Winnipeg, Can -> Fargo, ND -> West Yellowstone, MT -> Vegas -> San Diego

[Tyrel Henderson]

That's the journey. We're doing Winnipeg -> West Yellowstone in one day (I put Fargo as I figured yall might not know where Winnipeg is) then to Vegas the next. A few days in Vegas, then to San Diego, 2 days there, and then to Anaheim for a night, then back.

Probable detours -> Pompey's Pillar in Montana, Timpanogos Caves in Utah, and maybe a quick trip down to Tijuana.

Any suggestions of "must do" things along the way/in any of the cities? I've been to Vegas, but that is basically it. The trip is...tomorrow. So keep in mind the weather won't be great until we get further south (aka Yellowstone is closed).

Anything you guys suggest would be cool.

Thanks!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm sorry but your plan is completely unreasonable and extremely unsafe.

Its nearly 1000 miles to West Yellowstone, which is vastly more than is safe to do in one day, even with multiple drivers.

Your trip to Vegas is nearly 1800 miles, including noteworthy sections away from the Interstates and you really need a bare minimum of 3 days to get to Vegas safely. There's really no point of discussing possible stopping suggestions based on your current plan, as you haven't even given yourself enough time to have enough rest to be a safe driver, much less have time for exploring on top of it.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums!

Any suggestions of "must do" things

Sorry, but your plan really is unrealistic and dangerous at that. You plan to drive almost a thousand miles in a day and then 750 the very next day, and you want to do detours in Montana and Utah ? Day 1 would be at least 17 hours on the road with no time for anything else but food and bathroom breaks and to fill with gas. That's if the weather isn't [doesn't turn] nasty. That's far more than experienced truck drivers are permitted to drive by law because of the dangers of fatigue. Then to do another brutal day the following day after no more than 5 or 6 hours sleep, would be even more risky. Please don't !!!

Tijuana is also a place that is best left alone due to the on going drug wars in the area.

[Midwest Michael]

I suppose it should also be noted that Yellowstone is not closed. While much of the park is not reachable by car, there are areas that are accessible year round. The Mammoth Hot Spring area as well as the Lamar Valley are both year round destinations - and the wildlife filled Lamar Valley can actually be even better to see in winter as animals gather in the relatively warmer valley.

Even if you increased your travel to a the strongly recommended 3 days for the drive to Vegas, you wouldn't have time for this detour, but if you decided to make this more of a roadtrip and explore what's on the way, rather than a komikazi speed run, it would be something to think about.

[Tyrel Henderson]

For anyone who reads this and really is curious here are some things we did and had a great time doing.

In Vegas, we found that Casino Royale was cheap and unpretentious. We had a blast playing roulette there one night, won a bunch, lost it all - as vegas is. Cheap $1.00 beers...and thats if you aren't getting em for free. Also, I'm not sure of its actual legality, but the best deal for drinks is to pop into a CVS or Walgreens and buy a can of beer and then just walk the strip. We couldn't discern if it was legal or not, but we walked right past some cops who didn't say a word. We were even able to walk in and out of casinos with our own beers without hassle.

San Diego was a blast - we got lucky and hit up their Mardi Gras celebration/parade and it was awesome. A bit pricey to get in ($25.00) but beers were a reasonable $5.00 (reasonable to a Canadian anyways) and there were a ton of bars and restaurants with specials on. The parade was pretty cool, and they had dancers on platforms throughout who were smokin hot.
We hit up the zoo, which I won't talk about much because I think everyone know's it is a "must see" and then we drove over to Coronado beach. First, you get to drive over the bridge that Ron Burgundy was driving over when he through his burrito out the window, causing Jack Black to "thrash his chopper" and kick the dog over the bridge...which is cool if you've seen Anchorman. From there we went to "Which wich" - I'm not sure how big this chain is, but it was probably the most delicious sandwich I've ever had. We took it to the beach, which is probably the biggest beach I've ever seen, and ate there. The weather was awesome, and we were able to see dolphins playing in the waves. We watched them for a few hours before heading back to our hotel, before taking off to San Diego State University to watch a basketball game, this was a blast as well.

After that we drove up to Carlsbad, hit up the outlets - a must for any Canadian in the US - before driving over to Oceanside Beach where we lazed about for a few hours, before heading back on the road. Made it up to San Clemente - where we turned off to find this awesome little burger joint called Biggies Burgers - the dude inside was really nice, pointed us to a nice beach down the road called - I think - the T Street Beach. We chilled there, ate, and then walked the San Clemente Pier. I think if you brought binoculars you could see the Sea Lions off Seal Rock, but as is we could only get crappy pictures of them with my buddies 56x zoom camera. Still - beautiful beach, and you can see Richard Nixon's old house on one point and a big white pretty hotel on the other.

We carried on up to Anaheim, and then back to Vegas, West Yellowstone and home without much incident. Not that it was exciting, as you have made abundantly clear, it is a lot of driving. I will say, driving through the Virgin River Gorge in the NW corner of Arizona is pretty sweet - and there were a few spots that were really beautiful in Utah.

I would have liked to have more time, but it certainly wasn't a kamikaze mission. We had a lot of distance to travel, quick, otherwise we'd have spent no time in our real destinations. We had 3 drivers and played it as safe as we could given that we had a week.

Anyhow...just wanted to let you know we didn't crash and burn.