Our American Road Trip-Southeast States

Are you dreaming of going on a coast-to-coast American road trip? Here’s a quick recap of towns, historical sites, attractions, and national parks we went to on our 2-month USA road trip. You can see the full itinerary in this other post and more details about the other parts of the trip in the next two posts. If you’re just getting started with the planning process you can learn a lot from this post about road trip planning tips.

I have the trip broken up generally into the Southeastern states, Southwestern states up to Wyoming, and Western states starting in Idaho. Although we didn’t cover every state in each region you can get a nice taste of America on this route, or you can take what you like and tweak it to suit your needs.

Our Great American Road Trip – Southeast Region – Part 1 of 3

This link should take you to the same map in Google Maps so you can zoom in and or adjust it for your road trip in the Southeastern USA.

For this American road trip, we traveled in the months of September and October, which is a great time to be traveling in the U.S. most anywhere. The kids are back in school, which means that most families are at home and the weather is starting to cool in the hotter states in the South.

Temperatures aren’t too cold yet in the Northern states. We started our adventure in Chesapeake, Virginia where we lived, but if you plan to fly into an airport, I recommend booking your flight to Norfolk, Virginia, then head south to North Carolina. Another large airport in the area is Charlotte, North Carolina, which is a great place to start as well.

I’m also working on the ultimate downloadable USA road trip itinerary with these same stops and maybe more. If you have an interest in something you can download and save or print, sign up for my newsletter above. The downloadable road trip itinerary will include tons more than you see here, like food and lodging recommendations and lots more things to do for each area. My email community will be the first to get the announcement when it’s available.

Southeastern States Road Trip Route

We started our trip from Chesapeake, Virginia, which is where we lived at the time. If you’re flying in for a trip like this, then your best airports are either Norfolk, VA [ORF] or Charlotte, North Carolina [CLT]. Even though Charlotte isn’t a huge city, the airport is a hub for American Airlines which is a major U.S. airline.

Fayetteville, North Carolina

At our first stop, we visited our nephew, who was new to that area. Since we had never been there either, we loved checking it out and recovering a bit from the last few crazy days before we left Virginia.

Besides visiting with our nephew and meeting his new dog we tried a few restaurants in town and explored a bit. My favorite part of town was the historic Cool Spring Downtown District on Hay Street. When you visit check out City Center Gallery and Books, enjoy dinner at Circa 1800 Restaurant, and take in a Fayetteville Woodpeckers game if it’s baseball season. The Woodpeckers are a Minor League Baseball team, Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Houston Astros. They play in the Carolina League Southern Division. There’s more to explore in Fayetteville, but I’ll save it for a dedicated post.

My Fayetteville, NC recommendations

Raleigh, North Carolina

While staying with our nephew we also took a day trip to Raleigh. You’ve probably heard about all the craft breweries there. When we got to town we had lunch at Trophy Brewing and weren’t disappointed. If you go to Raleigh, you can wander around the downtown area near the Capitol building. Lots of history, statues, and park areas there.

Stop in at the Deco store for all things quirky, fun, and North Carolina-related, including North Carolina Fried Chicken, Beer, and BBQ maps. If you want to stretch your legs away from downtown, stop by Pullen Park, operating since 1887. You can ride the gorgeous 1921 Dentzel antique carousel, rent pedal boats, wander the garden trails, enjoy a picnic, and so much more.

Hendersonville, North Carolina

We had family here too and have visited a few times. We love this friendly town! This is also a great place to stay if you want to save a little money and visit Asheville, NC on your great American road trip. Asheville tends to be a bit more expensive than Hendersonville, but it’s only about a half hour away.

While we were in Hendersonville (Labor Day Weekend) the NC Apple Festival was going on so the town and nearby farm stands were buzzing with activity. In recent years the folks in town have done a great job of attracting visitors with a variety of annual events. Even if there are no special activities going on, it’s always fun to wander the historic Main Street. You can also visit the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site nearby. Tour the poet’s home and see Mrs. Sandburg’s famous Chikaming goat herd. If you head north toward Asheville, you can spend the day at the grand Biltmore Estate as well.

