US southwest

[LIPC2]

What, when, how much (time/money)?

From Denver to Utah, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Route 66, LA, Big Sur, Yosemite, San Francisco.

Luis

[F1Wild]

There are a ton of possible variables...not to mention a stop at Casa de Murphy in Ahwatukee. Plus a ton of stuff you could do along the way.

[Rob99T]

Im flying into Albuquerque on Sunday morning and drivng west to Williams AZ. I have a few nights at the El Tovar planned.

I love the drive West from Alb and always stop in Gallup to do some indian shopping there and south in Zuni. I alwyas try to eat at Earl's while Im there.

Northern Arizona is some beautiful country.

Seeing the Canyon is a religious experience for me - every time.

It's just incredible no matter how many times you have seen it.

[F1Wild]

Im flying into Albuquerque on Sunday morning and drivng west to Williams AZ. I have a few nights at the El Tovar planned.
I love the drive West from Alb and always stop in Gallup to do some indian shopping there and south in Zuni. I alwyas try to eat at Earl's while Im there.
Northern Arizona is some beautiful country.
Seeing the Canyon is a religious experience for me - every time.
It's just incredible no matter how many times you have seen it.

I hope you have the opportunity to stay in El Tovar's Fred Harvey Suite (one of 3 suites with a private deck overlooking the Canyon). We've spent nights there lying on loungers with wine in hand, looking at the Milky Way with almost zero light polution. Then wake up the next morning to have breakfast on the deck watching the Canyon come awake and the eary bird hikers winding their way down the Bright Angel Trail - it's a must!

Will you be going south enough (on the 180?) to pass the Barringer/Canyon Diablo Crater (our 50,000 year old Pleistocene meteor-formed crater) west of Winslow, east of Flagstaff? Been there yet or Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Navajo land?

[LIPC2]

Ok, a little more information on our plans.

I want to travel to the US southwest sometime between March and mid-June next year.
I would fly from Spain to Denver, hire a car and drive all the way to San Francisco.
The route would be something like: Denver-the canyons and national parks of Utah, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, driving towards LA following the route 66, the deserts of California, then heading north towards Yosemite and San Francisco.

Estimated travel time is no longer than 3 weeks and no shorter than 2. If necessary due to not enough time, I can do without LA and Las Vegas
My main question would be; when will it be too hot in the deserts? and when will it be too cold in the areas around Denver, Utah?

Luis

[F1Wild]

Your best bet would be to go to the website for our auto travel club called AAA (Triple A) at http://www.aaa.com. Click on the link for "Travel" "Maps and Directions" then "Create a TripTik". Put in the places you would like to see - there are drop down menus where you can say Cities, National Parks, etc. and go from there. You will end up with a nice little map of where you would like to travel, how long it takes, best roads, other sightseeing places, etc. It might give you an idea of what you can do. I think you might need to be a member if you want to download or a hard copy of these things. We are members and can send you tons of stuff like TripTiks, AAA Tour books, etc.

I did a quick one for you and it seems like you are trying to cover a huge distance in a smalll amount of time. We are a humungous country. Not sure if you want to spend a little time looking at the Grand Canyon and then 8 hours driving to your next location kind of thing. Also, is there a reason why you want to fly into Denver? An alternate might be less worry of snow. Denver and through the mountains of the continental divide can get snow even in August (I've gone through it - not fun to drive switchbacks in snow). Alternately the desert can be pretty warm in May-June.

BTW, on the sample TripTik I had you going from Denver, Arches NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, Grand Canyon (South Rim) NP, Sedona (I added this), Las Vegas, Death Valley NP, LA, Sequoia NP, Yosemite NP, San Francisco. 2300 miles in all (driving it straight)...and there are so many other places to see along the way like Laguna Seca, etc.!!

[Rob99T]

That is my plan. Yes I have been to the meteror crater. The drive from ALB to LA is a good drive. You have the lava flows there in Grants NM then you have the RED rocks right out side of Gallup. You have Shiprock and there is Window rock up in St michaels (30 minutes north of Gallup) and you have the Mesa down in Zuni (30 minutes south of Gallup) and all the indian stuff there is in Gallup. One hour west of Gallup is Holbrook AZ with the Petrified Forest and the Painted dessert. The west of that you have the Meteror crater and then you go up in the mountains around flagstaff.

