Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona

wdyw

Sheel wrote: »

We visited Antelope Canyon as part of a tour. Well worth a visit :T

We also love visiting Peter Lik galleries too :cool:

Shhhh. don't let too many people know about him! No seriously, no matter how often we go to Vegas a long afternoon in the galleries is a must. Absolute genius as far as we are concerned.

torbrex

Antelope Canyon and Bryce Canyon were the jaw droppers for me when I was there, they were just so unexpected, I have yet to see a photo that does either of them full credit.
If you have time and the weather is hot enough can I recommend stopping at the natural rock water slide in Oak Creek Canyon between Flagstaff and Sedona, its a blast.
There is a wildlife park near Tucson that is well worth a visit but I am b*ggard if I remember its name, I am sure it is near to the 'Old Tucson Studios'.

Murphy_The_Cat

wdyw wrote: »

It was a good suggestion, I was more sort of pointing out that he mentioned his in-laws were planning on taking the familly to a Ghost town and the chances of it being Calico are very slim given their location, but by some chance it is Calico then a re-think of the days after SD may be in order as the in-laws could quite possibly be plannig on going via Palm springs

After coming home and checking my Emails, it looks like it isn't Calici that they have referred to -- they mention the town as being close to Apache Junction/Superstition mountains (which IS close to Mesa/Phoenix).

Okey dokey.
Another day, another piece in place. The car is booked via USrentacar
which offered the best deal for our trip. If anyone is thinking of doing something similar to us, its worth mentioning that if your choose Dollar as your hire company, you will save a few $$$, plus, there is NO one way hire charge. But, if you choose Alamo you can pick the car of your choice off the rental lot (but potentially pay a lot more for the hire).
We're not having a hire car for the time that we are in Las Vegas, and on the final morning MTK & I will take a cab to the airport and collect it, whilst Mrs Cat & MTK2 pack the bags and await our return. :j

torbrex wrote:

If you have time and the weather is hot enough can I recommend stopping at the natural rock water slide in Oak Creek Canyon between Flagstaff and Sedona, its a blast.]

Our time is quite short in the Sedona/Flagstaff area, but I'll keep an eye out for it. We should be looking at about high 70sF when we're there.

Murphy_The_Cat

Another day and things have changed slightly again
This is the latest version.

Flying AA from Man - Ord - Las Vegas for two nights. Pick up hire car
Las Vegas via Hoover Dam - Cottonwood (2 nights)
Scottsdale (3 nights)
then driving to Tuscon for 4 nights.
Driving through the desert to San Diego
San Diego (4 nights)
Driving to Palm Desert (3 nights)
Driving up to Santa Barabara (2 nights.)
Mrs Cat & MTK may take the Amtrak whilst MTK2 and I drive
Driving to San Luis Obispo (3 nights)
Driving the Big Sur, stopping at Monterey for the aquirium, before ending up at Morgan Hill for one night.
Fly from San Jose - Ord - Man

I am surprised at just how difficult it has been to get the 'right' rooms for the trip. We are always looking for a 2 bedroom family room or a 2 bedroom family suite and they have been fairly thin on the ground -- unless you want to pay megabucks for a luxo hotel. Even the Inns that we are staying in have been fairly hard to find in this respect. One good find was Embassy Suites, which only sell, ahem suites ! They aren't 100% ideal for us, as the bedrooms aren't seperate from each other, but at least they are seperated from the lounge are properly. So once the Kittens go to be about 7ish, Mrs Cat & I can still move freely around the rest of the suite.

On the plus side. We are saving a few $$$$'s on the child & infant seats for the duration of the hire. MTK2 will travel in hers on the plane and we'll then transfer this to the car. For MTK, we'll visit a Walmart and pick up either a booster base (from $13.57) or a full child seat (from $19.98).
So its either $308 plus tax to Mr Dollar, or $20 + tax to Mr Walmart
hmmm thats a real dilemma, isn't it ? (I should make a separate post for that as a money saving tip :j)

It now looks like the natural rock slide at Oak Creek Canyon will be a non starter as the drive from Las to Cottonwood will be about 310 mile, but on the plus side, Cottonwood is ideally situated for both the Verde Canyon Railroad
and the Biplane Tour of the Red Rocks
Plus, its now only 110 miles to Scottsdale for the next leg of the trip.

torbrex

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

It now looks like the natural rock slide at Oak Creek Canyon will be a non starter as the drive from Las to Cottonwood will be about 310 mile, but on the plus side, Cottonwood is ideally situated for both the Verde Canyon Railroad
and the Biplane Tour of the Red Rocks
Plus, its now only 110 miles to Scottsdale for the next leg of the trip.

I did the aerial tour over Sedona in the morning and got some wonderful views with the shadows still around, it was just unfortunate that one of the other passengers got air-sick and the flight was cut short (I did get a partial refund). There are some amazing roadside art galleries around Sedona but watch out because some of the prices are amazing as well.

blindman

wdyw wrote: »

Are we relying on review sites now to advise people where might be worth visiting or not rather than first hand experience?

No 'we' are not.
If you actually read the post I did not say Don't GO .I merely pointed out the bad reviews.
As I haven't been I can't really comment

I have been to Dead Horse State point and found that more jaw dropping than Bryce Canyon.

YMMV

bina72

That looks just like horseshoe bend near Page -

http://www.travelsw.com/southwest-trips/southwest-trips-arizona/horseshoe.htm

Also beautiful!

Murphy_The_Cat

on both counts

wow !

magyar

I so want to have this holiday you're planning!

Murphy_The_Cat

magyar wrote: »

I so want to have this holiday you're planning!

are you offering to babysit ????????? because most of the rooms will accomodate another one :rotfl: