French man in road trip in California - Utah - Nevada - Arizona

[grasshopper]

I live south of Tucson... not too familiar with the Phoenix area

There some things in/around Tucson

 

Pima Air Museum - if you are interested in "modern" aircraft, a must see

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Kitt Peak Observatory

Frew Lawrence Whipple Observatory

Tumacacori Mission National Monument

several wineries

 

The weather south of Phoenix is cooler. Again, we have seasonal rains. Air mass thunderstorms that tend to happen mid-afternoon/evening.They tend to be small/localized. If you encounter them, it can get rough ... for a few minutes. From a distance, they are kind of entertaining. Lots of lightning.. I call them popcorn storms. The proverbial "tempest in a teapot".

 

north of Phoenix is high country. Pine trees, small lakes, ski resorts [in the winter] ....Good refuge from the heat and a short trip from Phoenix.

[grasshopper]

almost forgot the Titan Missile Museum. You can tour a Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile silo...

[JJkizak]

5 hours ago, grasshopper said:

almost forgot the Titan Missile Museum. You can tour a Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile silo...

No wrenches allowed.

JJK

[SpeedLimit]

Finally, i delayed my trip one year later ..

I made my road trip this year, from may, 26th to June, 19th. And i must say, you have a very very beautiful country.
I landed at LAX TBIT, then drove to Las Vegas and then began my road trip to Bryce Canyon, Moab thru scenic route 12, crossing Capitole Reef, Gobblin's state park, visiting Arches NP, Canyonlands (island in the sky), Dead horse point SP, Gooseneck NP, Monument Valley, Page and its Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Flagstaff, Williams, Sedona, Grand Canyon with a helicopter overflight ...  Seligman, Oatman, a night in Parhump just to drive thru Death Valley early in the morning because of the hotness.

Mono Lake, a night in Mammoth Lake to cross Yosemites (tioga road that just reopened the previous monday).  It's all marvellous, amazing country.

 

You must be happy to live in such a nice country.
The end of the trip was, San Francisco, Sacramento, Sonoma ( very bad fire in the Napa Valley ), the i would have like to take the Cabrillo highway to reach Los Angeles for our return flight, but the One coastal road is not fully opened. On my last road trip in west America in 2017, i could'nt take the one because of broken road.

It was the same this year near Bigsur. The best part of this highway closed ..

 

So, return on our little island in the indian ocean, we want to come again in USA next year (may-june 2025), to see what we could not see this year because of not enough time.

 

But since my road trip in 2017, i have seen that everything is much more expensive yet than before in USA. Hotels, motels, rent cars and food is much more expensive than before.

 

We have taken our flights for next year and now we ara planning your trip. We want to take more time near Capitol Reef, go back to Moab that we have really loved, perhaps Yellowstone .. Again in the other county of Canyonlands (perhaps needles), perhaps north rim of Grand Canyon.

We perhaps will also take more time in Arizona.

 

I can also say, we have met nice and very lovely people. If only we could have so nice people around us.

 

If you know nice place to visit, also good and not too expensive motels, hotels, rooms to hire (rent) near Capitol reef, Yellowstone, Moab .. let me know

 

You really live in an amazing country ..

Best regards and sorry for my bad american speaking (writing) .. i have to learn more and better your language ..

 

 

 

 

[pbphoto]

Je vous conseille de reserver une chambre, ou un teepee si vous avez des enfants, à "Capitol Reef Resort."  Ma famille, avec une autre, a passé quelques jours là en 2017.  Très sympa. Une soirée, on a pris une promenade avec des llamas pendant le coucher de soleil - c'était très jolie.  Il y avait beaucoup de choix d'aventures au centre villégiature ou dans les environs. Amuser-vous bien!

[SpeedLimit]

Merci pour votre message .. oui, j'ai vu cette offre d'hébergement - à retenir

 

oui mais les tarifs ont explosé depuis 2017. Ex : Yellowstone Motel Ho 240-250€ la nuit contre 100€ en 2017, idem du côté de Capitol reef .. Là, pour mai-juin 2025, on est à plus de 200€ la nuit hors taxes (vu sur Booking).

Nous avions aussi un motel prévu en 2019 pour notre voyage 2020 (annulé à cause du covid, grrr) à Torrey - Austin's Chuckwagon Motel (Utah) à moins de 100$ la nuit, c'est à plus de 220$ maintenant. Nous allons venir pour env 1 mois. Il va nous falloir trouver des hébergements meilleur marché mais pas pourris quand même ..pour ne pas exploser le budget.

