Trip "Out West"

[Doublebit]

Gentlemen,
The wife and I are looking to take a 3 west trip to the western U.S. next year. We're retired and Neither of us have visited there other than airport touchdowns and once to the Grand Canyon. We will be driving a car, no RV. Might do some tent camping. I'd like to ask a couple of things;
1. What is the best time of year to go? Summer is hot and crowded, but more stuff might be open. Winter is out. Late spring? Early fall?
2. What are the locations you liked best? We will probably be looking at the larger National Parks but would really like suggestions for lesser known places. We do light hiking but no multi-day campouts. Any suggestions appreciated.

LT

 

[arjay]

Fall, after schools are back in session.Far less traffic and tourists and the weather is mild

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Yes indeed- early fall and you'll have a ball.
The weather is close to perfect, the leaves are turning,
And the big crowds have gone home!
Earlier in the year, often lots of the most popular campgrounds fill up.

 

[Rpg]

Fall is most pleasant. September is my choice.

Here in Colorado, Mesa Verde is stunning and often overlooked.

Rocky Mountain National Park is great too, as is Dinosaur national monument.

Stay off the interstate corridor.

 

[ordnanceguy]

Try a late spring or early fall trip on the old Route 66. My daughter and I did that a couple of years ago and it was one of our most memorable trips ever. It takes you through or close to a ton of National Parks and Monuments and some spectacular western scenery. History is over every hill.

Make sure to stop at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas. As they like to say, "When you are here, you are halfway there!" It's 1139 miles from the start of old 66 in Chicago and 1139 miles to its endpoint in Santa Monica, CA.

 

[vigil617]

"Out west" covers a lot of territory, doublebit. If you're interested in anything in the northern Montana, such as Glacier National Park, which my wife and I visited for the first time recently, keep in mind it's only open from May to September, and the main attraction there -- the Going to the Sun Road, which crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass and includes some of the most spectacular 50 miles of scenery you'll ever find -- isn't finished being plowed from the previous winter until late June/early July on average. It's a great place to visit, though, I guarantee you! (You'll never look at our Blue Ridge mountains the same way again, though!)

 

[Bill Bates]

In my part of the West here in Utah I would say either May or October and my preference would be October. It can be pretty crowded at the National Parks in Utah during May. By October and November things slow and the weather may still be very nice. Then again, in the West from the Mexican border to Canada in May or October you might get snow up to your eyeballs.

I'm not sure where you want to go but driving US Route 89 from its start in Flagstaff, Arizona north to the Canadian border just out side of Glacier National Park puts you right by some of the best National Parks in the country. That is Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton, Yellowstone and then Glacier. With Canyon Lands and Arches not all that far from US89.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

If by chance you do come through Houston, you owe yourself a trip to Collector's Firearms. The Texas hill country is wonderful mile after mile after mile with lots of pleasant little German settled towns.

Collectors Firearms

 

[UncleEd]

Since the OP lists the Old Dominion as his
home I thought he meant "out West" as
probably eastern Kentucky or maybe even
West Virginia.

Buy seriously, try to decide on an area;
don't get into the mind-set you have to
jump from one wildly far flung area to
another in a different region.

Just driving "out West" will be quite
enough of a car ride.

 

[crazyphil]

Another vote for early Fall. Last week of September & first two of October
would be ideal. Not too hot and not too cold. Kids are back in school.
Not as crowded. Mt. Rushmore, Little Bighorn Battlefield, Yellowstone, too
many to list. Lots of choices. Have fun.

 

[Scorpion520AZ]

September, October, depending on how far south and how far north you're planning on. If more north I'd go with September. If more south, October. Enjoy your road-trip.

 

[bjrjar]

A drive along Highway 1 lets you see the Pacific Ocean. Monterey is a nice visit, and they have the nicest aquarium you could imagine. You definitely will want to see the Redwoods up north too, they are really something. There are ghost towns along the way from Nevada. Calico is interesting, Columbia State Park is also. Then there's Virginia City near Reno. If you don't make it too far north, there are redwoods at Muir Woods too. Lots to see. Have fun. Be careful with the crazy gun laws.

