National Scenic Byways

Quinn look what you caused

Please excuse our site's slowness today - we are receiving heavy web traffic.

Finally got the maps - I've been on a number of them in the midwest and west

yeah, Im sure it was all my fault..have to keep doing that..what was it that I did again?

I have been on bits and pieces of some of these in the Northeast...and funny, probably on a few others across the US but, I prolly didnt realize it.

My favorite all-time scenic route is Highway 1 along the Pacific Coast from Canada to southern California. Areas of spectacular beauty include the Pt. Reyes National Seashore, Monterey Bay, Santa Barbara, and San Juan Capistrano.

Makes me homesick just thinking about it. I think it is time for another drive along the coast.

~A misplaced valley girl

Hi Butrflynet...
sounds like a lovely drive...I think a great deal of these scenic byways are simply reminders of home a great deal of the time. Id say nostalgic but, then Id feel old.

ahhhhhh, big sur.......

Verra cool quinn! I love road trips. Going to check it out, be back!

Via quinn's cool link I also found Pick A Trail which lead me to a page that contains info on all the states which lead me to a very cool site about stuff to do in Massachusetts. These links will lead you to all kinds of good stuff all over the world.

ROAD TRIP



kewl

Well, I wish I'd seen this before. We just came back from a week-long trip on the Oregon coast's scenic byway. I'm sure we missed things, though we still had an awesome time. Thanks for the links!

Piffka..my mother does Oregon at least once a year, and from some pictures Ive seen, its a great ride.
Hang on to the link for the next time.

They say the weather isn't always great, but we were lucky and had lots of sun. Maybe your mom likes it because the Oregon coast has such amazing views. The rocky headlands jut out from the coast so you can get magnificent looks back at miles & miles of sandy beaches hundreds of feet below ('tis a little bit scary if you're phobic). The haystack rocks are very cool and it is fun to see so many sea-lions... nearly every beach has 'em. And the dunes! Oh my! I'd like to go back every year, too.

She just misses the lighthouses here in NE and its the only thing she can get that isnt like across the country. Its an escape from the desert as well...I think it helps at least. They've actually bought where they can drive up the coast and stay, drive back down...I think actually its a fair deal for having to drive for like 10 hours...you need a view!
Lucky on the weather..yep, can be if'y.

Yep, nine lighthouses in Oregon, most of them are nicely accessible, too. They are so picturesque. If I were more of a collector I'd want to have a figurine of each -- I coveted them in the gift shops.

It was a long drive for us, too, about six hours coming from the Seattle area. One of the things that we lucked out on, as well as the weather, were the wild flowers and shrubs... there were hillsides of wild strawberries in full bloom, native purple iris which were gorgeous, purple and yellow violets, rhodies, wild ginger, ferns, huckleberry bushes, blooming salal, yellow gorse.... just an amazing array of spring growth.

I've been on other scenic byways but this one was among the best because we could stop nearly anywhere and enjoy the beach. I think I read there were 40 state parks along the way, as well as all sorts of established viewpoints, national registry places, information boothes, museums and visitor centers. There were also some good restaurants and hotels.

I've also liked the drive out to the Florida Keys (I'm pretty sure that's a scenic byway, too) and Butrfly's right... the California coast is truly great, though there's a lot more traffic and it seemed less accessible, as I remember it -- the beach is further away from the road (which is good once you're on the beach!). Oregon is just standing on her head to make it easy for tourists. I love the idea of a scenic byway -- giving the drive-by tourist a chance to enjoy the view!

Hey thanks! I needed this info for our vacation this July!

Piffka..yeah, umm..she has all those..its scary really but, cute too when you get to the point where you need to have special shelves made to go around your house for these types of things you might just be getting to the point of..maybe you should stop now

hey Gen..glad to have helped!
I just found out that one of my little excusions this summer is the first scenic byway area, Rt 2 in good old Mass...its pretty, Ive always enjoyed the ride when Ive taken it..no matter what time of year which makes it so much more interesting.

The dune structures at Big Sur and other parts of the CA coast are very fragile and frequently closed to the public for this reason. North of Monterey, though, there is lots of coast access (though I suppose you've got to know where it is).

Haven't done the Oregon coast in years. Beautiful. (Last time I was in the back of a truck on sunny days, which can't be beat. Or repeated any more...

Quinn -- haha... I'll hold myself back from buying lighthouse figurines!

It is odd that the dunes of California are fragile and protected while those of Oregon are seemingly not, even though they're a National Site. I wonder why?

I found this picture while searching that Byways link... next road trip in my state, here's where I want to go:

(shrug) A peculiarity to the area around Monterey/Big Sur, so far as I can tell. They don't care if you tromp over most of the dunes in Northern California.