Going Cross country

[AAK]

And looking for some places to see (non theme park places).

My dh has always wanted to see a shuttle launch. The last one is currently scheduled for February. So, we are going to try to catch it. Since the schedule is never set in stone--we decided to drive and catch what we can of the US on the way. There are many places that we think would be fun to see, but don't have enough to offer us to plan a trip just for that. This way, however, we will get to see a lot of America.

We are starting on I90 in WA state and will head east until Sioux Falls SD and then take I29 south. If I remember right, we should be able to see Mt. Rushmore and the Corn Palace. We take I29 until around Kansas City were we switch to I 70 eastbound. We will go through St. Louis and then take I24 and head south through Nashville. At some point it changes to I75 and we see Atlanta and keep driving south until we reach NASA.

On the way home, we plan on taking a long route. I think we have most of this figured out. We will go west to New Orleans, then to Fort Worth/Dallas area, on to OK City, Albuquerqu, and up to the 4 corners. After the four corners we plan on seeing the Grand Canyon and Vegas. As we head north, we will go through Salt Lake City and head home.

Many of these cities are listed to show our general route. The bolded items we really want to visit. So, if you know about interesting places to see or have suggestions for whatever. . . please post. Also, February is very cold for much of the country. If (for example) it will be impossible to see Mt Rushmore at that time, let me know and I won't try.

Speaking of weather, if you live along our route and could give me a bit of climate information for that time--I would appreciate it.

Amy

[Dar]

City Museum in St. Louis is cool!

And, um, we're here, too... we're kinda cool.

February is usually cold - maybe snowy and icy, but definitely cold... then again, in Kansas and Missouri the weather can be crazy and you get random 50 degree temperature fluctuations sometimes, so you never know...

[WhaleinGaloshes]

We took a long trip that overlapped with that a bit (we went New York to Louisiana and back, in a circle...off the top of my head, we saw Adventure Science Center in Nashville, the Birmingham (AL) Zoo which I give a really good review, it's a nice one, and Mississippi Museum of Natural History which was lovely, I assume you'd pass there and Birmingham on the way home.

If you stop in Chattanooga, TN, that's a town I haven't taken my daughter but I really enjoyed pre-kids, they have a ton of interesting spots, both natural history and political history.

[zebra15]

I 2nd the city museum in missouri and they have a great kids museum... its called something like Magic House??

Grand Canyon is wonderful but its way up north and they could have snow.
Vegas has tons of great kids stuff.

If you can get to Durango Colorado they have a great train ride (i think it goes during the snow season)

[Jaxinator]

I don't really know what to do on the strip for kids but....

Las Vegas has Valley of Fire state park and Red Rock Canyon state park. The latter has scenic driving route, stop-offs with hiking trails and a nice visitors' center. There might very well be snow on the mountains, and on Mount Charleston, which is north west of the city.


There are also ghost towns in the area, one of them is about two hours north, you follow 95 wayyyy north, it's called Rhyolite. I took some amazing photos there, it was a really fun place. Also, you can just drive up and do your thing, which is fun.
http://www.rhyolitesite.com/

http://www.lvlg.com/lasvegas/attracts/ghstwns.htm

There are also some awesome playgrounds if you need to just hang out and relax, my favorite being in Centennial Hills. If you have a dog traveling with you there's a dog park attached to this park.
http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com...as-nv-89131-us

If you're into the stars you can drive outside of the city and look up. The desert has amazing views of stars.

There's the Hoover Dam... if you come over from the NV side I'm pretty sure you can cross the dam and park for free on the AZ side, unless they changed it in the past few years. The tour is... well... overpriced. You don't get to come out on the bottom like they used to let you do. It's really not as big as it looks on TV or movies.

Here's a list of kids stuff in LV, but honestly a lot of it on the strip is eh, or expensive:
http://www.vegas.com/attractions/kids.html
There's a really gentle roller coaster at the top of the stratosphere, not the scary ones the look like they drop over the side, but one that goes in a circle. It's $ to get up there, $ to ride, but I kind of liked it. I don't know how old your kiddos are though, so they may or may not like it, or even be able to go.

Here's a decent list of things to do all over the valley and beyond:
http://www.vegas.com/attractions/

Las Vegas is cold (this coming from a native NYer) in February. It can have warm days, but it can get *very* windy there and downright cold. February can go either way quite honestly. The sunsets are beautiful though and you're almost guaranteed a sunny day. I would still use sunblock on my face if I was there.

I'm so excited for you, what an amazing trip! I really hope one day I can do this with my kid. A cross country trip is something everyone should get to experience, it's so much fun!

If you have any LV questions you can PM me, I lived there for a few years and LOVED it.
I'm getting all sad thinking about it, I want to move back so bad!

[OkiMom]

Hoover Dam is around Vegas.. Are you cutting through California or driving another route? I can suggest a couple things driving through California since I use to live along that way.

[marimara]

Atlanta has a great aquarium.

[lach]

I've heard that I-90 is brutal in winter in eastern Washington: so windy you have to be really careful. I'm not sure a February road trip through the northern plains is going to be all that fun, honestly. It gets really, really cold and really, really snowy.

I did I-90 a few years ago (in the summer), and I would recommend cutting down and going through Wyoming and seeing Yellowstone and Devil's Tower. South Dakota is really stunningly beautiful and the Badlands are maybe the most amazing place I've ever seen. But, again, these are all based on summer experiences.

I would probably try to concentrate on the southern states and then do a northern road trip when the weather is a bit nicer. I loved traveling along 90: there is SOOO much to see. But I'm not sure how much you can actually see when it's 40 below. I'd probably drive down the coast of OR and CA, and then along basically the south of AZ, NM, TX (going through San Antonio, Austin, etc) and then along the southern coast of LA, MI, AL, GA, and into FL. I think that there would be a ton to see along that route, and the weather would be much nicer. Going home I'd aim a bit north, hitting Dallas and then the Four Corners area (there is such an amazing array of things to do there) and then up through Salt Lake City.

If you do go a northern route, you'll probably be looking into lots of indoor activities for most of your trip, so I would look into getting memberships at local zoos and museums. There are consortiums of zoos, children's museums, and science museums that accept eachother's memberships.

Good luck! It sounds like a lot of fun!

[AAK]

Thank guys.

The reason we have the northern part included is simply because we live in Eastern Washington state. And yes, the roads can be awful in February. We are kinda hoping that the shuttle launch gets moved to March or April. Apparantly, you have to be very flexible to see a shuttle launch since dates are constantly changing. But, with the beauty of homeschool (and my dh's job) we are a very flexible family.

Dh and I were talking again yesterday and we expect to just make a lot of mileage on day one and revisit those places during warmer months. Yellowstone will be part of a summer camping trip so we aren't doing that at this time.

Okimom--Yes, Hoover Dam! I forgot about that. Adding it to the list. We haven't decided if we are going up through CA or through UT and ID yet. We have friends in CA and family in UT. We see the family a lot more than the friends, so I lean towards CA. We really don't want to do the theme park thing (done that--not really impressed, not even the kids) but I would love to hear about what the rest of CA has to offer.

Dar--we might have to hook up at the museum. What do you think?

Everyone else: thanks for all the links and suggestions. I am looking into all of them. I am getting so excited! Oh, btw is the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum worth a detour. I have always wanted to go (since I was like 8) and my girls mentioned it last night too.

Amy

[zebra15]

Hey we just did night viewing at the Flagstaff observatory/Lowell observatory this weekend..... totally cool Flagstaff is 90 mins south of the grand canyon and tons to do there