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1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 2nd, 2011, 05:41 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Terry Pinnell[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 28
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?

I'm flying from London to visit my son in Carlsbad, San Diego on February
17th. He will no doubt take me to many of the San Diego tourist spots
during the next 4 days. But then for a week I plan to hire a car and see
as much as I can on my own. So any recommendations for possible practical
itineraries would be much appreciated please. I don't mind driving a
hundred or two miles a day.

Ideally I'd like to cover new ground, so here's a list of places I've
visited on a previous USA trip in 1997:

San Francisco
LA
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon
Zion
Grand Canyon (but if possible would love to see it again!)
Sedona

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
  #2  
Old January 2nd, 2011, 07:07 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Lawrence T. Akutagawa
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Posts: 21
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?



"Terry Pinnell" wrote in message
...

I'm flying from London to visit my son in Carlsbad, San Diego on February
17th. He will no doubt take me to many of the San Diego tourist spots
during the next 4 days. But then for a week I plan to hire a car and see
as much as I can on my own. So any recommendations for possible practical
itineraries would be much appreciated please. I don't mind driving a
hundred or two miles a day.

Ideally I'd like to cover new ground, so here's a list of places I've
visited on a previous USA trip in 1997:

San Francisco
LA
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon
Zion
Grand Canyon (but if possible would love to see it again!)
Sedona

*********

hmmmm...you seem to like nature. Possible destinations would include

Anza-Borrego State Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Grand Canyon (revisit)
Monument Valley
Arches National Park
Canyonlands National Park (Island in the Sky)
Dead Horse Point State Park

Figure about two days driving from the Carlsbad area to get to Moab. But
we're talking more than 100-200 miles of driving per day, more like 300
miles a day, definitely doable driving 6-7 hours a day with reasonable
stops. This handy dandy mileage calculator says that there are 573 miles
between Carlsbad, CA, and Moab, UT. http://www.myrateplan.com/how_far/

That will give you a good three days to poke around the Moab area. Keep an
eye on the weather. You'll be visiting in the dead of winter. If the
weather is inclement, I strongly recommend sticking around southern
California and thereabouts.

  #3  
Old January 2nd, 2011, 07:31 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Don Kirkman[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 42
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?

On Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:41:09 +0000, Terry Pinnell
wrote:

I'm flying from London to visit my son in Carlsbad, San Diego on February
17th. He will no doubt take me to many of the San Diego tourist spots
during the next 4 days. But then for a week I plan to hire a car and see
as much as I can on my own. So any recommendations for possible practical
itineraries would be much appreciated please. I don't mind driving a
hundred or two miles a day.

Ideally I'd like to cover new ground, so here's a list of places I've
visited on a previous USA trip in 1997:

San Francisco
LA
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon
Zion
Grand Canyon (but if possible would love to see it again!)
Sedona


Depending on your interests, fairly near San Diego/Carlsbad, assuming
return to your base same or next day:
(For an extended itinerary I can suggest others, if I know your
interests and desires.)

Wild Animal Park (part of the great San Diego Zoo, but located quite a
ways out of town), wild animals in sort of normal habitat.

Anza-B0rrego Desert State Park not too far from the Salton Sea, a lake
formed when the Colorado River broke through its banks about 100 years
ago. Interesting (?) desert scenery.

Julian - an old mining town in the mountains easterly from San Diego,
a sort of combination resort and ghost town. :-) Could be cold,
maybe snowy, in February.

Commercial flower fields beside the highway near Carlsbad, north of
San Diego. Lego Land in the same general area.

I'm assuming your son will get you to the nearer places like the
mission, the Old Town site of original San Diego, La Jolla, Torrey
Pines.

These should all be searchable in your favorite search engine.
--
Don Kirkman

  #4  
Old January 3rd, 2011, 12:20 AM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Terry Pinnell[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 28
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?

Don Kirkman wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:41:09 +0000, Terry Pinnell
wrote:

I'm flying from London to visit my son in Carlsbad, San Diego on February
17th. He will no doubt take me to many of the San Diego tourist spots
during the next 4 days. But then for a week I plan to hire a car and see
as much as I can on my own. So any recommendations for possible practical
itineraries would be much appreciated please. I don't mind driving a
hundred or two miles a day.

Ideally I'd like to cover new ground, so here's a list of places I've
visited on a previous USA trip in 1997:

San Francisco
LA
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon
Zion
Grand Canyon (but if possible would love to see it again!)
Sedona


Depending on your interests, fairly near San Diego/Carlsbad, assuming
return to your base same or next day:
(For an extended itinerary I can suggest others, if I know your
interests and desires.)

Wild Animal Park (part of the great San Diego Zoo, but located quite a
ways out of town), wild animals in sort of normal habitat.

Anza-B0rrego Desert State Park not too far from the Salton Sea, a lake
formed when the Colorado River broke through its banks about 100 years
ago. Interesting (?) desert scenery.

Julian - an old mining town in the mountains easterly from San Diego,
a sort of combination resort and ghost town. :-) Could be cold,
maybe snowy, in February.

