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Old October 14th, 2011, 02:26 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Graham Harrison[_3_]
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Default Road trip USA Nat'l parks


"Panawe" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:07:15 +0100, Graham Harrison wrote:

"Panawe" wrote in message
m...
On Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:34:52 +0000, Lauri Nurmi wrote:

On 2011-10-12, Panawe wrote:
On 10/10/2011 6:33 AM, Panawe wrote:

I would like to go whale-watching and see Yosemite and Yellowstone
Nat'l parks (and others if feasible).

As regards my itinerary - what would you suggest given that I want to
get the most out of my holiday? Should I leave Yellowstone for
another time? Even if I extend the holiday to three weeks?

You could drive less and still visit three national parks if you
choose Yosemite, Death Valley and Grand Canyon (Arizona side). Hoover
Dam and Las Vegas are along the assumed route, and might also be worth
seeing.

-LN

Thanks to everyone for advice.

I'm listening and I'm wondering now about 14 days fly-drive out of San
Francisco followed by a week's package tour (a holiday within a
holiday!) to Yellowstone flying to and from SFO. I could have a rest
from driving on the Y'stone tour.

What do you think?

Or I could do the grand tour from Seattle to SF via.... stop it!

--
Panawe


Well, last year I participated in a Gray Line Alaska tour (Yukon and
Alaska). It's the first time I ever went on something like it. I'm
in 2 minds. It was nice not to have to keep driving. It was
incredibly frustrating to go past things I wanted to look at and I
didn't have enough time (even if I could have found transport) to
explore the outskirts of Whitehorse or Fairbanks. The big benefit was
when we got to Dawson and the road across to Tok was washed out. They
simply hired a plane and away we went!

On balance I would only do it again if I couldn't find a way of doing
the journey under my own steam.

I had wondered about a tour for you from San Francisco to Yosemite and
Monterrey. Gray Line only do each as a one day tour (forget it). You
might be able to stitch one or more Tauck Tours together with flights
(or maybe even Amtrak) between e.g.

http://www.tauck.com/tours/usa-tours...yoming-travel-

yys-2012.aspx
http://www.tauck.com/tours/usa-tours...lifornia-tour-

ca-2012.aspx

Or maybe Globus http://monograms.com/us-vacations/ but I'm not sure how
you'd book some of the tours on that page. Globus are part of the same
company as Cosmos and they seem to want me work work through Cosmos
because I live in the UK and that is the page for people who live in the
US. I've no doubt it's doable but it might be a slight struggle.

It is pretty easy to organise a trip using car hire and motels. The
trick is not to do too much driving and to allow the occasional "rest
day" if only because you need to find a launderette (many motels have a
machine). If you want help try someone like
http://www.nahighways.co.uk/. Anything you see on their website can be
changed/extended/shortened/sent places they don't normally list - the
tours they list are examples; they can be booked but they don't have to
look like that. I've never used them, I had a professional connection
with them some years ago and they seemed competent but there are other
similar specialists around.

By the way, what part of the UK are you in? I keep assuming you're
flying from London and that doesn't have to be the case.


Hi Graham,

I'm in the Midlands so would prefer to fly from Brum. It's a changing
situation, now I'm thinking of leaving Yellowstone to another year and
looking at fly-drive to San Francisco (2 nts) then Monterey (2 nts) to
get the whale trip in, then Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe,
Crater Lakes, Redwoods NP and back to SF over 14 days. Except I've missed
Death valley which I'd have to do after Monterey and before Sequoia (bit
tired at the moment). Far more sensible, haven't done the fine detail yet
and any advice on routes welcome.

I can't make my mind up whether to book a tour through a company or do it
myself via the 'Net. You'd think doing the donkey work myself would work
out cheaper but I'm not so sure.

Thanks for the input.

--
Panawe