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Recommendations For Us Holiday

skippybangkok

By skippybangkok
in Thailand Travel Forum

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villagefarang Ruby Member

villagefarang

Posted
Posted

Many of the National Parks and beautiful mountain roads of the Western states can be closed or have limited access this time of year. Some of the desert parks can be interesting with snow. Bryce, Zion, Arches, Grand Canyon. Highway One up or down the West coast is lovely. Yosemite is beautiful but again the high mountain passes are shutdown this time of year. Glacier National Park, Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone are all have their appeal. I would rent a car at your starting point and make a loop. The wife and I have done the same many times.

skippybangkok Platinum Member

skippybangkok

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I forgot to mention Crater Lake.

Travel%252520%252520004.jpg

Cheers & thx.

Was kinda looking at yellowstone, grand canyon ..... Until I saw the distances. Plan to go in April ( Songkran ) - so should be open. I did a south NZ trip last year - nice camper van...... But 2500 km in 10 days was more work than a holiday. Yosemite and grand canyon and back to airport is about the same distance.

IanForbes Diamond Member

IanForbes

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I've been all over that country and love it, but usually travel later in the season than April. It can still snow in April (heavily) and the mountains will certainly be covered. Villagefarang gives good advice about the more southern part of the west coast and Rocky Mountains. One beauty of the spring is you can pick an elevation where it's just about perfect. The higher you go the more likelyhood of snow, but somewhere the spring flowers will be blooming. The high desert is fabulous when the wild flowers are blooming.

Yellowstone elevation is 6000 to 9000 feet. In April it is still the tail end of winter.

sirineou Star Member

sirineou

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The US is a very big country with a diverse environment, Perhaps if you told us where in the US you will be ? Depending where you fly in to , Yellowstone could eat up most of your 10 days.

skippybangkok Platinum Member

skippybangkok

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  • Author
Posted (edited)

I've been all over that country and love it, but usually travel later in the season than April. It can still snow in April (heavily) and the mountains will certainly be covered. Villagefarang gives good advice about the more southern part of the west coast and Rocky Mountains. One beauty of the spring is you can pick an elevation where it's just about perfect. The higher you go the more likelyhood of snow, but somewhere the spring flowers will be blooming. The high desert is fabulous when the wild flowers are blooming.

Yellowstone elevation is 6000 to 9000 feet. In April it is still the tail end of winter.

Cheers - seem Yosemite and Grand canyon might be as far as one wants to go. Another option maybe visit friend in NY, fly/train to DC to look at Smithsonian, and then fly to grand canyon, and drive back via Yosemite to San Fran and on home.....

How does that sound ? Always wanted to see air and space museum

Edited by skippybangkok
DP25 Ruby Member

DP25

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I'd strongly recomend Yellowstone, and would pick that over any other attraction in the lower 48 if you like nature and wild animals. Waaaaaay better than Yosemite. But in April there is still snow. If you can delay the trip it'd be worth it, if not then skip it.

tutsiwarrior Diamond Member

tutsiwarrior

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I'm a big Yosemite fan meself...this time of year the Valley is fairly deserted (unbearably crowded in Summer and no access to the high country in winter) and a delight; hire x-country skis (conditions allowing) and you got the place to yerself...many times in winter there are more staff on the ground than visitors...we useta go every winter when living in the SF area...

Hwy 1 through Big Sur is also quite remarkable (cough, understatement, see UG's photo...) and can easily be coupled with a trip to Yosemite...

Ansel Adams doesn't lie...

