Wintertime roadtripping in South-Western (?) US - what is sanity?

Grensgeval — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 05:47:50 -0800

What is sanity - wintertime roadtripping in South-Western (?) US - where to go? Thanks in no small part to MeFi, I've had an amazing time roadtripping California last autumn, during which -even though I was warned by several MeFites- my head asploded daily because of the insane, crazy beauty (Yosemite, Mono Lake, HW1, Yosemite!) and the joys of driving long, winding roads.

This coming January/February I have a new opportunity to fly out to the US and spend about two weeks on a roadtrip on which I hope to visit a number of National Parks to make my head asplode again. Obviously, the winter season has a big impact on my plans. I think. I don't mind a bit of cold (due to either the season or altitude), but am certainly not looking to go skiing or freeze.

Studying average temperatures isn't very helpful (Yosemite in October was still lovely and warm during the day while freezing at night) so I hope
some of you will have suggestions on where to visit and what to stay away from.

Even though I'd like to visit them, this probably means that Glacier National Park, Crater Lake, Yellowstone as well as the High Sierras are out. Correct me if that's a silly assumption. It would be great to know roughly how far north the temperature gets too unpleasant (I know it's subjective, but think: fun roadtrip, not uncomfortable polarexpedition) or how high up the weather becomes too unstable.

I am likely to be flying into Las Vegas, but a return flight from other airports should be possible. I do enormously enjoy the driving-part of roadtripping, so distance is not a problem, although staying away from Highways as much as I can will limit me in the distance I will be able to travel.

I was planning on visiting Death Valley, Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon National Parks. Is this reasonably possible and if so, with which places, roads and parks could I extend this trip?

Roadtrip!

ook — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:50:11 -0800

Name some big things in the continental US. Examples of the sort of thing I'm looking for are inside, but if I had to sum it up it would be: man-made or natural objects that are awesome in size, scale, ambition, or displacement from their surroundings -- and which I can drive to without needing special permission or lots of advance preparation. Some of the things I've thought of already are the Lightning Field, Spiral Jetty, Devils Tower, the Very Large Array... Go ahead and list obvious stuff like Mt. Rushmore or Yellowstone or Niagara falls if you like, since I'm sure I've forgotten about at least some of them, but I'm most interested in hearing about obscure or weird locations that maybe only locals would have heard about: abandoned airforce bases, maybe; stripmines; weird or obsessive shrines in the woods, whatever you can think of.

This isn't for a book or photo project. I just have some time, a car, and a need to recapture a sense of wonder.

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Wintertime roadtripping in South-Western (?) US - what is sanity?

Roadtrip!