Planning a road trip

This summer we plan to go on a road trip from Chicago to Seattle. We both love to travel in the US, and along that route there are some interesting sights that none of us have seen. And – not least - states we have not visited.

The trip will also give us a much welcome opportunity to visit our friend Kelly in Chicago and take a closer look at that city. We will also take a stopover in Milwaukee where I spent half a year as an intern many years ago. From there onto Minneapolis with stops in Madison and Wisconsin Dells.'

From Minneapolis we have tentatively sketched the route to Yellowstone. Along the way we will visit places like Badlands, Wind Cave National Park, Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower and Cody in Wyoming before we get to Yellowstone National Park. I expect Yellowstone to be the biggest highlight of the trip, and we plan to spend at least two full days there.

We are not sure yet where to go from Yellowstone, though. One option is to go Southwest through Idaho, with sights including Craters of the Moon, Shoshone Fall and Thousand Springs Scenic Byway – and then through Oregon to Portland. That should give us about 5 days to explore the Portland-Seattle area, including a potential visit to the Olympic National Park.

Another option is to go North through Montana to Glacier National Park, and from there go West through Washington, and see Cascades National Park on our way to Seattle. This would also give us a handful of days to explore Seattle and the area around it.

Any advice on which route to choose would be greatly appreciated, as well as any other advice on things to do or see, places to stay (or avoid!) etc. etc.

Now I guess the next step is to actually buy the plane tickets!