What would be a good Southwestern US Road Trip?

[steve(thelil)]

I love a good road trip.

I've done from New York through the Southeast twice in the last year or so (once which went as far as New Orleans for the Jazz Fest and one turning west in the Carolinas to surprise Doctor Dave in Asheville, NC).

The Mrs. and I have driven down the East Coast to Florida a couple of times(with stops in nice towns like Annapolis, Charleston* and Savannah along the way... not the marathon deal).

I've also road tripped along the California Coast a few times, and have done the Rockies and did one Southwest road trip during which we visted Santa Fe, Taos, Grand Canyon, Sedona and Lake Something (huge man-made lake which looks like it is on Mars. Not Lake Mead. The other one)

The Mrs will finally get an extended vacation (only 10 days, but for her that's extended) in early November and we are thinking of flying to the Southwest, renting a car and visiting 2 or 3 or maybe 4 places.

Any recommendations of some places/routes in the Southwest that would be fun for a road trip? We prefer our town/hotels/motels/restaurants to be funky over luxurious and love blue sky and wide open spaces. I am not averse to passing thru Sedona, Taos or Santa Fe again, but don't want to repeat the same trip we did a few years ago (to all of them and the Grand Canyon and Lake Something)

*By the way, the worldly Mr. Cherches was the reason we discovered Charleston South Carolina, which might be my favorite place on the East Coast. Besides being a world class wise guy, Pete is very well travelled and highly knowledgable and trustworthy with respect to his travel likes and dislikes, and it stuck in my mind when he once wrote that he considered Charleston the prettiest city in the US.

[clinthopson]

Unfortunately Santa Fe and Sedona have been "discovered" and are now crowded and overrun with tourists and expensive homes. I remember when they were abit on the funky side and a lot more enjoyable.

Frankly, Phoenix has a lot to offer, the Papago Park and Desert Aroboritum, the Heard Museum and Frank Lloyd Wright's Talesin West and the Arizona Biltmore and the ugliest baseball stadium in the world.

Sabina Canyon in Tuscon is worth a visit.

Both Phoenix and Tucson have great Sonora style Mexican joints, especially the little mom and pop places.

[Gary Sisco]

You could try driving the remnants of the old Route 66. Plenty of ghost towns and funky motels, anyway.

Actually, just try any two lane and skip the interstates. You'll find it much more interesting.

I recently drove on from Ft Collins, CO to Laramie, WY, 67 miles, no towns or even settlements. It was great. On the way back, in CO again, I saw a sign said Red Granite Canyone, and having more than plenty of time to get to the gig in Denver, I decided to check it out. Drove more than 50 miles on dirt and when I hit blacktop I was back in Wyoming again, about 20 miles west of Cheyenne!

Great fun, both drives.

Interstates are a bore. You could be anywhere on most of them. I like to drive through and by places where people actually live -- or don't, as in the above.

[clinthopson]

Oh yeah, I forgot Paolo Soliari's Arcosanti. A fascinating experiment in self-sufficiency.

And you gotta buy one of their bronze bells. We have three.

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

You could try driving the remnants of the old Route 66. Plenty of ghost towns and funky motels, anyway.

Actually, just try any two lane and skip the interstates. You'll find it much more interesting.

I recently drove on from Ft Collins, CO to Laramie, WY, 67 miles, no towns or even settlements. It was great. On the way back, in CO again, I saw a sign said Red Granite Canyone, and having more than plenty of time to get to the gig in Denver, I decided to check it out. Drove more than 50 miles on dirt and when I hit blacktop I was back in Wyoming again, about 20 miles west of Cheyenne!

Great fun, both drives.

Interstates are a bore. You could be anywhere on most of them. I like to drive through and by places where people actually live -- or don't, as in the above.

Thanks, Gary. Route 66 sounds like an excellent idea. I'll definitely look futher into it. In the past, driving Route 66 is something I've thought about alot, and not only because I love many versions of the song....especially Nat's and Charles Brown's!

I'll also look into the Laramie idea. I don't think I've been to Wyoming since 1965 when I was 12 my family did the Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold National Lampoon's Vacation road trip across the country. (My family was alot more dysfunctional, and I don't think my father got to skinny dip with any hot looking actresses). I do remember seeing wild buffalo in or near Cody Wyoming, which I think I dug. And we have some really funny slides of my brother and I in our cowboy hats.

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by clinthopson

Unfortunately Santa Fe and Sedona have been "discovered" and are now crowded and overrun with tourists and expensive homes. I remember when they were abit on the funky side and a lot more enjoyable.

Frankly, Phoenix has a lot to offer, the Papago Park and Desert Aroboritum, the Heard Museum and Frank Lloyd Wright's Talesin West and the Arizona Biltmore and the ugliest baseball stadium in the world.

