O/T - 2013 USA Vacation

Bill from Scotland · Jan 15, 2013

Okay guys, We have just booked our flights to Los Angeles for September 2013 to co-incide with the Bonneville Annual World Race Week. As part of the trip we are thinking about travelling north from Los Angeles to Carson City (via Yosemite) then east towards Wendover. Hope to spend 2/3 days at the Flats then onto Salt Lake city before travelling south heading to Grand Canyon National Park then obviously Las Veges and then back to Los Angeles again. From landing at LA we have 21 days to spend touring your wonderful sites. Any must-sees/sites, interesting stop-offs or ideas would be welcome. As you know I'm also interested in visiting any tractor collections or Salvage Yards! As always, your thoughts are valued when planning our route. Should I be excited about the Flats? I understand there may be competitors from Scotland in attendance. Thanks
Bill

Chuck MA · Jan 15, 2013

painted desert, petrified forest, Bryce canyon, Zion national pk, death valley, 4 corners, great sand dunes np, monuments park all in that area and are all very interesting don't forget Hoover dam
chuck

BAnNC · Jan 15, 2013

Bill, How many weeks are you staying? With that list, you could be here for months. But, it'd be worth it. Hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip.

Kenneth R Ohnstad · Jan 15, 2013

giant sequoias in California
Great Lakes (esp Superior)

TomH in PA · Jan 15, 2013

You"ll be driving pretty close to <a href="http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm">Mesa Verde</a>, definitely worth it if you like archeology.

<a href="http://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm">Zion National Park</a> is also worth a stop.

donjr · Jan 15, 2013

I'm not from that area, but have been there. Add to your list, definately, Hoover Dam. Great tour, about1/2 day, near Las Vegas. And, traveling northwest, through Death Valley and the dunes, take some time on the way back to Los Angeles to travel through the Central Valley. It's agriculture at it's apex. Huge farms with irrigated crops and unbelievable production. Another sight is the Anzo Barrega desert east of San Diego. It's a neat area to go through. If you get down to San Diego, thy have a world famous zoo, and if you'r down there, you have to take one day and go to Tiajuana, just to say you went. It is a tourist trap, but it's a hoot. It's a great trip, but you'll wish you had more time...

Duner Wi · Jan 15, 2013

Virginia City is a few minutes from Carson City.
Not a bad place to visit and here is the attraction for me.
http://www.visitvirginiacitynv.com/attractions/virginia-city-cemeteries.html
Quite interesting actually.
If you have time watch "The World's Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins to get you in the mood.

big fred · Jan 15, 2013

You'll be seeing some of the most spectacular scenery the southwest US has to offer with that itinerary. I'd add a second vote to visiting Mesa Verde Natl Park, in southwest Colorado. It was one of the high points of a trip we made a few years ago. If you're going to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, you might consider a side trip to "The Wave" or Buckskin Gulch. The Wave is a wind-sculpted area near the Arizona-Utah border, and Buckskin Gulch is a slot canyoon that in places is about 5 ft wide and 500 ft deep, in the same general area as The Wave. I've never visited either one, but it's been a dream of mine to get down there someday before I get too old and feeble to do it. Takes some serious hiking, but reports I've heard tell me it's worth it.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 15, 2013

The Reno air races are in September.

denverslim · Jan 15, 2013

You might want to take US hiway 50, "the lonliest hiway in the US" east from the Tahoe/Reno area to the Delta, Utah area. Beautiful, desolate. I rode it on my motorcycle last year--never forget it...slim

JerryS · Jan 15, 2013

While at Carson City you might visit the old mining town, Virginia City. Head on up to Reno and visit the car museum; they have some Bonneville cars there. Try to see Tahoe. You'll see plenty of the Flats, but don't make a special trip to see Great Salt Lake; little bit of that goes a long way. Hoover Dam. And lots of nice scenery just about anywhere you look.

MarkB_MI · Jan 15, 2013

Ditto for Mesa Verde and Zion National Park. And of course if you're going to Lost Wages, you should take a trip to the Hoover Dam, it's very close.

You have many routes you can take across California, the most obvious being to go up the Central Valley to Yosemite, possibly visiting Sequoia National Park on the way. An alternate would be to follow the coast up through Big Sur to San Francisco.

If you cross Tioga pass in Yosemite, you'll probably go past Mono Lake. Its tufa formations are interesting to see, although I wouldn't go far out of my way.

I highly recommend spending some time in southwest Colorado. Lots of spectacular scenery.

Consider spending a day or two in the Los Angeles area. A couple of my favorite spots are the Huntington Library in San Marino and the Gene Autry Museum in LA.

When you get to the US, pick up a good road atlas such as Rand-McNally. Also, when you enter a new state on a major highway, there will usually be a tourist information center where you can get a free map for that state. These maps are usually excellent.

Distances in the west can be deceptively long. Even on major interstate highways there can be long stretches without gas stations. Be wary of of side trips on back roads. People have died in Death Valley and elsewhere by blithely following a road their GPS said was good. (It's called "death by Garmin".) Take your time, and don't try to see it all. Best wishes for your trip.

