This section of Colorado's "Million Dollar Highway" is one of many places to enjoy a North American road trip.
As 2009 draws to a close, it’s a good time to look back on travel stories from the past year. One of my most popular features has been a series of articles I wrote on the subject of themed road trips in North America.
The premise was simple: road trips are an incredibly popular way for Americans to travel, but one doesn’t have to be confined to the classic journeys through national parks or along coastlines. It’s possible to go beyond the traditional routes and to craft journeys that are not only scenic, but which also enable you to focus on almost any topic that you’re passionate about, from literature to history to sports. Here are some of the more popular journeys that I wrote about:
Literary New England and Literary California – If you enjoy a good book, you’ll love these dual road trips through the homes of some of America’s greatest writers. Just a few of the places you’ll explore are the transcendental roots of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau in Concord, Massachusetts; the Hartford home of Mark Twain; the quintessential New England homestead of Robert Frost; the birthplace of John Steinbeck in Salinas, California, and the San Francisco literary hangouts of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other members of the Beat Generation.
Journey into the roots of American music – A lot of remarkable music was born in the United States and this two-part road trip enables you to do a pretty thorough job of exploring the roots of jazz, blues, soul, bluegrass, country and rock and roll. Among other destinations, it will take you from the birthplace of jazz in New Orleans to the Mississippi home of the blues, and from the country music capital of Nashville to the Detroit source of the Motown sound.
Ultimate baseball road trip – Are you a baseball fan? Then you’ll enjoy this trek, which takes you into the heart of some of the country’s most passionate fan bases as well as to places that shed light on the early history of baseball. You’ll see the site of the game’s first official ballgame in New York and the location of the game’s first World Series in Boston. You can explore the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City. And along the way, you can take in games at Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and other famed ballparks.
Atomic tourism road trip through Cold War history – In New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada, it’s possible to construct a unique road trip through an era of 20th century atomic history. This journey will take you to the New Mexico site where the first atomic bomb was tested, to an underground Titan missile complex in Arizona which once had missiles pointed at the former Soviet Union, and to numerous other sites representing the Cold War and the dawn of the nuclear age.
Stargazing the Southwest – A dark sky filled with thousands of glittering stars is one of the most sublime sights in nature. The region from West Texas to Southern California boasts some of the best stargazing locations in the world, and Arizona has more observatories than any other state or country. You can spend your days seeing the sights of the Southwest and your nights enjoying the majesty of the universe.
For more information, check out the entire series of road trip articles here.
Photo credit: Bob Riel
Comments
Looks like we cover a lot of the same things. This is a really good article and wonderful photo! I like the theme road trips idea. I also did a summary of trips of 2009. I will subscribe so I do not miss your great information. :)
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