So the girlfriend and I have decided to take 5 days off from work in July and get in the GP and drive. I have had it since Thanksgiving and have yet to reach 3000 miles! I live on Long Island so if anyone has any suggestions on possible locations to visit, please let me know! We already tried looking up baseball games to visit each night of the trip but it seems every East Coast team is away during our "planned" trip. FYI - its from July 18 - July 23.

Thanks in advance! =)

 

Have you been to the Dragon yet?! Though it would be a hot and humid time of year there, it's still an awe inspiring beautiful area.

 

dragon is an excellent choice! I took a road trip from rhode island to everglades city (southern tip of FL) this january. Not sure I recommend florida in July, but I do recommend taking the scenic route through the smoky mountains. I also found people whom I could not understand at all in west virginia, which always makes a trip for me.

I used to live in northern california and I commuted over the santa cruz mountains every day and also went riding (motorcycles) in the mountains most weekends. I was a little doubtful as to the actual amazingness of the dragon compared to the santa cruz mountains before I got there. Better than rhode island? no problem. Better than the santa cruz mountains? I'll believe it when I see it. I saw it. The dragon is just amazing. The road south towards atlanta was also amazing for at least 30 miles, although a little more populated. I couldn't believe it. I wasn't able to stay, but there are supposed to be a bunch of less famous roads nearby, which might be less crowded with motorcycles, cool cars, and our good friends, interested only in our safety, the state troopers.

If you don't want to drive that far, there's nothing comparable driving-wise that I've found, but Hudson Valley, the Taconic Parkway between Connecticut and 87, and then back and forth vermont on twisty little roads. Don't speed in the villages. Be very careful on major highways in VT and somewhat less in NH. Mass & CT are less beserk. NY is fairly beserk. VT has tiny little econobubble stealth cop cars. You would never ever spot them. Do stop at rustic general stores and get excellent baked goods (brownies, cookies, etc. Vermont -really- knows how to do this stuff).

Your GF might like Montreal: french food, ethiopian food, weird people who only speak french. To the extent that you have time to avoid 87 and 89, you'll have more fun and make a lot less progress.

Highway 91 & hwy 93 north of masspike are nice for interstates once you get pretty far north. I almost hit a couple of moose on 91 near the canadian border. Of course you want to get off the interstate if you can. There isn't much aside from trees and mountains up there. If you or your GF feel like my wife (seen one tree, you've seen them all) then northern NH is not your best destination.


ANOTHER trip is up the maine coast. If it's July 4th, then the first 100 miles of the maine coast will be pretty painful. Midweek, not a holiday, not so bad. Once you get past Bar Harbor, tourists drop off pretty rapidly and there are a lot of cool, quaint, but actually real places to see and visit. Great food. Mostly. Be prepared for people who don't accept credit cards. It's changing up there, but you can still get embarrassed if you don't have cash.

 

A vote for the mountains of western North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Not as pretty as October, but not as hot as most other east coast towns during July!
Regards,
Jerry

 

My GF and I have driven back down home to Miami a few times from up north (she's from WV and I can understand her just fine...LOL) and I would definitely recommend driving to Savannah, GA and to Charleston, SC.
Although I've never been there, I would think the dragon would be good to drive thru, but it doesn't seem like there's much to see or do around there. Both places I mentioned are great towns with lots of restaurants and things to see/do. I bought this book recently so I can see what roads I can take, other than I-95 to take road trips.......check it out here


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There are the Adirondacks and the Poconos to drive. They have some nice areas for a twisty ride and would be nice this time of year, and better yet come fall.

 

If you are coming in the DC area contact me ... after the Jersey delivery
GyPsy met only another one GP !!

There is a fun run we do often with the local MINI club "MINIs by the Bay" we could put together a quick run during your visit...

For a small group driving down from NY a couple years ago we organized MINIs by Night in DC ---- a lot of fun !!