te016

My boyfriend and I are thinking about a road trip from boston to florida and back January 1 to 15 . We only have 2 weeks and I would love to see natural beauty / parks. The other option would be part of the grand circle from las vegas. Wondering about the weather though and if it can be on the dangerous side.

emalloy

I've done both those trips at that time of year and you could get bad weather on either route.

Given your desire to see natural beauty and parks, I would look for an inexpensive flight to Vegas. When time gets close look at the weather in all directions. If you have a stretch of clear sky, then do a loop: Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon south rim, Page, Bryce, Zion, Valley of Fire, Vegas or in the other direction if that works better.

If you are a worrier, make reservations, but we've done the wing it thing at that time of year and had no trouble getting a room in Grand Canyon and Zion or near by the other sites.

Expect Bryce to be snowy, but the roads are cleared quickly so you can go to the overlooks even if you can't hike down unless you get yak tracks or the like.

If the weather looks bad to the east of Vegas when you get there, then plan a trip west to Death Valley for a few days, and then head back to Vegas and visit Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Park while you wait for the weather to clear and head to either Grand Canyon or Zion for a couple of days.

Stay flexible, fill your gas tank when it gets to half full, keep a cooler with food, water etc. and do not drive after dark on the small roads between the parks.

nytraveler

The risk of doing an east cost road trip at that time is if you run into bad weather/heavy snow it will really slow you down, driving will be exhausting and you may not have time to stop and see much since you will be on the road so many hours.

Are you both comfortable driving in winter weather? Will your car be fully winterized? Are you willing to risk the trip being much more driving and much less sightseeing? And how much natural beauty/scenery will you see at that time of year until you get fairly far south?

It might be best to fly as far south as Atlanta and do a road rip from there where both the scenery and the weather are likely to be more pleasant?

gail

I have actually done a solo road trip Boston-south Florida. I will not be doing it again soon. It centered around dropping my daughter off for a week in DC and then returning to get her. SC to south Florida was the killer - there is nothing there unless you want to stop in Orlando

If you were to do this, I would do something like this:

Day One: Bos-DC. While there are things to see in-between, maybe it is that I am so familiar with that area, that I never stop. Timing this leg is important, since you want to avoid rush hour in Bos, NYC, DC. The way to do this is to leave around 6 AM. Take Tappan Zee Bridge (never GW Bridge). You hit CT/NYC area after rush hour and unless something happens in NJ, get to DC prior to rush hour.

Days 2-4 (or so). See DC area

Day 5 Drive to Savannah

Day 6 Savannah

Day 7 Drive to wherever you are going in FL.

Day 8 and 9 Do something wherever you are going in FL

Day 10 Drive to Charleston, SC

Day 11 Charleston

Day 12 Drive to Baltimore or someplace you are interested in in NC

Day 13 do something in that place

Day 14 Drive back to Bos

Day 15/16 (If you really mean 2 week, including 3 weekends). You have time to extend one of these stops or add something else that is not too far off route.

Ackislander

We'll, if you come from Boston, you know how to drive in bad weather, including when to say "no way" and stop for the night.

Gail and I both had kids who went to college in NC, so we have both driven this route many times. We also owned a condo in southwest Florida for five winters. We drove down once. I will just second what she said.

In 14 days, you will spend 6 driving.

Instead, get on JetBlue's email site and get ready to leap at one of their insane Florida fares. Rent a car when you get there.

Plenty of nature in the Keys, a block or two off the highway. More nature in the Everglades, both ends. Alligators and amazing birds all along US 41, but don't drive at night because critters in the road. An impossibly rare Florida Panther was recently seen near Faxahatchee Strand. Maybe you will see one, too. See "The Orchid Thief" before you go. Visit Everglades City and Chokoluskee.

tower

There was a time before many of you were born when the big and exciting thing for newlyweds from Massachusetts was to drive to Florida...where some of the hotels were offering $6 room rates smack on Miami Beach.

No such thing as a divided Interstate highway (mostly two laned roads), speed limits were in the range of 45 mph average. Lodging choices en route were one of the fewer and newer so-called "motels" or one of the ubiquitous spartan cabins and in-town tourist homes (much later to be named B and B's..), Typical overnight with bkfst, $4.

Gasoline averaged 19-20-cents a gallon and we drove through picturesque country like Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive, etc. and Hwy 17 and US 1.

Was it fun? Yeah.

Ackislander

Nice memories, Tower.

An evocation of this era from way before my time is the Clark Gable-Claudette Colbert movie "It Happened One Night.". It includes a bus trip from Florida to NY, complete with a night in a tourist camp.

My father was in the Air Force, so we moved and traveled a lot.

In the early 1950's we were thrilled to stay in concrete tepees or "log" cabins, but there were plenty of "tourist courts": park in front of your room, and have dinner at the restaurant/check-in desk along the highway. The great ones had a pool between the auto court and the restaurant.

When I was 9, we drove from SC to NYC via US 301 over the new Chesapeake Bay Bridge. We had to stop for the night at a "tourist home" since the route was too new for motels. I was terrified because it reminded me of the Addams family cartoons in the New Yorker, though I remember a great meal of crab cakes in a local cafe, seated in tall wooden booths. But I didn't sleep. Monsters might drag me away.

Gasoline may have been 20 cents, but $100 a week was considered good money for blue collar workers, you had to change the oil every 3000 miles, and you needed new tires after 10,000. I'm too lazy to look up the constant dollar price.

tower

I remember the Kiptopeke (sp) Ferry which carried you over the bay to Virginia before the bay bridge was built.

I think the boring sameness along today's Interstates take away the adventure of the two lane roads and small town America...driving through, stopping, staying.

The wonderful aroma that hit you as you walked into a small town breakfast café is still unforgettable, Ack. It was also a time when you paid for a second cup of coffee! Remember?

tomfuller

If you feel you must drive your own car, remember that the Amtrak Auto train runs from Lorton VA to Sanford Florida.
The number for them is 1 800 SKIPI95.

Dukey1

OK, there was the Cape Charles ferry; there was also the Chesapeake Bay ferry and 301 and Rte 17 and perhaps Rte 1.

The problem with flying down here is you miss all the stuff in between and there is a lot of it.

Ackislander

Dukey has it. That's what the OP asked for and we -- I plead guilty here-- haven't given her.

The problem is, they only have two weeks. If they blast through, it is a week to drive down and back even if they don't stop to do any of the Good Stuff. If they do Good Stuff on the way, they don't have any time in Florida.

One per state Good Stuff (January version):

Southbound: New Castle, DE; Annapolis, MD; Richmond, VA; Beaufort, NC; Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA; Amelia Island to St Augustine, FL via A1A;

Returning, St Simons Island, GA; Middleton Plantation, SC; Wilbur's BBQ in Goldsboro, NC; Monticello, Charlottesville, VA; Harpers Ferry, WV; Gettysburg, PA ; Delaware Water Gap, NJ.

Or they can go to Florida.