British Couple!! Denver - Sedona, AZ - Las Vegas - Los Angeles - Yosemite - San Fran

[appleby]

Hello All!!
Your help would be very much appreciated. Me and my lovely wife are planning a road trip in your amazing country this September. We're no strangers to road trips having done a few in the UK and Europe, but nothing on this scale before.
Briefly, our 15 day trip goes like this;

Dener, Co - Moab, Ut - Page, Az - Sedona, AZ - Las Vegas, NV (2 nights) - Los Angeles, Ca - Death Valley - Mammoth Lakes, Ca - Yosemite (2 nights) - San Francisco (2 nights). We've a night or 2 that we havent planned anything for so that we have some flexibility whilst out there.

Other than camping in Yosemite and 2 nights in Vegas, no accommodation is being booked, we want to keep our options open!
We've booked flights and a car, and have planned the daily drives and have a rough idea of what we want to see, but every time we talk to someone who's been, we find something else along our route we want to do!!!

We definitely want to camp in Yosemite, see Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon - those are obvious. But I bet there is so much else we haven't thought about, we hoped some of you all out there who know the route, have done bits of it, live nearby etc etc could give us some ideas, suggestions, alternative routes.

Also, I love American football, way better than our football here in the UK, and desperately want to see a big game.... but no idea, where, how? any football fans want to help me out?? We're travelling from Friday 13th Sep to the 27th Sep.

Thanks everyone, cant wait to hear your thoughts!

Oli & Charlotte - British newlyweds :D

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

Yes, that's one of the joys of planning a road trip -- you get it planned, and then you find there are other things you'd love to do, too! It's good you have your camping and Vegas booked already, especially the camping in Yosemite because that usually books fast.

I'm not a football fan, but I did check the San Francisco 49ers website. They state that all of their single game tickets are sold out. Los Angeles currently has no NFL team, and neither does Las Vegas. But....in any city, you may be able to catch a college game, depending on when you arrive in each place.


Donna

[appleby]

Thanks Donna, worth knowing!

Do collage games usually play on a certain night?

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums from a fellow Brit !

To start out you could easily spend a couple of days or more getting to Moab and visit Rocky mountain NP and from I70 you could take a small detour and drive across the continental divide over Loveland Pass on US6 to Dillon Res. Just off I70 near Grand junction you will find Colorado National Monument where you could drive along the rim. As you near Moab turn off I70 a junction early onto US6/UT128 past Fisher towers. It's a lovely drive that doesn't cost any time over going all the way to 191. When in Moab you can visit Canyonlands as well as Arches NP.

From Moab to Page you have options. Head down 191 to 163 through Monument valley or 191 to 95 to 261 which takes you down the notorious 'Moki Dugway'. [search button will give details] With either of these options you could make a small detour to Gooseneck State Park. Another option would be to head back to I70 and then take UT24 to Hanksville and Capital Reef NP. From Torrey take Utah scenic byway 12 to Bryce canyon and then to Page AZ with hopefully time to include a visit to Zion NP. If you feel you have the time with a pace you are comfortable with, the latter would be my first choice.

If you went to Bryce and Zion you would have the option to visit the North rim of the Grand canyon, or the South rim and still detour to Monument valley.

Around Sedona you have Red Rock State park, Slide rock and Oak creek etc and on route to Vegas you could spend a little time on route 66 through Seligman to Kingman and make a stop at the Hoover Dam.

If your flights were not booked I would have suggested ending in LA and you could have driven from LV to SF via Death valley and Yosemite and down the coastal highway.

[appleby]

The Moki Dugway looks brill, think we'll make the detour and check that out, reminds me of a road we found ourselves on a few months back in the Canaries, the TF 346 - that was a lot of fun!
Thanks so much Dave, will pour over the maps tonight and see what we can fit in!

[Midwest Michael]

Also, I love American football, way better than our football here in the UK, and desperately want to see a big game.... but no idea, where, how? any football fans want to help me out?? We're travelling from Friday 13th Sep to the 27th Sep.

You kind of have some bad luck on your timing here. The easiest spots to catch an NFL game would be in Denver at the start of your trip, or San Francisco or Oakland at the end.

Denver has a road game in New York on Sept. 15th.
San Francisco is actually playing a Thursday night game on Sept. 26th, but they are also on the road in St. Louis.

Nothing else looks like a great fit, but here would be your other options.
Oakland and Arizona (Phoenix) both play at home on Sept. 15.
San Francisco is home on Sept. 22nd and Denver is at home on Sept. 23rd.
San Diego is on the road both weeks you'll be traveling.

College Football might work out better. Those games are typically held on Saturdays. The Pac-12 is the major conference in the states you'll be visiting. For example, The University of Colorado (in Boulder) has a home game on Sept. 14th. On Sept. 21st, you could see games at Stanford (Bay Area), USC or UCLA (Los Angeles), BYU (Provo, Utah), or San Diego State.

[Southwest Dave]

The Moki Dugway looks brill,

Visiting Natural Bridges NM would be another option along this route. Here is an RTA roadtrip article concerning the area.

[CAnative]

Stanford beat UCLA for the PAC 12 championship last year and then went on to win the New Year's Day Rose Bowl game. Games are always fun on "the farm" and students will be back for 9/21 game to fill the "Red Zone " UCLA and USC both play at classic venues (the Rose Bowl and LA Coliseum respectively). UCLA will not have started Fall quarter and USC will have started Fall semester. I believe it is possible to get within walking distance of all 3 venues via public transportation (CalTrain in Bay area and Metro line in LA area). If the timing does not work, then you're likely to find a high school football game on one of your Friday nights. It is a different level of football but still part of the "American experience."

Even Lone Pine or Lee Vining may have a football team and game.

[DonnaR57]

High school football games -- varsity -- usually are on Fridays. That might be another source, particularly in the smaller cities.


Donna

[appleby]

Thank so much everyone! Thats all great advice. Looks like unless we luck onto a varsity game, we may have to try aabseball or basketball game instead.

Any touristy attractions along our route we may have missed that you could recommend???