Sabina Canyon in Tuscon is worth a visit.

Both Phoenix and Tucson have great Sonora style Mexican joints, especially the little mom and pop places.

Thanks Clint: The only reason that I haven't seriously considered Phoenix or Tucson is that I've spent sopme time in each and I was hoping to hit some places I haven't spent any or much time in; my wife and I have been visiting the same destinations a little to much in the last few years.

[jesus marion joseph]

It's not the southwest, or even the US, but I've been dying to fly into Calgary and travel north into the Canadian Rockies on Route 1. I've been as far as Sunshine Village ski area about twenty years ago, but I think stops in Banff, Lake Louise, Fernie, etc. would be a cool road trip.

[clinthopson]

(thelil), you can always drop into Tustin and I'll feed you!

[Gentle Giant]

Whatever you do, take some back roads.

[Jason Bivins]

Southern Utah is amazing. Moab, Bryce Canyon, Zion.

[walto]

I liked the "Turquoise Trail" up through Taos.

[sonic1]

You should take a snakey route through AZ. Definately see the Grand Canyon if you have not already. The Dunes of the west side are cool, check out Mt. Lemmon in Tucson (and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum!), Sedona, Flagstaff...


AZ is really diverse, and you should definately take a few detours. Avoid Phoenix, unless you are into shopping.

[steve(thelil)]

Thanks all (and especially Clint for offering to feed me!) I will do some more research on all recomendations. Keep it coming.

By the way, I was very inspired by the book Blue Highways (recommended by Giant) and I would recommend it stongly as well. I remember the author's theory that you could tell how good the food was at a small town diner type place by how many calendars there were on the walls! (I forget the basis of Moon's thoery or why it rang true, but it did)


Even when I take long road trips with time constraints and have to make time by taking highways, I try to take at least one local road detour every day. On my last trip, on the New Orleans to Memphis leg, I drove around the Mississippi Delta. It was cool, but my most vivid memory was how nice and floral everything smelled in May in rural Georgia (even when you didn't see any flowers)

[sonic1]

If you stay in Tucson, stay at the FUNKY Hotel Congress. It is definately an experience. There is a club below (plays both live and dance music depending on the night) and a funky restaurant.

Dilinger was caught because the hotel was burning down and he went back in to get his gold. People got suspicious when they saw him run back in there and soon put 2 and 2 together...

He was gunned down just down the street (near my house!). Here is the web site.

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by sonic1

If you stay in Tucson, stay at the FUNKY Hotel Congress. It is definately an experience. There is a club below (plays both live and dance music depending on the night) and a funky restaurant.

Dilinger was caught because the hotel was burning down and he went back in to get his gold. People got suspicious when they saw him run back in there and soon put 2 and 2 together...

He was gunned down just down the street (near my house!). Here is the web site.

I once accompanied my wife when she had a conference in Tucson and I found myself hanging out at the internet enabled bar/cafe in the Hotel Congress. I actually did alot of posting from there. It was way cool.

We were there in either early spring or late fall (I forget which) and woke up to a coating of snow on the ground, and I think the radio said it was the first snow accumulation there in years (unless it was the only first snow accumulation that time of year in years)

[walto]

If you go to Durango (which you should), stay at the Doubletree and take the Durango-Silverton Railway up the mountains for a day.

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally Posted by Jason Bivins

Southern Utah is amazing. Moab, Bryce Canyon, Zion.

This was exactly what I was going to say when I read the thread title. Surely a candidate for the most stunning and beautiful land in the country.

[tippy]

oh hit Moab and Capital Reef - there's so many awesome parks down there.

[Dr Dave]

Just outside of Alberquerque--right off the freeway--is a very fine producer of sparkling wines: Gruet Winery

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

Just outside of Alberquerque--right off the freeway--is a very fine producer of sparkling wines: Gruet Winery

I believe they invented Ripple, if I'm not mistaken.


(unable to stop my random nerve firings.....sorry)

[jazzy mary]

Originally Posted by sonic1

If you stay in Tucson, stay at the FUNKY Hotel Congress. It is definately an experience. There is a club below (plays both live and dance music depending on the night) and a funky restaurant.

Dilinger was caught because the hotel was burning down and he went back in to get his gold. People got suspicious when they saw him run back in there and soon put 2 and 2 together...

He was gunned down just down the street (near my house!). Here is the web site.

Hey, I stayed in this hotel about 25 years ago when my ex-husband and I worked in the forestry dep't in Oregon & took a Northern road trip on the way there and a Southern road trip when we came back to Illinois.

At that time, the hotel was a real dive and the bar below was so noisy,ALL NIGHT, that it was impossible to get any sleep.