Commercial flower fields beside the highway near Carlsbad, north of
San Diego. Lego Land in the same general area.

I'm assuming your son will get you to the nearer places like the
mission, the Old Town site of original San Diego, La Jolla, Torrey
Pines.

These should all be searchable in your favorite search engine.


Lawrence, Don: Excellent, thanks both. I'll do more research over next
week or two based on those suggestions, including some advance 'touring'
in Google Earth.

So many possibilities! First reaction is that I'd like to cover the longer
distances, e.g. to Moab. But maybe I won't sustain that ambition and
decide instead to go 'local' and spend the time gained in solo hiking. Or
compromise, and take in say the Wild Animal Park on the first or last day.
Not Legoland though, as I'm 100% sure that will be part of my San Diego
sight-seeing, if only because my son has a season pass!

Note that whatever itinerary I follow, I deliberately won't return to San
Diego until end of the week. I then have another 4 days with my son and
two young grandsons before my flight back from LA 5th March.

How much can I expect to pay for a car for a week's hire?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
  #5  
Old January 3rd, 2011, 01:51 AM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Lawrence T. Akutagawa
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 21
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?



"Terry Pinnell" wrote in message
...

Don Kirkman wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:41:09 +0000, Terry Pinnell
wrote:

I'm flying from London to visit my son in Carlsbad, San Diego on February
17th. He will no doubt take me to many of the San Diego tourist spots
during the next 4 days. But then for a week I plan to hire a car and see
as much as I can on my own. So any recommendations for possible practical
itineraries would be much appreciated please. I don't mind driving a
hundred or two miles a day.

Ideally I'd like to cover new ground, so here's a list of places I've
visited on a previous USA trip in 1997:

San Francisco
LA
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon
Zion
Grand Canyon (but if possible would love to see it again!)
Sedona


Depending on your interests, fairly near San Diego/Carlsbad, assuming
return to your base same or next day:
(For an extended itinerary I can suggest others, if I know your
interests and desires.)

Wild Animal Park (part of the great San Diego Zoo, but located quite a
ways out of town), wild animals in sort of normal habitat.

Anza-B0rrego Desert State Park not too far from the Salton Sea, a lake
formed when the Colorado River broke through its banks about 100 years
ago. Interesting (?) desert scenery.

Julian - an old mining town in the mountains easterly from San Diego,
a sort of combination resort and ghost town. :-) Could be cold,
maybe snowy, in February.

Commercial flower fields beside the highway near Carlsbad, north of
San Diego. Lego Land in the same general area.

I'm assuming your son will get you to the nearer places like the
mission, the Old Town site of original San Diego, La Jolla, Torrey
Pines.

These should all be searchable in your favorite search engine.


Lawrence, Don: Excellent, thanks both. I'll do more research over next
week or two based on those suggestions, including some advance 'touring'
in Google Earth.

So many possibilities! First reaction is that I'd like to cover the longer
distances, e.g. to Moab. But maybe I won't sustain that ambition and
decide instead to go 'local' and spend the time gained in solo hiking. Or
compromise, and take in say the Wild Animal Park on the first or last day.
Not Legoland though, as I'm 100% sure that will be part of my San Diego
sight-seeing, if only because my son has a season pass!

Note that whatever itinerary I follow, I deliberately won't return to San
Diego until end of the week. I then have another 4 days with my son and
two young grandsons before my flight back from LA 5th March.

How much can I expect to pay for a car for a week's hire?

******
Terry -

Keep an eye out on Travelzoo for rental specials -
http://www.travelzoo.com/car-rental/north-america/

Also check out the rental car agency websites - Herz, National, Alamo, Avis,
and the like.

  #6  
Old January 3rd, 2011, 03:37 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Graham Harrison[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 288
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?


"Terry Pinnell" wrote in message
...
I'm flying from London to visit my son in Carlsbad, San Diego on February
17th. He will no doubt take me to many of the San Diego tourist spots
during the next 4 days. But then for a week I plan to hire a car and see
as much as I can on my own. So any recommendations for possible practical
itineraries would be much appreciated please. I don't mind driving a
hundred or two miles a day.

Ideally I'd like to cover new ground, so here's a list of places I've
visited on a previous USA trip in 1997:

San Francisco
LA
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon
Zion
Grand Canyon (but if possible would love to see it again!)
Sedona

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK


I think I'd probably head up I15 then I215 towards Perris
http://www.oerm.org/ then pick up I10 east to
http://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm and on into Arizona passing
http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=22570 bypassing Phoenix to
Tucson and http://www.pimaair.org/ or http://www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm and
turning round at http://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm (which allows you a bit
of fun at http://www.cityoftombstone.com/) or maybe just over the border
into NM at Silver City http://www.silvercity.org/ for
http://www.nps.gov/gicl/index.htm,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Chino_Mine and
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/cityrocks.htm . On the way back from
Tucson to Phoenix take I8 towards San Diego passing
http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/blm...n/son_des.html and a
possible side trip to http://www.nps.gov/orpi/index.htm

The Chiricahuas have some nice hiking. The Gila Cliff Dwellings were much,
much less touristy than the similar artefacts in Mesa Verde and we were
allowed to visit as individuals rather than being herded through in a group.
The OERM in Perris has a wonderful collection of US railway artefacts
including steam, diesel and electric and Pima is adjacent to the outdoor
storage facility where the US forces keep all the planes they don't
currently want but might one day.

