Fall Foliage Driving Trips: Highway 385, Rapid City, South Dakota
This week, I’ll be discussing my favorite picks for September/October driving trips. If interested in any of these routes, please let ActiveTravels know and we’ll design an itinerary that takes into account the latest travel restrictions and lodging where you feel comfortable:
The fall foliage road trip was designed with places like South Dakota in mind. Venture to Rapid City and you’ll have the chance to cruise with relatively little traffic up and down the pine forests and granite passes of the Black Hills. Highway 385 will lead you to Vanocker Canyon and Spearfish Canyon National Scenic Byway, home to waterfalls and golden aspens. Also in the Black Hills is the 68-mile Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway (a 4-hour drive) that travels through six rock tunnels, past towering pinnacles and over pine-clad peaks, only to arrive at the most famous sculpture in the country, Mount Rushmore. As if that wasn’t enough incentive, the 55th annual fall round-up of bison takes place September 25th at nearby Custer State Park. Watch the cowboys and cowgirls drive the herd of some 1,300 buffalo, some of whom will be sold at auction in November. For lodging, it’s hard to top the convenience of the Roosevelt Inn in Keystone, located next to Mount Rushmore.

“I can give you a strong assurance that it’s going to be a good year for fall foliage,” says Richard Primack, a professor of biology and plant ecology at Boston University in yesterday’s Boston Globe. That’s great news for the 20 or so clients of
One of the big stories in the Boston world of travel this past week is the announcement that
New Zealand is one of my favorite places to go on a road trip. The country is blessed with exquisite scenery around every corner, friendly and hospitable people and a plethora of activities to keep you busy. Lately, we’ve been working with an excellent ground operator,
For me, Canada’s Atlantic Maritimes are an extension of New England, a place I visit yearly, if not two or three times a year to pen stories on whalewatching and sea kayaking New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy, walking the dunes and biking the island-long bike trail of verdant Prince Edward Island, and listening to the live Celtic music of Cape Breton. Far less congested than parts of New England, the region is a joy to drive, the reason why it’s become a requisite road trip for many Northeasterners. For members who come to us with last minute summer requests, we always suggest this road trip.
There are two types of travelers to Iceland, ones like me who spend the bulk of their time in Reykjavik taking day trips to see the countryside and others who simply stay in small guesthouses in the more remote areas of the island. Obviously, if you can do the latter, you’ll be treated to a far more authentic experience with majestic vistas of glaciers, volcanoes, and the coastline around every bend. I needed to be in Reykjavik for a travel writers’ conference, but even I had the chance to check out three incredible sites thanks to the daylong
From the shores of Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman as the Swiss call it, to the forest and duck pond of Lac de Sauvabelin, the city of Lausanne climbs an impressive 800 feet. You climb uphill or downhill on an Escher-like maze of stairwells, narrow cobblestone streets, bridges, even elevators and escalators. Last night, I took an elevator close to my hotel, the