It is summer (although it still doesn't feel quite like it in Boston) and time for another road trip to explore America. Last year's road trip took us from the Rocky Mountains to the Grand Canyon and many fabulous places in between. That itinerary was very much adapted from a tour group's website. This year, I couldn't find one for where we wanted to go and so had to planned the whole route all by myself.
I looked through the National Park Service website to find the areas that looked appealing. I also requested for travel catalogs from California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Alaska. from the states' website. The one from California never came (What's happening Arnold Schwarzenegger?). The catalogs were useful as they highlighted interesting places to visit in the states. Unfortunately, we found later that many of the places were over-rated. My advice to all of you who plan to travel anywhere, keep your expectations low and be amazed (or not) when you get there :) Anyways, we were limited to 2 weeks of travel time (Justin has work commitments) and I eventually came up with an itinerary that will took us from northern California right up the US-Canada border in Washington. We did detoured from the original itinerary because of time constraints, the fog along the coast and other more interesting places that popped up.
This was our eventual itinerary and route we took. (Just in case some of you are interested to do some exploration yourself!)
Day 2
I looked through the National Park Service website to find the areas that looked appealing. I also requested for travel catalogs from California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Alaska. from the states' website. The one from California never came (What's happening Arnold Schwarzenegger?). The catalogs were useful as they highlighted interesting places to visit in the states. Unfortunately, we found later that many of the places were over-rated. My advice to all of you who plan to travel anywhere, keep your expectations low and be amazed (or not) when you get there :) Anyways, we were limited to 2 weeks of travel time (Justin has work commitments) and I eventually came up with an itinerary that will took us from northern California right up the US-Canada border in Washington. We did detoured from the original itinerary because of time constraints, the fog along the coast and other more interesting places that popped up.
This was our eventual itinerary and route we took. (Just in case some of you are interested to do some exploration yourself!)
Day 1
- Fly from Boston, MA to Fresno, CA and rent a car from the airport
- Drive from Fresno, CA to Sequoia National Park
- Explore Sequoia National Park
- Overnight in Fresno, CA
Day 2
- Drive from Fresno, CA to Yosemite National Park
- Explore Yosemite National Park
- Overnight in Mariposa, CA
Day 3
- Drive from Mariposa, CA to Eureka, CA via San Francisco
- Overnight in Eureka, CA
Day 4
- Drive from Eureka, CA to Crescent City, CA along US Route 101
- Explore Redwoods National Park
- Overnight in Crescent City, CA
Day 5
- Drive from Crescent City to Bandon, OR along US Route 101
- Explore the Oregon coastal towns
- Overnight in Roseburg, OR
Day 6
- Drive from Roseburg, OR to Crater Lake National Park
- Explore Crater Lake National Park
- Overnight in Roseburg, OR
Day 7
- Drive from Roseburg back to US Route 101
- Explore Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area
- Explore Sea Lion Caves
- Overnight in Newport, OR
Day 8
- Drive from Newport, OR via US Route 101
- Explore Drift Creek Falls
- Explore more Oregon coastal town along the 3 Capes Scenic Drive
- Overnight in Portland, OR
Day 9
- Drive from Portland towards Mt Hood via Mt Hood Scenic Drive
- Explore Mt Hood area
- Overnight at Kelso
Day 10
- Drive from Kelso to Mt St Helen
- Explore St Helen
- Overnight at Paradise Inn at Mt Rainier National Park
Day 11
- Explore Mt Rainier National Park
- Overnight in Mt Vernon, WA
Day 12
- Explore Northern Cascades National Park
- Overnight in Mt Vernon, WA
Day 13
- Explore Mt Baker National Forest via Route SR542
- Overnight in Oak Harbor, WA
Day 14
- Explore Deception Pass State Park
- Take ferry from Keystone to Port Townsend (Make Reservations BEFOREHAND!)
- Overnight in Port Angeles
Day 15
- Explore Olympic National Park
- Drive to Seattle via Route 101
- Fly from Seattle, WA to Boston, MA
There will be many more posts for more details on where exactly we went and what we did :) Stay tuned!
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