What memories motorhomers can create as they pilot or copilot their coach past unforgettable, picturesque sights! This month, several FMCA members put a personal spin on the question:
Name your favorite scenic road trip.
The scenic roads through Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert Wilderness Area are among our favorites. We took our first trip there in April 2004 and were so awestruck that we returned in April 2008. The land east of Holbrook, Arizona, on Interstate 40 near Sun Valley is flat, rolling, grassy, and dry, with an occasional dinosaur statue posed by some broken pieces of rock-like logs. When you come upon the entrance to the Painted Desert, the land is barren and flat. Once you pass the visitors center, drive a short distance, and pull off at the first curve, you will be in absolute amazement at the vast expanse of pink, gray, and brown hills, and the deep valleys of land that seem to stretch forever. The whole trip through the Painted Desert is one astonishing vista after another. As you continue, you eventually cross the interstate into the Petrified Forest. The land there is less chunky looking “” more rolling hills and grassy plains. Scattered throughout the landscape are broken logs that have petrified into rust-colored stone. The visitors center is full of information about the history of the land and the role dinosaurs played in it. The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert are full of unexpected sights “” steep, colorful valleys; huge rock formations; challenging walking paths; petroglyphs; dinosaur exhibits; and miles of scenic roads.
Phyllis & LaVerne Heusted, F179492
Otisville, Michigan
How on earth can anybody name just one scenic route? They are all so special and beautiful in their own right. We have been moved to tears on our travels around America, as well as in northwestern and eastern Canada. Each scenic drive brings different emotions to the surface, whether it’s majestic mountains, sandstone monuments, waterfalls, glaciers, caribou heading north, or a pod of whales cruising along the Maritimes. All are breathtaking . . . and as long as we have memory, we can see them again and again. Here are 10 of our favorite scenic trips:
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina;
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado;
Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Ten Sleep Canyon, Wyoming;
Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, Wyoming;
Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Highway, Wyoming;
Going-to-the-Sun Road, Montana;
U.S. 101;
Canadian Rocky national parks, Alberta and British Columbia;
Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia.
Dick & Dian Miller, F258174
Sarasota, Florida
We live in an area where we have Lake Michigan and the sand dunes across the street, a lighthouse shining in our living room window, and freighters passing in a shipping canal several hundred feet from our house. So, our favorite scenic road trip is any road with a view of “big water,” sand dunes, a lighthouse, and boats.
Helen M. Marschner, F307274
Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Future questions:
1. How do you decorate your motorhome for the holidays?
2. If you’ve owned more than one motorhome, which has been your favorite (year, make, and model), and why?
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