What to do on a US roadtrip?

Whatsername92

Hey guys,
I'm going to be taking a roadtrip right around the US next year so we're trying to compile a list of things to do in each spot.

The rough outline of our route is as follows (we will be driving ourselves):

Boston - New York - Tennessee - Denver - San Diego - Los Angeles - San Francisco - Portland - Seattle - North Dakota - Chigago - Boston.

(Obviously stopping anywhere else along the route that is nice.) We'll be doing music (rock, folk and blues) and stand-up comedy gigs as we go too.

So if you know of anywhere that we could perform on that route, anywhere that's nice to eat or anything that we should check out along the way that we may not know about, please let me know!
(Also, any other tips will be appreciated!)

Thanks!

InTheTrees

Any reason for that northern return route? After you leave western Montana its very very dull and flat and empty all the way to chicago. (Minneapolis is nice enough but I wouldnt go out of my way to stop off there.)

rockonollie

That's 116 hours of driving, and only if you take the interstate system (which will cause you to miss many sights)

Assuming it will be a rental car, be very wary of mileage overages.....some companies have them, some don't.

Whatsername92

InTheTrees wrote: »

Any reason for that northern return route? After you leave western Montana its very very dull and flat and empty all the way to chicago. (Minneapolis is nice enough but I wouldnt go out of my way to stop off there.)

No real reason to be honest. If there's a more interesting route to Chicago in that general area, we're open to suggestions?

rockonollie wrote: »

That's 116 hours of driving, and only if you take the interstate system (which will cause you to miss many sights)

Assuming it will be a rental car, be very wary of mileage overages.....some companies have them, some don't.

Yes, we're aware of the distance but we're planning to do the whole thing over 3 months or so. The route above is only a general idea. We'll definitely be taking detours to see sights, as well as spending a week or so in each of Boston and New York, and 3 or so weeks in California.
I actually wasn't aware of mileage overages, but I will keep an eye out now. Thanks for that; you may have just saved us a lot of bother!

Fr Tod Umptious

InTheTrees wrote: »

Any reason for that northern return route? After you leave western Montana its very very dull and flat and empty all the way to chicago. (Minneapolis is nice enough but I wouldnt go out of my way to stop off there.)

I've done Seattle to Boston on I-90 but in a bit of a hurry rather than a road trip.

South Dakota and Minnesota tend to be a bit flat alright but there is Mt. Rushmore which is well wroth a visit, and I thought Idaho, Montana and Wyoming were really beautiful.

As I said I was in a bit of a rush so did not get to vere off the main road much.

OldBean

If I were you, I'd make the journey from NY to Tennessee along the coast, stopping in Baltimore, DC and both Carolinas. Great food along the way. DC has a solid jazz/blues scene and BMore had a pretty early jazz scene though I'm not familiar with it.

Check out gigs in Ramshead Tavern in Annapolis too - It's a pretty small, intimate venue that often has pretty high profile performers. Lovely town.

Further south, you're getting into good BBQ country. The styles will change as you go further south. Your best to just try them all.

I've heard some good things about Raleigh.

If you're performing yourselves, make sure you have Visa's.

TeaBagMania

Most of that trip is a whole lot of nothing; I’d rather the PCH from San Diego to Canada

boccy23

You haven't mentioned it, but Austin is definitely worth it. And New Orleans based on Blues and music as you have mentioned.

Stojkovic

Yes New'awlins is a must.

gmurphy70

Austin is a blast, loved it

mad m

If you can take a trip up to Maine from Boston, well worth trip like Bar Harbor. There is a national park called Arcadia which is unreal.

San Fran speaks for its self , loads to do there and see. Try and do Alcatraz (did it a night time ) it's a must. Lombard st, china town , Golden Gate Bridge etc.

The trip from San Fran along PCH down to LA is unreal, this goes all way down to San Diego. San Diego has a permanent air craft carrier permanently docked you can go on. Sea World is down there also plus Knott's Berry farm if your into that stuff.

Los Angeles depending on where you are, the Le Brea tar pits is a great place to see, get on one of those sight seeing tours of the celeb's house thought it was great craic, our driver was paranoid to bits people were following him thought it was very funny.

I don't know if you will be near it but Monument Valley is an unreal place also.

If your driving to LA you maybe near Vegas? Always worth a visit .

Austin is a lovely city, 5th & 6th street has loads of bars and is always buzzing. I can't think of name of bridge but loads of people gather at it right before sun goes down, thousands of bats fly out underneath bridge and is some sight to see.

How long do you have in NY. It's a walk around city so get a good pair of runners. Get a Revolut card.....

Checkout this

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057481488

If you have anymore Q drop me a PM...

Shint0

You should try to include Death Valley. Also the 17 Mile Drive in Monterey on the PCH.

Whatsername92

Hey everyone, thanks for the posts! These are all great ideas! Adding them all to the list!

We'll be spending a decent amount of time (maybe like, a week/10 days) in each of Boston, New York, LA, San Fran and Seattle, and will be travelling and spending a day or two in each spot along the way if we can.

Loving the suggestions so far! All stories from experience, and suggestions are still very much welcome!

Ficheall

Yosemite for a couple of days is unmissable - probably on the way to or from Death Valley. Actually, if you're going to Vegas, you might pop over as far as the Grand Canyon too.

MadsL

If you are doing Denver to San Deigo, then you may as well do a bit of Route 66.

I-25 Denver-Santa Fe-Albuquerque (hit me up, have a venue for a gig)
I-40 (Route 66) ABQ-Williams-Flagstaff-Kingman
Alternatively Head North to Vegas and then through Yosemite to San Francisco.

MeatProduct

Moved the family out here to Seattle last year and we've done the drive to and from San Francisco a couple of times and visited different places each time. It's a great drive and I recommend taking four days to do it. You Have to do Big Sur, a bit south of San Francisco, you'd get that on your drive from LA to SF.

There's a rake of Irish pubs up here and I'd be happy to check out a few of them for you for gigs, can at least put you in touch with the owners.

All the best,
Nick