What is the best,ie most atractive route to take if you travel by car from NYC to LA?

It would be an family vacation so it would be desirable to visist places that are interesting for kids as well as for adults.Also,if you have any idea how many stops we should take and where?

What is the best,ie most atractive route to take if you travel by car from NYC to LA?windows media player

If you take I-40 (I-40 and Rt. 66 are the same thing), be sure to hit Memphis, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, and Amarillo. They are all relatively-small metropolises, but ALL have wonderful downtown areas, beautiful parks (except maybe Memphis which is an ugly city in general), and fun family attractions.

All have inexpensive dining and none are "tourist traps." Memphis has music museums, Little Rock has the Clinton Presidential Center and an awesome riverfront shopping/dining district, Oklahoma City has many cowboy, sports, and family attractions in addition to the OKC Bombing Memorial, and Amarillo is just a great place to shop, eat, and waste a few hours. The best thing is that all of these places are between 3 and 5 hours apart from each other, so they make for great pit stops after a few hours of driving.

Do not miss the Ozark mountains along the Arkansas/Oklahoma border and in western Arkansas. They are one of this nation's few remaining national treasures and are world-renowned by international travel organizations. Magazine Mountain is especially beautiful, and is right off I-40.

The only bad part is that once you get past Amarillo, the big cities get further apart and fewer, but any route you take will be like that if you are going from NY to LA, unfortunately.

What is the best,ie most atractive route to take if you travel by car from NYC to LA?windows live messenger internet explorer

Be sure to take Route 66 when possible. I believe it runs from Chicago to L.A. You will have no trouble finding information about it if you search. A lot of it now is given other numbers besides 66 but you can get maps that will show you how to follow it. This highway 66 was built in the 1920's and was known as "America's Mainstreet". Along this route you will find diners, motels and quirky tourist attractions from the 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's. The nation's first motor inns, or motels were built along this route. The song "Get your kicks on Route 66" was of course written about this highway. There are tons of books about this highway. There is a Route 66 museum in Clinton, Oklahoma. If you and your children study a little bit about the route before you travel, it will turn your trip into a real adventure. You'll want to get a fried onion burger and some chicken fried steak along your way. A lot of classic car clubs travel this highway every year. I have driven on portions of it, and I always see some intersting sites! One of my favorites is the concrete blue whale in Catoosa Oklahoma. The author Michael Wallace has a great book on the subject if you really want to get into it.
Interstate 80 runs from NYC to SF, where you can take the PCH 1/Pacific Coast Highway (probably one of the most scenic drives in the United States) down to LA.

Shouldn't be a problem keeping busy, although some stretches are inevitably fairly flat and dull - as with any other trans-national highway. You'll cross a lot of interesting places and cities, some will appeal to adults, others to the kids. Some of the Highlights:

Interstate 80: Rural Pennsylvannia, Cleveland, Chicago, Iowa's farms, Omaha, the Rocky Mountains and Wyoming Mountain Range, Salt Lake City and the Great Salt Lake, Reno, Lake Tahoe.

Hwy 1 from SF to LA: Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz with its Seaside Amusement Park, Monterey and the world famous aquarium, Big Sur, San Simeon and Hearst Castle (a la Citizen Kane), Santa Barbara, Malibu.