 

translation :

Thank you for your message. I have seen this accomodation. Perhaps a good idea.

 

yes but the prices have exploded since 2017. For example : Yellowstone Motel Ho 240-250€ per night compared to 100€ in 2017, the same on the Capitol reef side.. There, for May-June 2025, we are at more than 200€ per night. tax-free night (seen on Booking).

We also had a motel planned in 2019 for our 2020 trip (canceled due to covid, sad) in Torrey - Austin's Chuckwagon Motel (Utah) for less than $100 a night, it's over $220 now.
We will stay about 1 month during May-June 2025. So we have to find cheap (but not bad nor ugly) motels/hotels - accomodations

[pbphoto]

Oui malheureusement, on vie ici avec les tarifs élevés tous les jours. Bienvenu à Bidenflation 🙂 

[Jeff Matthews]

I didn't see Zion National Park on the list of places you visited.  If you haven't been there, you missed the best National Park in the Southwest.

[SpeedLimit]

Yes, it's true. We had understood that we had to be very sporty to do this national park. We are a little old (60 and 65 years old), a lot of hikes not that simple as that.

Isn't it true ?
If there is easy hikes, perhaps we could go to Zion this time. I think, it's the last time in our life that we will come to west America. It's very expensive for us to go so far from home (over 30 hours flight - something like 2 days trip to arrive from our little island in Indian Ocean and the same on the back trip)

 

If you think we can make easy hike, so we will go to Zion.  Are there any hikes to do in the water?

 

 

 

[Jeff Matthews]

4 hours ago, SpeedLimit said:

Yes, it's true. We had understood that we had to be very sporty to do this national park. We are a little old (60 and 65 years old), a lot of hikes not that simple as that.

Isn't it true ?
If there is easy hikes, perhaps we could go to Zion this time. I think, it's the last time in our life that we will come to west America. It's very expensive for us to go so far from home (over 30 hours flight - something like 2 days trip to arrive from our little island in Indian Ocean and the same on the back trip)

 

If you think we can make easy hike, so we will go to Zion.  Are there any hikes to do in the water?

 

 

 

 

There are hikes of every difficulty there, from very easy to very strenuous.  If you want to hike through water, you can do that along a hike there called, "The Narrows."  I never did it because hiking through water makes me think of blisters.

 

[SpeedLimit]

No, no, i don t want to have wet feet.

[SpeedLimit]

On 4/15/2023 at 6:08 PM, Jeff Matthews said:

If your plan gives you a choice, when driving from Zion to the Grand Canyon, the better highway is the western one (59 through Apple Valley, and not 89 through Kanab).  I've done both.  There's a nice, mountainous area with a pass on the one I recommend.   

 

The entire southern part of Utah is magnificent.  If you are able to go beyond Bryce Canyon, I can provide additional recommendations.  If you can go all the way to Mesa Verde in Southwestern Colorado, as Bubo suggests, I second his recommendation.  There are great mountain passes if you enter into Colorado going through Monticello in Eastern Utah.  You have to work your way down through Placerville, Ouray, Silverton and Durango.  That segment is an inspirational drive.  The local nickname is "The Million Dollar Highway," and it might be because it has million dollar views.  

 

Hello

 

this year, we have made our road trip in the west side of your beautiful country.

We arrived in LAX airport, then stayed 2 days in LA.

After that, we took the road to Las Vegas with a stop (to lunch) in Baker ( a little stop in Barstow to buy a Columbia hat for the hot sun, and Levis jeans at the Barstow outlet).
Then 3 days in LV, Valley of Fire, old and new strip in LV, LV signs ect.
 

Then, in the direction of Bryce Canyon through Panguitch (scenic road).  Wonderfull Bryce Canyon, we went from the end of the park (Bristlecone Loop and all the viewpoints and overlooks to the entry but had not enough time to make the navajo loop inside the Bryce Canyon. Perhaps, we will come back in 2025 (Bryce Canyon navajo loop and Mossy cave).

 

Then Bryce Canyon to Moab through the wonderfull scenic route 12, and the 24, Goblins State Park, and 3 days stay in Moab.
Moab is also a nice place.
Arches NP, Canyonlands (Island in the sky), Deadhorse point State Park, Hole'n the rock.

Then to the south Bluff, and in the west direction.  Mexican hat, Gooseneck SP, Monument valley with an amazing sunset tour in the monument valley park.
 

.. Next morning, Page, Lower Antelope Canyon, a boat tour on the Lake Powell, Horseshoe bend.

