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Traveling in the U.S. West/Southwest

17 years ago, January 4th 2007 No: 1 Msg: #9640 Delete Edit

Ovylicious
Casey

N Posts: 1

My family and I are starting to plan a trip in the western/southwestern states for this summer. We would fly into Vegas from Connecticut, and either rent a car or fly out to other locations. We need some suggestions for places to stop and visit.

We are definately planning on hitting up the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but I would like to visit other places in between. Do you know of any special places that are near by? Any spots you feel are overlooked by travel guides? Any areas with beautiful scenery and not too many tourists?

Thanks! Reply to this

17 years ago, January 5th 2007 No: 2 Msg: #9657 Delete Edit

CricketREL
Robyn Liska

B Posts: 1

Definitely worth your time to visit Bryce and Zion National Parks in Utah. The Mountains in Colorado are also really beautiful , especially in the SW near Telluride, but if you're going to Yellowstone you might want to stop in Jackson, WO and visit the Tetons. They are stunningly beautiful too! Have fun. Reply to this

17 years ago, January 6th 2007 No: 3 Msg: #9690 Delete Edit

Alpaca
Free From Corporation

N Posts: 3

We did a few trips to the west/southwest. They were great and I really should write about them as good writing practices. Anyway, here was a couple we did before

trip 1 (12 days): Vegas/Zion/Grand Canyon (North Rim)/Antelope Canyon/Monument Valley/Mesa Verda/Canyon De Chelly/Petrified Forests/Sedona
trip 2 (7 days): Vegas/Zion/Bryce/Capitol Reef/Goblin Valley/Arches/Canyonlands - too rush but it was winter so really wasn't prepared to do winter hiking
trip 3 (10 days): Salt Lake City/Logan Canyon/Grand Teton/Yellowstone

Based on what you want to do you could go, depending on what month in summer, hopefully early as some part of Southwest get pretty hot in July/Aug

if early - Vegas/Zion/Grand Canyon (North Rim)/Antelope Canyon/Monument Valley/Canyonlands(Needles District)/Arches...
if late - Vegas/Zion/Grand Canyon (North Rim)/Antelope Canyon/Monument Valley/Mesa Verda/Rocky Mountain

that's already a lot, how many days do you have? there are a few ways to get up to Yellowstone and what activities do you like to do

I will blog about Goblin Valley real soon as a part of our 2006 summer trip. Check there

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17 years ago, January 15th 2007 No: 4 Msg: #9887 Delete Edit

seachi07
karen

N Posts: 2

I lived in Phoenix for 12 years and recently moved to Seattle. So, if you want to see a few more things in Arizona while you're there:

Flagstaff is neat town on Rt 66. Shops, restaurants, cafes. Mostly a college town (NAU), but you can ride the ski lift at the Snobowl ski area just west of downtown Flagstaff for some photo ops. You'll actually pass this ski area on your way from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff.
Obviously Sedona is an amazingly beautiful and unique place, but it is extremely touristy, especially in the summer. The drive down from Flagstaff to Sedona - through Oak Creek Canyon -is really beautiful (although they had a forest fire this past summer) and be sure to take the exit for 89A (south) just after you leave Flagstaff. You'll come down hairpin turns into Oak Creek Canyon that will lead you into Sedona.
Get back/Stay on 89 to go South toward Cottonwood/Prescott. Keep following 89(south) toward Prescott, which will lead you to Jerome. Jerome is my favorite place to visit in Arizona. Very interesting, very eccletic mix of people. It's an old mining town with small streets (shops and art galleries), and a few interesting cafes & restaurants (have to try the famous 'Haunted Hamburger' grill). One of the cafes is the oldest in Arizona (English Kitchen). The Spirit Room (for the over 21 crowd) hosts several famous bands from across the U.S. If you continue south on 89 (over Mingus Mountain), you'll get to Prescott. It has several shops and restaurants, cafes, bakeries, art galleries, and Whiskey Row (infamous spot - a visit from Doc Holliday - O.K. Corral gunfight in Tombstone, AZ and other outlaws!). There's usually a festival on the weekends during the summer in the Prescott town square.

I wouldn't venture down to Phoenix - unless you flew into Sky Harbor International airport and then headed north toward the Grand Canyon, stopping at these places. Phoenix wouldn't have a lot to offer for more than a day, and the heat in the summer is seriously extreme. Dry heat or not.. it's HOT. I lived there for 12 years.. and hot is HOT.

So, in Arizona, if heading south from the Grand Canyon, I'd go to Flagstaff, through Oak Creek Canyon (89A-south) to Sedona, then on to Jerome and finally Prescott. Then you can hit I-17 north back to Flagstaff and go out from there.

If flying into Phoenix, you would travel north on I-17 to Prescott then 89A(north) to Jerome; go through Cottonwood on 89A to Sedona; north through Oak Creek Canyon; north to Flagstaff; then northwest to Grand Canyon.

It's about 3 1/2 hours from Phoenix to Flagstaff on I-17, without these stops.
Taking 89A (going south) from Flagstaff to Sedona is about 45 minutes (through Oak Creek Canyon).
Sedona to Jerome is another 30-45 minutes.
Jerome to Prescott is about 25-30 minutes.

All towns have overnight options if needed. They should be booked in advance, however, during the summer because of tourism.
In any case, you'll get a taste of mountain-top evergreens and desert landscape with the one-of-a-kind Saguaro Cacti. Be sure if/when driving in Arizona, that you ALWAYS have plenty of water for everyone in your group. This an absolute must.

I hope some of this will help! Have a great journey!
Karen
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