What Was The Most Fun Trip You've Ever Taken?

[drummer_evans_aki]

To me, the most fun trip I ever took was driving from Vancouver, Washington to Reno, Nevada.

I got a call that day from my best friend. She tells me that she went to Reno because she met this guy online and she fell in love. But he ditched her when she arrived because, as she found out, he was married. So she's stranded there with no money and no way to get back.

So I got in my car and began the trip. Now I planned my route, got the directions, and so forth. So I had an idea of how long this would take. What I didn't count on was that apparently, when you head east of Goshen on OR-58, you'd be lucky to find a gas station that's actually open at 10pm.

But fortunately, I did. And they were such nice people. Got some gas, coffee, and headed on my way. Pitch black on OR-58 climbing the mountains. And on top of that, it was raining. So it wasn't very easy to see.

But I get through it, passed through Klamath Falls. And I still had over 3/4 tank of gas so I wasn't too worried. So I continued into California via OR-39/CA-139. I stopped at that little fruit inspection station. At this point, it was after midnight. And after talking to this very nice lady in her 30s, I continued south on CA-139. Then I found my way to CA-299. And I headed east towards Alturas. This point, I figured I could use some gas. I was just under half but I figured I can top it off and make it into Reno. So I did that in Alturas. Continuing south on US-395. The scene is just gorgeous over Sage Hen Summit. The entire highway in California was just beautiful.

I get into Reno and found my best friend. This was at 5am. I'm pretty delirious. So I let her drive.

On the way back, I can't sleep in a car. Never could. So I'm looking out the window and I see cows. Randomly yelling, "Moo." We're cracking jokes. I'm even teasing her about the whole thing.

We stopped in Klamath Falls to get gas. And I swear, I have not seen so many mullets before in my life. And that's on the women!!!!

Anyway, we head out. Heading through OR-58. This time, during the day. And we had lunch out in Oakridge. And the people there are so nice. It was a nice change of pace from all the hustle and rudeness of Portland. I've thought of moving that way. I've always liked small towns.

We get back home. And at this point, we're both exhausted. So we end up back at my place. And all we could do was just laugh and then pass out.

To drive is fun. I love it. But to drive with your best friend is even better. At least for me. Hell we've been through a lot together in the 28 years we've known each other. It never gets boring when we get in a car and drive for no reason.

[Quillz]

I've always loved long car trips. I remember in 1997, we drove all the way from L.A. to Seattle, using nothing but US-101 and then a short stretch of I-5. Was a really long way to go, but it was beautiful. We stopped in Monterey, the Bay Area, Crescent City, Astoria, etc.

The following year, we drove from Seattle to Vancouver. About eight years later, we revisited that drive, but also went farther north to Whistler, and later took a ferry across to Victoria.

And just this year, we drove from L.A. to Portland, as well as Newport and a few other Oregon coastal towns.

I really don't have a favorite, I just love long driving trips. I've also done a short East Coast trip, mainly from D.C. to NYC. I've also done Boston to northern Maine, as well as from Maine to Montreal and Quebec City.

[M86]

My favorite, and my longest, trip was driving from Sioux Falls, SD to Tampa, FL.  The majority was Interstate travel, but I did try to venture off... I loved seeing the true, rural America on the side roads.  If it was feasible, I would've taken all non-Interstate routes there.

[1995hoo]

I assume the intent of the question about "most fun trip" means "the most fun driving." I'd have to rate a 2005 trip to Miami at the top of my list. We went down to Fort Myers Beach to visit relatives for Thanksgiving, took the Auto Train both ways, and the Saturday after Thanksgiving I drove down to Miami to go to the UVA v. Miami football game at the old Orange Bowl. I parked the car at the Palmetto Metrorail station rather than driving all the way to the stadium area. It was around 140 miles from our relatives' place to the Metrorail stop and it took a bit under an hour and a half. I seldom dipped below 100 mph on Alligator Alley. Immensely enjoyable drive, and also one I'm unlikely ever to get to repeat.

[corco]

In a group, the most fun was a drive with some friends of mine from high school from Idaho to New Hampshire in back in 2007- we took two weeks and saw friends and family and concerts all across the country + Canada, following I-80 and 401/A-20 out there and then I-70 back.

By myself, I'd say my favorite remains in 2009 after I had moved to Wyoming. For me, the mental dividing line between the "east" and the "west" is the Missouri River, and it occurred to me that I wasn't so far away from the east. I woke up after a night of drinking and was craving a Steak 'n Shake steakburger and drove all the way to Kansas City to get one. On the way back, I took US-169 to US-36 across northern Kansas and had a blast. That was my first trip where I just  went completely off-trajectory for no legitimate reason, and the thrill of it made it awesome.

Prior to that, I lived in Washington, and driving every mile of state highway in the state certainly took me on a lot of "pointless" road trips, but eastern Washington and Oregon weren't off-course for me at all- I often had good reason to be there. I was younger and uncomfortable with taking extended trips to Canada, so there wasn't really anywhere foreign for me to go.


I've had some good ones, though. In February 2010 I went to Oklahoma for the Tulsa meet, and that was a lot of fun- this May I drove to Louisiana for no reason. The twice-yearly drives from wherever I'm going to school back to Idaho have never excited me that much, even though I always take new routes. As far as strict highway clinching trips, I really enjoyed my 3 day trip to NW Wyoming in August 2009  where I lived out of a rented Ford Fusion (surprisingly comfortable to sleep in!) and drove the entire NW Wyoming highway system.

[texaskdog]

Got back today from an 18 day trip of seeing 10 National Parks, 3 National Monuments, plus Las Vegas.  Highlights were climbing Angel's Landing at Zion, 2 hikes into Bryce Canyon, hiking the Rim and into Grand Canyon, climbing to Delicate Arch at Arches NP, and driving the Moki Dugway.

[agentsteel53]

Norway, March 2008.

[jeffandnicole]

My best trip was a side trip during my vacation to Las Vegas.  I rented a Jeep Wrangler and drove over 500 miles in about a 12 hour span around Death Valley, visiting all sorts of sites in that area.  Had everything all planned out, only to find out an unpaved road we had planned on taking was closed.  Messed up a little bit of the travel, but was still a great trip.

[ftballfan]

By myself: Allendale to Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to Allendale. It was in January and surprisingly it was not snowing. I followed 36th Ave, New Holland St, 32nd Ave, I-196, M-6, and US-131 to the Kalamazoo business route, and followed that all the way to Western to watch a couple of my friends play basketball. After that, I headed north on 131 all the way to downtown Grand Rapids to watch Grand Valley State (my university) take on Ferris State at Van Andel. After the two games there ended, I headed back to Allendale.

[MrDisco99]

US 1 down to Key West.

Normally I get mad when people are driving slow in front of me.  This is the only place in the world where I don't care.

[1995hoo]

US 1 down to Key West.

Normally I get mad when people are driving slow in front of me.  This is the only place in the world where I don't care.

That's how I felt driving on Kauai. Only place I've ever been where I seldom felt any incentive to go even as fast as the speed limit.

[agentsteel53]

I don't mind driving slowly due to the terrain, but I find that the ass end of an RV does not make for good scenery.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I don't mind driving slowly due to the terrain, but I find that the ass end of an RV does not make for good scenery.

"I've seen enough of this very scenic license plate 'U74HED' on this trip, let's go back to the hotel"

My favorite trip was my 2007 roadtrip from the Twin Cities to Maine.