Tom in NE · Jan 15, 2013

The Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley is well worth the visit. There is a piece of the Berlin Wall there. The agricultural enterprises in Ventura County, Sonoma valley and the area are real educational. We stopped at a field and watched them pick radishes. The wine country area is also close by. If you make it all the way to Palm Springs you got to go see Marilyn. The last picture is of President Reagan's grave at the Reagan Library.

scotc · Jan 15, 2013

I've always wanted to get to the Golden Spike site (of transcontinental railroad fame) since I realized I was sitting at a dock less the a half hour away. It's about an hour and a half from Salt Lake City.

Rick Kr · Jan 15, 2013

Yes, you should be very excited about the Salt Flats. Very Cool.

Also check out the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA.

If you go to Las Vegas take the tour of the Hoover Dam. We did the full tour, I have heard that is not available since September 11th.

Rick

Mike in Mn. · Jan 15, 2013

Made it to the Golden Spike site 10 years ago, it's out in the middle of nowhere, was nobody there, just us, very cool!!

Ted in NE-OH · Jan 15, 2013

Check these out.

www.aghistory.org

www.agsem.com

big fred · Jan 15, 2013

The Heidrick Ag History Museum is very good. Lots of tractors you probably won't see anywhere else.

John in Cache Valley · Jan 15, 2013

Bill,
I live in Utah and know the State quite well, having been in an "outdoors" profession and led numerous field trips with students, etc. across the State. Southern Utah/northern Arizona contains some of the most spectacular scenery and cultural diversity (e.g., Navajo, Ute and extinct Anasazi Indians) in the continental USA. Also, Sept. and Oct. are the very best months to travel here--warm days, cool nights, especially if you are interested in camping.
Other posters have offered good general suggestions eg. Zions Natl. Park, Grand Canyon (GC) and Mesa Verde (SW Colorado). By the way, while in Salt Lake City, do not miss the new Utah Museum of Natural History on the University of Utah campus--stunning!
I would definitely recommend the north rim of GC rather than the south rim; it's prettier, much less touristy, and just kinda' laid back (also 1000ft higher elevation). If you are interested in more a more-detailed itinerary , I have some suggestions of little-known places along the way that the typical tourist never sees. If you could somehow send me your mailing address and I will mail you an annotated map of the area highlighting some of these spots. I am reluctant to publish my email address on a public place such as YT.
We look forward to welcoming you to the spectacular Southwest!
John

MarkB_MI · Jan 16, 2013

Hey Bill, did you opt to rent an RV?

Chip812 · Jan 16, 2013

Just a small word of warning (and a saying I picked up somewhere). You need to be aware that the places you are talking about seeing cover a lot of distance and will take time to get from one to the other. It's big; really big. And now for the saying, "One difference between the US and Europe is that Europe thinks 100 miles is a long way and US thinks 100 years is a long time."

JRSutton · Jan 16, 2013

I think the key is getting out of LA. As long as you do that, you should be good.

Not a big fan of that city.

Bill from Scotland · Jan 16, 2013

No not this year, we got a very good car hire deal so went with that. Cars are normally very expensive but for some reason this year we seem to have got it for about half normal price.
RV hire, extra fuel and camp site looked as if they would add up fairly expensive.
Bill

MarkB_MI · Jan 16, 2013

I think you made the right decision. For most of your route there will be plenty of hotels and motels. The exception may be Bonneville; being in the middle of nowhere, hotel accommodations in Wendover will probably be scarce and expensive. Elsewhere it will be off-season and you shouldn't have any problem finding affordable accommodations.

Hotel prices in the US tend to be negotiable at the better hotels. Never accept the quoted rate without asking for a better deal. They'll ask if you're a member of AARP (American Association of Retired Pharts) or AAA (American Auto Association). The answer is "yes", I've never been asked to prove my membership. If you're persistent you can often get them to knock another ten or twenty bucks off the discounted rate if they're not busy, maybe more. You can also get cheap rates through sites like hotels.com; often they won't match that rate on a walk-in. One hotel offered to let me use their business center computer to book via hotels.com; the duty manager didn't want to match their rate but knew I'd walk if she didn't.

At cheaper motels, the prices usually aren't so negotiable, but you can try. Sometimes the fleabags turn out to be great deals, sometimes not.

scotc · Jan 16, 2013

Definitely a must-see for me then.
There is always the highest point in Nebraska

scotc · Jan 16, 2013

I've driven a lot more than 100 miles in a single day and never saw pavement. I think over 300, once. And the epa wants to put 15 mph speed limits on dirt roads, yeah, that'll work!

LA to Carson City is going to be a full day drive, and then some, if going through San Francisco.

Carson City to Salt Lake City is a very long day drive.

SLC to Grand Canyon is a long half day.

Grand Canyon to Vegas is a short half day.

Vegas to LA is another half day.

That's 4 days, just on the road, not seeing anything!

johnlobb · Jan 17, 2013

Death Valley with a stop at "Scotty"s Castle" , "Badwater" where there is a line on a cliff next to you almost 300" above you that says "sea level". and Tecopa Calif where there are many hot springs that are great to relax in and very inexpensive, and right next door to Tecopa, Shoshone, CA have a cheeseburger at the bar/grill where the hamburgers are more expensive than the cheeseburgers, with a small museum that features local characters such as "Seldom Seen Slim" (A lot of history)

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