Hendersonville Area Recommendations

When we left Hendersonville, NC our American road trip took us to Nashville, Tennessee. We discovered a gorgeous scenic drive and decided to explore. The Cherohala Skyway is a 43-mile National Scenic Byway from Tellico Plains, Tennessee, to Robbinsville. It’s a bit curvy, but well worth your time if you can squeeze it in. The Skyway is a favorite for motorcycle riders and sportscar owners because of its sweeping curves, scenic views, fall foliage, and beautiful summer weather.

Want to See More of North Carolina?

If you have more time to explore or want to focus more in the Southeast states, then here are two of my posts that focus on American road trip sites exclusively in North Carolina.

Nashville, Tennessee

After leaving North Carolina our USA road trip itinerary took us on the Cherohala Skyway scenic drive to Nashville, Tennessee. If you’ve never been to the “Music City” it reminds me a little bit of a mini-Las Vegas, (without the gambling) and focused on Country music. The buildings are plastered with neon signs, nearly every venue is a party place, and you’ll pass hundreds of people crowding the sidewalks in boots and cowboy hats.

You would have never known that we were still in the midst of a pandemic because I rarely saw a facemask the whole night. We did see some inviting rooftop dining areas and nearly every venue had a live band on stage just inside the door. The windows were open to the sidewalks so you could hear the band without even stepping foot inside. We decided to pass on going into any of the places due to covid, but we enjoyed seeing all the seemingly happy people celebrating their favorite Country artist. We stayed in an adorable Airbnb outside of the downtown area. I’ll tell you about that later, so be sure to sign up for my mailing list to get updates on new posts.

My Nashville Recommendations

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas

My bucket list goal is to get to all the USA National Parks and I was thrilled to cross this one off my list since it’s not in a region that we travel a lot. If you love small towns, history, and natural beauty, you’ll love this stop. It’s one of the few national parks that doesn’t need a week of your time. We had a full day there on our American road trip and stayed overnight and it seemed perfect. Although there’s always more to do than we have time for.

If you’re a fan of “America’s Best Idea”, the national park system, you’ll see that Hot Springs National Park is a bit different from others that you’ve been to. In many ways, it’s more of a historical site than a park, but it was originally protected by the Federal government to safeguard the unique geology of the place from those who could exploit and ruin the natural hot springs in the interest of greed.

We had a chance to do a self-guided tour of the Fordyce Bathhouse and Visitor Center, which operated from 1915 to 1962. This beautiful example of early 1900s architecture has exhibits displaying how the bathhouse looked when it was open. The National Park visitor center is in the lobby area where you can chat with park rangers, pick up maps, get suggested itineraries, and have your questions answered. The park celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2021 and if you love history, architecture or geology, it’s well worth a day or more on your road trip.

When you’re in town be sure to stroll Bathhouse Row and the Grand Promenade. Stop and see one or more of the hot springs along the way. Take one of the scenic drives to the top of the nearby overlooks. Grab a bite to eat at a historic restaurant like the Ohio Club, and check out the kitschy shops and museums on Central Avenue.

Hot Springs NP Recommendations

Next Stop Austin, Texas & Southwest States

My next post will cover all of our 2-month American road trip stops in the Southwestern States, including Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, then north through Colorado and Wyoming. Even though it’s only a few states there are a lot of miles to travel since many states in the Southwest and West are so huge.

Our Western States Road Trip

We covered a big chunk of the West region in October, so I’ll share the map and details in the third post very soon. We were in California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada. More to come on that portion of our American road trip. To see the full American road trip route, check out this post.

So that’s the first part of our grand American road trip adventure! I love that you’ll be following along on this cross-country trip from the East Coast to the West.