Here in a few weeks my brother and I will be setting off on a road trip across America. I've got time because I had a sizeable gap between finishing my master's and my job starting, and my brother has about five weeks before his spring semester ending and an internship in Dallas starting. Knowing that we'll likely never have the opportunity to do this again before we're old, it was a no brainer to do it. The general planned trajectory of the trip is from Knoxville out west to Wyoming, Montana, through Idaho and Oregon into Northern California, down to Arizona and Southern Utah and then through New Mexico and Texas. We're trying to do as much research as we can to know what we really want to do and see in the time that we have. For those well traveled members of the 8th, what suggestions do you have?
also the Russian river is pretty awesome in northern California for wine and outdoor activities. let me know if you need any suggestions of things to do in the bay area.
Will do. At the moment I'm not sure what our route down through California will be. Our trip is generally geared toward outdoor stuff so planning which big cities we'll go through will happen after we get closer to nailing down with some certainty what our exact route will be.
One of the bigger question marks right now is the route we'll take and what we want to see between Montana and Northern California. I'm less familiar with Idaho and Oregon than I am with a lot of the areas we'll be going through.
Bristol Motor Speedway. Can't miss it. Greatest landmark in the country. Butch won the most historical sporting event of all time there once.
I've driven through Idaho and can't say there is much I've been excited about. Portland is great. the Oregon coast is nice as well.
I went for the first time last fall and really liked it. The last part of the trip will be in the hill country and then Austin.
If you're gonna be in Montana, hit Glacier, and hike into Granite Chalet. You can hit Spokane from Kalispell and then head south. Don't bother fly fishing Glacier, just hike in. If the pass is closed (and it usually is), Avalanche lake and lower glacier and then on to Washington.
I'll remember that one. We ate at some fairly pricey places when I was there and the best thing I had all weekend came from the Chili Parlor and cost like seven bucks.
Stop before glacier and give yourself a good 2or4 hour hike up into the Bob on the south fork of the Flathead. You'll see more and bigger trout than you've ever seen. Far enough off the road to dissuade day trippers. Buy the 2 pack of bear spray and blast one off for practice. Basically any place to fish in the flathead valley that's easy to get to is overfished. Don't discount nymphing for mountain whitefish, they're fun.
Follow the floodway of ancient lake Missoula across Idaho and Washington state, go down the Columbia gorge, then down the Oregon coast. I'd be fascinated to hear anything different, that's the greatest American road trip on a scenery/time ratio as can be done in the continental US over that kind of distance. Northern Idaho is beautiful, the scablands capture the imagination if you know what you're looking at, the gorge is awe-inspiring, and the Oregon coast is one of the great treasures of the continent.