[steve(thelil)]

Based on suggestions here, staring at maps and my conception of how much driving and how much not driving I'd want to do, it seems like an agenda might be:

-fly into Albequerque on Thursday night (my wife has to work that Thursday).Stay over in Albequerque the first night.
-Drive to Durango Friday. Stay there Friday and Saturday Nights
-Drive to the Moab area, stay / explore the general area for 2 or 3 of nights
-Drive to the Flagstaff/ petrified forest area, stay a night or 2
-Drive to Albequerque on the Sunday (9 days after first arriving)
-Flying back Monday (we have to return by Monday)

Does this sound like a good plan?

Is the Flagstaff/Winslow/Petrified forest area worth spending time in?

Are there other, better alternatives between Moab area and Albequerque?

Is it worth spending time in Albequergue? (I'm assuming it would be cost prohibitive to rent a car and NOT finish the trip in the same place I started......Is this true?)

Is there another place/area I can hit on this trip without an undue amount of driving? (My wife had shingle in her brain a couple of years ago and too much driving brings back some slight symptomology)

Why is it that when you scratch a man who looks a little like a turnip, you get a man who looks ALOT like a scratched turnip?

thanks for your help. I'm getting psyched.

[Gary Sisco]

Steve -- There are a lot of sections of the old Route 66 that are gone now because the interstate system followed more or less the same route but you can find remnants still that often parallel the highway but take through towns and so forth. Often going off the I-system you get the better scenery, too, as they try to avoid a lot of natural features when laying out those interstate routes. Out west in particular, if you look out across the land from the interstate, it looks flat and like you can see everything to the horizon. This is often a illusion if you get off the freeway and drive the regular roads. You'll go through canyons and so forth that you'd other miss altogether.

I love that Blue Highways book. Read it when it first came out. One of my remaining ambitions is to drive back and forth across the country, all on two-lanes, no interstates or other highways.

If you decide to head to Laramie, let me know, as I have a good old pal there, and some new ones recently made. There's a nice little scene, there, actually -- better than any around here. There's a great really small town with a good tavern as well, Centennial, in the Rocky foothills. You can see permanent snow peaks from there. I enjoyed my time, there. I'd have no problem living there, actually. Laramie or Centennial.

I spent almost all of my youth from 16 to 30 except for the service out west, in New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Montana. There are still ways in which I prefer it out there to the east. My life since '85 has centered on Vermont more by accidents of biography than from any real decision or conscious choice.

[jazzy mary]

Originally Posted by steve(thelil)

Based on suggestions here, staring at maps and my conception of how much driving and how much not driving I'd want to do, it seems like an agenda might be:

-fly into Albequerque on Thursday night (my wife has to work that Thursday).Stay over in Albequerque the first night.
-Drive to Durango Friday. Stay there Friday and Saturday Nights
-Drive to the Moab area, stay / explore the general area for 2 or 3 of nights
-Drive to the Flagstaff/ petrified forest area, stay a night or 2
-Drive to Albequerque on the Sunday (9 days after first arriving)
-Flying back Monday (we have to return by Monday)

Does this sound like a good plan?

Is the Flagstaff/Winslow/Petrified forest area worth spending time in?

Are there other, better alternatives between Moab area and Albequerque?

Is it worth spending time in Albequergue? (I'm assuming it would be cost prohibitive to rent a car and NOT finish the trip in the same place I started......Is this true?)

Is there another place/area I can hit on this trip without an undue amount of driving? (My wife had shingle in her brain a couple of years ago and too much driving brings back some slight symptomology)

Why is it that when you scratch a man who looks a little like a turnip, you get a man who looks ALOT like a scratched turnip?

thanks for your help. I'm getting psyched.

Not sure about Albequergue. I don't really remeber it. So, that's not good. Ask the car rental agency about picking a car up in one area and dropping it another. I've done that a lot in Europe and it's not always more expensive. Recently, we did it in Italy--picked up the car in Venice and dropped it off in Naples.

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally Posted by steve(thelil)

Is the Flagstaff/Winslow/Petrified forest area worth spending time in?

I'd replace this with more time in southern Utah, myself. The Petrified Forest doesn't hold a candle to those areas. My biggest memory from there is that I sprained my ankle there.

[jesus marion joseph]

Flagstaff isn't a very large city. There is a cool historic section downtown, but it's not very large. *Lots* of trains run through the tracks downtown, about one every fifteen minutes or so. A couple of days there is probably plenty.

There is a cool laval tube west (I think) of the city that you should visit. It's about a mile long, pitch black (you'll need a flashlight or headlamp-I saw people using the glow of their cell phones, but I wouldn't recommend it) and the air temp is about 40 degrees in the cave. The farther into it you go, the more you can see that it's a frozen flow of lava with chunks of rock that fell from the cave ceiling and became stuck in the laval flow. Way cool, IMHO.

