Tuesday, January 6, 2015

America the Beautiful by Automobile (GART)

One of my long held wishes has been to complete a United States driving tour or as I term it the "Great American Road Trip" (GART), but it's never been in the cards. There were just too many things preventing me from completing that wish (money and time being the top two), but now I have a few months in order to complete on this desire. While I ultimately would like to be able to say that I visited all 50 of our beautiful states, I'm unsure if that's going to happen. As of right now, I have visited a mere 22 of the 50 states (see photo). The last 28 states in whatever time I have left might be a bit much for this slowly breaking down body, but I will do my best. Plus Hawaii and Alaska are a bit difficult to be a part of this road trip. They haven't yet built a bridge to Honolulu.

Unlike the ease of planning my Grand Tour of Europe, this tour will be slight more difficult to plan. My original idea was the drive across country to the west coast and then drive down and back across the southern sections before heading back north, but I think I'm going to rework that plan. I'll start with visiting the southeast before heading west along the lower part of the country and return via the central part of the country. Beginning around January 21st or 22nd, I plan to head south and hopefully miss much of the nasty winter weather.

There are some sites around the U.S. that are "must sees" for me. A partial list is, in no particular order: the White House, the Smithsonian, Arlington National Cemetery, the Biltmore house, Graceland, Wizarding World of Harry Potter (tickets have been purchased), New Orleans, San Antonio River Walk, the Grand Canyon, Redwood National Park, the Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway, Taos Pueblo, Mount Rushmore, Las Vegas, Mutter Museum, Rodeo Drive, Los Angeles, and probably a few others that I've missed. Good thing I have a few months to complete my GART.

But more important than seeing these sites and others is to spend time with friends and family as I wend my way around this country. It's my chance to spend some quality time with the people I love before that becomes a difficulty.  Friends and family, keep an eye out for me and my Saturn Ion. We'll be visiting soon.

16 comments:

Christy said...

Sooooo looking forward to seeing you! xo

Steven said...

Yay...more travel blogs and please alert me when you're up this way! Can't wait to hear your impressions of Wizarding World...as you know this geek and his husband have been twice!

Sandi said...

I'm very excited for Wizarding World. I'll be there 2nd week of Feb. Yay!!! I'll let you guys know when I'm back in the Port.

Christopher said...

Indiana! Come to Indiana!

Sandi said...

Absolutely. I'll be there some time in the Spring.

Christopher said...

Keep me posted. We have a guest room.

Martin said...

Doors open here....biltmore with Trish & Josie

Sandi said...

You're the first stop, cuz

Marianne said...

Let me know when you will be in San Antonio. You can drive here from there and I could drive with you to Taos. We can spend a couple of days and I can fly home from Albuquerque. I need to know a date so I can book an awesome room. My treat!

Sandi said...

I will let you know. Sounds like fun! Very sweet of you.

Agatha said...

You know you are welcome in Atlanta!

Paige said...

you know you have a place to visit in Richmond VA if it is a good place for a stopover, and I hope to join you at EOL party in FL when you set a date....of course, if NOLA is on the list, I could ,meet there, too, if you need a guide.....

Sandi said...

Awwww, thanks, my friend. I have to definitely plan the party in FL. I better get on that! NOLA is definitely on the list as I've never been. I think my brother has a timeshare there that I can use and will probably have plenty of space for guests. :-)

Mike C. said...

Did you consider some type of fundraising to assist you with your goal of getting to the other states in the USA? Can't wait to see you in NYC soon....

Sandi said...

Hmmmm. Never thought about doing a fundraising. Well, let me see how far my savings will take me before I go that route. Can't wait to see you.

Almost 50 by Alvin Blackshear said...

check Los Angeles off your list. You are welcome to stay with us (if you don't mind our two dogs: Otto and Orange). BTW, we live 1.5hr north of LA, but we would love to use you as an excuse to hang out with the beautiful people. Also, we would be happy to spend the day at Disneyland with you. Let us know. - Barbara & Alvin