Any suggestions?
 

My hubby and I are now thinking about were to go for next years holiday.
Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

We Like to hire a car and drive around visiting all places of interest,. Love our grub, nothing too posh, but not rough either.

Our previous usa hols have consisted of:-
Florida (3 times)
New England (twice)vermont, connet/NH/RI etc
Finger lakes NY state (inc Niagara falls)
Pensylvania (amish)and surrounding areas(twice)
Virginia (civil war sites and scenic drives)
(we especially loved this hol as so much to see i,e. war memorials/Plantations/history etc.
We love driving through some of your beautiful regions and stoping a nice towns (and not so nice) we have a route before we go but its only a guide.

Places we were looking at Tennesee/Utah/kentucky/Denver/Wyoming/California (carmel area etc) North or South Carolina

Any advice on which parts of your country are worth a holiday to much appreciated.

I know I'm asking a lot, but welcome all feedback to help us make our minds up..
as were spoilt for choice..

It's time for you to do something in the western part of USA! Read up on the various areas. That will help you decide depending on how much time you have and the time of year you come. Once you pick a location(s) we will help you further.

Oh, Ann, there are so many choices. I vote for California for your next trip. There is so much to see and do there: Tahoe, Napa/Sonoma, San Francisco, San Diego, Big Sur and on and on. Another great choice (and so different from England) is Arizona and the southwest. Have fun planning.

I agree with Suki--California or the Desert Southwest (Arizona especially). If California, you could have a grand time beginning in San Francisco, going to Yosemite, Monterey Peninsula, Big Sur, wine country (listed in no particular order, geographic or otherwise).

One of our first tours we made was still one of our most loved ones.I'll give you the places we stayed:
Start L.Angeles-S.Diego-Phoenix-Flagstaff-Tusayan(G.Canyon)-Kayenta(monument valley)-age(Lake Powell)-Hatch(Bryce canyon)-Springdale(Zion n.park)-L.Vegas-Stovepipe wells(Death valley)-Mammoth lakes-Yosemite-S.Francisco-Monterey-Santa Barbara-Santa Monica-LA-back to Belgium.We did this in 25 days and it was wonderful.Paul

See, this is what is so great about Fodor's. In just a few short replies i have got lots of ideas (and very good ones too).

Am Split between the California type holiday & Western side (colorado/wyoming/montana.

One of the problems with the 2nd choice is the flights from UK, they are more involved and time consuming than the California trip.

But am keeping an open mind, am now going to keep ploughing through fodor's, though some of the comments and a good few years old and things can change.
Am also, writing off for their(all states) holiday info packs for visitors.

Again, many thanks

california is a good idea and you can get some of your historical bug taken care of by visiting the missions.

or you could try New Mexico and the indian pueblos, sante fe, taos really different from your east coast advetures.

but if you still want the east coast you might also want to consider coastal Maine, it's seafaring towns and lighthouses. bed and breakfasts, if you like lobster well.... that is the place.

Coastal California is beautiful and geographically more of a contrast than the southern east coast(to what you have previously seen). My favorite area is wine country, redwood forests, San Francisco, and scenic coastal drive south. The weather in the summer is usually pleasant. It may not have quite as much historical interest and possiblly too posh, but you can probably plan to take more advantage of your preferences.

California would be great, Ann, but I vote for a Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Utah national parks trip. You haven't gotten a taste of "that" wonderful part of the US yet. :)

While I agree with California, Arizona and Utah you may want to see some of what the early travelers to these points passed through. Western Nebraska, So Dakota into Wyoming and Montana. There are many sights the Mormon and Oregon Trails, the Black Hills and Mt Rushmore, Custer's Battlefield and Yellowstone Park.

