The COOLEST Road Trip Destinations (PHOTOS)

There's no better time to take a massive road trip than while you're in college. It's a timeless rite of passage, from the days of Kerouac to the days of ... Tom Green.

Regardless, a road trip doesn't just mean driving to the airport and flying to Cancun. America is filled with all kinds fun gems, ranging from its natural wonders to its bustling cities. Check out ways to make your next road trip one to remember by going off the beaten path.

Did we miss a drive-worthy place? Add your own in the comments section.

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Carhenge, Alliance, Nebraska

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Any good road trip needs a "WTF?" moment, so why not make it your visit to Carhenge in none other than Alliance, Nebraska? It may just appear to look like an amateur's interpretation of the famous Stonehenge near Salisbury, U.K., but if you take a closer look, the piece (designed by Jim Reinders) is amazingly similar in structure to the real thing.

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Any good road trip needs a "WTF?" moment, so why not make it your visit to Carhenge in none other than Alliance, Nebraska? It may just appear to look like an amateur's interpretation of the famous Stonehenge near Salisbury, U.K., but if you take a closer look, the piece (designed by Jim Reinders) is amazingly similar in structure to the real thing.

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Comments

[GeeBee]

04:51 PM on 07/22/2010

Why the hell did you show the ugliest bit of the Pacific Coast Highway? Why not a view of Big Sur?

[marthamothra]

05:15 PM on 07/21/2010

Montreal is great, but out west is Vancouver, just as sophisticated

[thephenomenologist]

02:45 PM on 06/23/2010

dear Huffpo : please please please stop with this ridiculous "ten best" and "five worst" and "most of these" and "least of those" pieces. they are stupid and pointless and utterly subjective. you're acting like "tiger beat" rather than the Huffpo. If you continue this nonsense, i will have to declare you the Most Insipid News Aggregator EVER !! and i don't want to do that, because i like you guys. so please, just stop. seriously.

[Ami Mon]

02:20 PM on 06/23/2010

just hop on a train and go around the whole country. you can save the european trips for when you're actually earning a salary. there are so many things to see, but a month on the train would be the coolest trip. I did it and learned a lot about our country cultures. also take the charles Kuralt book. LEARN

[marthamothra]

05:17 PM on 07/21/2010

I LOVE your idea and plan to do it. My girlfriend and I went to the Inauguration by train, from Austin up to Chicago, take a right onto D.C. -- saw beautiful scenery.

[socraticsarah]

12:31 AM on 06/23/2010

Really? Graceland?
Ugh, Memphis is a pee oh ess.

[grifone coronato]

08:20 AM on 06/17/2010

Concerning Montreal: it is a brilliant idea to be well aware of the sort of establishments you're going to if you see a bar labelled "danseurs neu", but there are only 2 minor problems with this advice.

First, "danseur" means "male dancer".

Second, "neu" isn't a word.

What you might instead see is "danseuses nues" - i.e. strippers. Of those we have an abundance!

[jukesgrrl]

01:29 AM on 06/17/2010

Graceland is the only car trip worth mentioning in the entire eastern part of the country? And Carhenge is cute, but it's just a ripoff of the original Cadillac Ranch.

[GraniteSkyline]

10:04 AM on 07/22/2010

I don't think you understand Carhenge. No disrespect to Cadillac Ranch but just because they are both comprised of car doesn't make them the same sort of attraction.

Graceland? Only if you are an Elvis über-fan.

[Chaling]

11:43 AM on 07/22/2010

Carhenge is neat, real neat, did it last summer. No comparison to Cadillac Ranch, which I have also visited before it was moved. Apples and Oranges really, both are cars stuck in the ground, that's all, otherwise no comparison. BOTH are great.

[Portraitist]

11:33 AM on 06/14/2010

Don't boycott AZ. This is the United States - we shouldn't boycott other states. AZ citizens did not get to vote on this law. We weren't heard. We didn't even get to debate it. The problems here are complex and unique. The rest of America cannot imagine how having a porous border affects us on a daily basis.
Skip AZ, and you skip Monument Valley, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Bisbee, Jerome, Painted Desert, Tubac, the Mogollon Rim, the airplane graveyard, Taliesin West, The Desert Museum, San Xavier del Bac, gorgeous ponderosa forests and some of the best Mexican food in the world. And you punish an awful lot of good people whose state felt compelled to pass a draconian law to combat a very serious problem.

