Choosing Landmarks to Visit on a Road Trip

As some of you may know, I live in Columbus, Ohio.

I am doing a 7 week clinical in Ogden, Utah in January and February.

I will be driving there.

On my outbound trip, I will be taking at least 5 days to make the drive, so I hope to see some landmarks during my trip! At the moment, I have identified two I definitely want to see on my way:

1. Mount Rushmore
2. Old Faithful

My current route takes me through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and into Utah. I will probably take a faster route back - through Nebraska and Missouri.

Do you have any suggestions on landmarks to visit? Little side trips to take? I'm making sure I have plenty of time to get there - even if I have to leave the day after Christmas.

 

Honestly, I like seeing nature. I like finding places from which I can see where I've come from and where I'm going to, and perhaps sit and stare at the horizon for a while.

I always appreciate somewhere to take a short hike, get some good coffee, or get some good (healthy-ish) food. I also love bookstores, but I think that visiting many of them along the way might get me stuck in one place for too long.

 

That's up for debate based on what landmarks I want to see! I'm planning my route around these visits on the way out, because I'm going to have to make the trip back as quickly as possible since I finish my clinical on Friday afternoon and start class again on Monday morning.

 

If you are planning on Mt Rushmore and the Black Hills, a side trip to Deadwood, SD where Will Bill Hickok was gunned down. It's a bit hokey, but an interesting little town.

 

I'm aware of the limitations of my drive home, but I don't have any other option. I can't afford to fly and rent a car for two months, so I'm taking my own. I realize that driving 14 hours a day for the weekend will suck, but I'm prepared to do it. I do have a fast car, and I'm sticking to the plains for most of the drive home so I can avoid mountain weather.

 

In South Dakota, Wounded Knee is worth visiting. And, of course, the Corn Palace.

I'm fond of Smith Falls National Park in Nebraska.

My travels have been fewer than those of many people on here, I'm sure. But I've been to these places.

Also, on your way home, take in a meal at Zarda BBQ in Blue Springs, MO. It's a childhood favourite of mine.
And pick up a bottle or two or seven at Stone Hill Winery in Hermann, MO.

Living in Indiana, I can say that there isn't a hell of a lot here you'd need to go out of your way to see. Although, a detour to the artists' village in Brown County to wander around the shops is a good way to while away a few hours.

 

Wall Drug, Wall SD

walldrug.com

A whole lot of hokey but since you are driving by stop in for a free glass of water. Beware of jackalopes in the area, though.

 

when i drove across country i went 80, so south of what folk are talking about.
i kinda liked salt air just west of salt lake because at the time it was basically a bizarre architectural space that was mostly dedicated to its snake-bitten past. but it appears that the place has since been dressed up. i do not approve of this.

if i were in utah, i would go to two odd places.
robert smithson's spiral jetty:

Dia Art Foundation - Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty Driving Directions

which is a bit of a schlep, but which would be very cool to see, i think. unless it's under water. which it might be. plus i am a dork.

i really liked the bonneville salt flats too. there's absolutely nothing there. it's kinda great.

 

I'm hoping to drive through Montana at night so I can (hopefully) get a clear night and see a ton of stars.

I knew you would all come through for me. I love you guys.

 

I live in Utah - roachboy's recommendation of the spiral jetty is a good one, it's a really neat place. Zion is a bit of a jaunt for a weekend - it's 5 hours south from Salt Lake and Ogden is nearly an hour north of Salt Lake. If you do get a chance to go though, go. It's my favorite place in the entire state. If you are looking for a good bookstore (I work in Ogden but I don't know it well enough to make many recommendations), there are a couple of good ones in Salt Lake - Golden Braid and The Kings English. As far as coffee goes, again in Salt Lake I recommend The Coffee Garden or Salt Lake Roasting Company.

Feel free to hit me up for any other recommendations...my dad lives here and knows a lot of places to hike and stuff like that (I'm not terribly outdoorsy), so I might be able to help you a bit there. Good luck!

 

A second for Zion-- it really does look surprisingly like the Judean desert in places, enough to make me idly wonder just what Brigham Young might have known.... The Badlands, in general, are beautiful as all fuck, and totally worth the drive.

I recommend stopping while going through Minnesota at an apple orchard. There are many, and nearly all are good, and most are open even through winter. See, one very curious phenomenon that I have discovered living in the Midwest is that the best apples ever come from Minnesota. I would never have guessed this. But it's true. They have developed a lot of the best breeds of apple in recent years, including the Honeycrisp. And a fresh Minnesota Honeycrisp, right off the tree...it's like apples are having sex in your mouth, and everyone's invited.

Oh, and also, though I hate to disagree with Craven Morehead: avoid Wall Drug, South Dakota at all costs. It's like visiting the redneck circle of Dante's Inferno. It transcends mere cheesiness or hokiness: it is where kitsch goes to die. Actually it is where kitsch goes after death, if it was very very badly behaved. The entire town is probably existentially in violation of the Eighth Amendment's proscription of cruel and unusual punishments. I tell you this because I was there, I looked around Wall Drug: what has been seen cannot be unseen. Run away.

Last thought: call me an incurable geek, but I can't imagine passing through Wyoming without seeing Devil's Tower....

 

Hey I did say it was a whole lot of hokey.

Devil's Tower is very cool. It was featured prominently in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

 

I have no concrete suggestions here, but reading all of this makes me long to return to the West. My parents took us on a series of summer vacations when I was younger to see many of these places—Yellowstone, Glacier, the Grand Tetons, Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon, further south into Sedona and the Sonoran Desert, further west to Yosemite and north to see Banff and Yoho—and even though I was too young to experience them on my own terms, each place just blew me away with the natural beauty. I hope I can manage to get back sometime soon.

 

Plains weather in the winter is nothing to sneeze at, especially in the northern plains. About 2 years ago, I watch the road between Fargo and Grand Forks disappear in front of me one February morning. We had to pull off to the side of the road and wait for a plow to come through. It was a bit scary.

If you're not going to come through Chicago, head south and go through Springfield, IL and stop at the Lincoln Library. It's amazing. If you are going through Chicago, that's a whole other set of suggestions with museums and stuff.

If you're a baseball fan and have the time, stop off at The Field of Dreams about an hour outside of Dubuque, IA. Even in the winter, it's amazing, although it's much better in the summer when the corn is high.

IMHO, most of the cool stuff in MN is either in Minneapolis (lots of great music venues) or farther north than I think you want to go.

I was in the Grand Tetons about 2 months ago, and they were great. However, the best time to go through there is the summer. Jackson Hole is a neat little town, though. Watch out for moose and elk, though. As has already been mentioned, a lot of the roads are closed in the winter.

Sounds like a great trip!

 

I know that the weather anywhere is nothing to sneeze at.. but I'd still rather stick to flat on the way home than mountainous areas where I am less likely to get a cell phone signal (looked at my coverage map this morning, haha) should anything happen.

If I'm going to Chicago, I'm going to Chicago and staying in Chicago. I'm not going to go through Chicago on a road trip - I could entertain myself for a week or two easily in that city, so it's not a "quick stop" in terms of traffic OR things I'd like to do. So thank you for the suggestion on Springfield!