L & P

We are planning to do a little getaway within the next couple of months from the dreary NW. Would like to fly into an airport in either AZ or NM, rent a car and make a cirle-drive drive around for about 4/5 days taking long scenic drives through remote areas, stopping at small-town motels for the nights. I guess it's been over ten years now since we last did something similar in late April - from Las Vegas to Tucson and the Sonoran desert. We took the backroads then and the desert bloom was beautiful but I'm not sure of the best timing to see it. Mid-March to late-April I'm guessing? (I know it must depend on the amount of rain this year and the location of the area). This may sound stupid, but there was a movie called Breakdown (1997) that starred Kurt Russell (about a car breaking down in the desert and his wife vanishing) that was filmed in just the kind of area we're looking for - never seen anything like it before. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks in advance, L & P

Utahtea

Hi L & P,

The location of "Breakdown" is in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. It's just beautiful up there. I'm not sure when the best time for spring bloom is. Been there in April and there were a few cactus blooming.

More areas like Arches would be the drive into Canyonlands Needles district, Monument Valley, Capitol Reef and the Scenic Highway 12 between Torrey, UT and Bryce National Park. All in Utah.

In Arizona there's Canyon de Chelly. In New Mexico Hwy 40 is pretty scenic.

Spring is a busy time in this area.

Utahtea

ttt

TTT

Lawrence

Thank you for the suggestion, Utahtea. Would that be too much driving in 4 days from Las Vegas or Albuquerque to enjoy it at a slow pace? We need to do a roundtrip from one airport.

Any other suggestions for scenic spring drives done at a leisurely pace in about 5 days originating from/returning to one of these airports - Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, El Paso? I have a detailed road atlas of the southwest with scenic roads highlighted but would still welcome suggested favorite routes.

natco

No great spring flowers this year in the Arizona desert!Not enough rain for them but right now we have beautiful weather-what weusually enjoy in April,high 70's!The Phoenix Open Is going to break all records!

Lawrence

To clarify - we want to go between March 15th and April 30th - probably for a full week but perhaps 5 days tops.

Utahtea

Lawrance,

The more time you can squeeze in the better. I would suggest Las Vegas as your starting point.

From Las Vegas take I-15 the Hwy 9 to Zion NP, then Hwy 9, Hwy 89 and Hwy 12 to Bryce NP, take Scenic Hwy 12 through Escalante - Grand Staircase National Monument to Torrey, UT. At Torrey take Hwy 24 to Capitol Reef NP then Hwy 24 to I-70, & Hwy 191 to Moab, UT, Arches & Canyonlands NP are nearby. Hwy 191 and Hwy 163 down to Monument Valley. Hwy 163, Hwy 160 & Hwy 98 to Page, AZ & Lake Powell. From here you can take Hwy 89 to Kanab and then you can go back through Zion to go back to Las Vegas. This is about 1100 miles and doable in 5 days. But if you could possible make it 7 you won't be sorry.

Here is a great web site with great pictures of the scenery.

http://www.so-utah.com/

Utahtea

p.

From El Paso down to Big Bend National Park, TX and surrounding area.. Lajitas, Terlingua, Presidio. A whole different world, very striking scenery. However, unless you go camping you might find it difficult to get rooms as many birders etc head that way in the spring.

Utahtea

P.

Yes, we found a lot of cactus in bloom in Big Bend at the end of April last year. However, we were really disappointed in the smog from Mexico. We only had a visiblity of 20 miles.

Utahtea

xxx

Utahtea's itinerary sounds great, and s/he is an expert on that part of the country. One word of warning, her itinerary is doable in four days, but it will mean ALOT of driving. If your main interest is Arches/Canyonlands and you like to get out and do some hiking as well as going on long scenic drives, you may want to consider maybe flying into Denver/Grand Junction Colorado and driving into Moab-Arches-Canyonlands and doing something along the lines of a Grand Junction/Moab/Goosenecks/Mesa Verde trip.

That said, the trip Utahtea described is a classic. Last summer, we did Denver - Las Vegas one-way via Moab/Arches/Canyonlands/Capitol Reef/Bryce/Zion. It took us eight days: we spent one day driving to Moab from Denver/Boulder, 2 days in Moab area (barely enough time as there is so much to do and see there), 1 day driving to Bryce, hiked the morning in Bryce, then drove to Zion, 2 more full days in Zion, then drove to Las Vegas on the morning of the eigth day. It was one of the best driving holidays we have done in a long time - spectacular scenery through remote areas, stopping at small-town motels to eat (we stayed in the national parks except in Moab where we stayed at a Best Western one night and a B&B two nights). But we do like to get out of the car and hike for at least a couple hours a day too...

Lawrence

Bringing this to the top one final time.
(Will purchase airline tickets soon)

The southeast quadrant of New Mexico looks interesting on the map -- is it?

Thanks for the help.

Lawrence

**Meant southwest quadrant (Silver City, Elk Mtns, etc)**

Utahtea

The southwest mountains of New Mexico is one place I haven't been to.

I can tell you that I-10 is kind of boring compared to I-40 in the northern part of New Mexico.

Utahtea

steve

DOn't expect any flowers in Arizona this year. Phoenix was the driest on record, Yuma had less than 1/4" of rain. Everywhere was extremely dry. Any rains this time of year won't help - it's the fall rains that matter.

Besides that, it is usually great weather in AZ in March

Joan

Have you considered the desert of southern California? I live in Borrego Springs, a small desert town about 1 hour south of Palm Springs, 2 hours northeast of San Diego, and 240 miles west of Phoenix. We came here on vacation and loved it enough to move here from Longboat Key Florida. We have 640,000 acres of the Anza-Borrego State Park surrounding us with wonderful trails/lectures/4-wheel tours. This place is a dream with awesome mountain views, the bluest skies, clearest air and no traffic. The nearest stoplight is 60 miles. Yes, the wildflowers this year should be good since we've had some rain. Several nice resorts in the area and a good visitor's center. Check out borregosprings.org.