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://codgerapps.codgerconsulting.com/Pictures/var/albums/Ansel-Adams-copy/089%2520Yosemite%2520Valley,%2520Clearing%2520Winterstorm%2520%281942%29.jpg%3Fm%3D1290104751&imgrefurl=http://codgerapps.codgerconsulting.com/Pictures/index.php/Ansel-Adams-copy/089-Yosemite-Valley-Clearing-Winterstorm-1942&h=2425&w=2970&sz=1280&tbnid=SdIDhfzSw4B0BM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=122&zoom=1&docid=0KwBW-CkniWudM&sa=X&ei=6MQaT93BB8rYrQfg5tDUDQ&ved=0CEgQ9QEwBA&dur=1569

Edited by tutsiwarrior
hellodolly Star Member

hellodolly

Posted
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Drive up or down the coast highway - Highway 1 - in California. It is exceptionaly beautiful and lots of interesting places to stop like Satta Barbara, Santa Cruz , Monterey, Big Sur and more.

http://en.wikipedia....a_State_Route_1

california_100328978_m.jpg

Recommend you don't do the driving it is a very curvy road north of San Francisco.

I did it alone years ago and missed very much of it. To see it all I would have had to keep stopping and it would have taken three days.

I like the Smithsonian idea. Some thing there for every one.

tutsiwarrior Diamond Member

tutsiwarrior

Posted
Posted (edited)

Drive up or down the coast highway - Highway 1 - in California. It is exceptionaly beautiful and lots of interesting places to stop like Satta Barbara, Santa Cruz , Monterey, Big Sur and more.

http://en.wikipedia....a_State_Route_1

california_100328978_m.jpg

Recommend you don't do the driving it is a very curvy road north of San Francisco.

I did it alone years ago and missed very much of it. To see it all I would have had to keep stopping and it would have taken three days.

I like the Smithsonian idea. Some thing there for every one.

the road yer lookin' at is about 100 miles south of SF from Carmel looking south...north of SF you got the Marin headland which is curvy as well...undeveloped but with B&Bs along the way fer stopping...the Point Reyes area is superb for gray whale migration observation and nice walks...lotsa nice birds...head further north to Jenner and the Russian River area for first class accommodation...then there's Mendicino coast and Fort Bragg that are good for tourists...Mendicino town is an 'artist' place and I recommend Fort Bragg which is a real fishing port and you can get a hotel overlooking the 24hr activity down below...

head up to Humbolt county where you can get a canoe or a skiff with an outboard to head up one of the rivers from the coast...magical...

but stay away from Garberville, center of the California marijuana production area; if you ain't known then they don't want to know ye...I'm talkin' route 101 that goes up to the Oregon border thru Crescent City...just north of Eureka is good for the big redwoods...then head inland on 299 to Mt Shasta near Redding...there is a town called Hilt (!) next to the state border with Oregon on interstate 5...

I useta sleep under some of them bridges on the coast road back in the early 70s with a harmonica and a cheap boddle of wine...just messin' around on my college holidays...cheap tourism...

Edited by tutsiwarrior
impulse Star Member

impulse

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FYI, the entrance gates at Yellowstone typically open on May 1. Before May 1, there is 10' of snow that needs to be plowed. If weather is bad, they'll delay opening.

Grand Tetons, just south of Yellowstone will be open with Jackson Hole being spectacular for skiing and sight seeing. I also used to rent a snowmobile from the south entrance of Yellowstone to Old Faithful Geyser (unforgettable ride), but I'm not sure they're doing that any more due to pollution and overuse.

To be honest, 10 days is barely enough time to see Southern California. Start at the beach in Orange County (72 degrees), drive through the desert (100 degrees +) and spend the night at Big Bear Ski resort (0 degrees)- all with a 3 hour drive. Head up to Sequoia National Park and King's Canyon before the crowds get there. Round out the trip by going to Lake Tahoe, make the turn through San Francisco, and the wine country, then down the Pacific Coast Highway to LAX (assuming that's where you'll be flying in and out), and you can easily spend 10 days.

craigt3365 Star Member

craigt3365

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As mentioned before, don't underestimate driving times. Some of these places have nice highways where you can zip along at 70MPH, others are 2 laners where you are stuck at 55 or less. I've spent most of my life in SoCal and Vegas. So know these areas quite well.

Even the grand canyon now is cold. Freezing at night with good chances of snow. My brother lives in Flagstaff, just down the road.

