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Trina was in town last night, so we had a slumber party. We ate dinner at Mama Fu, got dessert at Cold Stone Creamery, watched the season finale of Lost, and planned our roadtrip through Arizona/New Mexico.
I'm totally geeked about this trip, now.
We can get roundtrip airfare from Tampa to Phoenix for $250/each, and renting a convertible for a week is only going to cost $380. Gas is going to cost a nice little sum (we're estimating driving about 2,000 miles over the course of the week), but still - I'm going to be driving in a convertible on Route 66. How cool is that?
Here's our first attempt at an itinerary. If anyone is familiar with the area and can give me feedback on whether I'm attempting too much on any given day, please let me know.
Here goes:
DAY ONE - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1
Arrive in Phoenix at 2:30 p.m. Get the rental, then take the rest of the afternoon to just drive around the area a bit before crashing at the Ramada Plaza Hotel at Metrocenter.
DAY TWO - SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2
Leave Phoenix and head to Sedona. Drive around, see stuff, then head up through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff. See the sights around Flagstaff and stay there for the night.
DAY THREE - MONDAY, OCTOBER 3
Drive from Flagstaff to Kingman, then up to the Hoover Dam. End the day driving back to Kingman (Route 66!) and staying there overnight.
DAY FOUR - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4
Drive from Kingman to the Grand Canyon; spend the afternoon at the canyon before taking Highway 180 (through the San Francisco Peaks) back down to Flagstaff and staying there overnight.
DAY FIVE - WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5
Head to Winslow in the morning (stopping at the Meteor Crater on the way), then on to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert after lunch. MAYBE go up to Canyon de Chelly if we have time. We plan on staying the night somewhere out there (near the border), or perhaps try to make it to Gallup, NM.
DAY SIX - THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6
Drive to Albuquerque in the morning. Go to the Rio Grande Zoo, then head up to Sandia Peak to take the tram to the top and eat dinner/see the sunset at the restaurant up there. Stay in Albuquerque overnight.
DAY SEVEN - FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7
Leave Albuquerque and drive south on I-25 and pick up Highway 60 heading west. This will take us through several mountainous areas before we hit Eagar, AZ. Then we head south on 191, the Coronado Trail scenic route, down past Clifton, then pick up 70 heading west to Globe.
From here, depending on time (we need to get back to Phoenix at a decent hour), we're going to hit as many scenic drives as we can. At the very least we'll take 60 west and then pick up 88 south (Apache Trail historic road). Time permitting, we might make a jaunt north up 288 through the Sierra Ancha.
DAY EIGHT - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8
Depart Phoenix at 11 a.m. Collapse from exhaustion on the plane.
Wow! Half of your trip is so familiar to me. Unfortunately, I lived in Arizona when I was 10-14 so I never really knew much about where I was. The Phoenix to Sedona drive is something we did often. My dad lived in Prescott (pronounced Presscuit like biscuit) for years. It is about 1/2 way between Phoenix and Flagstaff. The Kingman / Hoover Dam thing is something we did while camping too. I hope you have a blast!
Posted by: sherpa melissa at June 4, 2005 11:02 PMI wish I was going too!
I do have some comments and recommendations. I've e-mailed them to you.
Posted by: lifeonhold at June 6, 2005 01:14 PM