Hi Terri,

If you have a look at the trip report to California I did which is on page 2 now, it will give you an idea of the itinerary we did, which may give you a few ideas. I did a fair bit of research over the winter months before we headed away in September, but I suppose that's all part of the fun as well.

I did a similar trip many years ago, flew into LA where we picked up a camper van we spent the first night in a site near Disneyland then the next day we headed for San Diego where we spent a couple of nights during which time we walked over the border into Mexico to have a look round Tijuana, we then drove to Tuscon, Arizona overnighting in a couple of places on the way. We were visiting friends in Tuscon and stayed a few days with them and during this time we visited Bisbee, Tombstone and Saguaro National Park.
We then drove to Flagstaff and visited both the South and North side of the Grand Canyon(a long drive to the north, but totally different scenery) somewhere along the way we visited the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, Red Rock Canyon and Canyon de Chelly though I can't quite remember where they were. We then headed for Las Vegas where we spent a couple of nights and visited Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam we then drove to Yosemite National Park via Death Valley and spent a couple of days walking and taking in the magnificent scenery before heading for San Francisco where we spent a few days sightseeing and visiting areas north of the bridge. We then headed south on the pacific highway to LA visiting Carmel, Big Sur, Monterey and San Luis Obispo on the way. We spent the last couple of days in LA doing some sightseeing before flying back to Europe. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of what we did on the trip, it was one of my first long haul holidays and still stands out in my memory as one of the best. We drove about six thousand miles and were away for about four weeks. There were a lot of other places we could have visited on the holiday but we wanted to give ourselves time and not be rushed everywhere. I would think September would be a nice time to visit, no longer the boiling heat of midsummer but still very warm during the day and as the US schools will no longer be on holiday there shouldn't be the crowds at all of the places you stop at..

Judith

Polisian wrote:

If you have a look at the trip report to California I did

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=126096

Just to throw a curbve ball

You are in California....thought about hiring a convertible????

The camper van thing may sound like fun but is it really!!!? It it is a big lumbering
slow vehicle........ useless for time you spend in towns/cities...fuel consumption poor too

And in reality its not like you can just park up anywhere and sleep!!!!

For the low price of hotels/motels why not enjoy the freedom of a car instead!

As for where to go.....so much to choose but UTAH with Canyonlands, Arches, Monument Valley Bryce and Zion national parks
all in state and with Grand Canyon in Arizona next door is state not too miss

But with 3/4 weeks you could also get up to Yellowstone and Yosemite whilst still giving a bit of time to the classic cities
(LA, San Fran, Vegas)

You have plenty to go at...and whatever you choose you should have a great time on this big ,open empty roads

Jon