Where would you go for a road trip in December?

[terrin22]

We suddenly have the first 3 weeks in December available. We would like to take a road trip in our van with our two dogs. Any recommendations for a fun road trip that would avoid the worst weather or potentially poor road conditions at this time of year? Where would you go? We will be starting out from Denver, Colorado. Thanks! Terri

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Where I would go isn't really the important question here, but rather where could you go that would be of interest to YOU, that would fit within YOUR budget, would allow your dogs some fun and would avoid what YOU consider 'bad weather'. (Personally, I love snow!) So the best we can do, in the absence of any information about what YOU would like is to just suggest a few places that we've enjoyed and leave the choice up to you.

I'm assuming from your desire to avoid bad weather that the Rockies to the north and west of you are out, as are most of the red rock parks of southern Utah and northern Arizona. Note that the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is closed after November due to snow, and the South Rim will often see enough snow that travel along it, and certainly hiking the rim, are not advisable. That pretty much leaves warm weather destinations such as southern California, Arizona and New Mexico; and the Gulf and Atlantic coasts south of say North Carolina. Many of those areas will be packed with other 'snowbirds' looking to get out of the snow of the Midwest and Northeast.

One area that I have looked into recently that offers a surprising number of things to see and do is El Paso and surrounds, specifically west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. There are National Parks (Guadeloupe Mountain, White Sands and Carlsbad Cavern), Native American culture (Mescalero Apache and others), Horses (Ruidoso), aliens kitsch (Roswell), a spaceport (White Sands), history (the Lincoln County Wars and the last invasion of the continental US). Combine those with some time in southern Arizona and around Tucson and you'll have plenty of great opportunities to fill a full three weeks with memorable adventures.

AZBuck

[Pmount]

We have had good luck with California during Christmas break; the coast from San Luis Obispo down to SanDiego, plus desert destinations of Anza-Borrego, Joshua Tree and Death Valley. Also Las Vegas area. Lots of dog friendly options within those sites.
Last year we found several great county campgrounds along the coast that are more reasonable than the state parks and have better amenities.
Pat