Help me plan a roadtrip-honeymoon.

[contactme_11]

My fiancee has told me to plan our honeymoon and not tell her what it is. I've decided to forgo all conventional tradition and have our honeymoon as a roadtrip. I know her very well and trust me, she will LOVE this idea. Our wedding will be in MA in Sept. 08 and I would like the trip to last around 2 weeks. I figure something like drive for a day, stop for the night, drive for a day, stop for a day, etc. I would like suggestions of must see places and roadside attractions you think would be fun to include. My route planning will no doubt follow the course that leads to the attractions.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by contactme_11

My fiancee has told me to plan our honeymoon and not tell her what it is. I've decided to forgo all conventional tradition and have our honeymoon as a roadtrip. I know her very well and trust me, she will LOVE this idea. Our wedding will be in MA in Sept. 08 and I would like the trip to last around 2 weeks. I figure something like drive for a day, stop for the night, drive for a day, stop for a day, etc. I would like suggestions of must see places and roadside attractions you think would be fun to include. My route planning will no doubt follow the course that leads to the attractions.
Perhaps some indication of where you are starting out from (one can assume that MA has more than one starting point and one highway), which general direction you would be heading, and what you are interested in seeing, would be appropriate. I mean, what do you want here, like points of interest? Historical monuments? I bet stripclubs are probably out, eh?

 

[globetrotter]

falling water house (everybody should see it in the fall), washington dc (great museums - great art work romantic), memphis (music, barbque), new orleans (music), naples florida (in sept is is basically off season, but it is still warm) - home. there you go, two weeks of paradise.

 

[tiecollector]

Destination Vegas in a Cadillac. That'd be sick.

 

[contactme_11]

Starting out from Springfield, MA. So probably either I-91, I-84, I-90, or R-66. As far as direction I'm open to suggestion. We like scenic landscapes, museums, historical and other landmarks, roadside oddities, really open to almost anything. But no, nothing like stripclubs...

 

[contactme_11]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

falling water house (everybody should see it in the fall)

What and where is this?

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by contactme_11

What and where is this?

http://www.paconserve.org/index-fw1.asp

 

[FLMountainMan]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

falling water house (everybody should see it in the fall), washington dc (great museums - great art work romantic), memphis (music, barbque), new orleans (music), naples florida (in sept is is basically off season, but it is still warm) - home. there you go, two weeks of paradise.

This is a really good outline. If you're at all the outdoors type, I'd also swing by Mt. Rogers State Park. (it's near where TN, VA, and NC all meet) Beautiful scenery and wild ponies, which all women love for some reason. September shouldn't be crowded. Also, if you're the country type, I'd sub in Nashville for Memphis, or hit them both (Memphis has better food).
I'd also substitute St. George Island or Destin (in the middle of the Florida Panhandle) for Naples. It's more romantic, nicer beach, more unique, cheaper, and much less crowded. Then on the way back to Mass, you can swing by Charleston, SC or Savannah, GA. Both neat towns with a lot of history and great food and architecture.

 

[Mbogo]

I hope you're right about your fiancÃ

enjoying this expedition compared to, say, a trip to Hawaii. A long road trip is a serious test of compatibility.

But you know her better that we do...

This having been said, why not do it right? As in, all the way- coast to coast. Now THAT'S a road trip.

It can easily be done- I've done it. Several times in chunks (starting out in the west, for instance, and covering half a dozen big ass western states in a week or so) and also the whole enchilada, coast to coast, in one shot. 2 weeks is more than enough time, and would leave you ample time to explore or stop for a day or whatever. 3 weeks would be downright epic.

I tend to like small towns and quirky little cities, and back roads through the countryside. That's where you see the cool stuff. I mean, for instance, I took a picture of myself standing next to the (obviously) unused twin to the Hiroshima atom bomb that was sitting in this weird display outside the fence at the White Sands Missile proving grounds. You're not going to stumble on that at Six Flags. Interstates suck, except when you need to cover ground fast. But you may like larger cities and touristy or resort type stuff. So modify the following general suggestion to meet your requirements. And I just pulled some stops out of thin air based on where you might end up after x number of miles at the end of a day. But here goes:

The first couple of days just haul ass on the interstates to get out of the Northeast as quickly as possible. Night 1 can get you to, say, Wheeling, WV. An odd Ohio River town in the middle of coal country. Night 2- Memphis- another cool river town. By day 3 you can slow it down a little and poke through AR and TX. Day 4 take the blue highways through TX and into NM. Southern NM can keep you busy for a day or 2, as can AZ. Before you know it, you're a fast blast across the desert to LA or San Diego.

Spend a day there, and repeat the above steps in reverse, maybe several hundred miles north, parallel to the trip out. You can hit Vegas (or not- yuck), see some really really cool **** in southern UT, or the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which pisses all over the South Rim that everyone else goes to. Then there's northern NM which is really wacky and cool, southern CO which is beautiful mountain roads and towns, and then...KS/MO/IL. Don't laugh. Those Midwestern corn belt states can be very hypnotic in a very middle-America sort of way. You probably won't meet nicer people, or see prettier farms. It can be sort of soothing on the back roads through all that farm country.

And then another long day or two on the interstates, home to jobs, wedded bliss, and a great story to tell your future grandkids.

Do it, Man. Now is the time to awe your woman with your manly explorer skills. (Bring one of those GPS thingos, and a stack of the indispensable Delorme Gazetteers).

David