Help for a Procrastinator!

[nancysid]

Hello all! Here's our situation: we live in Florida, but are embarking on a 2 week vacation. Places we are interested in visiting are: Yosemite, Death Valley, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon. We enjoy scenery, historical sites, dinosaur sites, Indian sites, museums. I'm thinking flying into LV would be best for most of these sites, and I understand that some places may have to wait for the next trip I procrastinate on. We'll have a rental car, and would like help with places to stay that are nice but not too expensive, and would like your opinions on what not to miss! Specifically, one thing that we need help on is how long to plan to stay in/near Yosemite, and where to stay. It appears most of the park lodgings are full - duh, forgot to say our vacation dates are in early October. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated!

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

There is another discussion going on right now with someone who is planning a very similar trip for November, so be sure to read everything in there as well. Other than the general recommendations, I'm sorry but we typically don't suggest specific accommodations because we (there are about a dozen regular contributors) simply don't have the resources to have personally checked out the tens of thousands of possibilities in the country. There are sites such as hotels.com and hotelguides.com that specialize in just that. As far as Yosemite goes, at this late date you should be looking at either the small towns outside the park along CA-49 such as Coulterville and Mariposa. If you only have two weeks and want to hit all the places you've listed, about two days is what you should be spending at Yosemite. As for Indian, historic and dinosaur sites, I'll suggest that you add a bit of northeaster Arizona and southeastern Utah, specifically the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, the Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, Walnut Creek National Monument and take a native guided tour of Monument Valley.

AZBuck

[nancysid]

thanks for mentioning those locations outside Yosemite. We've already visited most of the areas you mentioned - I was trying to make sure we wouldn't miss any within the eastern California to Grand Canyon areas. It appears as if the toughest housing ticket is Yosemite, so it may be best if I decide first on where and when to make reservations there first, then plan other areas later.

[glc]

This site should be able to help you find something in or near Yosemite. Also check to see if there's any room at the Yosemite Bug.

[Southwest Dave]

I would consider splitting your lodging options in two when visiting Yosemite, one night on to the East [Bishop/ lee Vining ?] from/to Death valley to give yourself plenty of time to stop over Tioga pass, and one or two nights to the West for the valley floor, Glacier point and Mariposa grove etc. I think you have time to hit up the places you mention and you could drive through Sequoia NP as well. From Vegas you could head across Death valley to Yosemite by way of the Tioga pass, [CA120] and catch it early in your trip as it typically closes anytime from Mid October to December for the season. Head South through Sequoia and around the Southern end of the Sierra's and I 40 to Grand canyon with a possible small side trip through Seligman on route 66. Head out the East entrance on Desert view drive to Cameron, [trading post] up through Page to Bryce canyon [Rubys Inn or Tropic for cheaper lodging options] and then to Zion [Springdale is a great little town on Zion's doorstep] before heading to I 15 to Vegas and perhaps Valley of Fire on the way.

[nancysid]

Hi Dave! That idea of splitting lodging is a great idea. I've been to many towns on 66, but never to Seligman. We'll check it out!

[nancysid]

Hi glc! That Bug looks great!

[glc]

If you want to stay at the Bug, book NOW!!!