Road Trip in October

[silkebay]

Hi,
I'll be taking my parents from Germany on a little roadtrip in October. We got about 7 nights and here's our itinerary:
El Paso, TX
White Sands
Santa Fe, NM
Monument Valley
Grand Canyon
and from there to San Francisco
I was wondering, if anyone could give us any tips on the best route. We were thinking about flying from Las Vegas then to San Francisco, if there's not enough time available.
We did a road trip last year, which already included Las Vegas, Death Valley, Sierra Nevada to San Francisco, so we could skip these points.
Which would be a scenic route, which a fast route?
My parents would love to see the old "Wild West", so if you know about anything on the way let us know. Thank you and Danke schoen!

[Mark Sedenquist]

I'll be taking my parents from Germany on a little roadtrip in October.

An absolutely perfect time for roadtripping in the West! Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! Where are you starting from? (I mean here in the states). You can find lots of the "old west" in the four corner region (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, & Utah) and I think your time would best be served by staying in this area instead of trying to also include San Francisco -- except by air. Tell us where you are starting the road trip and we can offer some tips.

Mark

[silkebay]

Hi,
I thought El Paso would be a good start, since we only got 7 days. Do you think it's a good point to start?? We have to go to San Francisco because we got to catch a flight to Hawaii from there. But it would probably be better to fly there after our "Wild West" Tour. Nothing has been booked, except Hawaii, so we're open for any good tips from you. Do you think it's a doable trip including the sights I mentioned? I can't really figure by looking at the map, since the distances in the US are so much different from the distances in Europe (we drive for 2 hours and end up in a different country !!! :))

[W. Larrison]

silkebay,

A few random comments?

El Paso is a reasonable place to start. El Paso gives you a little more of the Mexican-flavor than you might find in a few other starting points, and I've always enjoyed the time I was in El Paso and in New Mexico in general.

It sounds like you're following the Rio Grande river up through NM to the Albuquerque area. An alternative route is to head west from the Las Cruces area through Tucson, perhaps swinging south through Tombstone and Bisbee before you get there. From Tucson you could continue up through Phoenix, Sedona, and to Flagstaff, which puts you back on the same route you were on previously.

If you're heading west from Albuquerque, I've stopped in Gallup to buy Indian Jewelry and textiles (Navaho silver work in particular), and you need to drive through Petrified Forest National Park near Holbrook NM. (If you're going through Monument Valley, you'll probably miss this since you'll need to head north to Shiprock from Gallup, or the more easterly route to the north through Farmington from near Albuquerque.) Mesa Verde National Park is very interesting as well, if you can make it there.

Entering the Grand Canyon from the east will allow you drive along much of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and then you swing soth to Williams AZ and head west again, presumably towards Las Vegas.

An alternative route to SF from Las Vegas is to swing south through Bakersfield and up through the Central Valley. Depending upon your time, you might visit Sequoia or Yosemite National Parks, or do wine tasting in the Central Valley. With a long "push" from Las Vegas, you can take this route and cut west to near Hearst Castle on the california coast, and make it SF the next day, going up route 101.