Road Trip Diaries – National Harbor in the 2018 Toyota Avalon Hybrid

This post is in partnership with Toyota and our experience with the 2018 Toyota Avalon Hybrid XLE.

Road trips are kind of our thing right now. We live in a great location here in New Jersey making so many spots on the East Coast all within driving distance to us. It makes it easy to hop in the car for a fun weekend getaway up and down the coast. Our latest adventure took us to the National Harbor for a stay at the Gaylord National Hotel during the opening weekend of ICE! But there’s so much more to the National Harbor that just had us begging to get out and explore. Lucky for us the weather was glorious and made it even more fun to spend time outside exploring the area. Anyone who frequently takes road trips will tell you the key to a successful road trip is the vehicle you’re driving in. For our little getaway, we were spoiled by the 2018 Toyota Avalon Hybrid XLE.

We left New Jersey on a Friday afternoon and hit a little unexpected traffic so I couldn’t have been happier that the car was comfortable, roomy and had all the amenities we could need while we sat in traffic the DC area. We stayed at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center during our trip. It’s a great hotel for families and is right in the middle of all the National Harbor action.

Our room had a spectacular view of the nighttime light show right in the atrium of the hotel and even a view of the National Harbor.

There’s even a cute gingerbread village of all the Washington, D.C. monuments and buildings. We stopped to admire it on our way out to explore the harbor.

The National Harbor is only a short walk over from the hotel and since the weather was so nice, it made sense to walk over and enjoy the weather.

It’s so true when you’re having fun, the time flies by and this weekend was no different. It seemed like we just arrived and it was already time to leave.

We loaded up the roomy trunk in the Toyota Avalon with all our stuff, stopped for a quick breakfast and said goodbye to our fun weekend in the National Harbor.

We even beat most of the traffic and had an easy ride home. Gotta love when road trips work out that way. I love being on the road but I absolutely hate being stuck in traffic.

I’ve had a chance to get up close and personal with several vehicles in Toyota’s line up over the last few months and have been impressed with each and every one. This car was one I was really sad to see go.

The Avalon Hybrid offers a choice of Sport, ECO and EV modes and has an EPA-estimated 40 MPG combined. The gas mileage was one of the first things we fell in love with on this vehicle.  This full-size sedan offers up full-sized savings with the Hybrid Synergy Drive® System and electronically controlled Continuously Variable Transmission (ECVT) combines fuel-economy efficiency and the performance you love and expect.

Let’s talk about the space. For my family of four, this was great space wise. The cargo area held all our luggage with room to spare. Making it great for hauling the kid’s sports equipment, groceries and whatever else you might need on your daily journeys.

The 17-in alloy wheels complement the already stylish exterior perfectly.

To learn more about the 2018 Toyota Avalon Hybrid XLE, visit your local Toyota dealership or Toyota.com.

Dawn