Western US Vacation Help Needed

I need some help planning a vacation out west this summer. We'll be
flying in to Dallas for business and then driving a rental car to LA.
We'll depart Dallas in the rental car on the morning of June 26 and
we'll fly home from LA on Thursday, July 7. This is a total of 11
full days.

Microsoft Streets and trips gave me a route from Dallas that would take
us to Amirillo on Highway 40 on to Flagstaff and then North to the
Grand Canyon where we would spend one whole day.

I noticed we would be passing through or near the Petrified Forest and
the Meteor Crater. I've heard people say that Mono Lake is worth
squeezing in before the GC. Should we also see the Devil's postpile?

From Flagstaff, the software has us going North on Highway 93 to
LasVegas where we would again spend one day or even just one evening
and night.

From there we would head north on Highway 95 to Death Valley National
where we planned to spend a full day.

From Death Valley, we would take 266, 264, and 120 over to Yosemite.
I'm thinking we should stay two days here. From there we could head
west to San Francisco and spend two days there hopefully including July
4th.

Afterwards, we thought we would have no real plan other than to meander
down the California coast along the Pacific Coast Highway to San Jose,
Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura,
Malibu, and end up in Santa Monica.

We would spend two days in Santa Monica touring LA and Beverly Hills
and fly home. We're city folks and not big hikers, but my gut
feeling is that this is too much California and concrete at the expense
of beautiful desert and mountain scenery.

Since I know very little about the west, I'm open to all suggestions.
For instance, should we modify the trip to take the additional time to
drive to Sedona and spend a full day there?

We could skip San Francsico and come in to San Diego and then North to
LA if it would make for a better trip. By the way, there will be five
of us including three kids ages 6 - 18.

MD wrote:

Microsoft Streets and trips gave me a route from Dallas that would take
us to Amirillo on Highway 40 on to Flagstaff and then North to the
Grand Canyon where we would spend one whole day.

I noticed we would be passing through or near the Petrified Forest and
the Meteor Crater. I've heard people say that Mono Lake is worth
squeezing in before the GC. Should we also see the Devil's postpile?


Mono Lake will be encountered on the Death Valley to Yosemite leg of
your trip; it is just off Hwy 395. Devil's Postpile will require a side
trip over to Mammoth Lakes, and then some hiking.

Personally, I would just bypass Death Valley in the summer, but that's me.

In article , wrote:

Mono Lake will be encountered on the Death Valley to Yosemite leg of
your trip; it is just off Hwy 395. Devil's Postpile will require a side
trip over to Mammoth Lakes, and then some hiking.

Devils Postpile (by government decree, no apostrophe :-)) is fascinating.
In the summer, people who don't have camping reservations in Reds Meadow
(guess they didn't like the apostrophe in that one, either) or disabled
parking permits are required to take a shuttle bus from the Mammoth
Mountain Lodge. The bus is included in the DP entrance fee.

It's an easy 1/4 mile flat walk from the DP visitors center to the base
of DP; nothing I would call hiking. Plan on a 5-10 minute hike if you
decide to walk to the top, which is very striking (like a polished floor
of hexagonal tiles). There are also other hiking opportunities available
(the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails go through the area), but reaching
the Postpile itself is easy peasy.

Also nearby are the Inyo Craters, two elements of the same volcanic
field as the Mono Craters south of Mono Lake.

For more info: www.nps.gov/depo.


Patty

Patty Winter wrote:
In article , wrote:

Mono Lake will be encountered on the Death Valley to Yosemite leg of

your trip; it is just off Hwy 395. Devil's Postpile will require a
side
trip over to Mammoth Lakes, and then some hiking.

Devils Postpile (by government decree, no apostrophe :-)) is
fascinating.
In the summer, people who don't have camping reservations in Reds
Meadow
(guess they didn't like the apostrophe in that one, either) or
disabled
parking permits are required to take a shuttle bus from the Mammoth
Mountain Lodge. The bus is included in the DP entrance fee.

