Driving Trip instead of Hawaii
 

so, hawaii's flights are too expensive.

We would like to travel to each state and visit the main attractions there so now thinking about driving in a circle...perhaps from florida to alabama to mississippi to louisiana to arkansas to tennessee to georgia and back to florida...wow, i'm already worn out![

We have done all those States on our way to Illinois. Lol. I would suggest the far northeast, especially, this time of year to see the turning of summer into winter. I have a neighbor who touched each state in a two year timeframe. Exhausting could be the word! We have been to them all (States) only if I can count a couple of airports. But who is counting? For sure, America is a beautiful place. If I had to pick one, perhaps Yellowstone National Park.

I agree, America must be among the most beautiful countries in the world. I love Yellowstone and visit the countryside around it too. People and pets are super-friendly. Something about ranches, you go back in time. The West really was/is something!

We were riding through Yellowstone and stopped at Cody for a meal. People were smoking outside, wearing their ranch gear, boots with spurs and cowboy hats, coming from a day of work. Outside the benches were arranged in a large circle. Everyone was welcome. You sat down and people talked to each other, just like you’d do at your house. No separate tables or seats etc. A stray dog came by. And met the house cat. And even they got along.

You must be a full timer. Us snowflakes do enough dam driving traveling between our far away homes. The only road trips I want to take are in a golf cart.

You're correct! LOL!!

I would suggest a trip through the southwest. Meteor Crater just west of Winslow, AZ is a sight to see, amazing the devastation a small meteor can cause. The Grand Canyon has to be seen in person, pictures or videos don't even come close to conveying its size and magnificence. It is truly awe inspiring. Hoover Dam is quite an engineering feat when you consider it was built with early 1930's technology.

As another alternative suggestion, I have friends who just took a trip through a bunch of National Parks (Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier, etc.) by train that they picked up in Chicago. Vacations By Rail or some such similar name. They loved it!

We enjoyed Cody when staying there and the street fights were a lot of fun to watch. The first time we visited Yellowstone we had a Native American guide and got to see places that would be difficult to find and see if you didn’t have such a knowledgeable guide.

If you go to the Grand Canyon, try to be at the rim to watch the sun come up. We were at the south rim and the rock of the canyon changed color as the sun gets higher, an amazing sight!

So how much is considered too expensive? You’re going to spend at least a grand either way per ticket. Try a travel agent or go during their non peak their season (assume our summer?). I say this because do not discount Hawaii as any place you go there is unforgettable. Definitely allow two weeks being there because the time change is a killer.

Have you thought about multi day train trips to different states. No driving involved

Did you check out Bus fares to Hawaii?

In Kentucky visit the Ark, it's an amazing structure and the attraction is well done!

FWIW - Keep an eye on the airfare to HI, it's well worth the trip. I never wanted to go, but my wife talked me into it and now it's my favorite destination. I could never live there, but its a great place to visit. The culture, the people, the colors and scenery. Sadly my favorite destination is gone though, always in my heart Lahaina...

Good idea! I suggest avoiding the interstates and drive on the smaller roads between towns—the backroads. You will get a much better picture of the real America that way.

When we travel by car we have found that with a little planning we can avoid the Interstate highways and use the old Federal highways and the old parkway system, with little penalty in terms of time, and with the benefit of less traffic, fewer trucks, less hassle. Most of these roads are four lane divided highway, and quite a few offer bypass routes around congested downtown areas. Sure, we have to slow down for some small towns, but often we have the road to ourselves.

My husband & I sold everything we owned, bought an RV & lived in it for almost 3 years, traveling this country (trying to hit all the “National Parks…not National monuments or National anything else) because my entire bucket list is to visit …& see all 50 states, not just airports. What a beautiful country & journey it was. I have visited all 48 contiguous states, just have Alaska and Hawaii left. Our favorite National Park is Glacier National (Going to the Sun Road) which we did on a motorcycle. AWESOME!!! If you’re in Arkansas make sure you go to Hot Springs & then down to Garvan Gardens…Beautiful! I could go on, but this would be too long of a read. Just search National Parks and you’ll get the best this country has. No concrete jungles…they all start to look alike…but nature has way of giving something man can’t make.😍

I lived in my Airstream for 15 years, pulled it to 48 states, many states many times. My favorite places are all out west...... when stands out in my mind is Jackson, WY, Teton National Park, Yellowstone and Cody Wyoming. All of Colorado. Driving up and down the west coast..... I've been to Hawaii... twice. I don't get the attraction.

