Taking the scenic route back from Bonneville...What to see?

Ok, say I want to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean after we see the lights of Las Vegas (and add another day to the trip).

What would be the best beach to hit in the general vicinity of Los Angeles on a Tuesday morning....before hauling *** to the Grand Canyon?

 

I like Oceanside, but if you are in the mood for famous, I would do either Santa Monica, or Venice. It screams L.A. and the movies. Plus Santa Monica is where Rt66 ends.

Definitely get a chance to go through St George Utah if you can. If you take the 15 up you can do the Vegas strip (leave plenty of time it is slow going and do it at night) and then through the Virgin River Gorge and into St George. I have been a few places, but that bright red soil still fascinates me to no end.

And if you take the 40 out this way, you can of course pop off to run on Rt66.

 

I think I want to try Santa Monica and then drive down to Venice. .....but I was told that rush hour around LA never ends.

Is it bad enough to avoid going through the LA area to get to the beach?

Would hitting the beach somewhere else be smarter?

 

Yeah rush never does really end in L.A. But after 9 am and probably before 2, it's not too awful bad. Not much worse than the one-way streets in Louisville.

You just have to be patient.

I don't care for Santa Monica or Venice because of the crowds, but I am a Kentucky transplant and feel that there are too many people everywhere in California for my tastes no matter what.

I try to avoid going any further west than the I-15 if I can help it. But if you aren't planning on coming back this way any time soon, I really do stress that those are kind of go to places. And Beverly Hills is not too far, so you could do the Rodeo Drive thing, or up to Griffith Observatory, or the Hollywood sign. You see what I mean? I have been out here long enough that I don't feel a need to revisit those places again. But for a first time, and possibly only time, they do top the list.

 

If that was the same steam train I rode on between Durango and Silverton, that is a nice ride and a bit hairy from what I remember. Some parts of that route seem like the track is barley held onto the side of the mountain and it's a long way down. Me and some buddies rode on it to get to a trail head into the mountains. There is a drop off point out in the middle of nowhere and you just get off and start heading up the mountains up to 13k-14k peaks. When you are done, you come back down and wait for the train to come back again at some point and get back on and ride it back into town. They have separate cars for the smelly hikers. After a week up on the mountain, all I could think about was pizza on the way back.

Cool train though and this is the kind of stuff you need to take the time to do on road trips.

http://www.durangosilvertonrailroad.com/

 

Heading out tonight and driving straight thru. I hope to be on the salt late tomorrow afternoon.

Damn! I can hardly wait to get there!

 

Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam are always good in Nevada. In Utah there is Moab, Bo Huff, and the Rat Fink legacy. These are just additions to the ideas the other guys came up with. Have fun

 

^^^ X10!!!

Also, if you can get into southern UT you'll never regret it. Zion, Mt Carmel, Moab, Canyonlands, Arches, San Rafael Swell. All awesome!