Los Angels to NYC - Road trip itinerary suggestion needed

Hi,

My boyfriend and I planning a road trip from Los Angeles to NYC in the end of this month for 26 days.

Would love to hear your thoughts. Do you suggest any changes? How would you recommend to divide our time?
Regarding the places I've marked in yellow I have a few questions:
1 - Would you recommend after Grand Canyon to stop at Durango (to do the white water rafting) or drive directly to on route 66 to Santa Fe?
2 - After New Orleans is it recommended to stop at Memphis or drive directly to Nashville?
3 - After Nashville would your recommend to visit Great Smoky Mountains National park or Chicago? (I think due to time limitation we can choose only one place)

Last thing, would recommend to make a stop in Albuquerque?

Many Thanks!

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Unfortunately, neither your map (such as it was) nor your text indicates how long you plan to devote to this RoadTrip. So it's essentially impossible to tell you how to apportion that time. I can say that you'd need at least six days to a week just to drive from Los Angeles to New York by the somewhat circuitous route indicated in your text. About the only other thing I can tell you is that, if indeed you are subject to some "time limitation", then it makes no sense to add Chicago to an itinerary that is otherwise heavily weighted towards sites south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Beyond that we would have to know what your interests are and, as noted, what your time constraints are, before we can offer any useful advice.

AZBuck

Buck has obviously missed the part where you mention having 26 days available, which is a nice amount of time and allows to wander quite a bit. The thing with 'Either, or' questions is that it really comes down to personal interests and what appeals to you the most, how long you like to stay in one place, or if you simply prefer to 'breeze through' the places on your list. You have obviously done some research so what I would recommend you do is post up a first draught itinerary and how you would like to divide that time. That way it is easier to follow your thinking for the trip and get a big picture, then we can offer meaningful suggestions and tweaks that could benefit your trip. Given a choice, I would take the opportunity to visit Natural wonders over City's every time, but we are not all the same and that's what makes each road trip so unique.

Thank you for the fast reply!
Sorry I didn't mention, the trip is 26 days.
We are 31 years old, and we love both nature/parks and urban cities. We visited before NY and LA and would love to the see less touristy places. We love country music, so we really looking forward to visit Nashville and places in Texas.

I agree regarding Chicago, but is this a good season for visiting
Great Smoky Mountains National Park instead?

Well....if it were me.....if I didn't have family in the Chicago area, I would avoid it completely and head for someplace more natural. Like SWDave, my husband and I will choose a national park or monument over a city any time possible!


Donna

Hey!
Here is our first draft of our 26 days itinerary, with the number of nights we planning to stay in each place. We are not sure if we should also add Amarillo. Also, after White Sands National Monument do you recommend a stop at San Antonio or drive directly to Austin?
Would love to hear your thoughts on this itinerary.

Los Angeles - 3
Las Vegas - 2
Grand Canyon – 2
Santa Fe - 1
Albuquerque - 1
Truth or Consequences (Hot Springs) - 1
White Sands National Monument - 1
Amarillo – Not sure if we should go (What do think? Should we add this as well?)
San Antonio - 1
Austin - 2
Houston - 2
New Orleans - 3
Nashville - 3
Great Smoky Mountains National Park -1
Lancaster (Aimish) - 1
New York -2

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Albuquerque - 1
Truth or Consequences (Hot Springs) - 1
White Sands National Monument - 1
Amarillo – Not sure if we should go (What do think? Should we add this as well?)
San Antonio - 1

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Since you'll already be so close, I'd add a visit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Albuquerque
Truth or Consequences (Hot Springs)
White Sands National Monument (Maybe staying overnight in Cloudcroft or Ruidoso, up in the mountains)
Carlsbad Caverns
San Antonio

It appears that you do prefer the City life ? I personally would have chosen to drive to Durango from GC as you could drive through Monument valley, perhaps visit Four Corners for a 'tacky touristy' photo of having one limb in each of four States (the only place in the US this is possible] and perhaps visit Mesa Verde NP. Durango has a great mountain train ride to the lovely town of Silverton through some amazing scenery. You could pamper yourselves in the Hot waters of Pagosa Springs, but of course this all takes time.

I would also consider breaking the journey to Nashville and visiting Memphis, possibly visit the home of the 'King of R&R', Gracelands. If you are at all interested in Elvis [or the history behind the music] you could also detour through Tupelo, his birthplace.

