jfawp

Rushed, Try to overlook the sarcasm. I had tried to plan a trip out west for a couple of years and kept having to postpone because of my mom's health. After she died, I started again and got some great sarcastic replies from a couple of people. Anyhow I'm fixing to post a trip report from our trip out west, which we just returned from. Take the good advice, ignore the bad and have a great time planning. If you don't want to drive a lot pick a big town and see what's around it and go as far as you want and explore that area. We like driving, so we drove 4,000 miles on our trip. That's not for everyone, but we loved it.
You might consider flying into Denver and going to Estes Park, we loved that area. Beautiful beyond belief, as was everything we saw in our 4,000 miles. Rocky Mountain National Park was wonderful.
If you want little or no driving fly into San Francisco. The first couple of times we went there we didn't rent a car at all, just enjoyed the city and one day we hired a limo and went to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods.
Living on the east coast, it's hard to imagine the vastness of the west until you go, so unless you pick a city and see the surrounding areas around that city, you are going to experience driving. But it's all a beautiful drive. Have fun planning.

jere1mt

living in the area I favor Yellowstone ntl park you could fly into Billings, MT eliminate several hundred miles of driving and enjoy the park and even into Grand teton if you wish, night life might be limited to wildlife viewing or taking in a fireside ranger talk about the area of the park you were in. If you elect to visit Yellowstone contact me for lots more info. [email protected]