Well what ever you decide.....and I vote for California... arrange to fly into one city and out from another. It will save you from back tracking. You can fly into Los Angeles, and out from San Francisco... Even if you arrive in SF... you can still arrange to fly back from Las Vegas. It will only mean a connecting flight, but will save you days and time in travel. You could easily fly into SF..rent a car to tour this area. Then fly cheaply to Las Vegas or somewhere in Arizona via Southwest Air (Google them to see how cheap one way fares are), and rent another car and tour that area before then flying back to the UK.

I vote for either of these two already memtioned:
1) Yellowstone, Grand Teton (Zion in Utah is also great)

2) San Francisco, wine county and Yosemite.

Again, lots of good ideas, we will definately be flying in & out of Different airports thats for sure.

Am Keeping lots of notes for future reference.

Hubby fancy's Wyoming/Dakota i fancy California, what we may do is a week in Wyoming and then fly to California and do the other suggested routes taking in Las Vegas and part of Arizona.

A friend has just thrown driving through France into the Mix...

God my heads spinning!! But i love all the anticipation and planning its part of the fun..

Keep those comments and things to see in areas coming, all much appreciated.

Oh Ann, I so know what you mean! DH and I are looking at our spring vacation of 08, one week it's Anthens, a couple of the Greek islands and Istanbul. The next week it's Prague and Budapest. We want to do both but they have to be one year at a time. :-)

CD,
Going off base a bit, but have been to quite a few of the Greek Islands, Loved Kefalonia and corfu has some lovely spots.

Going Back to earlier question the airfares are quite cheap so if we wanted to tour California coast 1st is it better to fly into LAX or San Francisco (fares about same) I do not want to see LA or Hollywood, am more interested in Carmel, Big Sur, route 1, yellowstone etc

Ann - I do know what you mean... My head is swimming with plans for next year as well - but I do think with all the exploring you have done of our wonderful country - you have to come west young woman come west :-). California - The state is so diverse itself and I think you and dh would truly enjoy it.

If you are more interested in Carmel, Big Sur, etc., would be best to fly into San Fran. LA freeways and LAX are both worth avoiding.
However, I know you seem to have some basis for an itinerary, but if you do fly into SFO and do the route to Carmel and want another option, the coastal drive from San Fran north through Oregon is absolutely splendid. Many quaint towns to stop in and enjoy in Oregon and you can continue into Washington, if you wish, and explore some of that coast and sites as well.
Good luck and Welcome back to the USA

I had a friend visit from England (Devon). We spent 3 months with trips to Montana, Colorado and So. Utah/Arizona Parks. Then drove from San Diego to SF up the coast and spent more time in the wine country. I saved the Calif. coast for last thinking that it would be the best. But it didn't occur to me that rugged coastlines weren't that unique to him.

His favorite state was Montana (Big Sky). He loved the small western towns and Yellowstone Park with all it's wildlife (in winter). We were based in the Colorado Rockies so he had plenty of time to enjoy (and did like) the high mountains. He also loved Arches and the Grand Canyon. Las Vegas was interesting to him. Finally, the place where he said "I could live here!" was when we were visiting the small wineries in Sonoma County. Maybe that will help you decide.

Am now more confused than ever, as every time i read someones suggestions they all sound great.

Loved the sound of Oregon, and Montana sounds so different, but if we had more time could fit so much in. We have about 16 days.

Cannot express how much help you all are, even though i am now more confused, its a good feeling,having so much to choose from.

I get a big kick out of the planning side so look forward to more suggestions. I do love small quaint towns and pretty vistas.
My 'reason for living' loves John Wayne so he is leaning towards western type, but he's so easy going will go with whatever i feel will be best for us.

If I could hire an RV, bring my cat over with us, would love to spend a year or so just touring all over USA, now wouldn't that grand!!!

Just to tease you a little more about Oregon:

http://www.oregoncoastal.com/index.html

Towns/places of interest, "if" you ever consider it: Coos Bay, Cannon Beach, Tillamook Lighthouse, Lincoln City

Rocky Mountains.
(You didn't meation time of year).

