Seattle to Four Corners and back! Suggestions anyone?

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

So with gas costing an arm and a leg and your other arm, I decide to get it into my head to travel 1,000-ish miles from the Pacific Northwest to Utah and back over the 4th of July weekend. BRILLIANT!

HERE - assuming that my mapquest link works - is probably how I'm getting there, mostly down I-82 and I-84 (with the occasional side trip here and there). I've got 5 days - leaving early thursday morning and getting back on tuesday night. I took the 3 day weekend and added a day to either side. A bit rushed, but hopefuly enough time.

So - the big question I have for you guys. Is there anything along the way that I must see. I love the kitch, the off beat and unusual - biggest ball of twine in the world, old ghost towns, The Spot of Mystery and that sort of thing - so nothing is too weird, too unusual for me!

My short list thusfar:
* Meteor Crater (that HUGE hole in the ground in Arizona)
* Winslow, Arizona, so I can stand on the corner with my flatbed Ford and 7 women on my mind.
* Evel Knievel's Snake River Jump Site up in Idaho
* The Golden Spike (which is nothing more than a sham, since the real transcontinental meeting was completed 15 months later near Strasburg, Colorado - but it's on the way, so what the heck)
* Arches National Park
* Four Corners (the genesis of the whole trip)
* Monument Valley
and the Anasazi Ruins (in the Mesa Verde National Park)

Anything else?

[scotishbob]

This seems way too many miles and far too much to see in 5 days.....In fact you will be hard pressed just to cover the distance without making any sight-seeing side trips.....

With that in mind, you need to cut the distance is about 1/2 and see what is available within that distance.

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

Ah, see - that's the great thing. It's a freeform trip. If we just plain run out of time, we'll turn around wherever we're at and just come back. No set schedual means no big deal.

That and we've decided to milk just a bit more out of the weekend by heading out directly from work on wensday. We wont get a HUGE jump, but we'll knock a couple hundred miles off - and it'll be all the boring old washington that we could do at any time that we'll blow past.

And of course the short list is just a wishlist. I dont expect to see a quarter of what I'm coming up with. But my trips to England and Europe have taught me to plan big and have enough to do for your next visit.

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

Heavens! I forgot to update you guys on my trip!

So, at the end of the day, yeah, 5 days was just a touch too short to really explore. Oh, dont get me wrong - I saw the Golden Spike, some of the arches in the national park and were Evel Kenveal tried to jump the snake river. But two or three more days would have been perfect.

Because you're all dieing to know, here are some pictures of my adventures