Las Vegas, San Fran, LA, Yuma, Grand Canyon

[curious]

We are two Danes, used to travelling in the States, but this time we need serious help in the process. Normally we have a "theme" for the stay which enables us to sort all the "must see" places in this huge country, with the limited time you have on a holiday, but this time we have been late in the planning and completely lack the inspiration to find the "theme".

We have a very rough sort of a plan - we leave Chicago after the first week and fly to Las Vegas - and from there we go to San Fran, LA, Yuma, Crand Canyon and return to Las Vegas. But is this really possible in 2 weeks? We drove Route 66 a couple of years ago, but would like to see Las Vegas, Death Valley and Grand Canyon once again. We plan to stay overnight in Las Vegas on arrival and departure. Otherwise we have no plan on what to see.

Any surgestions? We like to drive scenic routes, but realize that the highway is nescesary (spelling??) when you have a limited time.

Thanking you in advance for any help you may provide.
Curious from Denmark

[W. Larrison]

It's possible to do a loop from Las Vegas to SF to LA to Yuma to Grand Canyon and back to Vegas in 2 weeks... But you'll have to keep moving right along to made the distance.

Here's my take on a rough schedule, which does the job in 2 weeks

1 - Las Vegas to Yosemite via Death Valley
2 - Day in Yosemite
3 - Yosemite to SF
4 - Day in SF
5 - SF to Monterey
6 - Monterey to San Simeon via Big Sur
7 - San Simeon to LA
8 - Day in LA somewhere
9 - LA to San Diego
10 - San Diego to Yuma and on to Tucson
11 - Tucson to Phoenix to Grand Canyon Village
12 - Day at the Grand Canyon
13 - Grand Canyon Village to Las Vegas
14 - Drinks by the pool at Las Vegas

It's doable -- but you need to keep moving on.

[curious]

Thanks for your quick reply. Well I thougth so - it looks like nothing on a map, but we have been cheated before :-)

Guess we have to cut down a bit as experience tells me, that no matter how prepared we come, we ALWAYS find something great to see or do, which is not listed in the turist brochures! And that's what makes USA such a great travelling country. This is my 6th time and I am certainly not done yet :-)

Could I ask you, what you would skip - or save for another time? If we say Grand Canyon and Death Valley is a must. Is the trip from Grand Canyon to e.g. Yuma worth the while? We are leaving on this Saturday, and I just tried to check out Yuma, but there are an endless amount of hits..........

Maybe you can recommend some interesting links? We are into scenic routes, indians, settlers/immigrants and their ways of life - then and now (or in this area it must be the goldrush?) - or well in fact history in more general terms.

3 years ago we travelled the mormon trail and found it amasing, what people had to endure in the persue of a dream. It was fascinating to learn the story. This is the sort of stof we are looking for.

[AZBuck]

If time is becoming a problem, I think I'd leave out Yuma. Without it you can do a loop of about 1,800 miles that includes the Grand Canyon, the Mojave National Preserve, the Pacific Coast Highway, Yosemite National Park and Death Valley as well as the cities of Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Adding Yuma to this itinerary would require nearly another 200 miles of driving with, I'm sorry to say, diminishing returns. For a taste of the 'old west' try the drive along US-66 through Oatman on your way between the Grand Canyon and Los Angeles.

[curious]

Thanks AZBuck - this is excactly the conclusion we have made now. We did the route 66 in a VERY yellow Mustang on our first visit, but find it worth a revisit, if we can find the time :-)

Thanks for helping out.