On Jun 8, 6:35 am, soalvajav...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Staring next week I am going for a 4 to 6 days trip from Niagara Falls
> (Toronto) to Los Angeles. Please advice:
>
> What do you recommend for stop spot in each day? For example, end of
> first day: Chicago or Omaha? Etc.?
>
> What are the most recommended area you suggest I go off-road or spend
> few more hours and visit, I mean really worth to delay and see that
> city or nature wonders? Big Cities in My way are Chicago, Omaha,
> Denver, Maybe Salt Lake City or maybe Kansas City and Las Vegas,
> right?
>
> I think I start driving everyday around 6:00 to 8:00 am and stop when
> it gets dark and few half an hour or one hour stops during day? Any
> better idea? Is this plan good?
>
> And mainly sleeping in Best Western Hotels along the trip? Any better
> idea? Is this good?
>
> If you did this trip before or have more insights please helped me
> what were your extra experiences and how did you implement your plan?
>
> Regards
I think I would agree with many others who say that 5-6 days is about
the minimum, without any serious detours (meaning nothing more than an
hour or two, immediately off the Interstate).
There are plenty of things to see in Chicago (the Art Institute pops
immeidately into mind, along with the Adler Planetarium. But if
you're only thinking in terms of places to sleep, then it doesn't make
any sense to pay "big city" dollars to sleep in a bed for eight hours
when you could pay "small city" dollars elsewhere. That leaves you
with plenty of alternatives between Chicago and Omaha.
If you take I-70 across the midsection of the country, the Truman and
Eisenhauer presidential library/museums are quite near the highway and
could be visited with minimal time delay. If you do decide to take
I-70, you'll probably have to pass through Springfield, IL on the
way. That puts you right at the Lincoln Boyhood home (that's all only
if you're wanting to brush up on your American history along the
way).
If you take I-70 into Utah, I would suggest a detour to visit Arches
and/or Canyonlands National Park. But even Arches would be a 3-4 hour
"delay" just to get there and drive the main roads. It would make
much more sense to burn at least a day in Arches or Canyonlands, so
you can take some of the shorter hikes.
If you're taking I-15 through southern Utah, you can make a very
efficient detour to the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park.
It's close enough to Cedar City and I-15 that you could stop in Cedar
City, buy a take out meal, and get to the end of the Kolob Canyons
road before you food even gets cold.
Or, if you can afford to burn another full day, you can drive to the
main section of Zion National Park and spend it in Zion Canyon.
If you're taking the northern route along I-90 (unlikely), when you
get to western South Dakota, you have Mt. Rushmore, Jewel Cave, Wind
Cave, Custer State Park, and the Crazy Horse monument: Dead
presidents, dead Indians, and a whole lot of bison. Also, when you
cross into Wyoming and Montana, you also wouldn't be far from Devil's
Tower and the Little Big Horn Battlefield. Then, of course, there's
Yellowstone and Grand Teton. But the I-90 route would add probably a
thousand miles to your drive versus a more direct route.
In terms of the hotels, if you stop at the rest areas and fast food
restaurants along the way, many will have little pamplets (for lack of
a better word) full of advertisements and coupons for hotels along the
Interstate. Keep picking them up along the way and you can sometimes
get pretty cheap rooms.
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