Road Trip Summary
It’s been over a week since we returned from our mammoth road trip and it’s time to review what we liked, disliked and what we would do different.
We were on the road for 16 days and traveled just under 4,000 miles. That is an average of about 250 miles a day, which is some going. We drive a three year old Toyota Prius and it performed brilliantly. It suffered a couple of dings and a small chip in the windshield along the way but apart from that it is as good as ever. Plus of course we got very good gas miles. One thing to note though is the lack of Prius sightings outside of California and Oregon.
Hard to pinpoint our best moment. The appreciation of the sheer size of the Grand Canyon must be near the top of the list but if I had to pick the best it would have to be when we were down among the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon.
We stayed in ten different hotels, mainly Best Westerns. There was one Holiday Inn Express and one Holiday Inn and two independents (Panamint Springs, Death Valley and Safari Motor Inn, Boise). Most of them have blurred into one in my mind but several are worth a second mention. The best one by far was the Best Western Coral Hills in St George, Utah. Not only was it the cheapest one but it had the best facilities, especially the balcony. Second best was the Safari Motor Inn in Boise. Idaho. It was nearly as cheap but it had no balcony. The friendly staff on reception and the closeness to Boise downtown were definite pluses. Panamint Springs Resort in death Valley will be remembered for it’s bamboo four poster bed and it’s amazing location. The worst hotel was the Best Western High Country Inn in Ogden, Utah because we had to change rooms due to the heating not working and the disturbed night due to noisy trains and the loud knocking on the door to the next room after we had fallen asleep.
The best meal we had was at the Rocking V Cafe in Kanab, Utah. We enjoyed the varied menu, the wine, the tasty food and the friendly service. The art gallery upstairs was the icing on the cake. Our second best meal was at Pair in Boise, Idaho. Here the food and wines were delicious and the service was good but the ambiance was just not as good as the Rocking V Cafe. Hard to say which was the worst meal but we had quite a few bland and unexciting combinations.
Each state was different and memorable for a variety of reasons. The most striking impression of Nevada was its bullet riddled road signs. Arizona will be remembered for the vast Navajo lands and the Grand Canyon. Utah was the most spectacular, with its wonderful red mesas but, looking at the state from another angle, it was almost impossible to get any decent coffee here. What we did have was very weak. Idaho was the biggest surprise. We were expecting to see the marvelous sights in Utah and Arizona and we were not disappointed. In Idaho we were not expecting much at all but what we did see was fine and Boise was an unexpected pleasure. Oregon we have been to before but only the western side. We were surprised to find the eastern side was barren and uninteresting. Then of course there is California. Most of the places in California I visited on this trip I had been to before, apart from Death Valley. There is no other place like Death Valley and it was a unique experience. I would love to visit in the spring time when the wild flowers are blooming, especially after a wet winter.
What would we do differently? Over to you Tom…..
Oh boy, what would we do different? Hmmmm, we saw a lot of rock. Now it was all different and all beautiful and in the southwest that’s pretty much what you’re going to get but I wonder if we could have somehow broken it up with other scenery. We could have skipped Arches but that wouldn’t have added any time really. Maybe more time? We took two weeks but three would have been nice, especially if we could have planted ourselves in a nice location with great accommodations for a few days to recharge. Yellowstone would have been nice and it was in our original plans but when we realized how much there was to see we scratched it.
I agree with Margaret, Bryce Canyon was magical. Walking down among the Hoodoos was real special. The flash flood situation at Canyon de Chelly was exciting (I can say that now). I wish we could have seen all of the canyon. Oh well next time.
October 17 2007 11:45 am | Further Afield
