How to Plan a Summer Road Trip

Ah, summer! that balmy season when the normal rules don’t apply.  The daylight is long; the weather is warm.  The clothing is casual, and so is the attitude.  It’s a time of reward, the few weeks’ sabbatical when we can relax, buoyed by the accomplishments of the past nine months.

And it’s a fine season for the freedom of the road trip.  But summer’s uniqueness means that the season requires special strategies for reaping the best from road travel.  I recently returned from a 12-day summer road trip in the northeast.  Here’s what I learned:

This post contains affiliate links.  For more information, click here.

Make reservations early.

Room vacancies at suitable hotels are hard to come by.  I also missed out on lunch at the 1606 Restaurant and Oyster Bar at the Beauport Hotel in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and a day at the Roosevelt Baths and Spa at the Gideon Putnam Resort in Saratoga Springs, New York, because they were fully booked.  And several big museums require advance-purchased tickets.  Do yourself a great favor and sacrifice flexibility for the comfort of knowing that you have attractions and accommodations booked.

Arrive at popular attractions early.

I came to the Corning Museum of Glass shortly after its 9 a.m. opening, and felt almost as though I had the building’s vast collections all to myself for a few hours.  But at noon, it was as though somebody pulled a switch, and suddenly the place was awash with families, and seeing the displays, snacking at the Café, and browsing at the gift shop required long waits dodging short visitors.

Look for lesser-known attractions.

While in Corning, I discovered the Rockwell Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate featuring beautiful native American art, as well as three pieces by Frederic Remington, a 19th-century artist whose Western works I’ve enjoyed since first discovering them years ago at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  I was able to spend a quiet afternoon hour enjoying the small museum among a few other visitors.

Avoid long drives on Fridays and Sundays.

These are heavy and unpleasant travel days in the summertime.

Pack for the full range of summer weather.

In the East, summertime tends to be hot and humid, cooler on the water, and punctuated with thunderstorms.  In the West, it tends to be hot and dry, and cooler in the evenings.  I recommend layers in natural fabrics, comfortable sandals and tennis shoes, wide-brimmed hats, and a light wind-breaker.

Where are the best places to go on a summer road trip?

The personal-finance site WalletHub recently released a study of the Best & Worst States for a Summer Road Trip.  As it happens, I’ve road tripped across each of the top five more than once:

1. New York

New York State is nothing like New York City.  It’s beautiful, bucolic, peaceful, pastoral, and pleasant.  The people are friendly and polite.  Upstate New York is laden with mountains, rivers, lakes, springs, and falls.  It’s the only state on both the East Coast and the Great Lakes.  It spans early American history, as the 18th-century sites in the eastern part of the state give way to the 19th century as one travels westward, following the path of America’s expansion.

2. Texas

The largest state on the list also spans regions, as the southeast opens up to the southwest.  Texas offers intriguing history and fabulous Tex-Mex cuisine.

3. Louisiana

If you wish, you could continue driving eastward from Texas to Louisiana.  New Orleans is a fully unique city, and the rest of the state is sultry and sparkles with wetlands, with sensational seafood and Creole and Cajun cuisine, and people who exude all the welcoming warmth of the Deep South.

4. Maine

There’s no place like Maine in the summertime, with warm days and cool nights on rocky beaches.  Acadia is easily the best National Park in the East, and nothing beats lobster, although the clams are a solid second.

5. North Carolina

The remaining southern state on the list also is populated with warm and welcoming people.  Raleigh and Charlotte are both fun cities; the Outer Banks are one of the most beautiful spots in the eastern United States, and the pulled-pork barbecue, with cole slaw and hush puppies, is comfortingly indulgent.

Bon voyage!