Whats the best scenic drive you've ever taken in the US?

[BengalHawk62]

My most scenic drive would be thru the Smokie Mountains on our honeymoon a few years back.  Gorgeous scenery.  Northern Virginia was pretty cool too.  Driving from Hampton to DC, with a stop at Williamsburg and Mount Vernon. 





A close 2nd would be I-80 thru Nebraska.  Nothing like looking at the horizon and corn fields for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, ok we are just to Lincoln, and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, here's Kearney, and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, sweet North Platte!, and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, finally Ogalala!  Whew.  now its time to go home. 

[Bengalzona]

There are some beautiful drives through the Smokies.

In Ohio, my favorite drive was the road along the Ohio River east of Cincy.

We've got some good stuff out here as well. The road from Flagstaff to Sedona to Prescott is gorgeous (SR 89, I believe).

State Route 1 in California, the Coastal Highway, is pretty incredible.

But my favorite of all time isn't in the U.S. The road from Sorrento to Positano and the Amalfi Coast in Italy is spectacular.

[seahawkscheat]

my driveway

[JS-Steelerfan]

The road leading down into Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park. Breathtaking.

[Sabretooth]

After graduating tech school, I rode thru the mountains of West Va, on my 200 CS5 Yamaha 2 stroke motorcycle, to get home to Virginia. I took back routes to avoid as much traffic as possible.It was so cold at the higher elevations and the semis moved me around when passing ( bike weighed 280 pounds wet, I weighed 140 pounds in fall of 1973 ). 380 miles total trip.
My Mom was shocked that I bought a motorcycle and relieved I got home OK .

[Millhouse]

The scenic Blue Ridge Parkway is pretty scenic. Even has its own website. http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/

But if in the Virginia area, a really good one is Skyline Drive. http://www.visitskylinedrive.org/Home.aspx I stayed in a lodge there years ago, and remember seeing deer coming up to our back porch of the room.

[xxlt]

(02-02-2017, 03:01 AM)Millhouse Wrote: The scenic Blue Ridge Parkway is pretty scenic. Even has its own website. http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/

But if in the Virginia area, a really good one is Skyline Drive. http://www.visitskylinedrive.org/Home.aspx  I stayed in a lodge there years ago, and remember seeing deer coming up to our back porch of the room.

This ^.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

I have a nice one right in my backyard.....The Red River Gorge.

[bengal_fan_in_toronto]

Highway 1 from LA to San Fran over about 5 days. It's a 14 hour straight shot i believe but we wanted to take our time and stop in several towns and take in the views in Big Sur.

The drive through Big Sur is white knuckle though.

I highly recommend it.

[*wildcats forever*]

(02-02-2017, 11:51 AM)bengal_fan_in_toronto Wrote: Highway 1 from LA to San Fran over about 5 days.  It's a 14 hour straight shot i believe but we wanted to take our time and stop in several towns and take in the views in Big Sur.

The drive through Big Sur is white knuckle though.  

I highly recommend it.

A very nice drive indeed, but for me it gets better from San Francisco all the way to Port Angeles, Washington via a combination of Cal 1 and US 101. White and black sand beaches, dunes, rocky outcrops, and giant Firs dot the landscape all the way. Simply spectacular. 

Rue de Lausanne out of Geneva, Switzerland to Montreux might be my favorite though. Pristine and breathtaking all along Lake Leman. Swiss villages, while very old, all looked like the landscaping crew had just left. I have never seen such a large area so well-kept in my life. I have made several trips to Switzerland, but never made it to the Italian or Austrian parts of the country, as the French and German sections kept me more than entertained.

[*Awful Llama*]

I love the drive through Western Colorado from Vail or so heading into Utah and then on to Vegas. From lush, green forests amid the mountains and rivers to arid desert.

[*bfine32*]

The Gold Belt Byway

[jfkbengals]

(02-02-2017, 12:02 PM)wildcats forever Wrote: A very nice drive, but for me it gets better from San Francisco all the to Port Angeles, Washington via a combination of Cal 1 and US 101. White and black sand beaches, dunes, rocky outcrops, and giant Firs dot the landscape all the way. Simply spectacular. 