Ive been to Chaco Canyon and Canyon do Chelley. I have been all over the Navajo reservation lands. I have been up on the Hopi reservation. The three mesa area.

But if I was coming and had to narrow it down as far as must see places. I would say Monument valley, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite (Yosemite has giant sequoia REdwoods) so Kings Canyon or SEquoia NP might not be becessary - but they are beautiful and you pass them on your north to Yosemite out of LA. The Golden Gate bridge is a site to see. San Francisco is a great town to visit. The Chiopino at Scoma's on the wharf is killer. Mono Lake is cool. Tahoe is nice.

Flying into Denver - you could stop in Colorado Springs and go up on Pikes peak - you could ride the train up of in the summer the sill let you race up in your rental car if you like.

Im like F1 though and question flying into Denver. Perhaps Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, or Phoenix might be better than Denver - or L.A. or even San Francisco.

I would recommend purchasing the US National Park pass. I get one every year - it costs like 60 or 70 dollars and gets you entry into all national and state parks around the country. It costs 20 dollars to get in the Grand Canyon - or it did the last time I was there so you can see that the pass will save you alot of money if you plan on hitting several parks.

[LIPC2]

Rob and F1, thanks for your advice.
I thought about flying to Denver because it seemed the closest international airport to the NP of Utah. I don´t know if from Spain I can reach Salt Lake City doing just one stop.

2300 miles in three weeks doesn´t seem that much driving.

To give you an example, last year I went to Canada and did the following trip in 13 days: Toronto-Niagara-Algonquin park-Ottawa-Quebec-Tadoussac-Chicoutimi-Parc de La mauricie-Montreal.

The only city i really want to visit is San Francisco. LA, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver or Salt Lake city would only be a starting point.

Luis

[F1Wild]

You could fly into Phoenix and drive a bit north through Sedona, Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon. Flagstaff is only around 3 hours. From the Canyon you could venture NE to the reservations and their beauty and up into Utah.

I can guarantee the weather would be much better than in Denver. You could also fly into LA and do a loop, ending in SF. Tons of possibilities.

[Rob99T]

Luis - its been my experience with rental cars here in the states - i travel almost weekly - but i usually reserve/rent a car in advance for my trips just in case so i will have a car - make the reservation a few weeks out - but then i always check rates and availability on the day or 2 before i travel. Many times i find a car for a whole lot cheaper the day before - so i cancel my previous reservation and make a new one with the lower rate.

I think the rental car companies think they are going to sell out every car for the dates in question weeks out so they charge higher rates - but then when the dates come - they say "Oh no - we have all these cars available to rent and they lower the rates at the last minute to get the cars rented.

I find that alot.

[LIPC2]

Hey, thank you very much for your reccomendations but I have changed my trip plans a little bit for this year and instead of travelling west I am heading East. The 16th of January I fly to Hong Kong and Vietnam!

Luis

[Mastermind]

Nice! Give me a buzz if you decide to stop by Singapore at some point

[LIPC2]

Nice! Give me a buzz if you decide to stop by Singapore at some point

Hey, thanks for your offer but since I only have two free weeks I won´t be able to go that further south. We are flying to Hong Kong and from there heading to Hanoi, Halong, Sapa, Hue and Saigon. A couple of friends are staying in SE Asia for another month but I will return to Spain from Saigon via Doha.

Luis

[LIPC2]

Greetings from Hanoi.
Weather has been absolutely shit these days but the landscape and people from this country are fascinating.

Will upload pictures as soon as I am back to Spain. Hanoi is the urban and social photographer paradise.
Halong is stunning, can' t wait to get to Sapa.

Luis

[GadgetBoy]

I am officially jealous.

[LIPC2]

I am officially jealous.

And rightly so! Fantastic experience. Finally out of Europe and Western culture.

pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.es/luispi24

Luis

[GadgetBoy]

I am officially more jealous.