Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. What are some of your favorite drives and what makes them your favorite?
I guess I should start.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is pretty obvious, but it’s obvious just because it’s so pretty.
We recently went up to Philly from NC on I-95 (most hated) and came back down the DelMarVa peninsula on 301 and 13 and across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. I really enjoyed that.
Blue Ridge. Really really pretty views!
Pacific Coast Highway in California.
I love driving around the Tampa Bay area in Florida because I love to be near water.
Driving from Miami to Key West, Florida is really interesting the first couple of times, but then becomes monotonous if done frequently.
Outer Banks of North Carolina is interesting.
PCH is pretty hard to beat.
The drive on BC-99 from Vancouver to Whistler is also pretty nice.
I-70 through Glenwood Canyon is stunning.
The Lake Superior shoreline on the southwest side of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is stunning.
Tunnel of Trees, Michigan.
Oregon Coast Line 101
I think driving through WV (I77) is stunning if you don’t have trucks. Most of the time we have been lucky, but I remember once it was similar to 81 and also pouring rain.
Also I64 from Covington, VA heading into WV is pretty.
Beartooth highway (from Red Lodge Montana to Yellowstone).
In the spirit of beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Hwy 85 from Deadwood, SD to Theodore Roosevelt NP in ND, stunning in its wide open spaces, remoteness and nothingness.
So many great drives!
One that was memorable was from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite, passing through Tuolumne Meadows.
“Million dollar” highway from Ouray to Silverton in Colorado.
Also agree with PCH.
Agree with the sentiments on the obvious/popular ones listed above (in particular, PCH just south of SF and Hwy 1 to the Keys).
I’ll list a few that are less widely known outside of the NYC metro area…
The lower stretch of the Merritt Parkway in CT - beautiful at all times of the year.
I-80 through the Delaware Water Gap is breathtakingly beautiful.
US 29 (Jersey side) or PA 611/Scenic Byway - the two roads straddle either side of the Delaware River …so lovely to travel through Revolutionary war era river towns…and see all the beautiful stone farm houses.
I guess “anywhere in Maine” is too vague. But it’s how I feel.
The road from Fryeburg up to Gilead is one of my very favorites.
+1 to the Pacific Coast Highway area in California.
Adding in Lake Michigan shoreline M-31 or M-22.
Michigan has some great scenic highways. So many.
Just drove M-22 and M-31 the past 2 weeks. Colors this year are amazing!
I’m partial to M-22.
The southern side of the UP is also very nice.
Natchez Trace Parkways from Nashville to Jackson MS.
Scenic, lots of nature, and most importantly the cell phone rarely works - so it’s just me and Spotify. There’s one town on the route - halfway - Tupelo MS.
It’s super chill.
Colorado is full of pretty drives. Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the nicest (as long as I am NOT the driver).
This website has some nice photos.
and the I70 through Glenwood Canyon!!!
I also love driving Lake Shore Drive through Chicago.
One of our family’s favorite drives is the 395 along the eastern Sierra Nevada in California from L.A. up to Lee Vining. We love the scenery and all the towns along there–Lone Pine, Big Pine, Independence, Bishop, Mammoth Lakes, June Lake and Lee Vining. At one time or another over the past three decades we’ve stayed at all of these places, either camping or in cabins (or condos in Mammoth). If we go as far as Lee Vining, we always visit Mono Lake and try to go into Yosemite if the road is open coming in from the east. We were just up in Mammoth at the end of June and they had so much snow last winter, the road wasn’t open yet. We try to get up that way once a year if we can.