It's an easy 1/4 mile flat walk from the DP visitors center to the
base
of DP; nothing I would call hiking. Plan on a 5-10 minute hike if you

decide to walk to the top, which is very striking (like a polished
floor
of hexagonal tiles). There are also other hiking opportunities
available
(the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails go through the area), but
reaching
the Postpile itself is easy peasy.

Also nearby are the Inyo Craters, two elements of the same volcanic
field as the Mono Craters south of Mono Lake.

For more info: www.nps.gov/depo.


Patty

When going through the desert please bring lots and lots of water, (not
caffinated drinks). Hate to hear of finding bleached bones of tourists.
There is a reason they call it Death Valley.

If you can, please swing by Joshua Tree Nat'l Forest. It looks like
something from another planet. Reading any interprative signs along the
way will give you an understanding of what a great struggle it is for
these hundreds of year old plants to live, let alone thrive.

wrote:
Mono Lake will be encountered on the Death Valley to Yosemite leg of
your trip; it is just off Hwy 395. Devil's Postpile will require a
side
trip over to Mammoth Lakes, and then some hiking.

Personally, I would just bypass Death Valley in the summer, but
that's me.

What do you think about driving straight through Death Valley to 395
and then heading north right past Mammoth Lake instead of driving on
Highway 95 and then to Highway 266?

Is Devils Postpile worth the detour considering the limited amount of
time I have?

MD

wrote:
Mono Lake will be encountered on the Death Valley to Yosemite leg of
your trip; it is just off Hwy 395. Devil's Postpile will require a
side
trip over to Mammoth Lakes, and then some hiking.

Personally, I would just bypass Death Valley in the summer, but
that's me.

What do you think about driving straight through Death Valley to 395
and then heading north right past Mammoth Lake instead of driving on
Highway 95 and then to Highway 266?

Is Devils Postpile worth the detour considering the limited amount of
time I have?

MD

Thanks, sounds like you highly recommend it. What about the Sequoia
National Park a little to the west, is that the closest opportunity
we'll have to see the giant trees?

Thanks, sounds like you highly recommend it. What about the Sequoia
National Park a little to the west, is that the closest opportunity
we'll have to see the giant trees?

Thanks, we'll stock up on the water for the DV portion.

Joshua Tree is a great deal south of our planned route, but I'm open
for suggestions on alternative routes.

I'm suprised no one has said I must go to Tuscon.

If the information you've provided here is from
MD wrote:
Microsoft Streets and trips

return it whence it was acquired and demand that your money be refunded.

I noticed we would be passing through or near the Petrified Forest
and the Meteor Crater. I've heard people say that Mono Lake is
worth squeezing in before the GC.

Mono Lake is hundreds of miles away from, and not possible to squeeze
in without going close to a thousand miles out of your way, the Grand
Canyon.

Should we also see the Devil's postpile?

Yes. It's maybe a hundred extremely scenic miles from Mono Lake.

Afterwards, we thought we would have no real plan other than to
meander down the California coast along the Pacific Coast Highway
to San Jose, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur, San Luis Obispo,

The Pacific Coast Highway is about 300 miles from San Francisco, a
bit North of Santa Barbara. You can, however, take the Cabrillo
Highway that connects to the Pacific Coast Highway in Goleta.

Since I know very little about the west

And it appears you're not going to learn it from MicroSoft.

We could skip San Francsico and come in to San Diego and then
North to LA if it would make for a better trip.

No!

For information on San Francisco, please visit
http://geocities.com/iconoc/Articles/Sights.html at the site at Right
in the sig.

What about the Sequoia National Park a little to the west, is that
the closest opportunity we'll have to see the giant trees?

No. You can see Big Trees in Yosemite National Park, particularly the
Mariposa Grove.


said:
When going through the desert please bring lots and lots of water,
(not caffinated drinks). Hate to hear of finding bleached bones of
tourists. There is a reason they call it Death Valley.

There is but it appears you don't know what that reason is. Your
advice, however, must be heeded.
__________________________________________________ ___________
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