Suggestions for an awesome summer roadtrip!

April 13, 2009 10:56 PM

Cross-country road trip filter: The boyfriend and I are driving from Atlanta to the SF Bay area for our jobs at Berkeley and LLNL, respectively. This question encompasses several smaller questions about such a road trip.

I have three minor questions which I am mashing into one giant road-trip question. If this isn't kosher, please let me know!
Hive mind, please feel free to weigh in on one or all of these, or offer any other suggestions you're just dying to get out.

1. Do you know of any restaurants that are absofreakinglutely not to be missed along this general route? Seafood or BBQ recs a plus.
2. Car games for two people in a small, loud convertible. One of us will always be driving, so not terribly thought-intensive. Though both of us do love a good game of Contact, I can't think of a way to adapt it for only two people.
3. We are planning on making a scrapbook as a reminder of our awesome (hopefully!) experience. Neither of us has done this before, but both of us are avid photographers. Beginning scrapbook suggestions that aren't from a generic website?

Thanks so much!

posted by derogatorysphinx to travel & transportation (11 comments total)

I've done this drive a few times. You didn't ask for quaint breakfast nooks but I always appreciate a relaxing, easy-to-get-to-from-40 stop for coffee and breakfast snacks. Try Macy's in Flagstaff, it's a wonderful spot. Time it so you're getting there around breakfast. If you can spare, say, an extra three hours, you can take a short jaunt south to Sliderock and go swimming in the river. Okay, that's not barbecue either.

Once you get up here to Berkeley, there's a lot of good barbecue and seafood.

* E&J's
* Sea Salt
* Spenger's
* T-Rex
posted by doteatop at 11:35 PM on April 13

Also, for games, have you considered Ghost? Probably good for a hundred miles here or there.
posted by doteatop at 11:37 PM on April 13

Will your car be full of stuff?
posted by mdonley at 12:56 AM on April 14

What route are you taking? Straight west until you get to California, then up the coast? North toward Kentucky and then across to Nevada?

How much time do you have? Getting off the interstates will dramatically change the experience you have (for the better), but will obviously add quite a bit of travel time and navigational overhead.
posted by jjg at 4:04 AM on April 14

Check out the book (or website-tie-in-with-the-book) "Road Trip USA." Depending on what route you take, they will have a lot of food/sightseeing recommendations for the road.

As for the scrapbook -- I wouldn't worry about trying to follow any 'rules". The definition of a scrapbook used to simply be "stuff stuck into a blank book," and the current foobaz for die-cut frames, patterned pages, etc. is, to my mind, just overkill. While you're on the trip, I'd just focus on taking the pictures and taking along an envelope for cool paper ephemera (the paper placemat from that awesome diner, the postcard you got in Topeka, or what have you), and then worry about that when you get back. The one tip I would give you would be to make sure that when you're getting your blank book, paste for the scrapbook, etc., that you look for "archival quality" or "acid-free" materials, which will keep the stuff you paste in the book from fading or deteriorating as fast.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:53 AM on April 14

i would presume your route will be something like OKC -- ABQ -- flagstaff -- SF, correct?

an "interesting" place to check out is the in big texan in amarillo (wikipedia link) lol
posted by knockoutking at 8:34 AM on April 14

I remember having a nice breakfast in Laramie, in a spot just off the main street near the Library, but I sure can't recall the name. But jjg is right, if you have the time, get off the interstate & drive the state highways. It will be a much more memorable trip. Since this sounds like a permanent relocation you should make the most of it. US Rte 64 through New Mexico is an awesome road.
posted by TDIpod at 8:38 AM on April 14

We did a similar route and really liked Nick's BBQ and Catfish, in Carlisle, AR, right off I-40 a little east of Little Rock. I never got the point of fried green tomatoes until I ate them at this place.
posted by escabeche at 8:54 AM on April 14 [1 favorite has favorites]

We drove from Ohio to SF, Vegas, and back. Our "scrapbook" was a map of the US with our route outlined in sharpie, then photos attached around the outside of the map like a frame. It hangs in our den and it's one of the best souvenir type items I have.

Also this book brought a lot more meaning to the places we passed. It also suggests hotels, restaurants and other must-sees along the route. Get off the interstate and use the highways- they're so much more interesting!
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 9:24 AM on April 14

My boy and I did Nashville to SF a couple of years ago. We were on a tight schedule, so I can't recommend restaurants, alas. One thing we did that we ended up being delighted with was to take a photo of every "Welcome to" state sign we passed. They're framed in our living room and a great memory of the trip.

If you're an Eagles (the band) fan, you should make a brief stop in Winslow, Arizona. Find any street corner, stand on it, get a picture, and giggle to yourself.

Also, the thing that saved our sanity on the drive was mystery novels on tape. In a convertible, it might be too loud to hear them, but we thought they were great. After a while, we'd get tired of music and a little tired of talking to each other, but a pleasant voice reading a fascinating whodunnit passed the time and kept up mentally roused very well.

If you're bringing an iPod rather than CDs, we also played a lot of what we call iPod DJ. The driver comes up with a theme like British artists in alphabetical order or bands with female singers or songs from the 90s and you can't scroll backwards and the passenger can only play songs that fit it. It's oddly enjoyable and can really make you delve into your music collection.
posted by mostlymartha at 10:09 AM on April 14

Get a Maid-Rite somewhere in the midwest
posted by wcfields at 5:13 PM on April 14