Phoenix is worth a stop to see the high end hotels at the north end of the
city but, in my view, not much else. Tucson isn't that exciting other than
as a base. Silver City NM is a small town and at first glance doesn't have
much to recommend it but we spent a couple of nights and found it friendly.

  #7  
Old January 3rd, 2011, 06:52 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Terry Pinnell[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 28
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?

"Graham Harrison" wrote:


"Terry Pinnell" wrote in message
.. .
I'm flying from London to visit my son in Carlsbad, San Diego on February
17th. He will no doubt take me to many of the San Diego tourist spots
during the next 4 days. But then for a week I plan to hire a car and see
as much as I can on my own. So any recommendations for possible practical
itineraries would be much appreciated please. I don't mind driving a
hundred or two miles a day.

Ideally I'd like to cover new ground, so here's a list of places I've
visited on a previous USA trip in 1997:

San Francisco
LA
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon
Zion
Grand Canyon (but if possible would love to see it again!)
Sedona

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK


I think I'd probably head up I15 then I215 towards Perris
http://www.oerm.org/ then pick up I10 east to
http://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm and on into Arizona passing
http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=22570 bypassing Phoenix to
Tucson and http://www.pimaair.org/ or http://www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm and
turning round at http://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm (which allows you a bit
of fun at http://www.cityoftombstone.com/) or maybe just over the border
into NM at Silver City http://www.silvercity.org/ for
http://www.nps.gov/gicl/index.htm,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Chino_Mine and
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/cityrocks.htm . On the way back from
Tucson to Phoenix take I8 towards San Diego passing
http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/blm...n/son_des.html and a
possible side trip to http://www.nps.gov/orpi/index.htm

The Chiricahuas have some nice hiking. The Gila Cliff Dwellings were much,
much less touristy than the similar artefacts in Mesa Verde and we were
allowed to visit as individuals rather than being herded through in a group.
The OERM in Perris has a wonderful collection of US railway artefacts
including steam, diesel and electric and Pima is adjacent to the outdoor
storage facility where the US forces keep all the planes they don't
currently want but might one day.

Phoenix is worth a stop to see the high end hotels at the north end of the
city but, in my view, not much else. Tucson isn't that exciting other than
as a base. Silver City NM is a small town and at first glance doesn't have
much to recommend it but we spent a couple of nights and found it friendly.


Thanks a bunch Graham! I'm looking forward to researching those exciting
suggestions soon.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
  #8  
Old January 4th, 2011, 06:00 AM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
Nile
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 58
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?

Terry asked:

any recommendations for possible practical itineraries


I second the Tucson recommendation. Looks like you've been everywhere
else in the area, and in February, Tucson will be warm as well. The
Sonoran Desert Museum (cactus wilderness area) is unique; more cacti
than Sedona and areas north. Tombstone is nearby, a famous Old West
town, yes touristy but fun. Stay after hours for a drink in the Crystal
Palace saloon with the locals, and go back in time 120 years.

Mexico was a nice day drive when I was there, several years ago; stop at
the border at Nogales and walk across, although I'd get a safety update
these days with the border violence. For that matter, my cousin drives
down and spends ever winnter in the Baja, but I'd make further inquiries
before doing the same. Plus, driving in Mexico presents its own
challenges anyway.


here's a list of places I've visited on a previous USA trip in 1997:

San Francisco
LA
Yosemite
Death Valley
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon
Zion
Grand Canyon (but if possible would love to see it again!)
Sedona

That's a lot of territory. How long were you here?


  #10  
Old January 4th, 2011, 04:53 PM posted to rec.travel.usa-canada
MLD
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 36
Default 1 week tour from San Diego: recommendations?


"Nile" wrote in message
...
Terry asked:

any recommendations for possible practical itineraries


I second the Tucson recommendation. Looks like you've been everywhere
else in the area, and in February, Tucson will be warm as well. The
Sonoran Desert Museum (cactus wilderness area) is unique; more cacti
than Sedona and areas north. Tombstone is nearby, a famous Old West
town, yes touristy but fun. Stay after hours for a drink in the Crystal
Palace saloon with the locals, and go back in time 120 years.
SNIP

I also would recommend the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. Allow up to 6
hrs--not much else there except, perhaps, to get a guided van tour of the
whole area. We scouted out a company that provided a Van tour (just 4 of
us). Picked us up at the hotel in the morning and gave us an excellent 4-5
hr ride around the complete area--primarily outside the city. As I recall
it wasn't too costly either.
MLD

 




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