In southern & SW Colorado you can ride the Durango train as well as the Cumbres Toltec, much more fun than the 0815 to Waterloo !
Train or drive up Pike's Peak.

http://www.durangotrain.com/

http://www.cumbrestoltec.com/

http://www.cograilway.com/

Lots of things to see without spending anything as well, you'll love it.

You must visit the Colorado Springs, CO area. Visit Pikes Peak - take the train up. Visit the Garden of the Gods - wonderful scenery. Also, in the area is a living history settlement - the name escapes me. Lots to do and see. Great restaurants and shopping. The Scenery is outstanding. Take a good camera.

Hi,
We are looking at September around 11th, after your labour day.

I think this time is best to visit most of places everyone's mentioned. Am I right?

That Durango train sounds fun...

have visited out west in the mountains many times in sept/oct. it is very chilly at night so you have to pack more bulky clothes (no big deal) and i have most definately hit the occassional snow storm but not blizzard conditions so you might have to wait something out for a few hours (for some mountain passes chains are required and none of the rental companies i've used have provided chains and the contract has said DO NOT put chains on our tires....

but that wouldn't stop me from going.activities may be closed down, this often happens at labor day week end (first weekend in sept) as a lot of workers go back to school.

if you do durango you could then hit southern utah, and the land of westerns, butch cassidy (capital reef national park) etc. very stark landscape about as different from the east coast as you could imagine.

using the build a route function on map quest you could do a colorado circle including the moab area of utah it would be aobut 1100 miles which is quite doable in 16 days. the question is how much time to spend in each area.

I suggest playing around on map quest and see what happens route wise but the circle i made
starts in Denver.

denver to rockymountain nat. pk. (estes park, Co) to grand lake, co
to grand junction, co
to moab, ut
to durango, co
to montrose, co
towards salida, co
to colorado springs, co
back to denver

there are TONS of things to see along this route, many national parks, black canyon of the gunnison, the town of telluride, co but it's just a suggestion and it's fun thinking about a trip like this....

but i would never write off california, with 16 days you could do a fantastic trip taking in the coast (redwood forests) and the sierra nevada mountains (yosemite national park) and wine country.

Have been going over things and leaning towards California etc.

Can anyone fine tune this agenda?

Flying into San Francisco touring Carmel, Route 1, san simeon (sic) onto LV grand canyon etc BUT

Incorporating our Preference which are:

Small quaint towns, Diverse landscapes i.e. forests/deserts/lovely drives/possibly a few western type of towns/ Grand canyon and monument valley

we would be able to return home from another airport. i.e Las Vegas or even Denver if this is a feasable part of trip. We are not lovers of big cities..

thanks

Anne, this is certainly do-able in 16 days. Keep in mind you are talking about covering a LOT of miles, particularly if you plan to fly out of Denver. My advice is to use Yahoo or Google Maps to do some sample distances from place to place. We drove from Colorado to San Francisco in about 8 days, driving about 4 to 6 hours most days but more on a couple. You see a lot of the scenery between places, that way, but not a lot of the places.

When you arrive in SF, I recommend that you spend a day or two traveling North of SF. A good way to get a bit of everything the area has to offer is North to Healdsburg, do some wine tasting in the Dry Creek, Alexander Valley and Russian River areas, then head west to Guerneville, check out Armstrong Redwoods, continue on to the Coast and turn south to Bodega Bay, then go back inland to cut through Sebastapol and then south again to SF. Plan an overnight along that route. Healdsburg is a good choice.

Thanks, if we arrive at SF airport we go uptwards napa etc, it then looks like you go back on yourself to get to Big Sur etc.

Any suggested routes to take us to all of the above and other nice places on way. Heading towards LV we will spend about 5/6 days in LV (poss 2/3 of them at Grand Canyon/Monument valley.

If its easier we can fly home from LVegas.

Can anyone fine tune this itinery?

Thanks again.