Rue de Lausanne out of Geneva, Switzerland to Montreux might be my favorite though. Pristine and breathtaking all along Lake Leman. Swiss villages, while very old, all looked like the landscaping crew had just left. I have never seen such a large area so well-kept in my life. I have made several trips to Switzerland, but never made to the Italian or Austrian parts of the country, as the French and German sections kept me more than entertained.

So many of the routes folks have listed are wonderful places, indeed.

My family homestead has been in the Shenandoah Valley since the early 1700's, so I've had plenty of drives up and down Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, which are absolutely beautiful.

I once drove from here in RVA accross the nation to Denver, then up through Boulder to Estes Park, across Rocky Mountain National Park, through Colorado into Utah, down to the Grand Canyon, and back the way I came.  Again, absolutely beautiful.

My father-in-law is half way between the Bay area and Yosemite, and I concur that the drive there is stunning (Yosemite Valley is the most beautiful place I have ever been).

But wildcats is pretty close to the winner here.

Do as he says, and follow CA 1 to US 101 from the Bay Area north (a nice addition is to cut through Napa to start off), but when you get to Astoria, Oregon, head east and follow the Columbia River Gorge to the Idaho border.

You will NEVER forget it!!!!!!

[RICHMONDBENGAL_07]

(02-02-2017, 09:46 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: So many of the routes folks have listed are wonderful places, indeed.

My family homestead has been in the Shenandoah Valley since the early 1700's, so I've had plenty of drives up and down Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, which are absolutely beautiful.

I once drove from here in RVA accross the nation to Denver, then up through Boulder to Estes Park, across Rocky Mountain National Park, through Colorado into Utah, down to the Grand Canyon, and back the way I came.  Again, absolutely beautiful.

My father-in-law is half way between the Bay area and Yosemite, and I concur that the drive there is stunning (Yosemite Valley is the most beautiful place I have ever been).

But wildcats is pretty close to the winner here.

Do as he says, and follow CA 1 to US 101 from the Bay Area north (a nice addition is to cut through Napa to start off), but when you get to Astoria, Oregon, head east and follow the Columbia River Gorge to the Idaho border.

You will NEVER forget it!!!!!!

Lots of places I would love to visit and some I have.  But for me (and perhaps of nostalgia )  I loved driving through the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  For a while I lived in VA Beach.  I was stationed there in the Navy and stayed for a while after.  I was really in to surfing, and that was the place to go if you were into that in that region.  Beautiful IMO.

[bengal_fan_in_toronto]

(02-02-2017, 12:02 PM)wildcats forever Wrote: A very nice drive indeed, but for me it gets better from San Francisco all the way to Port Angeles, Washington via a combination of Cal 1 and US 101. White and black sand beaches, dunes, rocky outcrops, and giant Firs dot the landscape all the way. Simply spectacular. 

Rue de Lausanne out of Geneva, Switzerland to Montreux might be my favorite though. Pristine and breathtaking all along Lake Leman. Swiss villages, while very old, all looked like the landscaping crew had just left. I have never seen such a large area so well-kept in my life. I have made several trips to Switzerland, but never made it to the Italian or Austrian parts of the country, as the French and German sections kept me more than entertained.

I wish we had more time (and money) It would have been nice to start in San Diego and go right up to the border over an extended period of time.

i fell in love with Morro Bay. I'd love to beach bum there for a couple of months.

here's to winning a lottery.

[Beaker]

Route 285 from Denver out to SW Colorado (Del Norte).

[McC]

Rte. 9 through Vermont in the fall. Talk about explosion of color. Also, whatever road goes through the Painted Desert.

[eoxyod]

Driving through the Rocky Mountains by Boulder, CO. It's gorgeous and takes you to amazing places

[*bfine32*]

Conversely the worst drive I ever had was El Paso to Dallas. 9 hours of absolutely nothing and this was long before satellite radio or even CDs. They did sell a cassette tape with instructions to push play at certain mile markers and they would tell you something about the area.

[CKwi88]

(02-03-2017, 08:51 PM)McC Wrote: Rte. 9 through Vermont in the fall.  Talk about explosion of color.  Also, whatever road goes through the Painted Desert.

Seconded. I had the luxury of attending college in VT. Motorcycle rides in the fall through some of those roads were the best.