.. Kanab with a little trail at Toadstool hoodoos.

 

.. Flagstaff, Williams (3 nights stay) ..

 

.. an overflight of Grand Canyon with Maverick helicopter. A-ma-zing !!

The afternoon, Grand Canyon with our rental car, several viewpoints .. lunch in GC.

..  Sedona (very nice with the red rock) - Toozigot monument - Clarkdale - Jerome ghost town was closed - Montezuma Castle then back to william thru Flagstaff to drink a cold bear .. It was very hot this year during all our trip except in San Francisco, L.A and all the way on a part of the Cabrillio Highway (the One is not fully open - we were so sorry that we couldn't go from SFO to LA along this world known road). 

After Williams, we have taken a part of the 66 route. Seligman, Hackberry. A stop in Oatman, funny.
Then, back to the west, we had a long trip this day to go to Parhump, because we wanted to cross Death Valley not to late the next morning. The weather forecast said 118 °F.
We crossed the death valley from the south-east entry (Ashford Junction). Wonderfull.
Badwater, Artist palette, Zabriskie point, Stovepipe Wells, Mesquite sand dunes (very very hot). Then we went to Rhyolite (not very nice - nothing more to see), Beatty.

We took the road in Nevada to reach Mammoth lakes - Mono Lake and stayed in Mammoth Lakes for the night.
The tioga road pass reopened the monday before, we were very lucky to be able to cross Yosemites to reach SFO and the end of the day. But no time to stay in Yosemites and to see the best of it.

 

SFO, we stayed in San Rafael because hotels and motels are too expensive in SFO and it's difficult to park our car.

 

Visit in SFO, Lombard Street, Pier 39, Chinese part of the town, Cable car, ect .. naturally the GGB. The next day, Sacramento (Old Sacramento) and Sonoma. Sonoma in the smoke because there was a big big fire near Sonoma.
Back to SFO.

 

And we are nearly to go back to our little island in the indian ocean.

 

From SFO, we tried to take the One coastal road, but it's closed near Big Sur.

We were happy to lunch at Carmel-by-the-Sea.

I wanted to see the Bixky bridge.

We had to go back to reach San Simeon thru a road more in the inland.
The forelast day, we made a stop in the little and very nice Solvang city, a little Danemark in the USA.

Last night in Thousand Oaks to be not too far from our airport ... and then 2 days flight to go back to our very little island ..

We have seen so much very nice things during our raod trip, we have also met nice and very friendly people. We had no rain during all this trip, hot temperature (but we live on a tropical island - we have often high temperatures, but on our island, it's wet temperature, in Utah, Nevada, the north side of Arizona, we had only dry temperatures. It was better for us, just drink often water and always go with a bottle in the backpack. 

 

Thank you for you all who gave us good informations ...

In 2025, we want to come back in west America, about 25-26 days from end of May to end of June.

Some of you gave us informations, can i ask you more to make the best route ..
This time, we expect to visit Arizona, New Mexico, a part of Colorado ..
We would have like to visit Yellowstone, but it is too much far from the south of Arizona ..
If you have ideas, we take them with pleasure..

Sorry if my american speaking is not very good .. English was not my first language at school and now i am pretty old .. it's more difficult to learn yet ..

 

 

[SpeedLimit]

We have not yet finalized our journey for 2025.
 

We love the great somewhat desert spaces like Arches NP, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, we only went too quickly Capitol Reef (near Fruita in the direction of Moab).

 

Until now, we are considering a route that would include :

 

Arrival at LAX Airport

 

- Palm spring, Joshua NP  (from Joshua Tree NW entry (hidden valley, Barker Dam, Cap Rock, Keys view road, Cholla cactus garden, Pinto Basin Road to SE

- Yuma

- Sonoran desert

- Tucson (Saguaro ,  Organ pipe cactus NP, Chiricahua NM)

- Phoenix (if there is something nice to see)

- Sedona - Flagstaff - meteor Crater - Petrified forrest

- Carlsbad Caverns

- White sands NP

- Alamogordo

- Albuquerque ?

- Santa Fe ?

- Mesa Verde

- Durango - Million dollar highway

- Sal Mountain - Moab

 

We would like to visit Yellowstone but it is very far and we have only 25 or 26 days for this trip.

If we can, we will be happy to go back to Bryce Canyon for one day, also to Zion that we didn't visit this year.
Capitol reef need to have a 4WD car and we will only have a VUS car if not to expensive.

 

You can tell us what is to visit, what we should not miss 

 

Thank you