Thank you for the advice. We will check regarding adding Durango to the trip.
As far as how we divided the time between cities and attractions. Does it look fine or would you suggest some changes?

All your drives are doable in between the attractions but how much time you should spend in each place is for you to decide based on your research and how much appeals to you in one city. For example San Antonio to Austin and Austin to Houston is under 5 hours driving so even if you had 1 night in Austin you could spend the best part of 2 days there. Have you found enough to keep you interested in New Orleans and Nashville for 3 nights. It's great if you have but that's what you need to work out to see if you can make time to go to Durango, Memphis and other possible places along the way. The balance of the trip is also personal choice and a quick count shows you will spend 20 nights out of 26 in a city, again nothing wrong with that if it's what you want to see.

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Originally Posted by Southwest Dave

All your drives are doable in between the attractions but how much time you should spend in each place is for you to decide based on your research and how much appeals to you in one city. For example San Antonio to Austin and Austin to Houston is under 5 hours driving so even if you had 1 night in Austin you could spend the best part of 2 days there. Have you found enough to keep you interested in New Orleans and Nashville for 3 nights. It's great if you have but that's what you need to work out to see if you can make time to go to Durango, Memphis and other possible places along the way. The balance of the trip is also personal choice and a quick count shows you will spend 20 nights out of 26 in a city, again nothing wrong with that if it's what you want to see.

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Thanks Southwest Dave. Any recommendation about the Grand Canyon visit for the first time?
To which of the rims should we go? (South, North, East, West) Also, any recommendation for not too expensive accommodations?

The south rim would seem to be the obvious choice for your trip. It's the most visited and most accessible portion of the canyon and fits in easily with the rest of your trip. The cheapest accommodations are going to be a little over an hour away in Flagstaff or Williams, otherwise your choices are pretty much Staying within the National Park, just outside the Village in Tusayan, or at the Cameron Trading Post to the east of the park.

The North Rim is more remote and would be a long way from the rest of your itinerary.

The West Rim is not part of the National Park, is very expensive, not as impressive, and also doesn't really fit with the rest of your plan.

There is no East Rim (although you should plan to stop at the viewpoints along East Rim Drive, which takes you along the eastern half of the South Rim.)

I see some possible confusion. To add to what MWMichael stated, from the South Rim, you can view West Rim Drive and East Rim Drive. I believe West Rim Drive (which is really the "south-west rim") is done either by shuttle or on foot. One may drive on the East Rim Drive (which is the "south-east rim" that Michael mentioned).

By the end of September, the North Rim is being readied for closure, as it typically closes the gate to the public in mid-October.



Donna

Thanks guys, will 1 night in Grand Canyon will be enough?

Also, we figured out that 1 night in Durango and 1 night in Santa Fe wouldn't be enough, so it's better to choose to stay 2 nights in one of those places, to actually see it.
Which one would you recommend?

Is there any water activities available there in this season (beginning of October) in Durango? or the main attraction is the train trip to Silverton, visiting Monument valley and Mesa Verde?
Or would you recommend to drive to Santa Fe instead? Or perhaps it similar to Albuquerque? (which is also in our visit list)

Some of your questions really depend upon how much stuff you are planning to do in between your night.

One night at Grand Canyon could be enough, if you didn't have much else on either side. However, if you want to drive from Vegas 1 day, and then continue to Durango the next, then that doesn't leave you much time at the Canyon itself.

Similarly for Durango - Mesa Verde and the Narrow Gauge Railroad are both things that you should plan taking up basically a full day. If you're driving from GC and then onto Santa Fe, then 1 night wouldn't be much time. It's also worth noting Durango really isn't a good base for visiting Monument Valley, as it is a few hours away - although it makes perfect sense to stop their while driving in between GC and Durango.

Another question, we also would like to visit Albuquerque, since I read that there is annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in the first and second weeks of October and also because "Breaking Bad" was filmed there, and we really loved that show :)

So we thought to stay 1 night in Santa Fe and 2 nights in Albuquerque and on the last day to drive early in the morning to Truth or Consequences to White Sands National Monument. Can we do both on same day or it too much and it's better to split it?

So for example, drive to TorC at the afternoon, stay over night in that area and the morning after drive to WSNM?

Also, I saw that the drive from White Sands National Monument to San Antonio is about 9 hours. Is there interesting place to make a stop in this route?

