ESR0101

Hi guys, I need some (a lot!) of travel advice! My husband and I want to travel mainly the west/south/central of US, and basically have no idea where to start. We would really appreciate some help, especially as we're from the UK so don't really have a great deal of knowledge of travelling the US.
Ideally, we want to do it as cheap as possible without hindering our experience, but will be happy to pay out if it's something that will make our trip memorable, so for example we will be happy to pay for a luxury hotel in Vegas because of the experience, or water sports on Lake Tahoe etc.
I adore picturesque locations for photography, my husband is quite the fitness buff so loves hiking (I’m not THAT into it, but I’m not totally unfit), and I love cities, so we would like to visit a mix of cities, pretty landscapes, nature walks and physical activities and adventures (canoeing, hiking, cave-dwelling etc).

So far this is what we have in mind;
- Around 3 weeks (not long, I know, but my husband is in the Royal Air Force so can't get any longer)

We would like to be over for Fourth of July, I'd like to either be in Houston or Addison TX or Lake Tahoe as I've heard they have awesome fireworks, but it's not essential we have to be at those places.

We are open to either hiring a camper van, or a normal car and staying in motels, what would you recommend? The cheaper the better preferably. (My husband will be 25 at the time of travel, 2018, and I'll be 24) If it is cheaper to drive some of the way, train, coach or fly we are happy to do a mixture.

I have done some research and found a bunch of places that we would like to visit, however there is no way we will be able to visit them all, so I'll list the main places we would like to see and if you have any advice as to whether we should or shouldn't visit, if it will take up too much time, how long to spend there, any other places I've missed out etc. I'll put (D) next to the places we would definitely like to visit, but again feel free to suggest otherwise, we really value personal suggestions! (some of the places I've put, I've put as being a quick stop as we drive through if its on the route to the next location)
My original plan was to fly into Seattle, and fly home from Texas, but again that was a quick search, if you suggest avoiding Seattle or Texas then we will reconsider.

Here goes;

Seattle, WA (Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, Kerry Park, Space Needle etc)

Portland, OR (Oneonta Gorge, Mt Hood National Forest) ((I'd like to, but my Husbands not fussed))
Newport, OR
Crater Lake National Park, OR

Lake Tahoe, CA/NV (D)
San Fransisco, CA (Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, AT&T Park as I’d LOVE to see a baseball game) (D)
Yosemite National Park (D)
Redwood National Park (D)
General Sherman, Sequoia National Park
Death Valley (D)
The Big Sur Coastline
Los Angeles (Venice Beach, Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Sign etc) ((I'd like to, but my Husbands not fussed))

Monument Valley, AZ
Sedona, AZ (D)
Lake Mead National Recreation Area, AZ
Antelope Canyon, AZ
Saguaro National Park, AZ
Petrified Forest National Park, AZ
Grand Canyon, AZ (D)
Hoover Dam, AZ
Havusa Falls, AZ
Meteor Crater, AZ

Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Lake Tahoe, NV (already mentioned)
The Valley of Fire, NV
Area 51, NV ((I'd like to, but my Husbands not fussed))
Fly Geyser, NV (seen from State Route 34, north of the town Gerlach)
Seven Magic Mountains, NV
Sedan Crater, NV
Las Vegas, NV (we are happy to only do 2/3 days here)(D)

Monument Valley, UT
Zion National Park, UT (D)
Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
Salt Lake City, UT (only for the movie ‘The Sandlot’ locations, my favourite childhood movie, but I’m aware its completely out the way so prepared to avoid)

Yellowstone National Park, WY (D)
Grand Teton National Park, WY
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, WY
Devils Tower National Monument, WY

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO (D)
Mesa Verde National Park, CO
Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, CO
Garden of the Gods, CO

Space Station, Houston, TX (D)
San Antonio’s Riverwalk, TX
Natural Bridge Caverns, TX
A Texas Rodeo, TX
Fourth of July fireworks, TX (either Addison or Houston) (D)
Big Bend National Park, TX
Congress Bridge, TX

Okay so I totally understand I will NEVER visit probably even half of these places in 3 weeks, but these are just the places I have found doing a quick internet search of top places in these states.
Again, I’ve put (D) next to the places we would defo like to go, but are open to suggestions.
We’ve put a lot of national parks on there, so if you think that a lot of them are just repetitive of another, then we are happy to cut out some.

We would also be so grateful if you could suggest how long we should spend in each location, that would be amazing, I will eventually do some proper research into it, but if you can help now then we will be so thankful.

Really hope you can help, I understand this is a lot of information, we should probably visit a travel company, but sometimes it is best to get advice from locals or those who have in-depth knowledge!

Thanks in advance!

Gretchen

First, camper will be expensive to rent and to drive so just plan on car and motels.
You're going to have to decide about the northwest or the southwest

janisj

Even just your 'D's are not doable in 3 weeks.

And in July / over the 4th you are already too late to find camp sites in some of those areas. A hire car and hotels/motels will be easier, and less expensive.

Back to the drawing board and re-prioritize which areas are most important to you.

Dogeared

The two main advantages to an RV are not having to pack/unpack all the time and being able to cook for yourself. For some people those are important for others, not so much. I can see a vegetarian preferring it for example and avoiding having to search for a restaurant where they can get decent vegetarian food.

What an RV rental is NOT, is cheaper. The rental cost, higher fuel cost and campground fees are often as much or more than a rental car/motel cost.

Your list is indeed far too extensive for 3 weeks but you know that. That thing is, other people cannot tell you which to include or drop, that all depends on YOUR interests, not someone else's preferences.

I would suggest you concentrate first on a reasonably doable driving distance. I would not combine the Northwest and the Southwest. Pick one or the other.