Did you check prices on Google Flights? You have to check all dates, as the difference from one day to the next can be huge. Alaska Airlines just had a sale from mco to various Hawaiian airports for as low as 389.00 round trip. Hawaiian is beautiful and if you don't want to stay directly on the beach there are lots of older family owned hotels that don't charge an arm and a leg. If you fly to Honolulu you don't need a rental car, their bus system is cheap and will take you all over the island, to all the most popular beaches, tourist sites and snorkeling beaches. You can also do an around the perimiter of the island ride on one bus route for just the cost of the regular bus fare getting on and off to your hearts content. Hawaii is amazing. If you picnic your meals, that not only is fun, but inexpensive. Take another look and forget the expensive tours, rental car and restaurant meals, and it might just start to look very doable for you. Just a thought. We've done this many times ourselves over the years. If we can do it, you can do it.

Just got back
 

We just got back from a similar trip.
NC to Las Vegas by plane, 4 days LV, then rent an SUV and drive to Oatman AZ, Williams AZ (Grand Canyon) we also did a helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon floor from Vegas, Page AZ, Monument Valley, UT Sante Fe, NM, Amarillo, TX, Ft Worth Stock yards and Waco, TX then finish off in Slidell, LA ( Outside of New Orleans) 1.5 days of rest in Slidell visiting family then fly New Orleans to NC. 25 days in total.
Trust me, it looks much easier on the computer when planning than in real life. I walk with a cane and have back, knee and shoulder issues and it beat me up! But all in all, it was a great trip and I recomend doing road trips like this. We covered 3400 miles in the Suburban.
Good luck and enjoy! I tell everyone to do it while you can. Someday you may not be able too.

Having been to all 50 states, I can tell you each has sights worth seeing.

For National Parks, there are books written about them. Check out Amazon. Don’t forget state parks as many of them are Beautiful and much less traveled.

Try a theme based trip - Civil War battlefields, driving Route 66, driving Blue Ridge Parkway/ Skyline Drive, travel up the Mississippi and visit the historical sites, visit the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky or wine trails in several states. Again there are books written about this.

Go to AAA to see what suggestions they have.

With a little preparation, you can see this great country of ours in a way that isn’t seen by flyovers or on the interstates. Most of all, have fun on your adventures.

By street fights I believe you are referring to the staged gunfights?

Cody Gunfight – Cody Trolley Tours

The USA is really beautiful, at least most of it. Use to really love seeing it. Especially from car where you could stop and really get a feel for the land and people. Unfortunately with today’s world you have to be careful about where you go sometimes. Going north to see my children and grandchildren makes you think sometimes in the climate that exists.

We spent 4 years each fall in a camper and visited 49 states. Spent 6 weeks in Alaska and could have spent another 5. Hawaii is the only state left to visit.

Try a road trip through New Mexico
 

During the years we were searching for retirement places, yes we ended up in TV, not sorry, we planned a two week road trip to New Mexico. You name it, we saw it. Some highlights, White Sands, Alamogordo, Ruidoso, Inn of the Mountain Gods (apache Rez) all of Santa Fe, all of Taos, Carlsbad, (be sure to get there at sundown for the bat flight), Bandolier, Roswell, just for the laughs, Gallup for the trading posts, go to all the pueblos which are Navajo and/or Hopi, save up and buy some pottery, and Acoma Pueblo for the Navajo holiday of St. Stephen, if possible. Always in early September, there will be buses to the bottom, then you can walk to the top. St. Stephen is the equivalent of Thanksgiving in that all the family comes home for it, and there is an incredible dance, in essence a pow wow. No photography allowed. We are the only folks we ever met who have been to a Native American dance. The end of this story is that Albuquerque isn't on the list because the day we were going there was 9/11. We got in our Budget rental car and drove 2500 miles home. Budget did not charge us for dropping the car off in the wrong state and to this day that is the only rental car company we use.

Agreed!! I used to love going to Cool Cats Cafe and that shave ice place at the end of town by the elementary school. Oh, and The Gazebo up around Napili area before Kapalua - those macadamia nut pancakes were a must-have! We always prefer to avoid the big spendy resorts and AirBnB it at Hononkeana Cove condos. Their cement stairs with handrail into the water makes snorkeling a breeze, and there are so so many turtles you don't have to look for them - you have to look out for them so you don't bump into them! Don't go too close to the end of the cove or you'll get longshore current-swept out into the ocean and become Tiger Shark chow.

