America’s Three Most Awe-inspiring Highways

Summer is at hand, and that means the time for road trips is here. You can stick to your traditional course, that the family has seen and memorized for years now, or you can look for new routes. Breathtaking highways can offer new sights, historical destinations, access to adventurous hikes, natural beauty and forgotten towns. Here are three of the most common breathtaking highways in America where you and your family can create new and permanent memories.

 

1.  Highway 12 in Utah begins just near Bryce Canyon National Park and ends near the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park. In addition to being a connecting road between two wonderful national parks, Highway 12 is an awesome alternative to see some of the top and most gracious places of southern Utah. As the road curves through the desert area of southern Utah, vacationers will be taken aback by the rock formations and the ever different colors of the sand and stone. Along Highway 12, you will be around Escalante Petrified Forest State Park where you can look at petrified logs, dinosaur bones and marine fossils. As you get next to Capitol Reef National Park the desert gradually begins growing and before you know it you are driving through the blossoming Dixie National Forest. At the road’s end you will be near Capitol Reef National Park with unbounded alternatives for viewing incredible rock structures, amazing mountain scenery and even some lakes and streams.

 

2.  Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina/Virginia- This 469 mile parkway is a like a dream come true to road traveling fans. One of the best scenic routes in the United States, the Blue Ridge Parkway offers drivers and passengers extraordinary views of the surrounding Appalachian Mountains and their countless forests and wildflowers.

The parkway connects two national parks, Shenandoah National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In between the two parks sit many suitable points of interest: camping spots, walking trails, national sites, museums, wildlife, and small tourist towns. Take your time on this drive, spend the nights in neighborhood family camping grounds and take advantage of the historical sites along the way. Whether spring, summer, fall or winter, the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway is deserving of a slow drive.

 

3.  Pacific Coast Highway 1, California- When imagining road trips and California it is natural to think of the famous Pacific Coast Highway. The Pacific Coast Highway runs through most of the whole coastline of California and is a great road trip for families with small children. Among the things that make traveling along the Pacific Coast Highway so great is that there are consistent interesting attractions, towns, and cities that allows for entertaining breaks for the kids. The city of Santa Barbara as an example offers plenty of awesome parks for the kids to engage in, shopping for everyone, and historical memorials to remember the blended Spanish and Mexican roots of California. If shops and parks don't excite you, there is always Ostrich Land where you can feed the giant, impressive feathered beasts...mind their feet, they do kick. Another favorite vacation stop throughout the Pacific Coast Highway is the Hearst Castle. Built in the image of a high quality European castle, the Hearst Castle is a good family place that will awe parents and thrill children with a treasure hunt. So, in addition to purely divine coastline and huge waves, the Pacific Coast Highway is one of America’s preferred vacation spots because it features attractions that the whole family can take pleasure in.