Road trip advice?

[Since1967]

Contemplating a large road trip mostly for the driving aspect. I have 9 days. Any suggestions? I have heard Virginia is a great destination for windy roads. Looking to change gears and turn corners as often as possible, so please no one suggest central Canada; did that once and that enough for a lifetime. I am from the Toronto area and looking somewhere southward preferably.

[pushrod]

If you're doing this now, you won't get to good weather until you get past the Mason-Dixon line, at the very least. You want to stay in the Appalachian Mountains, which means the western part of Virginia, or for that matter, West Virginia. I don't have any direct driving experience in that area, but did do the eastern part of VA a couple winters ago and it was unremarkable driving-wise.

That's about all I have as far as advice goes. You might want to ask the people local to that area what they think. My guess is WV and KY are good bets.

[HeadBanger]

I did a US trip in the fall of 2014. The route I did was to see and do certain things, so I can't give you a pre-made route. I can however tell you my experiences.

I crossed the border in Cornwall. From there I went to Lake Placid as a pit stop. I had been there before in the winter, so I wanted to check it out quickly without snow.
From Lake Placid, I went onto Ticonderoga, and finally Lake George where I stayed the night.

The next day I made my way to Portland Maine. I had never seen the ocean before, so I wanted to go to that area specifically for that. That day ended up being a shit show. I took a wrong turn (or didn't turn, I don't know what I did wrong lol) and ended up WAY off my path. I was supposed to go to Laconia, then onto Portland, and stay somewhere else on my route to Mount Washington. I honestly forget where I was planning to go. I lost a lot of time that day, and since I was doing my trip a lone I got super stressed.

Day three I did Portland to North Conway. North Conway has a ton of outlet malls. It's pretty neat. From North Conway I headed to Mount Washington. The whole point of my trip was to drive up Mount Washington. I did my trip early October. Unfortunately the road was closed half way up because there was a blizzard up the mountain with wind gusts of 70mph.
That was a bummer.
Since I lost time by staying the night further south east than initially planned I cannonballed west to Burlington Vermont. And finally came home via the Champlain Islands.

The route I took was (planned out to be anyways lol) mostly on back roads. It was great.
I had an agenda so certain things I didn't do, and others I didn't plan for. I'd do the same trip again, but in more than three days.


My advice would be to pick certain areas or things you'd like to see, and then go to www.roadtrippers.com and put your route into the site. It may help you do and see things that are off the normal route.

There's lots of awesome stuff in the states. The way the road system is made is entirely different than here. Much more entertaining to drive to be honest.

[HeadBanger]

I forgot to mention, if you decide to go to Mt. Washington, you NEED to check out Hurricane Mountain Road. It's tight, and there's traffic so you need to be careful.

But it's cool as hell. It's actually a logging road

This is the best video I could find of it. I should put my video up in youtube.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95LwbrosPmU"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95LwbrosPmU[/ame]

[Since1967]

Thanks for the video link. That seems an awful lot like the Tarmac version of the rally roads in Bancroft I went on last summer. I will keep that one in mind if I go that way.

[bruce]

hey headbanger, I drove south through buffalo through Ellicottville then kept going south to west Virginia. my destination was roanoke area so I just kept going south and east and the roads are incredible. any road will do!! I saw lots of sports cars loving it. the area around George Washington national forest is great. any paved secondary road will bring a smile!! route 219 south is good then just take any road. there is a scion event in the spring/summer in Virginia and the event I go to every year is a wine fest at smith mountain lake south of roanoke in sept yearly. your time frame is great for driving 6-7 hours a day and having 2 days at the festival. I go every year and still haven't driven the blue ridge pkwy as its so busy. let me know if your into a road trip!

[alvin545]

Go south and drive through Alleghny State Park/National Forest in Pennsylvania. You can also take a side trip to go see Kinzua Bridge. Then make your way through Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. That'll link up with the Blue Ridge Parkway which will take you all the way through to North Carolina. I suggest going to visit Asheville, pretty cool town.