On the road again
Published by Staff on 6.3.2008 at 12:01 p.m.If you laugh in the face of skyrocketing gas prices (or, you’re running the family van on vegetable oil), Rand McNally’s 2009 Atlas is the read for you. Inside, the guide features the 2009 “Best of the Road” winners—26 unique stopovers found along the five top road trips through the U.S. and Canada. Fortunately for atlas owners, almost every trip is around 200 miles, allowing for shorter trips closer to home and less cash spent on gas.
Rand McNally’s expert travel editors personally traversed each route to select the attractions, and their top picks include:
* Encore Bed & Breakfast: The innkeepers of this 19th century Boston
townhouse inspire guests' future travels with tales of their own on
the “Charming Coastline” trek from Provincetown to Boston.
* Bridal Cave and Thunder Mountain Park: Travelers can explore the cave
unearthed in the 1800s by the Osage Indians and learn the legend of the
Indian wedding that took place there on the “Exploring the Ozarks” trip in
Missouri.
* Parker Ranch: Tourists can be cowboys for a day as they ride horses,
wagons and ATVs at this Hawaiian ranch on the “Circling the Big Island” trip.
* Columbia Restaurant: This century-old Tampa favorite serves up a mean
Spanish bean soup on “Florida's Cultural West Coast” drive.
In addition to the mapmaker’s suggestions, you should obviously plan your itinerary around a few breweries, too. Rand McNally’s 2009 Road Atlas ($13.95) is available at retail stores nationwide and on www.randmcnally.com.