Tour of South West USA in 2004
 

My signifigant other and I are going to do a 4-week tour of Southwest USA between exams and convocation in 2004. (May)

States we will pass/visit are (not in this order and not inclusive):

Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, California... and others

What is one thing that we might overlook in guidebook that is really worth going to see? (ie, we'll see the grand canyon, but would love to know that 2 hours from there is the best something in the world)

We're super excited about this trip so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

If you go through Tucson, take a detour down I-19 (the only interstate highway in the US that is marked in kilometers, not miles) to Green Valley and visit the Titan Missile Museum. It is the only surviving Titan II ICBM launch facility of 54 (the rest were blown up to comply with arms reduction treaties.) The Pima Aerospace Museum is also worth a visit as well (they also run the Titan site).

Also in Tucson is the Desert Museum. This is a zooilogical gem. It has desert flora and fauna and actually teachs you about desert plants and animals. My favorite is the hummingbird avary.

and depending on if you like old west stuff... there's Tombstone off I-10 to the south.

there's also Sedona and the painted desert both off I-17 on the way to Flagstaff.

If you want to know more about Arizona (Tucson especially) feel free to PM me.

There are so many different and diverse things to do in Colorado, it's really difficult to know where to start.

It would be helpful to know when you will be here. (edit: Sorry, Just noticed it will be May -- which means a couple of the ski areas will probably still be open)

Needless to say, there is just about every outdoor activity you can even imagine. In addition, in the Denver area there's the Coors Brewery (couple of free beers at the end I think), the US Mint, every major league sport, great restaurants and bars, etc.

An hour to the North there is Rocky Mountain National Park (see Boulder and CU on the way), an hour to the South is the U.S. Air Force Academy and Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs.

And, then, of course, there are the Rocky Mountains themselves which start right at the Western suburbs of Denver.

Southwestern Colorado and the Four Corners area conclude a remarkably beautiful drive from Denver.

Whenever you come, there is a better than average chance that the weather will be good since the Denver area gets over 300 days of bright sunshine per year (same number as San Diego), although the temperatures are colder in the winter, obviously.

This state is absolutely unbelievable.

Also on the Tuscon front, I have to agree about the missle museum. My family lives in Green Valley but I haven't made it to the museum yet. The desert museum is awesome. Drive around in the mountains just outside Tuscon and enjoy the views.

If you like Southwest stuff, check out Tubac village between Green Valley and Nogales. It's a little community of all kinds of shops/restaurants/Southwest themed "stuff".... very artsy community.

Old Tuscon studios is where a lot of tv shows and movies were filmed... whether they were set in the west or not. You won't believe it when you're walking down the streets.

HAVE FUN!!!!

*bump*

Those are great suggestion!

Anymore? :D

I can try and give you suggestions, but it would probably help to know where in California you'll be. If it's anywhere South of Los Angeles, I'll do my best to help you out!

We'll come in from Nevade, hit Sacramento, then San Fran, then head south along the coast to Los Angeles, then head to Arizona **somehow** (not quite sure how the interstate works there)

Well, from LA, if you continue down the 5 into San Diego, you can catch the 8, which goes over into Arizona and then I think you have to decide whether to stay with the 8 or switch to the 10 (it's been a while since I've driven that way into Arizona).

San Diego has the beaches, (Coronado and the famous hotel being two of the best places to see), the Zoo has a new baby panda (just born 2-3 days ago), there's always Sea World, we have the Wild Animal Park (animals in their "natural" habitats)...close proximity to Mexico. Basically San Diego and the surrounding county gives you all four types of habitat: coast, inland valleys, mountains, and deserts, so anything you could think of to do you could probably find here in the area! Of course, there's Disneyland in Anaheim, Magic Mountain, Knotts' Berry Farm, and a number of other theme parks to go to as well, but I don't know too much about them. Probably if you did a Yahoo search about places to see for the Southern California area, you'd come across a LOT of ideas. I hope this helps! :)

Acoma Pueblo, Native American pueblo (village) and part of the Acoma Reservation, in Cibola County, west central New Mexico. The small population of Keresan-speaking Native Americans who inhabit the pueblo live in long, terraced dwellings made of stone and adobe atop a steep sandstone mesa 109 m (357 ft) high. Founded about AD 1075, the pueblo is considered the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the United States and is a National Historic Landmark. Some cultivation and grazing are carried on in the plain below the mesa, but pottery is Acoma Pueblo's major product. The pueblo was discovered by the Spanish in 1540 and was conquered by them about 1599. Exhausted and embittered by decades of Spanish exploitation and forced religious conversion, the residents took part in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which kept the Spanish out of Pueblo lands for 12 years. The community's name is derived from the Keresan word Akome, meaning “people of the white rock.” San Esteban Rey Mission, built in the early 17th century, is at Acoma Pueblo.

I believe this is the pueblo village I went to when I was in New Mexico for vacation years ago... I was only about 12, but I really enjoyed visiting the village. You can climb down these ladders into the little stone dwellings and see all of these symbolic drawings on the walls. There was also this village we went to on top of a steep mountain... not sure if this was located in the same place and it was an actual village too... it was a guided tour and at the end of the tour we could either take the bus down or climb down the mountain... we climbed and it was a little scary because some parts were hard to climb down without any guidance, but at 12 I felt adventurous. I'd love to go back to New Mexico now, the sunsets were amazing.

We are heading to Santa Fe soon. Hubby sent off for their state tourism info. Sure, it has a lot of touristy stuff, but what is great are the leads they give to less known areas. From there, you can get their list of events and interesting sights to see. He does this for every trip we take and after several contacts, we put together a great itinerary whose core is the unusual sprinkled with the more obvious "must see" attractions.

There are some spots with natural spas that are said to have healing power...we found a cabin near Angel Fire and there are tons of little festivals in the outer areas that we hope will show the community and history of the people.
One thing we found in Albuquerque was a mystery dinner theater.
Of course this probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I am looking forward to it. Plus, we signed up for some Southwest cooking classes. It's helpful to plan things ahead when reservations or advanced tickets are a must. Beyond variety, another great thing about all the material you receive is the info about the NUMEROUS activities which are FREE!

marvelous mexican food all over new mexico. i can't do tex-mex well. but new mexican food is terrific. santa fe has one restaurant/bar where they put on musicals in the evening. there also are a number of indian casinos in new mexico if you like to game a bit. there's an interesting mall on the outskirts of sante fe.
for southern new mexico, there is ruidoso, a standout ski area in the winter and a casino and beautiful mountain area. white sands national monument also is in the south -- miles and miles of white. lots of commercials filmed there.

Wow mmcat-great stuff-THANKS!

We've sent out for Tourist information from all the states we are thinking of going to. The amount of information some states give you is amazing! Texas is winning for sure. They sent us the hugest map as well as a huge tour book and hotel guide.

Texas. It's like a whole 'nuther country! :)

Lots of things to see and do in the Lone Star State. Only drawback it that there's long stretches of nothing but flat land, especially out toward West Texas.