2 College Seniors, 5 days and the Southwest

[shele515]

Big surprise, we're Road trip Nubees!
My friend and I are college seniors looking for an alternative to the usual trip down to Mexico for spring break. So we decided to instead go from LA to El Paso and visit a couple cities and sites a long the way.

Time:
We want to leave March 11th at night and return March 17th at night or 18th morning, giving us 4-5 full days inc. travel time..

Destination:
Not too much time so thinking...
Flagstaff, Albuquerque, El Paso, and back..
are there better cities to visit?

Transportation:
Bus or rent a car? Whats cheaper?

Accommodations:
visited some Hostel sights with good/descent reviews from $20-39/night
suggestions?

Main concerns:
NEEDS to be CHEAP! starving students just want to explore w/out digging a debt. Safety, two girls alone in a road trip isnt the best equation. We also like more natural/scenic sights..hiking, free admission parks and but also DONT wanna miss the big tourist attractions and local life :)

Anyways, running out of time fast and I would really appreciate all of your suggestions and recommendations! :)

Here's a link to a yahoo travel planner I made with more details!
http://travel.yahoo.com/trip-view-18...t_fun#comment1