Southwest USA & The West Coast (California, Arizona etc) - General Thread

Vikki_74

Crispy_Ambulance wrote: »

LOL - I am a huge fan of aquariums. Now wavering over Seaworld - having done :eek: at the prices! Plus I think it might seem a bit tacky compared to Monterey Bay. I know the whole trip is expensive but I hate to feel ripped off and I do worry that we might feel that way in Seaworld.

Ack, there is so much to do in this area, never mind the rest of the US. I'm very wary of overplanning as it has to feel like a holiday at some point!

You could price up the Go San Diego card to see if it would save you anything on the price of admissions - includes Sea World, the zoo, whale watching etc. I've used their passes in LA and New York and they worked out good value, although generally only if you want to do the more expensive attractions.

Also keep an eye on the local offers on Travelzoo, Groupon and the like - I've had half price tickets from there for whale watching, boat tours and a very cool speedboat tour in San Diego in the past.

gracie10

Hi we are looking at planning our next American road trip so just after some advice re the route.
Last year we did LA, Pismo beach, Monterrey, San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley and vegas. Had a fantastic time.
Our next trip looking at flying into LA again, stopping off down the coast to San Diego, then moving on to Palm Springs? Lake Havasu, Laughlin and then Vegas.
Definitely know we want to do San Diego and Vegas, just wasn't sure about the places in between!
If anyone has done a similar route or can suggest other places would be great to hear.
Thanks.

Murphy_The_Cat

gracie10 wrote: »

Hi we are looking at planning our next American road trip so just after some advice re the route.
Last year we did LA, Pismo beach, Monterrey, San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley and vegas. Had a fantastic time.
Our next trip looking at flying into LA again, stopping off down the coast to San Diego, then moving on to Palm Springs? Lake Havasu, Laughlin and then Vegas.
Definitely know we want to do San Diego and Vegas, just wasn't sure about the places in between!
If anyone has done a similar route or can suggest other places would be great to hear.
Thanks.

Pismo Beach mmmmmmm Doc Bernsteins Ice Cream Lab :j

If my memory serves me right, the approach to Palm Springs through the mountain tops was a real treat. I can recall the outside temp going up and up as we got closer to PS - it was a real contrast to SD.
In PS, be sure to try a Date Shake -- if you stop at any of the fruit farms, you'll be able to pick one up local delicacy)

We also liked the Aeriel Tramway, very memorable

vegasvisitor

gracie10 wrote: »

Hi we are looking at planning our next American road trip so just after some advice re the route.
Last year we did LA, Pismo beach, Monterrey, San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley and vegas. Had a fantastic time.
Our next trip looking at flying into LA again, stopping off down the coast to San Diego, then moving on to Palm Springs? Lake Havasu, Laughlin and then Vegas.
Definitely know we want to do San Diego and Vegas, just wasn't sure about the places in between!
If anyone has done a similar route or can suggest other places would be great to hear.
Thanks.

We are incorporating Laughlin and Lake Havasu into our trip this year. Our trip starts in Phoenix though. We will fly to Phoenix from the UK, then stay 2 nights in Scottsdale, 1 night at Flagstaff, and then 1 night at Laughlin. We intend to see Lake Havasu City and also Oatman which you should maybe look up too. We have been in Laughlin before, but only for the day. We think we are going to stay at Aquarius. The hotels aren't as flashy as Vegas, but they're very reasonable, and a few of them are nice enough.

gracie10

I look forward to hearing about your trip lesley74. I will have a look at oatman to. We are just in the early stages as not looking to go till next year. Just getting route ideas together.

John259

gracie10 wrote: »

Our next trip looking at flying into LA again, stopping off down the coast to San Diego, then moving on to Palm Springs? Lake Havasu, Laughlin and then Vegas....
If anyone has done a similar route or can suggest other places would be great to hear.
Thanks.

