Intro and Itinerary

Oak Creek Canyon Sedona, AZ

It was a week after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and on the Pentagon and we were planning to take a vacation to France. We made the difficult decision not to fly out of the country. Instead, we drove around the southwestern United States, covering parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. It was a pleasant trip (though someday we will make it to France, too). Perhaps one of the most striking things about it was how many patriotic displays we saw in every corner of the area -- in shop displays, on houses, on vehicles, on streets, in galleries, schools, churches, ranches, everywhere. Even junk shops and ramshackle trailers had flags. It was heartening to see.

The highlights of the trip were hiking along the Oak Creek Canyon trail in Sedona, Arizona, seeing the gorgeous fall foliage in Telluride, Colorado, and walking around the galleries in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. We also enjoyed driving along the Apache Trail, a dirt road lined with saguaro cactus rising out of red rock along the Roosevelt Lake outside of Phoenix, AZ. Nearly everywhere we went, people told us that tourism was way down, which meant we were able to find good deals on hotels. We did our part to help the American economy recover. :-)

Here is our itinerary:

Day 1: Drive from Bay Area to Arizona border
Day 2: Route 66 in Arizona to Flagstaff & Sedona
Day 3: Hike in Oak Creen Canyon and exploring Sedona, Arizona
Day 4: Short hike in Sedona, drive to southwest Colorado
Day 5: Mesa Verde National Park and fall foliage en route to Telluride, CO
Day 6: Hike in Telluride among fall foliage, drive through Colorado down to Santa Fe, NM
Day 7: Explore Santa Fe galleries
Day 8: Explore small towns near Santa Fe and Taos
Day 9: Small roads from Santa Fe to Albuquerque to east-central Arizona
Day 10: Drive through Arizona mountains, Apache Trail, to Phoenix
Day 11: Drive from Phoenix through Joshua Tree Nationl Monument
Day 12: Drive along Pacific Coast and back home in Bay Area

Next   (Drive through CA)