Bob


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Onomea]

In 1992, my wife and I took a month's vacation, July ~ August, driving 2K miles on the East Coast, then flying to San Francisco and driving 4K miles out west.

One piece of advice I took that worked well at the time was to join up with someone's rentacar club, and use the sign-up upgrade coupons to get a luxury car at economy rates. I think it was National. Anyway, we got an Olds 98 for the compact rate.

We loved our trip: San Francisco, Yosemite, Tonopah, Grand Canyon, Four Corners, Monument Valley, Tuba City, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Sedona, Malibu, Carmel, back to San Francisco. I probably have the order wrong, and have likely missed some good ones, but it was a lot of fun.

Memories for a lifetime!

Route 1, along the Pacific Coast, is a slow but an absolutely beautiful drive.

This was pre internet, of course, so we made hotel reservations by phone. Our approach was to just book three or four classic hotels along our projected route, and wing it most nights with Motel 6s and such wherever we found ourselves when we got tired. This worked well. We'd ask to see a room before checking in, and would keep going if we didn't like it. But it was pretty rare to reject a place. Most economy chain hotels were pretty clean and respectable. Usually free coffee and donuts in the mornings, too.

It was a more relaxed time back then.... Had a cooler full of beer and sandwich materials in the back seat of what we termed the Stratocruiser. On a road like Highway 40, I'd set that baby on cruise control, fire up a Marlboro, put my Johnny Rodriguez cassette tape on, and say, "Hey, Sweetie! Hop on back there and get me a beer and a sandwich, wouldja?"

And she would.

(Life was mighty grand back then.)

 

[monsai52]

One of my all time favorite locations is Death Valley. Plan a couple of days to get a modest overview of all it has to offer. If you don't want to camp, you can stay in Beatty NV, and make a series of day trips into the valley.

Best regards,

 

[mrchuck]

Check La Quinta motels/Hotels.
They have great "senior" rates, and give points that accrue quickly.

 

[vigil617]

[. . .] I'm not sure where you want to go but driving US Route 89 from its start in Flagstaff, Arizona north to the Canadian border just out side of Glacier National Park puts you right by some of the best National Parks in the country. [. . .]

Just be mindful of a stretch of it just north of Kiowa, MT where the road construction has to be seen to be believed, and the roadway is rough as a cob. And be watchful for the free range cattle out there that have the right-of-way, even when they're standing in the road when you come around a curve! Beautiful drive, though, in the stretch between St. Mary and the turnoff to the Many Glacier section of the park -- stunning!

 

[mtgianni]

Early September is the best time to visit Yellowstone or Glacier. You might get snowed on but you will miss most of the fools. Wildlife start to be seen more and more at other times than sunup and sunset. If you want to see elk that is still your best times to look.
Temperature wise it is almost perfect, which is too bad as summer would really show the contrast between the eastern humidity and heat.
Bring plenty of clothes, you might find no reason to go back home.

 

[vigil617]

Snow still covered the ground up at Logan Pass when my wife and I were there on June 23, and lucky for us, the plowing on Going to the Sun Road had been completed a couple of days before -- aided this year by record May warmth after a particularly heavy snowfall winter. "Tourist season" in the park traditionally begins the first week of July, so just by dumb luck we scheduled our trip at a time when we didn't have to deal with huge crowds. They got about three million visitors last year in the three months they were open.

And yes, as mtgianni says, you might not find any reason to go back home once you see western Montana. If not for job concerns and winters that would be just too much for us, my wife and I would move out there in half a heartbeat. What a place.

Glacier National Park -- June 2018

Griz "shot" by my wife at GNP on 6/25/2018

 

[ladder13]

Some pics of the Tetons, in June, to peak your interest.

 

[ladder13]

And Jellystone