My daughter will be driving from Chicago to L.A. in late August. First leg of her trip, Chicago to Denver, she'll be solo. On the second leg, Denver to L.A., I'll be joining her to help with the driving and explore some this big country of ours together. Any and all advice would be appreciated re: best routes, best cities to explore between Denver and L.A., any must-sees, any must-avoids, any safety tips. Thanks for your help.

A couple of years ago we went to Rocky Mt National Park. It is about an hour and a half away from Denver. We skipped Denver because we also like in a big city. Estes Park is a nice place to state while close to the park. It is right at the park entrance and they have a nice YMCA. Yes YMCA. There are several short trails you can walk.

I am from KC. We have a removated Union Station but so do most large cities.

www.visitkc.com
Things to do in KC:
Tour Harley Davidson plant
American Jazz Museum
Arabia Steamboat Museum
Union Station (currently has 9-11 exibit)
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Liberty Memorial World War I Museum

We have driven from VA to Denver and then up to Yellowstone. To San Diego and back returning through the Utah NPs. Next month we leave for Glacier NP and the Canadian Rockies returning through SK. In all cases I use freetrip.com for routing, mileage and driving time. I also use freetrip's hotel listings to determine the area to stay in my days driving range or areas of interest.

There is just so much to see and do between Denver and Los Angeles! How much time do you have? Are you more into national parks or cities? Mountains or red rock?

Utahtea

Hi utahtea. We are still just in the planning stages, but we have a wish list that includes Taos, Santa Fe, & the Grand Canyon. We're somewhat flexible, but think we can do the Denver to LA leg in 3-4 days. What do you suggest?

you sound like a candidate for southern utah! but you could consider going from denver to rocky mountain national park. then down to route 70 to continue west,to st. george.

do zion np and bryce canyon np, then the grand canyon then on down to L.A. on 40

this WILL entail some back tracking for the canyon because of having to get around the grand canyon to get to the south rim.

another suggestion is to skip rocky mountain, and head west on 70 thru ski country and on to Utah.

head south on 191, this puts you thru Moab (yeah!) where you can go to canyonlands and arches national parks.

continue on 191 to 163, which takes you to monument valley (another yeah!) then to route 160 which puts you on target for the canyon. you miss zion an bryce doing it this way, but you gain arches, canyonlands and monument valley.

I know Utahtea will have the best advice about driving routes, distances and times. but had to add my 2 cents because i love the area . ENJOY

Three or 4 days doesn't give you much site seeing time. Keeping to your wish list. I-25 south from Denver isn't really all that scenic. You do have the rocky mountains on one side and the plains on the other.

I've never been to Taos, but it's on our to do list. We're not big on cities, but we did see a little of Santa Fe.

Just west of Albuquerque is Petroglyphs National Monument. I've never been to Alcoma but it's also on my wish list.

If you want to spend a couple more days on the road, then from Gallup take Hwy 491 (old route 666) to Hwy 264 and drive to Ganado and nearby Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. Drive up on Hwy 191 to Chinle and spend two nights at Canyon de Chelly and do the 1/2 day or all day guided canyon tour. From Canyon de Chelly go back and pick up Hwy 264 again and take it to Tuba City and then Hwy 89 down to hwy 64 for the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

If you don't want to spend that much time on the road then consider getting off I-40 at the Petrified Forest and take the park road down to Hwy 180 and take that into Holbrook. In Winslow, AZ they have dedicated a park to the Eagles song "Standin' on a corner in Winslow, AZ".

At Kingman you can take the old Route 66 though Oatman, AZ and return to I-40 at Topock. This part of old route 66 really gives you an idea of how the old route use to be and Oatman is a hoot!

Utahtea