If you're going to be in ABQ at the same time as the Balloon Festival, you better get your lodging reservations, pronto. Places fill very quickly, whether they're motels, hotels, RV parks or campgrounds. Many people love to watch the balloons!


Donna

Diana,

Hi! As DonnaR said, many thousands of people will be visiting Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta. If you can’t find a decent hotel room in ABQ and already have a place in Santa Fe, you might think about just keeping your room in Santa Fe, and driving down to ABQ for the balloons. It only takes an hour to get from Santa Fe to the Balloon Fiesta Park on the Interstate. There are some scenic back road routes that you could take on your way back to Santa Fe.

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there is annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in the first and second weeks of October

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The Fiesta runs from October 1st to October 9th. The Mass Ascensions are held on the opening and closing weekends, with a smaller one in the middle of the week. The Special Shapes shows and the evening Balloon Glows are also very popular.

Whichever events you plan to attend, you want to get out to the balloon park well ahead of time. Some hotels in Albuquerque offer shuttle service to the Fiesta, and there is Park-n-Ride bus service from various places around town.

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So for example, drive to TorC at the afternoon, stay over night in that area and the morning after drive to WSNM?

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The town nearest to White Sands National Monument is Alamogordo. Driving from ABQ to Alamogordo takes about four hours -- ABQ > Socorro, NM > Carrizozo > Alamogordo.

Just want to make sure you’re looking at the right place on the map – Google Maps shows “White Sands, NM” as being a little bit east of Las Cruces, NM. That isn’t the National Monument; that’s the US Army command post for White Sands Missile Range.

The National Monument is closer to Alamogordo and Holloman AFB, as you can see on the map below.

http://i.imgur.com/8FkGbNJ.jpg

As Howard notes, there is a difference between White Sands Proving Grounds and White Sands National Monument. US-70 goes through both. So while the Proving Grounds might not be on your list of places to stop, that doesn't mean that you won't be required to stop there, as they sometimes shut down traffic on US-70 to prove that their rockets work (thus the name).

AZBuck

Thanks Guys!
Additional 2 questions:

1- What do you think on this time frame? Is it too much?
October 2nd - Drive from Grand Canyon to Santa Fe & spend the day at Santa Fe (1 Night at Santa Fe)
October 3rd - Drive from Santa Fe to Albuquerque see a morning balloon session + "Breaking Bad" tour (1 Night at Albuquerque)
October 4rd - Drive from Albuquerque to Truth or Consequences spend a few hours there, then drive from Truth or Consequences to White Sands National Monument spend a few hours there. (Spend the night at White City). The next day continue to San Antonio

Or perhaps it too tight and it would be better to spend another night at Albuquerque and then at the afternoon to drive to Truth or Consequences (spend the night at Truth or Consequences area) and in the morning of the day after continue to White Sands National Monument and White City?

Also, Do you have any recommendations on interesting stops from White Sands National Monument or White City to San Antonio? I saw that it's about 9 hours drive.

Grand Canyon to Santa Fe is nearly 500 miles and will take you about 8 hours on the road. In other words, it won't leave you any time left to "spend the day" in Santa Fe. At that pace, I don't even see the point of going there, as you will have at most a couple hours in the evening to "see" it, before doubling back to Albuquerque the next morning.

White Sands to San Antonio is more than 600 miles to San Antonio, and is pushing the limits of how far you can even safely travel in one day. Despite what online mapping programs may tell you, you're going to be on the road for 10-12 hours there, which won't leave time for really any "interesting" stops.

Thanks Michael, I see your point. We will add another night at Santa Fe.
Our plan to the rest of the trip after San Antonio is
Austin - 1 night
Houston - 1 night
Lafayette - 1 night
New Orleans - 3 nights
Nashville - 3 nights (We're country music lovers:))
Nashville to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and 1 night at Gatlinburg
Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the morning and 1 night at Harrisonburg
From Harrisonburg to Lancaster and 1 night at NJ Shore
NJ Shore - NY 3 nights

Is it reasonable plan or maybe we should pass pass some destinations?

Hi, We're driving from Truth or Consequences, NM to San Antonio, TX (about 9:30 hours drive). We need a place to stop/stay over in the middle of this ride. Any suggestions?

Moderator Note: Please keep all questions the same trip in the same thread.

Are you no longer stopping in White sands or at any of the other places that have been suggested already?

If you are just looking for a point that's near halfway (and T or C to SA is at least an 11-12 hour drive despite what online mapping programs might say) then Fort Stockton is your best bet.