I didn't plan to drive cross country.
We traveled from New York to San Diego and back during the Pandemic.
Regional food, incredible nature, and quirky roadside attractions were some of the things we stopped for on our road trip.
These are the places I would return to if I were to drive cross country again.
I didn't plan on driving cross-country. It was my partner's life-long dream and we traveled from New York to San Diego and back.
We traveled from New York to my hometown of San Diego and back during the Pandemic.
Driving cross-country sounded more romantic to me in theory than in practice.
When my partner convinced me to expand my horizon, we started planning with the idea that it's not the destination, it's the journey. I thought we should see as many cool and quirky things as possible.
I would go to the places we stopped again and the places I would skip next time.
We ate pizza and visited the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after leaving New York.
The Andy Warhol Museum contains more than seven stories of some of Warhol's most seminal works of art.
I have been to Pittsburgh many times. After visiting the Strip District to try Pizzeria Davide, we headed over to the Andy Warhol Museum.
I thought it was a must-visit for anyone to visit Pittsburgh to see more than seven stories of some of Warhol's most seminal works of art. The museum is close to The Point where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers meet the Ohio River.
We stopped at Buckeye Lake State Park to grab lunch after leaving Pittsburgh.
I wouldn't need to return to Buckeye Lake.
The halfway point between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati is called Buckeye Lake State Park.
It's home to a winery, brewery, and beer pier, which sounded intriguing and looked to be an ideal spot to stop and refuel.
We found the food options and lack of masks and mask compliance to be a bit off-putting, and we would not stop at Buckeye Lake if we could.
We had drinks at a Dolly Parton-themed restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee.
White Limozeen is a Dolly Parton-themed restaurant.
Due to the bad weather, we bypassed places we'd been looking forward to like Louisville and Bowling Green, Kentucky.
We went straight for Nashville, arriving hungry and ready for a drink at White Limozeen, a Dolly Parton-themed rooftop restaurant.
We had a chance to try the signature champagne Jell-O shots, which come topped with sprinkles, while we sat outside.
The stop was pleasant and completely unexpected, with pink décor and rooftop vibes. Next time, I would save dinner for The Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden, which was the best burger we had on our trip, and come here just for drinks.
We stopped at one of my all-time favorite BBQ joints in Memphis before driving through the National Forest to a hotel in Northwest Arkansas.
There was a display of hometown pride at the hotel.
After a quick stop at one of my all-time favorite BBQ joints, we headed straight through the wilds of Arkansas Ozark National Forest, one of the most scenic stretches of our drive.
We paid a last-minute visit to Fayetteville, a charming college town tucked away in the northwest pocket of the state.
We ate dinner on the patio of a former post office called Cheers at the O.P.O and decided to stay the night at a quirky local hotel.
We loved the hometown pride that this place had to offer, and the lobby with camouflage carpets and Arkansas iconography all over the walls was a fun touch.
Route 66 leads to Oklahoma City and we spotted a blue whale on the side of the road.
The Blue Whale of Catoosa is a unique waterside sculpture off Route 66.
The ride through the plains of Oklahoma gave a stark contrast to the lush and wild landscapes in Arkansas.
The Philbrook Museum of Art is one of the largest collections of art Deco architecture in the country and is located in Tulsa. Our stop at The Blue Whale left a lot to think about.
The giant sperm whale was built as a diving platform and slide for kids in the 70's and has been marooned ever since.
If you have young kids with you, and there are a few families with children who could not have been more delighted by this unique waterside sculpture off Route 66, it isn't a must for us.
Cadillac Ranch was off of I-40 in Amarillo, Texas.
At the Cadillac Ranch, spray paint can be used to tag cars.
It was windy and dusty when we visited Cadillac Ranch, a public art display that's free to check out and worth a quick visit to walk around and take some photos.
If you want to tag the cars, you can either buy spray paint from one of the local vendors just outside the entry point or bring your own.
I'm glad we stopped to look at the photos alone. We didn't feel the need to return on our way back to New York because one time was enough.
When we traveled through Texas, we stopped in Odessa to see a replica of the famous monument.
The "mini-Stonehenge" is made up of 19-foot tall slabs of limestone.
The "mini-Stonehenge" is made up of 19 foot tall slabs of limestone and was donated to the University of Texas in 2004.
It's designed to serve as a teachable moment for students and visitors here, but because I've visited the original Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage site that dates back some 5,000 years when I was traveling across the UK, I would skip this next time.
We went to Fort Worth, Texas, where we saw a lot of longhorn cattle.
The cattle drive in Fort Worth felt like a movie.
The daily cattle drive in Fort Worth was one of the cool things we saw on our trip. It made us feel like we were in an old Texas Western as Fort Worth is full of fun shops and restaurants.
We didn't get to visit the Cowtown Coliseum, which is the only year-round rodeo in the country, but we would definitely check it out on our next visit.
We stopped at a thermal spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
One of the oldest natural health spas in the country is the Ojo Santa Fe Spa.
One of the oldest natural health spas in the country is located in the foothills just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was a stop for a little rest and relaxation with its spa and thermal pools.
The spa was closed due to COVID-19, but we still soaked in the mineral water, which is said to have healing powers. I'm a believer in the healing properties of that water and would definitely stop here again after a full day here.
We stopped by the galleries and boutiques found along Canyon Road in Santa Fe after paying homage to Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.
I wouldn't hesitate to go back to the park along Route 66.
The forest is more than 200 million years old.
It felt like driving through one of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings when I drove into the park.
The landscapes with red and beige sandstone rock formations were so strange that they were one of the best-unplanned stops we made along the way.
There are many places to stop and walk in the park that are more than 200 million years old. We decided on The Painted Desert Inn, an adobe building dating back to the 1930s, and Newspaper Rock, with the park's largest concentration of petroglyphs that were carved into boulders by the ancestral Puebloan population that dates back as far as 2,000 years ago. The carvings at Newspaper Rock can be seen with a pair of binoculars or a telescopic lens.
This landscape is definitely worth a visit.
We couldn't leave Arizona without seeing the Pillar at Cathedral Rock.
We were not prepared for the hike.
We couldn't leave without seeing the view from the top of Cathedral Rock.
We weren't prepared for the intensity of this 1.2-mile out and back hike. It's labeled as "moderate to difficult" by AllTrails.com and "popular for hikers of all ages," but I will say, the nearly vertical climb and slippery rocks were challenging for a lot of people on the trail that day.
The views from the top were out of this world. I would stop here again, but I would bring more water and better shoes next time.
The trail was difficult because of Cathedral Rock's steep climb and slippery rocks.
We stopped at Yavapai Apache Fry Bread & Jewelry on our way out of Sedona.
The fry bread was topped with powdered sugar.
There is a selection of Native American jewelry, crafts, crystals and sweet and savory fry bread at $4 a pop just off Route 17 outside of Sedona.
There were a lot of unique souvenirs, including a dream catcher that is hanging above my bed, located outdoors under a tent.
The made-to-order fry bread was delicious and an added bonus.
We went to try chocolate wine at the final stop.
Thornton Winery is known for their old-world method of making wine, along with their coffee and chocolate wine.
While it's often overlooked for the wineries to the north in Napa and Paso Robles, the Italian and French grape varieties are worth a visit.
Thornton Winery has a very special case of wine. Thornton is known for their old-world Champenoise-Method of winemaking, along with their coffee and chocolate wine flights.
A case of wine called Milk Chocolate Kiss was the very sweet cherry on top, and after driving more than 3000 miles across the country, I was able to partake in a quick tasting.
The original article can be found on Insider.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
