Otherwise known as San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant...
Posted on 01/03/2007 6:45:47 PM PST by JRochelle
What/where is a must thing to do/see in AZ, UT, NV, and CA?
Thanks!
Along the lines of the Grand Canyon, you might also consider Sedona, Bryce, Yosemite, or Channel Islands.
The Big Ditch (Grand Canyon NP) --- near Williams AZ
Sedona/Red Rock, AZ
Zion Natl park - Near St George, UT
Death Valley - near Baker, CA
Vegas...
Otherwise known as San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant...
Hey, you asked! :O)
LOLOL!
Stay out of Hollywood and you'll be fine..... ;)
Seriously? Try to get in as much of the NATURAL scenery as possible. Mountains, ocean, desert...Napa Valley...we've got it all.
Please bring along a lot of empty suitcases and take a whole lotta libs back with you so we can have our state back?
:)
Are you higly mobile outdoors types, or do you want to stay in your car?
Is the Grand Canyon out west? I thought it was in Pennsylvania.
White King, the Giant White Polar Bear. Commercial Hotel, Elko, NV.
I'd skip California, but that is just me.
You have got to see Las Vegas, not for the gambling but for the glitter, and pure unbelieveability of it. Take the dam tour, too.
Up I-15 to Zion national park. Virgin river gorge is beautiful (along the I-15). Take I70 east to the Moab cutoff (crescent junction) and go to the Arches national Park.
Take lots of pictures and you will spend the rest of the summer, fall and into winter talking about it.
Ronald Regan Library- Simi Valley,CA.
Regan= Reagan.
This is sorta my neck of the woods. What are you interested in doing??
Yes! Thats the only thing in CA I have down as a must.
LA? I'm afraid of traffic jams.
Touristy things? I'm open to almost anything.
I think I'll add Zion park to the list.
Thanks.
Santa Cruz, CA
Yeah, but watch out for driving in Vegas. About a million Southern Californians have invaded the place, and they drive like idiots on a street and freeway layout made for a population of about 250,000.
If you're at the GC south rim, don't miss Hermit's Rest at the west end of the tour. Also, be sure to eat at the restaurant in the El Tovar Lodge, and if you can book a room there, it's quite a place. Jerome is a cool town, if a little too touristy. Zion is also worth a few days. Lots of short hikes, and gorgeous scenery.
'Cuz you ain't got these in Indiana.
We have many places we take them, but first on the list is always taking them to Yosemite, then over Tioga Pass to June Lake, and from there doing a day trip to Bodie.
I live in Simi Valley, so as you start to get your trip finalized, feel free to freepmail me and I'll look at your CA plan and hopefully give you some shortcuts/faster routes through the LA area. (Plus recommendations on where to stay in Simi Valley)
Do they have Krystals out west? I have heard they have the best burgers.
Bryce Canyon
Moab Ut
Tubing down the Virgin River
Monument state park
Arches National Park
The Painted Desert
Thanks!
Dumb question, but is Simi Valley close to LA?
Canyon de Chelly and Chaco Canyon. Two of my absolute favorite places in the world.
http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&&csz=Simi+Valley+CA+&Get%A0Map=Get+Map
Hit number 6 on the map.
It contains both Zion National Park, as well as Bryce Canyon National Park. You will see mountain vistas at Cedar Breaks National Monument, elevation over 10,000 and enjoy the desert beauty of Kodachrome Basin State Park. Don't miss it!
If you didn't notice....that's where I get my screen name.
Zions
Bryce Canyon
Cedar Breaks
Kodachrome - Grand Staircase
Take the 118 Freeway(Ronald Reagan Freeway)- should be fine. Ventura County is a Republican County.
Here's a good example: after we moved to Simi, I was in the San Fernando Valley (where "Valley girls" came from) and I mentioned that we bought a house and in passing I mentioned the names of my new neighbors. They stopped cold and said "YOU know the names of some of your NEIGHBORS!??!!?????"
Same planet -- different worlds.
Utah: Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Flaming Gorge, the Wasatch and Uinta mountains, etc., etc.
