3 late 20's girls looking for adventure

[imported_Christa]

Hi Everyone,

I appreciate you reading and hopefully responding to my message below. We are looking to have great time traveling together. Something different from the hustle and bustle of NYC but not boring also. :) Except for me, my two other girlfriends have never driven long distance before. We consider ourselves curious, easy going, fun loving/spirited individuals extremely motivated to experience our first road trip. This is what we've planned so far.

We want to start in New Orleans.
Fly down on Friday, April 29. Stay for 2 days
and hit the road (car rental) on Sunday, May 1.
We drive into Texas Mon. May 2*.(not sure where to stop)
prefer close to the city for local nightlife environment.
Cross into New Mexico on Tues. May 3.(not sure where to stop)Any landmarks worth seeing?
Leave New Mexico on Wed. May 4*.
Hit Arizona and spend two days in Sedona.
Maybe see the Grand Canyon.
Leave Sedona on Friday, May 6.
Arrive in San Diego.
Stay the remainder of the trip or maybe fly down to Cabo.

*maybe stay an extra day.

We priced out our car rental which is only coming out to about $450 (company discount). We think it sounds like a good deal. Any suggestion on how much money we should each bring. Since we are girls I figured we can always share a room. One of us has a membership to AAA so that also helps.
Also, any landmarks that you can recommend besides the ones I mentioned above is appreciated.

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!

Christa

[RoadTripper Brad]

It sound's like you planned it out quite well. I can give some personal insider advice to your friend's AAA Membership. CHECK IT! Make sure you get the membership with the highest milage if you are going cross country (usually called PLUS, and it usually has about 100 miles of no-charge towing, but check with you local club). You really don't want to pay $4/mile in Arizona to be towed from middle-of-nowhere to a city with the services you need! Also, milk that membership for all its worth! You can get Maps, Trip-Tiks (a itenerary basically) Tourbooks, Campbooks,(most of which are FREE!) and even discounts on rental cars (check with her membership handbook). The tourbooks have all the tid-bits about places you are going, including resturants, lodging, and even driving laws and factoids about each state. I know it sound's like im advertising here, but since you already have a membership, I just wanted to point out things you all may not have realized went along with it!
Any questions on AAA, feel free to ask!

Brad M.
(the AAA guy)
Phoenix, Arizona

[Robert Schaller]

In Texas, you might check out Austin or San Antonio. Both are fun cities with entertainment and night life venues. In New Mexico, you could check out Roswell -- home of the REAL E.T! :) Also, Carlsbad Caverns, and Santa Fe/Taos are worth a look. For many other suggestions, use the search function and type in "Arizona" or "New Mexico" etc and you'll find many posts on these areas. If you want to get away from the crowds in Sedona, you might try lodging at Don Hoel's Cabins, or the Junipine Cabins, which are north from town along Highway 89A and Oak Creek -- both are "rustic." Also, I recommend you add a visit to the old mining town of Jerome, which is not too far from Sedona.

For cash, with several of you traveling together you can save money by splitting expenses. If each of you can manage $100 per day ($65 for gas, food and lodging, the rest for spending cash), that would be enough to have a good time. You can do it for less -- or you could spend more. It's kind of up to you.

[imported_tom]

