Los Angeles to Calgary

[LouF]

Hi!

Im driving to Calgary from Las Vegas (and back) on a rental car. I know itīs hard, but I dont thinks its impossible. Im going with my housband and our 1 year old son (may be trouble, but I think he can handle it).

Has anyone take this roadtrip?
I need to know how much will it be on tolls, and also were can we stop (just for overnight and lunch)... we are planning on a 2 and a half day first part of the trip, staying in Calgary for 4 days; and 3 days for the returning part.

Ive found that the shortest way es passing throught Utah and Las Vegas, how is this road? pretty for sightsee?

Thank you so much in advance!!!! Any tips will be welcome

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

It's a full 3 day trip each way with time for rest breaks and lunch etc, but won't allow you time for sight seeing. You should split each day into equal distances of 525/550 miles per day which equates to 9 to 10 hours of travel. No tolls to worry about. If you cut back a day on Calgary and gave yourself 4 days to get back then at least you could spend a little time sight seeing.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Especially considering that you're going to be traveling with an infant, I would strongly recommend you plan to take 3 full days both directions. You're looking at a trip that's about 1600 miles, so that's going to already be about 9 hours each day in the car to complete this trip in 3 days. That's certainly not impossible, but it is near the maximum you should do in a day.

The shortest, fastest, and really only logical route in this timeframe would be I-15 the whole way to the Canadian border. There are no tolls, and it certainly has some very scenic sections.

For overnight stops I'd look at Beaver or Fillmore, UT and then Dillon or Butte MT for the next night.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Yes, the trip you're thinking of is possible and it can be enjoyable, even with a one-year old. But you don't have a lot of spare time for sight-seeing or for detours. As you noted, your route is through Utah, etc., following I-15/AB-2 all the way. It will be important that you make fairly frequent stops along the way to let your child get out and have some fresh air and to let you attend to his needs, as well as to give yourself a break. But such stops are all that you'll have time for on the drive north.

Southbound, you have an 'extra' half day for a longer stop. Your son won't much care where that is, so you should suit yourself. Personally, I'd probably choose the spot that is most unique on that route, the Salt Lake area. You should have time for a brief tour of the Temple and the lake itself, but really not much more than that.

I'm not aware of any tolls on your route, but you may lose some time in crossing the border. Make sure that your passports are in order. I think your son will only need his birth certificate, but you should check the appropriate US and Canadian customs web pages to make sure.

Where you will spend your overnights will depend on what time of day you depart Las Vegas on your trip north, and where you decide to spend your one longer stop on your trip south, but there are plenty of low-cost motels all along the major Interstates and I-15 is no exception. Just don't leave it until too late to decide to get off the highway, as there can be some long stretches with no services in the more sparsely populated sections of the route.

For meals, I like to recommend that you get off the highway and away from the exit ramp fast food joints. My strategy is to head into large towns or small cities with populations of several thousand or so. Such towns are large enough to support a few local restaurants that have to compete for repeat customers. The food won't be fancy, but it will typically be hearty, reasonably priced, and served with a smile.

AZBuck

[DonnaR57]

Over the past few years, my husband and I have driven pretty much the entire length of I-15 (from the Canadian border to our home in San Diego County). There are some really beautiful stretches of road, as far as scenery is concerned, and as of last summer, in excellent condition. There were a few areas of construction, as there always will be on interstate highways during spring, summer, and fall. (There are two seasons on the freeways: winter, and construction.) They may give you no trouble at all, you may be down to a lane in your direction, or you may have to slow down a lot.

Our favorite sections of I-15: Virgin River Gorge, which is located in the NW corner of Arizona just south of St George, UT; climbing into the hills north of St George UT; Pocatello ID to Idaho Falls, ID; Butte MT to Great Falls, MT.

I can't speak for the border crossing at Sweet Grass, MT recently. However, we did cross the border at Chief Mountain (just west of there) last summer, going north, and then into ID at Eastport going south, three days later. Everyone's experience is different, but the wait was 30 minutes northbound and would have been the same, southbound, had they not opened another lane just as we pulled up. Recommendation would be to have an inventory of what you are bringing, such as medications, electronics; make sure your medications have a prescription on them. The BP agent started to give us a hard time trying to return to the US, saying that they assume we bought everything in Canada (all we bought were some t-shirts!), until I offered our trip inventory list. Then he changed his line of questioning.

I will add one thing about the fast food thing, to what AZBuck suggested. Up in Canada, if you find an A&W, realize one thing: they still serve root beer floats up there in real glass mugs, just like they USED to do down here in the US but no longer do. That was one US chain that I didn't mind doing, in Alberta!


Donna