Where in LA, Las Vegas, New York and Hawaii to visit?

[BradS]

I would completely skip Vegas. It is a zoo...so many effing people you can barely move. Developers and money grubbers have turned the whole strip into some kind of high end shopping destination. Disgusting waste of time.


I would instead head up to the north rim of the grand canyon....zion and bryce canyon are also nearby.

[MikeH]

Just yesterday I learned of a whole other crop of visual hot spots out in the desert there, if you have 4WD.

Is this info something you could easily share? I spend a lot of time in the Mojave Desert east of Mojave and west of Needles, and some time east of Reno around I80 and US50...

[Bob Salomon]

If you can stand Vegas at all, it's quite a showplace for everything fake and tacky. Perhaps the "faux" capital of the world. But don't expect to see much serious art or architecture. It's all build-it-today/tear it down tomorrow themes. You can find good restaurants there. On the other hand, if you want to take in a bit of scenery and it's not too hot, there are some wonderful desert sights not too far from Vegas, like Red Rocks, Valley of Fire, and Hoover Dam. Even Zion Natl Park is not much more than an hour's drive away, or two at the most. You didn't specify the time of year. Vegas is an oven in summer.

But there is the Liberace museum as well as the car collection at the Imaerial. What else could you want?
Oops, just saw that his museum closed.
And that the Imperial is no more. It is now the Quad and will become the Linq in 2 months. But the car collection is still there and billed as "the world's largest classic car showroom". So you can still see that!

[Drew Wiley]

In Oct or Nov when things have cooled off a bit, the drive itself from Vegas to LA can be just slightly detoured into something highly scenic. Just head thru Death Valley over to Lone Pine etc before detouring south. A day or two extracted from documenting Elvis impersonators will let you see some truly memorable sights, even if you just have time to drive past them. The routine freeway to LA does give you a glimpse of the Mojave desert in some of its more boring aspects, but Barstow uh,er... more the kind of place to document tire shops and try to keep constantly blowing sand out of your nostrils, if you manage to survive the massive truck traffic and all the lunatics speeding to and from Vegas. Just gas up when and where you can and carry extra food and water. Long distances between, regardless.

[Bob Salomon]

In Oct or Nov when things have cooled off a bit, the drive itself from Vegas to LA can be just slightly detoured into something highly scenic. Just head thru Death Valley over to Lone Pine etc before detouring south. A day or two extracted from documenting Elvis impersonators will let you see some truly memorable sights, even if you just have time to drive past them. The routine freeway to LA does give you a glimpse of the Mojave desert in some of its more boring aspects, but Barstow uh,er... more the kind of place to document tire shops and try to keep constantly blowing sand out of your nostrils, if you manage to survive the massive truck traffic and all the lunatics speeding to and from Vegas. Just gas up when and where you can and carry extra food and water. Long distances between, regardless.

Don't forget the Greek Diner!

[MikeH]

Another way, not as scenic as going through Death Valley, but there's some old buildings and decent scenery along the way, is to head south, exiting I15 @ Nipton Road, then head south to Kelso, then south again and either take I40 into Barstow, or keep going south until you hit the 29 Palms area and I10. Same cautions here as Drew: food, water & gas. Cellphone service doesn't exist in some places.

[Dan Dozer]

From Vegas to LA, you might instead consider heading down towards Palm Springs and catch Joshua Tree NP instead of the freeway to LA. Spend the night in Joshua Tree or down in the Palm Springs area and then head over to LA the next day. The freeway to LA is pretty boring with not much to see and it sometimes get's pretty bogged down with traffic. There are two routes down to Joshua Tree from Vegas where you hardly ever see any other cars at all.

[Colin D]

Many thanks to all contributors, that is certainly enough to fill in our time without any problems.

Peter, we are in NYC, close to Central Park, and I have the Museum of Modern Arts on my to do list.

Hoover dam yes, the people from LA we are meeting in Vegas want to go there.

Getty definitely.

Many more options to decide on. Looking forward to this a lot as it closer, it is our first trip to USA after doing a couple to Europe, this is something different but at least language will not be a problem :O.

Thanks again.

[BradS]

....the people from LA we are meeting in Vegas want to go there...

if that be the case, best to avoid the weekend. The traffic jam leaving Vegas, headed back to California on Sunday will extend from Whiskey Pete's all the way to Barstow...this is not an exaggeration! It will be stop-and-go for nearly 100 miles!

[DrTang]

a stay in LA would not be complete without a visit to Venice Beach.. and then to the nearby MUSEUM of JURASSIC TECHNOLOGY

http://www.mjt.org/

also..why not take in a Dodger's game or hell..a Yankee's game in NYC?


your time in LV is probably best spent hitting the tables and pounding the buffets


and yeah..get some real, authentic, california-american Mexican Food in L.A.... then maybe to Norm's for a late night shake or something