Just in time for summer comes a map that takes all the legwork out finding that perfect route for your next family road trip.
The brainchild of Discovery News producer Tracy Staedter, who decided to come up with the ideal United States road trip, the route hits every single one of the 48 continental U.S. states.
Staedter enlisted the help of Michigan State University doctoral student Randy Olson, and the two also included the parameters that every one of the stops on the map be a national natural landamark, a national historic site, a national park, or a national monument.
Some of the destinations like -- the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park and the White House -- are ones you would expect. Others -- like Elvis Presley’s Graceland and the French Quarter in Louisiana -- you probably wouldn’t.
Here is a list of stops on this map:
1. Grand Canyon, AZ
2. Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
3. Craters of the Moon, ID
4. Yellowstone National Park, WY
5. Pikes Peak, CO
6. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
7. The Alamo, TX
8. The Platte Historic District, OK
9. Toltec Mounds, AR
10. Elvis Presley's Graceland, TN
11. Vicksburg National Military Park, MS
12. French Quarter, LA
13. USS Alabama, AL
14. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL
15. Okefenokee Swamp Park, GA
16. Fort Sumter National Monument, SC
17. Lost World Caverns, WV
18. Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center, NC
19. Mount Vernon, VA
20. White House, Washington, D.C.
21. Colonial Annapolis Historic District, MD
22. New Castle Historic District, DE
23. Cape May Historic District, NJ
24. Liberty Bell, PA
25. Statue of Liberty, NY
26. The Mark Twain House & Museum, CT
27. The Breakers, RI
28. USS Constitution, MA
29. Acadia National Park, ME
30. Mount Washington Hotel, NH
31. Shelburne Farms, VT
32. Fox Theater, MI
33. Spring Grove Cemetery, OH
34. Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
35. West Baden Springs Hotel, IN
36. Abraham Lincoln's Home, IL
37. Gateway Arch, MO
38. C. W. Parker Carousel Museum, KS
39. Terrace Hill Governor's Mansion, IA
40. Taliesin, WI
41. Fort Snelling, MN
42. Ashfall Fossil Bed, NE
43. Mount Rushmore, SD
44. Fort Union Trading Post, ND
45. Glacier National Park, MT
46. Hanford Site, WA
47. Columbia River Highway, OR
48. San Francisco Cable Cars, CA
49. San Andreas Fault, CA
50. Hoover Dam, NV
It definitely makes for an interesting journey. Check out the full interactive map here.
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