Christa,
Yeh! It sounds like you have it all planned out already! In Texas if you want to check out nightlife, then u should definitely hit Austin instead of san antonio. Austin is known for its music. If you go, check out 6th street, downtown Austin. Of course, the weekends are always better, but you can find things to do during the week as well. San Antonio nightlife is pretty much dead during the week. I would opt for Austin if I were you. I know,I used to live there. If you take I-10 from New Orleans to San Diego, take heed after you pass Sonora, Texas, there are few towns far and between El Paso! In far West Texas you may hit dust storms, try to avoid driving at night in far West Texas. It can be a lonely drive and very dark !!
As far as New Mexico goes, If you decide to stop in Roswell, be sure and get there early enough to hit some of the souvenir shops, they close down early!! I was there last summer and got there after 4pm on a weekday and everything related to aliens was closed down except for 1 shop!! This was on the main street in town. At least we got to say we were in Roswell ! From Roswell, we made our way up to I-40 for the drive to California and it was worth the extra time it took. If you are looking for a nice drive on an interstate, then I-40 is where you want to go! Except for the fact that it takes u further up north from San Diego than I-10 would. I-40 is full of landmarks and places to see. We didn't have enuff time to see all of them. I missed the Grand Canyon but got to camp out in Sedona! You will LOVE Sedona. If you have an extra day, spend it in Arizona instead of New Mexico. it's worth it. See the Grand Canyon that extra day or spend an extra day in Sedona, it's beautiful there. or u could even drive over to Las Vegas for a night, it's about 2-3 hours from I-40 on the other side of Flagstaff. Once you hit California, and make your way down to San Diego you should try to avoid Los Angeles at all costs. The traffic is horrible there and you will definitely spend a couple hours stuck in traffic especially if you get there during a weekday somehow manage to hit rush-hour. I drove from San Francisco to San Diego last summer on a Tuesday and got to LA about 2pm and was stuck in traffic until 5pm. it sucked! once i got past LA, i got to San Diego in no time. Cabo sounds great! Ensenada is a great little party town in Baja as well ! let me know if you need a little more info! Hope you have a great time!
tom

[Robert Schaller]

There are MANY wonderful things to see in New Mexico -- and while I don't have any argument that Arizona is also "worth" an extra day (or ten), so is the Land of Enchantment!

From Carlsbad, Cloudcroft, White Sands, Lincoln County and the Silver City areas in the south, to Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, Chama, Raton and Chaco Canyon in the north, New Mexico is a sightseer's paradise. It has a different "feel" to it than Arizona does, perhaps because it has been settled for a longer period (from about 1590 or so) and because Spanish culture took a greater hold on it than in Arizona, but also because of the differences in scenery. You could spend weeks in New Mexico, and still find places to see and things to do. "Arizona Bob"

[imported_tom]

We drove thru NM mostly through darkness! I'm sure we missed several points of interest! We saw what we liked but didn't have time to stop. We did notice, somewhere after Roswell towards Socorro many unique small towns. However, one did catch our eye and I cannot remember the name of it. This particular small town had numerous bed and breakfasts and there were many people milling around the center of town. The center of town couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 blocks long! It seemed like such a nice place that we have talked about going back to spend a weekend there but we don't know the name of the town!! I believe it was somewhere on highway 380.

[Robert Schaller]

Might have been Capitan? I can't remember bed and breakfasts but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Smokey the Bear is buried at Capitan -- he was a "native" of that area. Another neat place to see on that route is Lincoln (east of Capitan) -- it was the scene of the Lincoln County War, which was characterized in the Young Guns movies and in "Chisum," an older John Wayne film.

You'd probably enjoy a weekend in that area -- there's also White Sands Natl Monument nearby, and Ruidoso. Bob

[imported_tom]

Yes!! It was Capitan!! That name does ring a bell !! We drove thru there about 7pm and there were lots of people out and about, there was a restaurant with outdoor seating and a convenience store across the street, lots of trees around... definitely going back thru there this summer!

[blue]

Hello Folks,

this is kind of late for a reply, but I have just been there last week after reading this thread a few weeks ago.

I think you would have meant Lincoln. It is a really small and tidy place almost like a living museum. It is not far from Capitan but by far the nicer place.

But as mentioned before 380 is a route worth taking!

[Mark Sedenquist]

Hello Folks,
this is kind of late for a reply, but I have just been there last week after reading this thread a few weeks ago.

I think you would have meant Lincoln. It is a really small and tidy place almost like a living museum. It is not far from Capitan but by far the nicer place.
But as mentioned before 380 is a route worth taking!

By golly, I think you are right and one of the joys of a forum is that the "present" is a very flexible time span.

Thanks for the tip!

Mark