin. SRV statue, COTA racetrack, rodeo (for the wife to be). Plus a little further out is Hamilton Pool which looks incredible.

I think we've also managed to work in some of the hill country roads west of Austin, nearer to San Antonio.

I'm ideally trying to work in a Nascar visit somewhere along the way, any perhaps some NBA or baseball. I guess that a lot of these activities are weekend only?

One thing to keep in mind, being from the UK, is the sheer distances you're going to be driving here in the US. You've got a lot of cool destinations, but you're looking at a LOT of time on wide open empty roads with nothing to see.

Yes indeed. Just from our progress so far (San Fran -> Austin) we are fully expecting many 4+ hour sections of 'nothing' just to get to the next marker on our map. In between the long drives we are trying to find things right on route that could entertain us for even 30 minutes. Just to allow us to stretch our legs and get a few pictures.

Example: I found Ostrichland near Santa Barbara today. Right near our route, and for $5 we can feed ostrich and emu's. Could be a fun way to spend 20 minutes :icon17:

I can vouch for Hamilton Pool - good call :tup:

Nascar is mostly weekend. NBA isn't just weekends, but the season is pretty much over (Finals start this week). Baseball happens on any day of the week - you'll just have to check schedules.

Hey Jar, thanks for the info. Our trip will be end of June/early July so I guess NBA is out. But will see about others.

I see you're Austin based, anything there you would recommend as a local? I try to do less touristy things where possible to get more of a feel for the town/city. Also good places for food :)

Austin has lots of good food choices. If there is something in particular you like, PM me and I'll steer you in the right direction. Pretty busy this week, but I'm traveling next week and will have some time in the hotel to sit down and put together a short list for you.

Little more planning done tonight. Current plan puts in Austin for 4th July! I am assuming there will be plenty of fireworks and beers? :)

Also, follow up question. Do the 4th July celebrations carry over to the next weekend? We continue our drive and get to New Orleans Fri-Sun after 4th July.