If you have the resources, love driving, and want to see the USA, below is a path you might enjoy traveling through the great United States of America on a three to six month tour including many major US attractions. As you can see, I love nature, history and also technology, so you get a mix of those in the attractions. This particular route starts and ends in California, as that’s were I was when I devised and took the trip. I’d like to take this trip again with a friend for two, so let me know if you are planning to do it sometime between 2020 and 2025. The sites below include those on this map, plus others that are recommended as detours and alternatives.
- California: San Francisco Cable Cars, Yosemite Park and Mount Shasta, San Andreas Fault
- Oregon: Crater Lake, Columbia River Highway
- Washington: Space Needle in Seattle, Hanford Site
- Idaho: Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve
- Montana: Glacier National Park
- North Dakota: Fort Mandan Overlook State Historic Site, Fort Union Trading Post
- South Dakota: Mount Rushmore
- Minnesota: Mall of America, Cathedral of Saint Paul, Fort Snelling
- Wisconsin: Harley-Davidson Museum, Milwaukee, Taliesin
- Iowa: Iowa State Capitol, Greater Des Moines Botanical Center, Terrace Hill Governor’s Mansion
- Nebraska: Strategic Air and Space Museum, Chimney Rock National Historic Site, Ashfall Fossil Bed
- Kansas: Cosmosphere and Space Center; State Capitol; Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, C. W. Parker Carousel Museum
- Missouri: Gateway Arch, Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, Forest Park
- Illinois: Millennium Park, Navy Pier, The Magnificent Mile, Shedd Aquarium, Abraham Lincoln’s Home
- Indiana: Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, West Baden Springs Hotel
- Michigan: Henry Ford Museum, Mackinac Island, Fox Theater
- Ohio: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Hocking Hills State Park, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Spring Grove Cemetery
- Kentucky: Mammoth Cave National Park, Churchill Downs in Louisville.
- West Virginia: the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, Lost World Caverns
- Pennsylvania: the Liberty Bell
- New York: Niagara Falls (going up), 9/11 Memorial, Statue of Liberty
- Vermont: Tour Ben & Jerry’s, A Lake Champlain Ferry trip, Shelburne Farms for cheese
- New Hampshire: The Mount Washington Cog Railway, Mount Washington Hotel
- Maine: Acadia National Park
- Massachusetts: Meg Plymouth Rock, USS Constitution
- Rhode Island: the ill Newport Mansions, The Breakers
- Connecticut: Mystic Seaport, Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, The Mark Twain House & Museum
- New Jersey: Buzz Aldrin Astronomical Center, Voorhees State Park; Franklin Mineral Museum; The Amish Market at Mullica Hill, Cape May Historic District
- Delaware: Perkins Observatory, New Castle Historic District
- Maryland: Historic Ships, Colonial Annapolis Historic District
- Washington D.C.: the Washington Monument, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial,
- Virginia: Grand Caverns, the Roanoke Star, Mount Vernon
- Tennessee: Elvis Presley’s Graceland
- North Carolina: Town Creek Indian Mound, Union County Courthouse, Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center
- South Carolina: McLeod Plantation, Fort Sumter National Monument
- Georgia: the Okefenokee Swamp
- Florida: Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
- Alabama: Memorial for Peace and Justice, Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuary, Orange Beach Islands, Birmingham Museum of Art, USS Alabama
- Mississippi: Tupelo Automobile Museum, Vicksburg National Military Park, Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, Museum of Natural Science, Natchez Trace Parkway
- Louisiana: French Quarter in New Orleans, Mardi Gras annual event
- Arkansas: Hot Springs National Park, Clinton Presidential Center, Crater of Diamonds State Park, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Toltec Mounds
- Oklahoma: Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma Aquarium, Philbrook Museum of Art, The Platt Historic District
- Texas: the Alamo
- New Mexico: Roswell UFO museum, Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- Colorado: Garden of the Gods, National Museum of WWII Aviation, Pikes Peak
- Wyoming: Yellowstone National Park
- Utah: Arches National Monument, Bryce Canyon and Zion, the Great Salt Lake
- Arizona: Meteor Crater, Sedona and the Grand Canyon
- Nevada: Hoover Dam and the Las Vegas Strip
There are 48 contiguous United States and this does not include Washington D.C, but my list above does include DC., so the total is 49 in this list.
A similar route I took ended up being 18,300 miles and it took me about 3 months. I did a mix of car and tent camping, staying with friends and staying in motels. It was a great experience, highly recommended. Be sure to talk to people in each state too, ask about their favorite sights. Don’t miss out on the local experience.
At some point I’d like to include a tour of great strange places in the USA, in keeping with the theme of this web site, but there is plenty to enjoy on this tour as it is and there are plenty of unusual things to see along the way. Leave a comment if you have any changes or additions or if you took a full US tour trip! I love hearing how it went for others.
Xeno