If We Could Road Trip...

We just finished a three-day stretch of time off, and it was delightful in every single way. Though we were initially sad we had to cancel our Abby-outing, we agreed that three days at home was just what our souls needed. 

Yesterday morning, as I hunted through my computer for a document, I stumbled upon a dream vacation I'd laid out years ago, and I spent some time reading through it. Oh how grand it looks. It would take forever. It would put a lotttttttta miles on a vehicle. But when I think about all the places we could see along the way, it makes my travel-loving heart get all fluttery. I laid it out based on a Pinterest find, so the initial idea is not mine at all. I just rearranged it to make it flow. Can I tell you about it? 

Leg #1 - Route 66. (Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California.)

If you've been reading here any length of time at all, you know that I would dearly love to travel Route 66, so it seems appropriate to begin the amazing trip with this one. (It's also the only route that began mid-country, near where we live.) 

We would begin in Chicago (where we've actually already visited a stop on the route - all the way back on our second anniversary trip) and then head toward St. Louis, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Flagstaff, and Sedona, before ending in Los Angeles and Santa Monica at the other end of the route. 

We have been through Illinois and Missouri (and have ev

en seen a couple of other stops on the route on various trips) multiple times, but basically once we would get beyond St. Louis, everything on this route would be brand new to us. How fun would this be??

Leg #2 - Pacific Coast Highway (San Diego, California to Olympic National Park, Washington)

I think this would be Ryan's favorite leg of the trip. Neither of us have ever seen the Pacific Ocean, and there are so many things about this particular highway that both of us would absolutely adore, but I think this is the part that made him drool the most. 

After completing the Route 66 leg, this second part begins just a couple of hours south (traffic notwithstanding), so for a couple of Midwesterners who haven't seen this part of the country at all, it would be totally worth the detour. 

This leg begins in San Diego, comes back up through Los Angeles, and then to San Luis Obispo, San Simeon, Monterey, San Francisco, Mendocino, Redwood National Park, Dune Country (in Oregon), Astoria and Fort Clatsop (also in Oregon), and ending in Olympic National Park in Washington.

The Redwoods are HIGH on our bucket list, so we'd love seeing those, especially. And how fun that we have friends at different points along this route! (Hi there, Lois and Katie!) We also have friends up in Bellingham, Washington, and their posts on social media have me DROOLING over where they live. I'd have to throw in Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, Oregon, too.  Can we just go right now?

Leg #3 - The Great Northern Route (Seattle, Washington to Acadia National Park in Maine)

Definitely wouldn't want to do this part in the winter, right? Picking up from Olympic National Park (the end of the second leg), it would be another couple of hours to reset for leg #3, but at least this time, the drive would be headed east anyway, so there's no backtracking! 

This leg begins in Seattle and moves on to Sandpoint, Idaho, before continuing on to Glacier National Park in Montana. Then it moves to Fort Peck, Montana and on into North Dakota to see Devil's Lake. Next up? Duluth, Minnesota and the lakeshore of Lake Superior in Wisconsin. Then we would check out another big bucket list stop for us: Mackinac Island and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This route does have a brief crossing into Canada to visit Ottawa and Montreal before returning to the states to see Burlington, Vermont...Jefferson, New Hampshire...and Bangor Maine. Then it ends in Acadia National Park, which I think is such a beautiful place (from the pictures I've seen).

One of the things I love most about this leg is that I've not heard of a ton of these stops, so it would allow us to see places we might otherwise never see. And neither of us have ever traveled across the northern part of the country at all. ALL of this would be brand new to us. 

Leg #4 - The Appalachian Trail...By Car (Maine to Georgia)

Ryan would love to hike the Appalachian Trail, but camping with the bears just doesn't appeal to me too much. We've known people who have hiked portions of the trail, and some of their stories have scared me out of ever trying it on foot! But how fun would it be to travel the same general stretch - by car! That I could get on board with! 

The start of leg #4 is actually about 4 hours north of the end of leg #3. It begins at Mt. Katahdin, in Maine, which marks the northern end of the Appalachian Trail. Next stop? Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. It's part of a mountain range that marks the tallest mountains in New England. Then we would wind down into Vermont's Green Mountains and the Berkshires. 

This particular route goes around New York City (we'll catch that on another trip) and goes down into Delaware and Pennsylvania, right through the heart of Amish country. (Which, you know, is basically like where we live now!) From there we would go through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and follow the Blue Ridge Parkway across North Carolina. From there we would head into Georgia to end the trail. 

I have probably seen more of this part of the trip than Ryan has. Lynnette and I visited the Biltmore back in the summer of 2012 and ended up driving part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I know Ryan would love it, and even though I know his preference would be to hike the whole thing, I think he would still enjoy this leg of travel. (And yes, Lynnette, of course we would come see you on this one!) 

Leg #5 - The Southern Pacific Route (Savannah, Georgia, to San Diego, California)

Yes, I know, this is the third time in five legs that San Diego has shown up as a stop! And yes, we aren't even city people. But there is much more to this part than just that big city. We would have about four hours of travel to get from the Atlanta area over to Savannah, Georgia, to start this part. Savannah is another bucket list stop for me. (Ever since my bonus niece, Savannah, was born, I've been itching to go here. So...you know...two decades.)

This leg follows old US-80 through the south. It's about a 3000 mile drive back to San Diego. Some of the stops along this trip would include places like Montgomery, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama before crossing over into Mississippi and a stop in Jackson. Then on to Shreveport, Louisiana and then a trek across the great state of Texas. (Dallas, Fort Worth, Abilene.) The route also drives right along the border to Mexico for a little bit and then winds up into New Mexico. (It runs close enough to White Sands National Park that we would HAVE to go there, because it's on our bucket list, too.) Then we would go back to Arizona, through Tucson, and wind across the southern part of California again. 

Now THIS would be a good colder weather route! :) 

I'll end today's part with Leg # 6, which would take us just over halfway through the trip.

Leg #6 - The Loneliest Road (San Francisco, California to Annapolis, Maryland)

This trek starts in San Francisco and goes through Sacramento before heading up into Lake Tahoe and into Nevada. This is the part of the route that gave it the name, "The Loneliest Road," because travel writers have called it such. If you like miles of mountains and sky, this is the route for you! It continues into the Great Basin Desert in Utah and then over into the red rock country of Colorado. 

It crosses the Continental Divide and then follows along the Santa Fe Trail, coming back to the Midwest we know so well: St. Louis, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. This route would also take us through Washington D.C. Both of us have been there before, but it's been since second grade (for me) and since senior year (for Ryan) so we would love to go back and see it from an adult perspective. Helps that we have a friend in D.C. who could show us around! 

This route ends on the eastern shore of Maryland, which I would love to explore in more detail than I got to see the one time I was in the general area for a wedding. (Hi, Christina!) 

So tomorrow I'll tell you about the rest. But who wants to come with us for the first part???