Yahoo! Travel's Best Summer Road Trips

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Yahoo! Travel's picks for best summer road trips.

Here's the five best summer road trips, according to Yahoo! Travel. With gas prices high, let's start close to home. Blue Ridge Parkway: From Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky National Park in North Carolina, every twist in the road reveals stunning mountain and valley vistas. Charming inns and great restaurants dotting its 470 miles make it worthwhile to take your time.

Overseas Highway, Florida: From Key Largo, near Miami, a series of bridges and causeways means you're driving over beautiful blue waters for more than a hundred miles, until the end of the road in Key West, the southernmost point in the continental U.S.

Texas Hill Country: From Austin, south to San Antonio, then west to Junction, the Hill Country is chock-full of colorful Texas towns. Don't miss authentic German food (and beer!) in Fredericksburg, country music in Gruene, and any number of rivers to inner-tube down when it comes time to cool your heels.

Black Hills of South Dakota: Iconic Mount Rushmore is the big-name attraction, but a drive through the granite spires and pines of Black Hills includes everything from Wild West gold-rush kitsch (Deadwood), free-ranging wildlife (bison, big horn sheep, prairie dogs) and scenic day hikes to stretch road-weary legs (try Cathedral Spires Trail on the Needles Highway).

California's Big Sur Coast: Start with a visit to the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium, where you'll learn more about the sea life that live just below the vertigo-inducing cliffs you're about to drive along, then end with a visit to the fabulous Hearst Castle at San Simeon.

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Here's the five best summer road trips, according to Yahoo! Travel. With gas prices high, let's start close to home. Blue Ridge Parkway: From Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky National Park in North Carolina, every twist in the road reveals stunning mountain and valley vistas. Charming inns and great restaurants dotting its 470 miles make it worthwhile to take your time.

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