Hi all,
I’m planning a ~3 week trip to the United States in August/September this year and I have a few questions about a very rough itinerary.
The current plan is to fly from Sydney to JFK, after a few days make my way down to Washington DC and spend a few days there. It get’s a bit sketchy here, but possibly some natural scenery in the centre and then fly up to Seattle. Here I’m keen to visit the Boeing factory and the flight museum. Then travelling down (either fly or drive) to LA and San Franscisco where I spend a few days.

I’m mostly interested in significant political and historical places (Empire state building, white house, hoover dam…etc) as well as some of the natural beauty of the country. I’m also keen on hiring a Mustang and doing a few-day cruise somewhere, although I’m not sure where. Possibly the Seattle-LA leg?

So in summary, my questions are:
1) Where would be a good place to do a ‘cruise’ in a Mustang? Would the Seattle-LA leg be a nice drive?
2) What should I visit between Washington and Seattle?

Many thanks!

I'd put Yosemite at the top of the list in terms of natural beauty, but there's a lot between Seattle and LA. Mt. Ranier and Shasta are there. There's a great Redwood National Park just south of the Oregon border. The Columbia River valley is wonderful, too.

Seattle-LA would be nice in a mustang, but it's a long, long drive. If you like to drive, then do it. Otherwise, I'd choose a shorter leg, but certainly include the coast from San Francisco to the Big Sur.

On Yosemite, lodging except for Curry Village is probably booked. Vacancies occur about 8 or 9 days before the date, so you can often get nice accommodations close in. Yosemite Valley is crowded, will be less so after the first weekend in September or on a week day. I'd include the area at Tuolumne Meadows at Yosemite. There are great hikes there, if you want to hike.

I'm a visual person, so I'd recommend getting the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Guides and flip through to see what you'd like to see.

There's lots to see between Washington DC and Seattle, but if you spend a week between NYC and Washington DC, then you'll have just two weeks for the west coast. I'd put the west coast above anything between the two coasts.

Thanks for the comments. I'll look into those suggestions.

Thanks for the tip about the drive. I googled the length and it did look long so maybe a smaller drive along the coast might suffice. I'd probably only want to drive for around 2 days, so probably not much further than 800kms assuming I'll be stopping off and taking photos quite frequently.

Thanks!

From Washington, DC, it is a little over an hour to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. There you will see lots and lots of beautiful scenery, and you won't have to drive very far.

As others have said, there are many beautiful drives on the west coast. Two of my favorites are the Columbia River Gorge east of Portland, OR and California Highway 1 thru Big Sur (south of San Francisco).

A couple of notes -

Be prepared for extremely hot and humid weather in Washington DC and the east coast in general in August. I would do the east coast by train and save the driving for the west, where both the weather and options will be (IMO) far better.

Driving from Seattle to California is a very popular trip. I would look at a conventional car or SUV between Seattle and San Francisco; if you really must drive a Mustang (I assume a convertible one) then pick it up in California, otherwise the one-way hire cost will be astronomical. (Bad enough as it is, it's awesome when you throw in a specialty vehicle cost.) And be aware that a convertible in the desert in August is a quick one-way trip to the emergency hospital if you're not careful. Not to mention a rather tired cliche - just about every Mustang you see on the road in coastal California in the summer is being driven by an overseas visitor.

Yosemite is glorious, but by August/September some of the waterfalls (one of the real draws) are dry or nearly so. I'd stick to the coast from Seattle to SF, as it's (a) gorgeous, (b) cool, and (c) offers the redwoods, usually stated by overseas visitors to be the highlight of the trip.

Honestly, I'd take a day or two off of NYC and add Philadelphia to it. Philly has nice historical places to visit, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It's an easy stop by bus or train between DC and NY.
I'm not that terribly impressed by NY. DC's good, though.

On a three-week trip, I don't really recommend driving across the country. Maybe fly into Salt Lake City and have a nice drive to Yellowstone National Park. Another destination near the middle is Denver, which also has pretty places close to it.
Or fly into Las Vegas, a fun destination in itself, that has nice national parks as well as the Grand Canyon nearby. Probably too hot in August, though.

Seattle is fun, and Portland is pretty easy to get to, 3 hours away, and you can take the beautiful drive around Columbia Gorge as mentioned above. Portland is also kind of a fun town to see.

I definitely wouldn't want to drive into San Francisco-way too many hills!

But LA-it's been a long time since I've been there, and, frankly, I'd look carefully at what you want to do there. I've heard it's overrated and boring.

Have fun on your trip!

If you do end up driving, the drive between Seattle and SF is some of the best scenery anywhere (if you take PCH the whole way down). Oregon coast is beautiful, and so is Big Sur.

