Vacation out west.

[Woodland Woman]

When my husband gets laid off in a couple months we are thinking of going on a driving vacation out west. He hasn't worked much in the past year so we need to do this as cheaply as possible. We want to see the Grand Canyon and the Giant Redwoods. We are planning on camping. We will probably only do this once in our lives so I don't want to regret missing any interesting places. Of course we may find a new place to be self sufficient along the way. There may be a reason we haven't found a place with acreage around here yet. I would love to hear from you all what would be interesting and inexpensive places to see.

 

[Ldychef2k]

How exciting!!! And good for you, making lemonade from life's lemons.

You know, there are two areas of big trees, one in Northern Califorina and one in Central. That last one has the General's, General Sherman and General Grant, and is in what is called Giant Forest. It's the Sequoia National Park area.

I know this because my hometown is less than an hour from there. If that's the one you are talking about, PLEASE allow me to be of any help that I can. I think I can give you some guidance, as we have been here for six generations. This is a highly agricultural area here in the San Joaquin Valley. You never know what you might find.

 

[ORChick]

The California coast highway, particularly the bit north and south of Big Sur (so long as you don't have problems driving on a curvy road with a cliff on one side ; if you do, but want to drive it anyway, go from south to north, as you are on the side away from the cliff that way . I grew up along that bit of coast, and can highly recommend it. Yosemite National Park is spectacular. However the entrance price has gone up, as for many (most?) national parks. If you will be visiting several it is a good idea to get one of their yearly passes. There are other national parks you will probably be going near. San Francisco is always fun to visit. I am partial to the western part of Oregon, where I live now, but there are a lot of interesting places on the eastern side of the Cascades - lava beds near Bend, fossils near John Day, a great pioneer musem in Baker. And Portland has one of the neatest used book stores anywhere - Powell's Books. That is just a scratch on the surface; you will find so many things here that you'll not want to go home

 

[dacjohns]

Get yourself an America the Beautiful Pass. After visiting a few of the parks it will have paid for itself.

http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm

or is someone in your family is eligible get one of the other passes on the page.

Visit the national parks, get a Parks Passport and get it stamped at all the parks you visit. Fun and inexpensive way to record your trip.

Visit the national forests and other public lands. Camping in the forests is often cheaper than the parks and many parks have forests close by. Grand Canyon is just one of them.

http://www.fs.fed.us/

Don't eat out, buy food in grocery stores and fix it in camp. Do some research for where the campgrounds are and what facilities (showers) they have. Be prepared to pay for showers in the parks.

Grand Canyon--get below the rim. On the South Rim go to at least below the tunnel, better yet go to Mile and Half rest house.

Get out a map or atlas and plan your trip to hit as many parks as you can. They are all jewels and national treasures.

 

[Occamstazer]

I am totally jealous! I grew up in Virginia City, Nevada, and I miss the west bigtime.
Capitol Reef National Park is fabulous, if you have the time.

 

[gettinaclue]

WOW! I am green with envy!!!

DH have plans on doing this...after we retire...in about another 30-40 years!!!!!

Please, please, please take pictures and let us know where you're going.

I would love a tiny look...well okay - I would love to see everything you'll be seeing...except the bathrooms. LOL

 

[ToLiveToLaugh]

I'll start out by saying I have a huge bias. But if you do get up Oregon way, there is some AMAZING stuff here. Crater lake, of course, but the old forts where the indian wars took place are amazing too. You can find a lot of those down around Kalamath falls. If you're here in August, Ashland has the shakespearian festival. I'm not sure on the prices of that, but they do brilliant productions. I used to go when I was a kid.

That's the southern oregon stuff I can think of. In nevada, virginia city is well worth a visit, but can be expensive if you don't bring food. Oh! That is the other thing. Look up ghost towns, in Nevada, Oregon, and Cali. All have amazing abandoned mining and logging towns. Totally worth seeing!

 

[Wifezilla]

The Garden of the Gods is free....and GORGEOUS!
http://gardenofthegods.com/

 

[dacjohns]

And so is Garden of the Gods in Illinois. But that is next door to Missouri.

http://www.thom.org/gallery/natural/ILGGgods/

I'm not endorsing the above site, just using it for the photo.


Here is another site:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/shawnee/recreation/photo/east/

 

[Ldychef2k]

Here's a campground I have been trying to get into for two years, but it's usually full on the weekends. Probably not your style, but it has electricity, cable TV and high speed internet. Because it owned by the electric company. It's right on a lake. It's gorgeous.

http://www.sce.com/CommunityandRecreation/CampEdison/

If you indeed make it to Yosemite, be sure and read before you leave home about the history of the California Gold Rush, and then visit Columbia State Historical Park in the Gold Country. It's a wonderfully preserved/restored gold rush town, with storekeepers dressed appropriately, and full of historical information. You can even take a stage coach ride. To see more:

http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/southgold97.asp

I need to correct my prior post about the location of the trees. Specifically, they are in Kings Canyon National Park, in Grant's Grove. Giant Forest and Sequoia National Park are right next door. That is why, when I get to the "Y" in the road, I always get lost.

Love the light in this picture...but then again in Yosemite it is impossible to take a bad picture!

These are the trees at the entrance to Grant Grove. They aren't the "big'uns".

These are:

The General Grant, America's Christmas tree.

and

The General Sherman: Second largest.

These trees are about an hour or so away.

This is two hours away: Morro Bay, the Gibralter of the Pacific, and a wonderful fishing village.

You can drive on the beach at nearby Oceano Dunes:

Or visit the site of the filming of Star Wars (the first one) or the original Ten Commandments (the set is buried under the sand).

Can you tell that (other than the dead of summer) I love where I live?

Ours is a very historical area, with an abundance of agriculture. Our town has more than 100,000 people, with a large historically preserved district.

And home to the largest farm show in the world:

Okay, I have stalled long enough. Time to go to bed.