The high passes in Yosemite are closed for the winter. But the main tourist area is still open. Though it's cold and can get snow. I was there a few years ago camping in an RV in late October. COLD. Many services were shut down for the season.

Where do you land and take off from???

If headed to DC from the west coast, it's an all day trip to get there, but much shorter getting back...due to time zone differences.

Javabear Advanced Member

Javabear

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I always figure in a day of travel (minimum) between destinations. This allows time for flights and airport security in the US which is much more stringent than BKK. If you're driving between destinations figure 7 hours between LA and Las Vegas. Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam are within easy reach from there. There is also white water rafting from the base of the dam. I went about 25 years ago and they even had 1/2 day trips.

impulse Star Member

impulse

Posted
Posted (edited)

One other caveat, If you plan to rent a car, make sure you have a major CREDIT card.

Most rental agencies don't accept debit cards for rentals, no matter how much is in the bank account backing up the debit card. Some of them will rent to someone with a local drivers license or they'll run a credit report on you before renting you a car. But even then, it's not a sure thing.

When I left the USA 12 years ago, I left all my credit cards behind (in little tiny pieces) because I don't get bills (no mail service where I went) and nobody back in the US picks up my mail. For several years, I had no problem renting a car in the USA on my debit card because I always had enough in the account that they could hit it for several thousand dollars as a deposit. In the past 5 years, it's become almost impossible for me to rent a car any more.

If you're not able to rent or borrow a car, you may as well give up on most of the places listed here because public transit in the US is almost non-existent. You're pretty much limited to the cities and very limited schedules with tour groups to the other attractions.

Edited by impulse
tutsiwarrior Diamond Member

tutsiwarrior

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Posted

another good route from LAX is to head east thru the desert, to Needles then cross into Arizona and take in the Grand Canyon then carry on into New Mexico, turn north near Albequerque then continue thru to Taos which is very interesting then into Colorado straight thru to Denver...very scenic the whole way thru...northern New Mexico is magical...

from Denver head over the Great Divide and Las Vegas is not too far away on the other side thru Grand Junction...I never stopped in Las Vegas but some folks say that it's a 'must see'...from there to LA is a short 8 hr ride...

I did my last epic hitch hiking journey on that route around new years in 1971 from Orange county to see some friends in Denver...hair raising and fool hardy, hitch hiking is forbidden in Colorado...went thru 2 separate snow storms crossing the rockies and kind folks let me sleep on their floor near Taos as it was snowing outside (I coulda managed otherwise with my down sleeping bag, just needed to get outta the wind)...but I got some great stories to tell from that one; brutal cops: 'I'd bust yer ass right now but better t'let ye freeze out here in the snow...'' and predatory homosexuals in pickup trucks in Grand Junction...and then abandoned in the desert with a sinister character recently released from federal prison but he later turned out to be OK...

dddave Platinum Member

dddave

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Would they be able to bypass the credit card issue for car rental if they booked thru a Thai branch of the same company; say Avis or Hertz? (or whoever they are now)

Edited by dddave
VegasTim Apprentice Member

VegasTim

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Skip Yellowstone and spend your entire time at the Grand Canyon. A 5-day or 7-day raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon is absolutely fantastic and is definately one of those things that you will never forget.

skippybangkok Platinum Member

skippybangkok

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Skip Yellowstone and spend your entire time at the Grand Canyon. A 5-day or 7-day raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon is absolutely fantastic and is definately one of those things that you will never forget.

Thanks or all the great advice. Still looking, but I guess fly straight into San Fran or LA.

craigt3365 Star Member

craigt3365

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Both, but especially LA has hateful immigration people. The process is never said to be easy but most "feared" at LAX. FYI.

We were nervous several years ago when wifey had to transit immigration there with her fiance documents. We'd read the rumors.

The guys were fantastic! One spent time talking about his desire to retire here, another one we had to deal with was extremely professional. We were very polite...I'm sure these guys deal with some real jerks. Keep your cool is the best approach. And make sure all paperwork is in order!

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