[apiazza]

03:48 PM on 06/15/2010

It is sad that a boycott is the only way to get attention these days. Your state passed draconian laws. Now your state AND IT'S CITIZENS have to deal with the consequences of those laws. I like all of the spots you mentioned. But I won't likely be visiting them anytime soon. Some things are more important than tourism.

[jukesgrrl]

01:26 AM on 06/17/2010

I agree. I live in Arizona and my entire family is boycotting Arizona. Every member of my family is vacationing out of state this year. Something we don't always do; this year it was discussed and was a conscious (and conscientious ) decision.

[marthamothra]

05:18 PM on 07/21/2010

Agreed. I love AZ, but won't be going there until there is a change.

[Angelus2007]

05:02 PM on 06/16/2010

I support the AZ law and atcually went on vacation there, saw the Grand Canyon, it was great.

[blsp53]

11:31 AM on 06/14/2010

No roadtrip is complete without a stop on Rt. 66 in Seligman, Az to see Angel Delgadillo's barber shop and the Sno Cap Drive-in next door.

[epjackel]

10:26 AM on 06/14/2010

These places all sound really cool, and like they would make a great summer trip. This reminds me of a blog I frequent, The Next Great Generation (http://www.thenextgreatgeneration.com/), which is currently doing a special on Cities. Gen-Y'ers are able to brag about their city and what makes it so great and visit-worthy. While the responses aren't nearly as wacky as the one HuffPost spotlights, there is definitely some hometown pride that is worthy of checking out.

[GeoNorth]

10:14 AM on 06/14/2010

Where is Dr. Olaf's Blue Whale Forest in Wiliston, VT?

[ericfolkerth]

09:46 AM on 06/14/2010

Nice choices. However, the "Graceland" picture is actually from Sun Studios....which is also in Memphis, and which I would recommend visiting a thousand times more than Graceland. And, while there, check out Stax Records too. You'll learn much more interesting stuff about America's musical history at these two places, and see the place where this pic was actually taken.

[btdenver]

09:20 AM on 06/14/2010

Boulder is not "surrounded" by mountains. The mountains are to the west; plains open up in all other directions. It would be more accurate to say it is nestled up against the mountains and surrounded by plains.

[KIVPossum]

05:21 AM on 06/14/2010

Austin and South Padre are things I will never see. Don't do Texas.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

07:45 PM on 06/14/2010

Well, Possum, I would agree with you for about 95% of the state, but Austin and the Hill Country are worth the trip. In fact, Austin is more like California than most other areas of the Lone Star State. It is the only part of my birth state that I truly miss. I still remember the natural pool at Zilker Park on a hot July Austin day, as well as strolling the campus of UT and listening to the carillon tolling its bells. Not being a partier, I cannot speak too much about the famous Sixth Street, but it deserves its reputation as emblematic of the laid-back, decidely relaxed atmosphere of the capitol city. Someone once said that there are only three unique cities in the U.S.: San Francisco, Boston, and Austin......

[Microstation7]

03:38 PM on 06/24/2010

San Francisco is a dump. Bagdahd by the bay.

[supportamerica]

11:35 PM on 06/19/2010

Why not? Padre is a gorgeous beach, Austin has some fun things to do for free and up the road from Austin is Salado, the original stage coach stop on the Chisholm Trail and creek to tube down. Nice little float on a hot Texas day.

[NoPCZone]

01:55 AM on 06/14/2010

Original Carhinge is in Amarillo

[UnJoe]

02:16 AM on 06/14/2010

Stanley Marsh's Cadillac Ranch features a lot of other strange sculptures and road signs too. Among other things he used to discourage urban sprawl by putting up billboards advertising new hog farms. The entire NW Texas region including the Panhandle and South Plains is home to a lot of unlikely people and things that may or may not be mirages.
And don't worry about giving a ride to the cowboy playing the trumpet. It's just "Stardust." He's not from this solar system but is harmless.