Jenny

My fiance and I are getting married next April in Gatlinburg, TN. After the wedding we plan to take a week or so driving out to California. We want to get as many sites in as possible that week. Does anyone know of any good websites or references that might already have something like this mapped out? Thanks!

xxx

One week is definitely not enough time to drive back and forth to California. You'll spend your entire honeymoon in the car! If you only have a week, I'd suggest that you reconsider your options and look a little closer to home.

Jenny

Actually we have 2 weeks. We plan on taking a week to drive out there and then spend a week in California and flying home out of San Francisco.

Christie

The one-way drop charge on the rental car is going to be pretty bad.

Some advice from a married lady: RELAX on your honeymoon! Go somewhere where the two of you can de-stress, get a massage, and sip beverages poolside. Save the road trip for later...

Jenny

Thanks for the advice but this is what we want to do! All that I want to know is is there any good websites or books that would help us plan our trip.

Howard

I, too, would urge a change of plans. You'd have to drive an average of 300-400 miles a day, which won't leave you a lot of time to see any sights. Heck, you'll barely have time to stop to take pictures!

crazy

Not to mention the $4,000 in gas. 2500+ miles times average cost of gas in the west approx $1.75. Think about that!

Jenny

Okay Okay....you've made your point! I guess we'll be back to the original plan! Thanks for setting reality in!

Jenny

Alright since our cross country honeymoon has been shot down....maybe some of you can give us some ideas. I want fun in the sun for at least 4 or 5 days and we want Yosemite and Redwood Forest and the scenic stuff also. We have 2 weeks and we can pretty much get a condo anywhere. Any ideas?????

Linda

Jenny, if you and your fiance want to drive across the states, don't let folks talk you out of it. It may not be as relaxing as many would want, but this is YOUR honeymoon, not theirs! My advice is to pick out your general route. Then get on the web and search by state. All states have some kind of a department of tourism web page. Then, just spend a few hours going through the pages and find out what is in each state that you might want to see. Or use the site to order brochures from them. Make a master list with eEVERYTHING you want to see on it. Then assign times to each item, plus the driving time in between them. Now, using those times, start crossing off the least important items until you have it down to about six days. (The extra day will give you time for eventualities, like a flat tire, bad traffic, or just sleeping in one day.)
I know of no web sites that will give you exactly what you want. But there are some books, and you might be able to find them at your local library or in your bookstore travel section. One I use is "America From the Road" from Reader's Digest. It gives circle routes within a region, but sites it talkes about are all reachable from major interstates.
You have lots of time to plan, if you start now, and still have time to get everything done for the wedding. You have a right to the honeymoon YOU want, so go for it.

Howard

Linda, don't you get it? They won't have time to stop at many sites!!! If you divide 2,500 miles by seven days, it comes to over 350 miles per day, which means a minimum of 5-6 hours driving, plus meal and rest stops! And, of course, add in the tired factor.
Jenny, April is a beautiful time for Yosemite. Definitely book space there well in advance, certainly by the end of the year.

Jenny

I woke up this morning to see the atlas opened to Mexico and the fiance had circled Cancun. Probably go w/ Ixtapa, which was my very first choice 5 months ago. We'll hit California when we have LOTS more time.
Thanks for all of your help!

Ann

Crazy--you ARE crazy. What kind of vehicle do you have that only gets 1 mile to the gallon? That's the only way you could spend $4,000 on gas.

For a normal car (being conservative, 20 mpg), that's only $222.50 at $1.78/gallon. Pretty simple math.

Myrna

Hi Jenny,
I see you posted your message a few months ago, so I don't know if you already planned your trip yet. Thirty-three years ago my husband and I drove cross country for our honeymoon. Loved it. We have a wonderful, beautiful country.

We live in Phila, Pa and my daughter went to college in New Mexico. We took many trips back and forth for 4 years.

And this past July we drove to Napa Valley to bring a car to my son.

Each trip we mapped out with AAA. We chose some main cities we wanted to stop at just for some map direction. We never made reservations because we never knew when we would arrive at a particular destination. We took the AAA tour books in the car and read ahead for a few hours to see if anything looked interesting. If something was within 25 or so miles, we got off the highway and went. We've been to the big cities and stopped at some small towns and had great fun meeting people, sampling local food and seeing local color.

I have to say, our hotels sometimes were not the finest, but we really weren't looking for luxury, just clean and safe. If it was AAA approved it was pretty good. We were only there for the night. We really didn't need any amenities like a pool. If we needed a break from sightseeing, we stayed at a nicer hotel. The hotels right outside of major cities are cheaper and just as safe. They are right off the exits.

We did the Napa trip in two weeks, and then flew home. It takes about 6 days to drive cross country without stopping to see anything. That's about 500 miles a day. You really need two weeks to have some fun. Also the southern route is easier to drive. The northern route is through lots of mountains, high altitude, lightening storms and construction. Whatever you do have a wonderful time.

hamlet

The route you take for your cross country trip should depend on what you want to see and how much time you have. While I would I recommend more than a week for the drive, I wouldn't think of trying to talk you out of it. If you have a total of two weeks, you may want to make the most out of the the trip west, and spend less time in California when you arrive. My friend and I did this several years ago: from NJ to Knoxville (spent 1st night), Knoxville to Nashville (2 nts), Nashville to Memphis (2 nts), Memphis to Oklahoma City (1 nt), OK City to Santa Fe (1 nt), Santa Fe to Grand Canyon (1 nt), GC to Las Vegas (2 nts), LV to Santa Monica (1 nt), Santa Monica to San Francisco (last night). A total of 12 days on the road, it is a lot of time to spend in the car, BUT we were still able to see a lot and enjoy ourselves. Sometimes we were in the car for a full day with only a goal of reaching the next stop, and other times we stopped where we wanted to do things, sightsee and relax. What's that saying? Getting there is half the fun. Or life is a journey not a destination. Or .... who am I to preach...? Anyway, I hope you spend your honeymoon however you want, and enjoy it. And if you have any questions about my coast to coast trip, feel free to write me directly.

XXX

ANN - don't know about you but my car gets 15m/gal and gas where I live in over $2.00 gal!