AngieOnTheRoad

My Boyfriend and I are taking a road trip from Boston to Key West in January. I would like ideas on places to see and things to do. We are avid art museum goers and one of our main reasons for the trip is to go from city to city looking at art and to leave cold New England behind. We will NOT be stopping in NYC. We are also nature lovers and have a national park pass and would like tips on the most interesting parts of these parks on our way through. Our goal is to tent at campgrounds as much as possible, understanding that the weather may not always permit this until further south. We will be traveling through Tennessee on the way back. Also what are some nice scenic towns we could stop through on our way. We love good unique food so any local eateries would be great to know about. Any tips and recommendations on these subjects would be appreciated! Thanks!

tomfuller

I'm hoping this is in your own (or boyfriend's) car.
I'm not sure you'd want to tent camp even in the deep south in January. Do you have to be back in Boston in early February?
I would encourage you to get on I-81 near Wilkes-Barre PA.
Stay between WB and Harrisburg. Drive down through Virginia and if the weather is good stop to see Natural Bridge.
Get on I-77 South just past Pulaski. Pulaski is a good place to fill the gas tank.
Spend the night in the Charlotte area. Continue south on I-77 to Columbia SC where you get on I-26 which takes you back to I-95. If you wanted to go farther on I-26, you could visit Charleston, SC.
Do you have any desire to visit Orlando (Disney?)
You should be able to reach Key West in a long day from Orlando or Daytona Beach.
On the trip back north, head up the west coast of Florida through Tampa on your way to Tennessee. Your National Park Pass will come in handy if you visit Chickamuaga near Chattanooga.

Ackislander

A couple after my own heart, well, except perhaps for winter tent camping, though I have done a lot of winter hiking and snow shoeing in the White Mountains and know you can be warm with the right gear.

So, assuming you also like architecture, what I would hit: wads worth Atheneum in Hartford, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Winterthur; the historic district of New Castle, Delaware; Baltimore Art Museum; the National Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington; the Richmond Museum of Art; the big Richmond art scene centered on Broad Street and Virginia Commonwealth University; the museums at Williamsburg and Jamestown; the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, VA; US 17 to Charleston, SC, with walkarounds in Beaufort, New Bern, Wilmington, Pawley's Island, and Georgetown and perhaps a stop at an historic plantation en route.

Charleston is a must and the museum is excellent. Back on 17 through Beaufort, SC, to Savannah, home of the Savannah College of Art and Design, which permeates the town. Then I am no help at all.

If you come back up the west coast of Florida, the Ringling Museum in Sarasota is Worth It, and there is a big Dali Museum in St Pete, but if there were a Big Dali Museum in my garage, I wouldn't go.

Should your trip bring you home via Ohio, the Columbus Museum of Art is excellent, the Toledo Museum is one of the best smaller museums in the country, and of course the Cleveland Museum is world class. Heading east on I-90, stop in Buffalo for the Albright Knox, in Cooperstown for the Fenimore
Cooper Museum and the Baseball Hall of Fame if you must, and go to Williamstown for the newly and badly renovated Clark and for the excellent Williams College Museum of Art; to MassMoca in North Adams; and finally the unjustly ignored Worcester Museum of Art.

emalloy

Ackislander has given you a nice list of art museums along your route. In CT, not too far from the hwy are also the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Hillstead Museum in Farmington, in New Haven a couple of museums on the Yale campus. In fact most universities/colleges have some kind of art museum, so you could visit campuses all along your route.

Dukey1

The Walters in Baltimore and a raft of museums in Washington, DC. If you plan it right you can minimize the traffic issue on 95 as well. Then there's also Winterthur near Wilmington, Del. and the Wyeth stuff outside of Philadelphia and even Longwood Gardens might be of some interest.

flpab

http://www.floridastateparks.org/bahiahonda/ in the keys

I live very close to Cape Canaveral Sea Shore. Playalinda beach is my favorite and you can get there via Titusville, Fl.

Gretchen

ack has given you the museum tour in spades==very nice. If you are coming down the coast south of Wilmington, NC on route 17, stop by Brookgreen Gardens at Litchfield (just below MB) and see a lovely art museum and sculpture by Anna Hunntington. Their summer "home" just across the road is also worth touring for some "head shaking" for architecture of a Moorish design!! There is a state park there--may be able to camp. Called Huntington Beach State Park.
There is Bull Island (is that right, Sue Woo) near Charleston for hiking and birding.
I would not go as far west on the road as Tom suggested--not much there there except highway.
You might enjoy Winston Salem, coming south from Richmond. There is a restored Moravian settlement and a gem of a museum of Southern Decorative Arts.
Tent camping along the coast could be possible--I would get a directory of campgrounds (duh!! you've already thought of that!!). I don't think there are many state or national parks.

Daniel_Williams

Hello

You might enjoy some of the historic homes (museums) in Charleston and Savannah (e.g., Owens-Thomas House, Aiken-Rhett House, Nathaniel Russell House) for a fascinating look into the those city's pasts. There as some fantastic restaurants in this area of the south and I recommend you save some of your restaurant budget for this neck of your journey: Hominy Grill in Charleston for local cuisine I enjoyed a lot and Belford's in Savannah to name two. The Lightner Museum is excellent in Saint Augustine, FL. All three destinations are compelling and tell fascinatingly different stories of the origins of the US.

I also enjoyed the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville FL and the Hemingway House in Key West.

There's so much to see & do, you won't be bored this trip, that's for sure!

Daniel