Arizona: Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, Sunset Crater and a huge number of fascinating early Indian habitations like Walnut Canyon, etc. in the Flagstaff and Sedona areas. Sedona's beautiful but full of touristy crapola and New Age crystal gazers.
California: If you can handle cities there's much to do in the San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles areas. I agree on the Reagan Library. If you like art don't miss the new Getty Museum in L.A. The state abounds in natural beauty starting with Yosemite, Sequoia N.P.'s, Shasta Lake, the Channel Islands, the Mendocino and Big Sur coastal areas, Carmel, Monterey, Catalina Island, and much, much more. And don't forget the great restaurants and the many winery tours, north and south.
The West is huge! Plan your trip carefully.
Montezuma Castle, not far from Sedona, AZ, if you're in that area. Awesome cliff dwelling.
Hee hee - ya beat me to it!
If you plan to motor west, travel my way, take the highway that's the best! Get your kicks on Interstate-40!
".. It winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than two thousand miles all the way.
Get your kicks on Rte66!
Now you go through St. Looey; Joplin, Missouri;
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty.
You'll see Amarillo; Gallup, New Mexico;
Flagstaff, Arizona; don't forget Winona,
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.
Won't you get hip to this timely tip?
When you make that California trip,
Get your kicks on Rte66."
BTW, I'm taking it for granted that you know the temperatures you'll be facing will be in the 110's during the day and 90s at night in most of the areas you've mentioned. . .
Thank you.
We have 16 days. No big cities on this trip. More of a outdoors/nature trip.
And I plan to stop at every winery.:)
110? Only in Arizona, right?
Must go to In-N-Out Burger
In California see Yosemite. (Before I saw Glacier National Park I thought it was the most spectacular place on the planet. I still suspect God of having a summer cabin there.) Lake Mono on the eastern side is pretty interesting. North of there Lassen is a great park. Mt. Shasta is very eerie and very cool. Highway 1 from Santa Cruz to as far south as you can drive is spectacular. And you MUST see Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks if you love really, really big trees.
IIRC, the McDonalds near the grand canyon was very expensive! Location ... location ... location.
After you figure out where you're thinking about going, go to www.weather.com and look at the average temperatures for those cities on those dates. Realize that southern California will be 100% desert right up until you enter the LA city limits. Going up HWY 395 as someone mentioned earlier will be 100% desert.
We were going to go through Arizona and New Mexico last summer and saw that the temperatures in the southern parts of those states on our days of travel were expected to be in the 120's! We chose to take our 2 and 4 year old home via the Wyoming and Lake Tahoe route instead.
Do *not* pass by Canyon de Chelley. It has something I just can't place into words. It is less touristy than the Grand Canyon, less known, and it is quiet...like a quiet you've never heard before.
Don't miss it.
Also, Mesa Verde National Park in the southwestern corner of Colorado. The tours are phenomenal.
Have fun!
Norhtern NM/CO Clayton, a very nice extinct volcano, Raton, Eagles Rest, Taos, Los Ojos, Mesa Verde (cliff dewlers), Ship Rock, Four Corners, Monument Valley. A great route to the GC and not very crowded and tons and tons of stuff to see.
Most of Northern NM is pretty high so it is not uncomfortable IMHO year 'round.
When I saw the video of Saddam's hanging I thought about this story that takes place in Clayton. NM! The place has a great steakhouse.
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/HC-BlackJackKetchum.html
"Thomas "Black Jack" Ketchum was the only person ever hanged in Clayton, New Mexico. He was also the only man ever hanged for train robbery in the entire state, a law that was later found to be unconstitutional. But, a little too late for poor Black Jack.
"Unfortunately, the inexperienced hangmen had forgotten about the sandbag they had used to test the rope and the weight of it caused the rope to be as rigid as wire. When Black Jack fell through the drop, he was immediately decapitated. The black hood pinned to his shirt was the only thing that kept his head from rolling away. A few minutes later the doctor pronounced him dead, then sewed his head to his torso prior to the burial at the Clayton's Boothill at 2:30 P.M. In the 1930's his body was moved to the new cemetery in Clayton, where it remains today."
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