I'd very highly recommend including Zion National Park (southwestern Utah) if possible. There have been several mentions of it in this thread, all very positive AFAIK. Be sure to park at the visitor centre, take the free shuttle bus up the scenic drive, get off and do some of the hiking trails which vary in difficulty from extremely easy (Riverside Walk) to extremely hazardous (the top section of Angels Landing).

If huge expanses of desert wilderness appeal to you, Joshua Tree National Park (well to the east of Los Angeles) is very impressive - I thoroughly enjoyed it but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I also liked Big Bear Lake, up in the San Bernardino Mountains.

John259

gracie10 wrote: »

I will have a look at oatman too.

There's a dashcam video on YouTube of the drive from Kingman to Oatman (complete with burros!). Search on YouTube for Scenic Historic Route 66 Drive From Kingman To Oatman. It's a very slow twisty mountain road, difficult to believe it was once part of US66.

I also found a dashcam video made by a trucker driving from Kingman to Seligman on Az66 via Peach Springs. Search on YouTube for user tekilka29, then her video called Route 66 , Arizona.

John259

Here's a list of some of my favourite places in the southwestern USA. I don't care for big cities, so these are national parks, state parks and other scenic areas. I also like road trip holidays rather than staying in one place, and using budget motel chains such as Motel 6 and Super 8, and "mom & pop" motels. I know a lot of people prefer other ways of visiting the area - fair enough, it's all about personal preferences. I won't include any lengthy descriptions here because they are easily looked up on the national and state park web sites and Wikipedia - which also have photos. In many cases there are good videos on YouTube for each of these places but you may need to search through a fair number of poor quality efforts before finding a good one. As well as searching on YouTube for park names and road numbers, a search for road trip is recommended. If you're not familiar with the geography then Google Maps is an excellent way of discovering where the places are and how far apart they are. Sorry if I'm duplicating a lot of information which is in earlier posts in this thread.

California:
Joshua Tree NP (huge open desert wilderness)
Sequoia NP (giant sequoia trees, scenery)
Yosemite NP (beautiful steep sided valley - and other areas)

Southwestern Colorado:
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP (deep narrow canyon)
Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (old time steam train)
Mesa Verde NP (Anasazi cliff dwelling ruins, and great views)
San Juan Skyway (the triangle of roads and mountain passes Cortez - Durango - Silverton - Ouray - Ridgway - Telluride - Cortez)

Southwestern Utah:
Bryce Canyon NP (umpteen weird and wonderful rock formations in a series of "amphitheatres")
Cedar Breaks NM (somewhat similar to Bryce, but different enough to be well worth visiting)
Zion NP (one of the most beautiful places in the USA - be sure to take the free shuttle bus up the scenic drive and go on a few hikes if only the short and easy ones)

Moab area of Utah:
Arches NP (arches, amazingly enough! - and windows)
Canyonlands NP (views of the Colorado River from high above)
Dead Horse Point NP (probably one of the best views of the Colorado River from above)
Colorado Riverway (Ut128 northeast from Moab to I-70; the road runs alongside the river with red sandstone cliffs towering above on both sides)
(Also Monument Valley, further south)

I hope you won't mind if I quickly list a few other favourite places in other parts of the USA and Canada:

Montana:
Glacier NP especially the Going-to-the-Sun Road over Logan Pass

Wyoming:
Grand Teton NP (take the boat ride over Jenny Lake and hike up to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and Cascade Canyon - lots of other areas to explore as well - don't just drive past on the way to Yellowstone)
Yellowstone NP (vast, varied - takes several days to explore)

British Columbia and Alberta:
The Canadian Rockies national parks: Banff, Jasper Kootenay and Yoho, especially the Icefields Parkway - and also Waterton Lakes NP which is further south.

In the eastern USA, the combination of Shenandoah NP (Virginia), the Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia and North Carolina) and the Great Smoky Mountains NP (North Carolina and Tennessee) forms well over 500 miles of wonderful scenery, overlooks, pioneer cabins etc and other interesting exhibits.

