07-01-2026, 09:20 AM
<< Current plan is to leave next Wednesday to drive Highway 20 from here to the west coast. On the way home I plan to drive the Columbia River gorge and then maybe pick up highway 30 back home. Should be somewhere around 4000 miles. >>
Tom, that sounds great! I have always loved road trips, I like your "theme" of US 20.
Yellowstone is a great place, you can never spend enough time there, but parking can be tight at some spots. Don't mess with bison or moose!
: )
Myself, I like to see quirky things along the route (besides RR stuff, of course).
If you like that sort of thing, this site is a useful start: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/
In Idaho, you can visit Craters of the Moon National Monument. Wierd lava landscape. what I remember most was the diorama in the visitor's center. It shows the migration of the Yellowstone "hot spot" and makes sense of all those outcroppings.
You will also pass Atomic City and the Idaho National Laboratory.
Somewhere along the highway in this area is a submarine in a town park. (actually, just the sail)
DONT MISS--
the Experimental Breeder Reactor museum! Some very wierd RR stuff there, including a lead-encased Plymouth locomotive used to move the proof-of-concept nuclear reactors intended for installation in jet bombers. Yes, really.
On your way back, I think you will enjoy the Columbia Gorge. The word Awesome is really appropriate. Every time I travel though it I ask myself, why don't I come here more often? It's only 90 minutes away. If you enjoy beer, try the Pfriem brewery in Hood River. In tourist season, you could catch the Hood River Railway in action. Based in downtown Hood River.
Lots of RR action both sides of the gorge.
Good luck on the trip!
Hope your day is going great.
Tom, that sounds great! I have always loved road trips, I like your "theme" of US 20.
Yellowstone is a great place, you can never spend enough time there, but parking can be tight at some spots. Don't mess with bison or moose!
: )
Myself, I like to see quirky things along the route (besides RR stuff, of course).
If you like that sort of thing, this site is a useful start: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/
In Idaho, you can visit Craters of the Moon National Monument. Wierd lava landscape. what I remember most was the diorama in the visitor's center. It shows the migration of the Yellowstone "hot spot" and makes sense of all those outcroppings.
You will also pass Atomic City and the Idaho National Laboratory.
Somewhere along the highway in this area is a submarine in a town park. (actually, just the sail)
DONT MISS--
the Experimental Breeder Reactor museum! Some very wierd RR stuff there, including a lead-encased Plymouth locomotive used to move the proof-of-concept nuclear reactors intended for installation in jet bombers. Yes, really.
On your way back, I think you will enjoy the Columbia Gorge. The word Awesome is really appropriate. Every time I travel though it I ask myself, why don't I come here more often? It's only 90 minutes away. If you enjoy beer, try the Pfriem brewery in Hood River. In tourist season, you could catch the Hood River Railway in action. Based in downtown Hood River.
Lots of RR action both sides of the gorge.
Good luck on the trip!
Hope your day is going great.