If you need any information on what to do when you're in Seattle, let me know! I've lived there for 7 years.

I think you can see a lot in three weeks. If you are willing and able to do a few mini-trips that make up the three weeks, you could get a pretty good view of the immense diversity in the county. Since you are starting in the NE, I would visit NYC, DC, PHL and BOS, all can be done via train or bus, no car needed.

You really should see the Rockies. Go to DEN and visit for a couple of days and then drive to SLC. The scenery change is amazing and Glenwood Canyon is one of the most beautiful pieces of road in the county. Lots of places to stop and photograph.

Short flight to SEA, see the sights there and rent a car to drive south. I wouldn't spend too much time in LA. I've been countless times and am generally pretty bored there. SF, PDX and SEA all have a lot more beauty to them. As mentioned, the Columbia Gorge is fantastic and I can't help but promote PDX to visitors, it's a nice place. Drive out to the coast of OR and then head south. Not that LA is all bad, there are some cool things to say, but I'd be bored out of my mind with 3+ days there.

Coming down from Seattle, you have access to a lot of national parks, some of which have been mentioned. There is no shortage of scenery between Washington, Oregon and California. Your biggest challenge will be what to see (and what you won't have time for).

There's Crater Lake National Park in Oregon:



The drive over Mount Shasta into the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area:



Lassen Volcanic National Park east of Redding/Red Bluff:



And a little out of the way you have Lake Tahoe which is surrounded by national forest.



I'd do the whole west coast with a Mustang if you can swing it and deal with any drop-off charges which could make the decision for you.

Not to mention Olympic National Park. One of my other favorites. Then there is Zion, which is not a bad drive from Las Vegas.

Thanks for the comments. D.C. humid and hot? That’s a surprise as I have it pictured in my mind as being cold. Maybe I’ll just spend the bare minimum time there just to see the major political sights.

Maybe it would be a better idea to fly into LA (from Seattle?) and then drive a loop as to avoid the one-way fees?

It’ll have to be a hard-top Mustang, I’m afraid, as my ginger complexion wouldn’t handle the sun too well.

Seattle is a lovely city, enjoyed it immensely. Very eclectic, not a chain restaurant to be found. Stayed on Lake Union, lots of seaplane activity

If you happen to visit our arid climate states (e.g. Nevada) drink LOTS of water. While you won't really sweat noticeably as it evaporates almost instantly - dehydration is a very real and dangerous possibility.

Imagine Cairns in January.

Seriously? Cairns in Jan is as bad (or good, if you're crazy and like horrible weather haha) as Hong Kong and Bangkok. My brother go married in a Cairns Jan a few years ago so you've got me worried!

I travelled through an Israeli summer in 2014 so I was hoping for more pleasant weather on my next trip.

Washington DC average August - 31/22C, Cairns January 31/24C, humidity range comparable. So it's a couple of degrees cooler at night in DC, but during the day/active hours, it can be downright awful, especially if you're outside queuing up to visit some monument.

I think DC and the northeast (NYC can also be very hot and humid, but unlike DC, it wasn't built in a swamp) are marvelous places, and I won't discourage you from visiting them.

However, with only three weeks, I'll just raise the question about priorities. If you skipped the east coast this trip, there's more than enough to see and do in the west that I'd just bet you wouldn't go home unsatisfied.

Allocate the east coast days to - I don't know, Vancouver BC and Whistler, or hell, even think about a cruise to Alaska (7 days return from Vancouver or Seattle) - or just a long weekend (Fri-Mon) taking the Alaska ferry from Bellingham WA (90 min. from Seattle) through the Inside Passage to Juneau, then fly back.

Use your "city" time in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco or LA, all of them far more pleasant in terms of weather than the east coast.

What is there to see between Seattle (or Vancouver) and San Francisco? Well, take your pick... idyllic islands with whales swimming around, dormant and active volcanoes with glaciers, temperate rain forest, "old west" sagebrush country, mile-wide rivers flowing through enormous gorges, rocky and stormy beaches, vineyards and frozen-in-time small towns, the redwoods - typically the highlight of most overseas visitors' trips - with farmers markets, county fairs, brewpubs, festivals... crikey. And in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, four of North America's most beautiful, cosmopolitan and fascinating cities.

Three weeks is barely enough time to scratch the surface, much less see things in depth.

We have Israel-in-summer places, too - they don't call it Death Valley for nothing, you know.

Just a couple of teaser pics -

Seattle at last light



Olympic mountains from Seattle



Mount Rainier



Columbia Gorge, near Portland



Oregon coast



Redwoods (car for scale)