John259

Some thoughts about the Grand Canyon:

First, a bit of pedantry - this post is specifically about the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in northern Arizona, not any of the other Grand Canyons such as that of the Yellowstone in Wyoming.

Next, I must apologise if some of this information duplicates that in previous posts in this thread.

The distance from the south rim to north rim of the Grand Canyon as the eagle flies is about 10 miles. Via the hiking trails in the national park (all the way down to the river, then all the way back up on the other side) it's about 23 miles. By normal public roads it's about 212 miles (you can use the "Get Directions" option in Google Maps to see the route).

The south rim is considerably more developed than the north rim.

On the south rim there is accommodation within the national park, and just outside the park in Tusayan, and further away in Williams and Flagstaff.

The east rim and the west rim are both in the national park on the south rim, to the east and west respectively of the central Grand Canyon Village.

The east rim road leads out of the national park to Arizona State Highway 64 and US89. There's a watchtower on this road which affords good views from the top.

The west rim road is wholly within the national park. It's a dead-end road that terminates at Hermit's Rest. This road is closed to private vehicles during the summer (and maybe all the time) and access is provided by a free shuttle bus service. There's an excellent official National Park Service video on YouTube which describes this shuttle bus route - on YouTube search for user GrandCanyonNPS and then video title Scenic Free Shuttle Bus Route on Hermit Road (Red Route).

Grand Canyon West isn't the same place as the west rim. Grand Canyon West is on an indian reservation outside the national park. The Skywalk is in Grand Canyon West and is therefore not in the national park, nor is it operated under the control of the National Park Service. It's a commercial venture operated by the local indian tribe. Many people are of the opinion that the SkyWalk is a bit of a rip-off, with separate charges for entrance to the reservation, the necessary bus ride, and the Skywalk itself.

It's possible to get helicopter flights over (and in some cases into) the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas, Nevada. It might also be possible to get flights from Tusayan (and perhaps Flagstaff and Williams) but I haven't checked.

Flagstaff and the rims of the Grand Canyon are at a significantly higher altitude than Phoenix, Arizona. It is quite possible for there to be snow on the ground on the rims at the Grand Canyon, while on the same day it's t-shirt weather in Phoenix.

Opinion:

While the Grand Canyon is an extremely impressive sight, it can only be seen from the rims unless you're prepared to do a lengthy and strenuous hike, or take a helicopter flight. It's also so vast that it's difficult to take it in, and the river at the bottom of the inner canyon can hardly be seen from the rim.

Personally, I prefer Zion National Park (in southwest Utah) where you are at the bottom of the canyon on the scenic road, and also able to look down from Utah State Highway 9 (the road with the switchbacks and the tunnel). You can also hike the first part of the Angels Landing trail for a superb view (the first part of the trail is somewhat strenuous but totally safe, while the uppermost section is extremely hazardous).

I also prefer the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (near Montrose in southwestern Colorado) which while much smaller, allows you to see down the sheer canyon walls to the river far below, and in addition you can drive down to the river.

For the Colorado River, one of the best viewpoints from above is at Dead Horse Point State Park near Moab, Utah (not far from Arches and Canyonlands National Parks).

The Colorado Riverway road (Utah State Highway 128) which runs northeast from near Moab to I-70 is alongside the river most of the way with the huge red sandstone canyon walls on either side.

But opinions differ, so I'm not saying these are the best places. I'm only saying that they are the ones which I personally prefer.

There's more information about each of these places on Wikipedia, Google Maps/StreetView, YouTube and where relevant the US National Park Service web site and the state parks web sites for each individual state.

Seldom_Seen_Kid

I need to send some time reading this thread, but in the mean time my general question is :

We are planning on flying from Las Vegas to San Francisco for a few days, and I was just wondering if there was anything I needed to look at regarding airlines.

Basically, I live in Leeds and normally fly Jet2 or Ryan Air on european city breaks. I follow the rules, and I am general happy with the flight against the cost.