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Hello all, we are traveling from Australia to the U. S in June this year. We are doing all our own planning. We will be driving ourselves around. Part of our trip will be going from Sedona to San Diego. We don't want to drive in one day. We will have our 10 yr old and 9 yr old with us. What would be a good midway point to stop overnight? Thanks for your help.
Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !
From Sedona you could drive down through the Prescott Valley and head towards Joshua Tree NP if you want to do a little sight seeing as well. Twentynine Palms would be an option and then drive through Joshua Tree on the way to SD next day. Blythe would be a natural half distance location if Joshua Tree does not appeal, or you could go more direct via Phoenix and stop over night in Gila Bend or Yuma to break the journey, but there doesn't appear to be much in between those two.
There are two basic ways of getting from Sedona to San Diego, so where you stop will obviously depend on which way you go, what attractions you plan to stop at along the way, and how you plan to split your time between attractions and driving. Dave has laid out your basic choices, but perhaps a bit more detail would help in making the decisions as you plan your trip.
The 'northern' route would follow Alt-AZ-89/AZ-89 down through Cottonwood, Jerome, and Prescott. At Congress AZ take AZ-71 to US60 at Aguila. Next, use I-10 to cross the Colorado River (There's a small riverside park on the California side.) and head through southern Arizona to the south entrance of Joshua Tree National Park at exit 168. From there I'd suggest that you leave the park by the same southern entrance, cross I-10 and take Box Canyon Road to Mecca and follow CA-86 along the west shore of the Salton Sea, some 100 feet below sea level, to Truckhaven and than take county route S-22 through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and then either CA-78/I=15 or CA-79/I-8 into San Diego. If you take this route, then Blythe CA is the most logical place to spend the night.
The 'southern' route would start with you taking AZ-179 south to I-17 and heading into Phoenix where there are several sites that your children would enjoy including McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park and the Phoenix Zoo. You'd leave town on I-10 west but then at Buckeye take AZ-85 south to I-8 at Gila Bend. At Yuma, there's another site that kids usually find fascinating, Yuma Territorial Prison. Just west of Yuma, they might also enjoy a stop at the Algodones Dune, or at Desert View Tower near Jacumba. And, again, you'll have your choice of how you want to finish up your drive into San Diego. You can either continue on I-8 the rest of the way, or leave the main highway near Boulevard and take CA-94 past the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum at Campo, and along a fairly scenic route into town. Taking this route would mean that you would spend the night at Gila Bend or Yuma. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options between those two towns.
AZBuck
I just drove between Flagstaff, AZ and San Diego, yesterday, going the "southern route" to avoid I-15. I know I-8 WELL. For overnights along I-8 between Gila Bend and Yuma, the only ones are around Tacna and Wellton, but there aren't many choices in either town. Yuma has the greatest amount of choices, but is only 180 miles (3 hours) from San Diego. For food choices, your best bets would be Phoenix or Buckeye area, Gila Bend, and Yuma. (We ate in Buckeye on the way up to Flagstaff and Gila Bend on the way back down.)
AZBuck has given you some great suggestions. At the dunes, you can drive off to find the Plank Road.
Donna
There aren't many lodging choices in Gila Bend either.
Sedona straight through to San Diego can be driven in one day, figure about 8 hours with brief stops.
What you could do is leave Sedona later in the day and spend the night in Phoenix. Otherwise, you might as well go all the way to Yuma.