A 'driveable distance' is not just measured in miles or hours of driving. It is also measured in how many places of interest it includes and how much time you will want to spend in each of those places.

So let's take just one as an example. You show Sedona as a Definite. Well, why is it a definite and what do you want to do and see there? Do you want to spend a day hiking or taking a jeep trip in the Red Rock? Do you want to spend a day hiking in Oak Creek Canyon? That would mean you need to plan for 2 whole days there. Then add on the time to get to there from wherever you were coming from. So that one stop would mean you needed 3 days, even though the distance travelled on a map was not necessarily that far.

Let's suppose you then wanted to head for the Grand Canyon North Rim from Sedona. It's only 230 miles but you will no doubt spend an entire day on it. You will want to stop in Cameron Trading Post for example.
https://www.camerontradingpost.com/

Ninety percent of visitors to the Grand Canyon visit the South Rim and spend an average of something like 12 minutes actually at the Rim looking into the Canyon and taking the obligatory selfies. Then they visit the souvenir shops. I prefer the North Rim and if possible staying in the North Rim Lodge. I have never booked but have had success twice in 4 visits with getting in on a cancellation. If not, I stay up the road in Kanab, enroute to Zion National Park.

So a day to the GC, a night there(or Kanab) then preferably a day hiking down into the Canyon and another night there. Next day, on into Zion. That's 3 days from Sedona to Zion which is only a total of around 300 miles not counting the jaunt down to the North Rim.

Now look at those and figure what a 'driveable distance' really means. It's an average of around 100 miles a day. So if you use a figure like that and go back to your map and lay out a route, for 20 days, you would not attempt to drive a loop of more than 2000 miles. You can up that a bit with a couple of long day drives of 5-600 miles which is perfectly easy to do on interstates but it gives you an idea of how large an area to look at covering and still having time to see and do things that interest you.

Try laying out various routes using this site for example: https://www.mapquest.com/routeplanner

sallytakemyhand

In July it's going to be HOT in a lot of the places you want to visit. Take Death Valley off the list for sure. Rethink Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada.

I'd suggest a Seattle to San Francisco road trip with Yosemite area included. With Four days in Seattle, Portland Oregon, and Yosemite area plus five in San Francisco. 17 days of the trip listed above and four days of driving between places. A place like Crater Lake can be included on the drive and daytrips like Mt. Rainer from Seattle.

Gardyloo

Your plan is, in my view, not even close to achievable in the time you have available. You can't throw the whole country's worth of sightseeing into three weeks, and the US has so many climate zones, many of which are quite horrid at that time of year, that you would probably find yourselves in real misery at more than one point.

Let me suggest you register and post your question on the dedicated "road trips" board on TripAdvisor - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu...oad_Trips.html

There is a great deal of experience and expertise available there, and many, many examples of US road trip plans by British folk that have been assisted, tweaked, or otherwise commented upon by many others.

Gretchen

Land in San Francisco. Stay 2 days.
Drive to see the Sequoias and enter Yosemite Valley--maybe 5 days for all that and travel
Go Through Yosemite via Tuolumne Meadows to Nevada.
Drive to Salt Lake City and north to Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks--maybe another 5 days.
YOu see how your time gets eaten up.
Head south to the Utah parks
Fly home from "somewhere"--open jaw flight plan

tomfuller

Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas have all been having huge fires already this year. The 4th of July fireworks may be cancelled due to extreme fire danger.
Seattle and Portland both have good fireworks.
Portland shoots them over the water. http://pdxpipeline.com/events/portla...4th-fireworks/
I would pick Crater Lake over Newport anytime.
Fly from Portland to Las Vegas and see Lake Mead/Hoover Dam Valley of Fire and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon before returning the car to Las Vegas. You can see all of Las Vegas that you really want to see in about 24 to 30 hours without the rental car IMO.
You have two and possibly 3 trips planned for your 3 weeks

RVvagabond

Ever since BREXT, Nigel Paul Farage, the pound has suffered.
I'm sure it will rebound - depends on Le Pen ?

Thus, rent a Prius (with air conditioning) and purchase this cheap tent option - very functional.
http://newatlas.com/habitents-toyota...-camper/22853/

Then purchase a US camping guide like Woodalls or Good Sam that lists all the campgrounds. Either an APP or paper book.

http://www.goodsamcamping.com/explor...icleid=3071899

Sedona - over priced and over taxed. And HOT
Hot is the rule for all desert type of parks.
UK is not accustomed to HOT.
Therefore think north and altitude or ocean stuff.
Start at the Pacific Ocean/Canada border and tour the entire coast to Tijuana Mexico ending with a Margarita.


Note: Fly Geyser. It is on private land.
I've been there and by pure luck the entry gate was open with a guard by the geyser. He let me look around. Don't plan on seeing it.

Vaga

AustinTraveler

I would concentrate on the Pacific NW (California, Oregon and Washington). Most of the other places on your list will be too hot in July. Also, keep in mind that you cannot drive all the way down Hwy 1 in the Big Sur area. The road is closed due to a damaged bridge that needs rebuilding.

I live in California and have a camper van. I love traveling that way but warn you that you must have reservations months ahead of time at popular locations. It would be much better for you to rent a car and stay at hotels. That way you can be a little more flexible.

Please forget Texas. I lived there for years and didn't see half of it. It consists of very long, boring drives and it will be very hot in July.

RVvagabond

RE: Austin Traveler Travel bans
Suggest this site for information:

http://thereligionofpeace.com/attack...n-attacks.aspx

scroll down to table

janisj

Dog man would have access to the lounge if he hadn't been banned and registered a newer screen name.