If you're into mountain hiking, you can hike Humphrey's Peak, which tops out at over 13,000 feet, in a day. There were literally people runing up it while I huffed and puffed my way there (bastards). The base of the mountain is at an elevation of around 8,000 feet or more, and the peak is the highest point in Arizona.

[Ron Thorne]

Steve, I know that you said that you've been to Santa Fe and Taos before, but I'll bet you've never even heard of Las Vegas, New Mexico, have you? Most folks look at me like a deer in headlights when I say those words, then invariably say, "you mean Las Vegas, Nevada?" We had never heard of that town until our oldest son wound up there in college. In fact, he graduated from New Mexico Highlands University.

Let me just say that this is one of the most picturesque, funky, yet quaint little towns we've ever seen. It's filled with Victorian homes and other turn-of-the last century architecture. We may be visiting there again next month as a side trip. It's filled with history and historic buildings. Check out this link for some interesting background on Las Vegas. The historic buildings portion is particularly interesting. There are over 900 buildings in Las Vegas on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's a tiny town (under 15,000)!

Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive page on Las Vegas here.

The coolest places to stay in Las Vegas are The Inn on the Santa Fe Trail and The Plaza Hotel, overlooking The Plaza.



The food in Las Vegas is wonderful and dirt cheap.

If you decide to visit Las Vegas, a great, short side trip would be to visit the Madison Vineyards & Winery west of Las Vegas in Ribera. It's a lovely location with a very cool tasting room . . . and very enjoyable, award-winning wines. This is a family operation, a true labor of love. The drive to the winery is amazing.

Of course, Carlsbad Caverns, which is considerably south of Las Vegas, is another fascinating place, as is White Sands.

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

I'd replace this with more time in southern Utah, myself. The Petrified Forest doesn't hold a candle to those areas. My biggest memory from there is that I sprained my ankle there.

I love the outdoors and have heard how beautiful southern Utah is. But it seems like I would have to stay over somewhere (at least a night) between there and Albequerque, to avoid a marathon driving day.

Also, if I was to decide to spend several days in Southern Utah I'd like to know of any towns that have stuff to offer besides access to the great outdoors? Anybody know?

Yet also also, does anyone (Gary?) know if there are any cool portions of Route 66 that would fit into my tentative itinerary?

By the way, I can't tell all of you how much I appreciate the advice. As gratitude, I vow to encourage Rollhead to continue to have pride in his (allegedly) new and improved online behavior*.





*erroneous asterisk

[steve(thelil)]

Originally Posted by Ron Thorne

Steve, I know that you said that you've been to Santa Fe and Taos before, but I'll bet you've never even heard of Las Vegas, New Mexico, have you? Most folks look at me like a deer in headlights when I say those words, then invariably say, "you mean Las Vegas, Nevada?" We had never heard of that town until our oldest son wound up there in college. In fact, he graduated from New Mexico Highlands University.

Let me just say that this is one of the most picturesque, funky, yet quaint little towns we've ever seen. It's filled with Victorian homes and other turn-of-the last century architecture. We may be visiting there again next month as a side trip. It's filled with history and historic buildings. Check out this link for some interesting background on Las Vegas. The historic buildings portion is particularly interesting. There are over 900 buildings in Las Vegas on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's a tiny town (under 15,000)!

Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive page on Las Vegas here.

The coolest places to stay in Las Vegas are The Inn on the Santa Fe Trail and The Plaza Hotel, overlooking The Plaza.



The food in Las Vegas is wonderful and dirt cheap.

If you decide to visit Las Vegas, a great, short side trip would be to visit the Madison Vineyards & Winery west of Las Vegas in Ribera. It's a lovely location with a very cool tasting room . . . and very enjoyable, award-winning wines. This is a family operation, a true labor of love. The drive to the winery is amazing.

Of course, Carlsbad Caverns, which is considerably south of Las Vegas, is another fascinating place, as is White Sands.

Pepper: I did come across mentions of the OTHER Las Vegas in looking through Southwest guidebooks, but before your post I really knew nothing about it. Thanks for the tip. It sounds like someplace we'd love. Will look further into it as well. (I like planning road trips almost as much as taking them)

[sonic1]

Originally Posted by steve(thelil)

I once accompanied my wife when she had a conference in Tucson and I found myself hanging out at the internet enabled bar/cafe in the Hotel Congress. I actually did alot of posting from there. It was way cool.

We were there in either early spring or late fall (I forget which) and woke up to a coating of snow on the ground, and I think the radio said it was the first snow accumulation there in years (unless it was the only first snow accumulation that time of year in years)

I remember that! That was some time ago. I was pissed because I had just taken out all my plants from the greenhouse. It was easter! Fucking snow...

Anyway, the cybarbar is gone, and many rennovations downstairs have taken place. Shit. I think I was booking the club there when you were visiting...(used to book the live music and other activities there in another life).