Originally Posted by
WoodieSC
I've driven cross-country twice... the first the 'middle route' via Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, up through Oregon to Seattle... and back the Northern route via Montana, Minnesota, the Dakotas, etc. Unfortunately I'd lost my camera while I was in Seattle so had no pictures on the way back, and being a young, single guy I couldn't afford to buy a new one. But your trip is going to be an outstanding once-in-a-lifetime one that I envy.
Don't take any wooden nickels, in case you haven't been told that yet... and be careful who you trust, especially in today's environment.
I think you're picking the wrong time of year if you're heading out soon since many mountain passes may/will be closed, and will limit where you can go. Hope you're starting in mid-Spring or so.
Places to try to see, in no certain order...
- Mt. St. Helens, WA - it will blow your mind as you attempt to visualize the magnitude of what actually took place there;
- Mt. Rainier, WA, stay at Paradise Inn (8K feet.), and try to get in on a climb to the summit (14+K feet), but I believe that will need to be in the Summer months.
- Olympic Peninsula, WA - a truly wild place with the only 'rain forest' in North America.
- Antelope Canyon - I never got there, but my brother and SIL did and one of his pics is on their current brochure. An incredible place as I understand it.
- See Ring King in Northern CA. I can no longer recommend any other place since from San Francisco down is now a cesspool or full of people you don't want to meet unless you just want to sight see down the coast road, but swing West before you hit LA unless you love traffic misery.j
- If it's convenient, check out Crater Lake, OR, but only as a sight-seeing wonder. The same with Lake Tahoe, CA. An incredibly beautiful place, and some fun gambling, but expensive as all git-out and I was there a looooong time ago.
- Vancouver, BC and points North on your way to or from Alaska.
- The San Juan Islands in Washington... again, just as a sight-seeing tour on the ferries.
- Skip Portland since it's turned into a cesspool. It used to be a beautiful city.
- Skip downtown Seattle. Again, it used to be a cool city, and I lived their twice, but have no interest in returning into what used to be my favorite location in the US.
- East Coast... up the Maine coast to Bar Harbor... but not between July 4 and Labor Day. In those two months there are normally over 30,000 tourists to a town with a population of 3000. Drive across Maine and New Hampshire to Vermont and you can take the ferry across Lake Chamberlain(?) and you're only 35 miles below the Canadian border and about 70 miles below Montreal. Personally, I'd skip Montreal and go to Quebec if you can.
*** Just know that DO NOT have any firearms in your vehicle in NJ, NY, or at the Canadian border unless you check all the regs first. A single hollow point bullet found in NJ can put you in jail for a minimum of three years and they do it. A non-preregistered gun in NY State can do the same. I'd check fresh regs for all States, for that matter, and if the Dems actually get control of the US Govt, check for updates regularly as those bastards could pull anything.
Many of my other ideas are already listed above. Congrats on a cool decision and be safe... and keep us updated!
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