We've been fortunate on our visits. My good buddy from work married a lady 17 years his junior. She is from one of the two original families on Molokai. Her dad, siblings, Aunties and cousins live and work on the west side of Maui (Lahaina) so they turned us on to a bunch of great tips! They were living up country halfway up Haleakala in Pukalani area, but he's over in Hilo area now.

Staying on Maui with a native born and raised is a very unique way of seeing Maui. I've never been so scared as when she drove us on the Road to Hana. She has driven it hundreds of times, so she is comfortable enough to exercise very little caution hahaha.

One of their biggest complaints is the cost of electricity. it's about 40 cents a Kilowatt-Hour, compared to 15 cents for Seco. They run their laundry at midnight to try to keep the bill under $500. Yikes!

Great idea for saving money. But the bus stop potty breaks aren't long enough for me.😉

🤭🙊🙊🙊

If you take your time driving and go into small towns, you can learn more about the people and the area. 20 years ago we drove from Oregon to Alaska on the ALCAN highway through Canada. The only problem was in small towns in Canada the gas was very expensive. Once we were in Alaska prices were much better and in Anchorage they were the same as the lower 48.
......It was a once in a lifetime trip. Basically, if you can take the TIME and not rush through a driving experience it will have many rewards. I also had a good time driving around western New York. I was disappointed with Maine, but Vermont was good.

I believe this is the best way today.
We just flew to LA the seats on an airplane are so small I was claustrophobic.
I am 4’11” a small person the guy sitting next to me had to put his elbow in my lap it was terrible

Not only native born drivers. When husband drove the road to Hana I was so very glad no one was coming the other way!

Suggestion plot of map of presidential libraries
 

When we travel for other reasons we try to find presidential libraries. There are quite a few and if you fly into one city you can hit four or six with a car over the course of three or four days.

It's a lot of fun and very interesting.

Call AAA! They still do paper mapped trip plans and are AMAZING help!!

Driving Trip
 

If you go to Mississipi, go to Laurel (cute town made famous by HGTV show "Hometown"); in Alabama there are so many civil war sites and a small yet great museum (I forgot which town, but found it in a guidebook--well worth the time); Louisiana is New Orleans for sure--Cafe DuMonde, French Quarter, and the National World War II museum--it is world class and one of the Best museums ever! In Tennessee, Memphis has Graceland and Beale St., Nashville has country music and the Grand Ole Opry.
Not on your list, but if you ever get there, New Mexico is beautiful--White Sands National Park; Carlsbad Caverns, Ruidoso is a beautiful mountain town, Las Cruces has an Old Mesilla section with lots of Billy the Kid history. This is all in the southern part of the state. Of course, Santa Fe, Taos and the pueblos are amazing.
Enjoy your trip!

Even though I use my smart phone on the road, I also use a current issue of “ The Next Exit” ( cost about $25 ) . It is for Truckers and RV traveling!

Fly to Denver, rent an RV self contained, and create a trip to different national parks. I have done this twice, once for two weeks, once for four weeks. from Denver, North to Cheyenne, Black Hills National Forest, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, then across Wyoming to Yellowstone, stopping at Cody to take in the nightly rodeo. Yellow stone to Grand Tetons, Jackson, Salt Lake City, down to Arches, Zion, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Durango, through the Rockies on Route 50, built from gold mine tailing, to colorado springs. . back to Denver. . . Every state is different, every overnight campground is different.

There are so many variations for this circle around the West with a large dose of National Parks, and wonderful site to see.

Hawaii is also a place to visit, at least three islands, The Big Island, Maui, and either O'ahu or Kauai. Would love to live there, but its very expensive. Also wonderful visit to all the volcanoes. We golfed at Volcanoes National Park golf course, the day before the eruptions several years ago. Wonderful beaches and swimming/snorkeling/kayaking. . . two weeks to make it worth it.

That sounds like lots of fun. It was never an option for us before as owners of large dogs that couldn’t fly, but now that we have downsized to a little guy that can fly it’s doable. I just checked out camper van rentals in the Denver area and found a couple pet friendly options. Thanks for the idea.

We did not fall in love with Hawaii. We feel that Costa Rica is just as beautiful and is a lot less expensive.

You won't regret it. . :agree: