Any suggestions for my coast to coast trip?

I do take exception to my friend jimhudson's description of Albuquerque being "nothing special".

In the mere 1/21 of my life I lived there it was amongst the most beautiful, quiet, serene landscapes I have had the privilege to interrupt with my residence.

If you have any Catholic in you, or just appreciate antique Church architecture, I highly recommend a visit to Old Town to check out the cathedral there. There are many stores and restaurants around the old square to enjoy. If you have time, you can ride up to Santa Fe on the New Mexico Railrunner.

When you get to Los Angeles, you will see much more beautiful Spanish architecture, but it is a bit too refined for my taste. New Mexico is really the last of the western frontiers.

I've also noted the infos for LA, thanks! So do you think it's possible to move in LA only with public transportation? I've read a lot of people suggesting to rent a car as LA is too big...

Click to expand...

Hubby and I spent a day going to see classic Volkswagen car parts suppliers. We just used public transit, but we found that a couple of the places we wanted to go were too far out in the suburbs. Some of the surrounding communities have good transit, and some have service only a couple of times a day. We had to skip those, in order to not spend all day getting to just one place (and back). But there were plenty of places to go and things to see that did not require a car.

People recommend renting a car if the places you want to go are very spread-out, and perhaps in more than one county (each has a separate transit system). But if you are going to stay in the downtown and Hollywood areas, you'll find that traffic is crazy, parking is expensive and difficult, and the car may be more trouble than it's worth.

So I say, check public transit first, and rent the car for a day or two if you wish to go some place that the transit is inconvenient on the transit. You can also get some ideas by using Google directions, and clicking the transit icon (which covers most counties and services). Planning ahead makes for a good experience!

charex said:

I've also noted the infos for LA, thanks! So do you think it's possible to move in LA only with public transportation? I've read a lot of people suggesting to rent a car as LA is too big...

Click to expand...

I think it would be hard to see a lot of things in LA without renting a car, but you certainly *could* do it. You'd just be limited to moving between your hotel and certain tourist areas, and various things might take a long time to get to and require a bus transfer or two, or an expensive taxi trip. LA is a sprawling city and most people do not even mean just the city limits when they say "LA". If you count the area most people typically refer to as LA, it could practically be its own state.

I'll tell you one thing: I am a native New Yorker and I drive into and out of New York City every single day, using both the highways and city roads... I'm used to it. But I *HATE* driving in LA. I was just there last month (also arrived on the SWC!) and my wife almost jumped out of the car because I was getting so angry at the driving. So, just something to be prepared for I guess. I was fine for the first day but things built up quickly to where I just couldn't do it anymore. I had to let my wife drive the rest of the trip.

Also, Hertz at Union Station rented me a car with such a broken transmission that I had to exchange it at Long Beach Airport.

charex said:

I'm Italian, I won't waste a good pizza like this!

Click to expand...

As an Italian, I'm not sure most of what you'd find in the southwest would even qualify as pizza, much less good pizza

Los Angeles has some spots that are easy to get to on transit, and some that are more difficult. It's gotten much better over the last 20 years.

Where do you want to go?

Sorry - back to ABQ and Breaking Bad...

The Pre-Series, "Better Call Saul" is in its 7th episode. The 6th episode has a great scene where Mike steps off the NM Railrunner (apparently from Philadelphia?!?? ), and some internal shots of the ABQ Alvarado Transportation Center.

jimhudson: I will confess that my home in Los Lunas suffered much. It was sinking due to poor preparation of the site, my sand box of a yard was full of weeds, which apparently all weeds in New Mexico have to have sharp thorns, and no matter what I did, I would get a fine dusting of sand inside my french doors when the wind blew from the West. But I could see a thunderstorm form 100 miles away!

Thanks for the suggestion!

I've just discovered the Bright Angel Trail, and I think I'll definitely do some part of it (the 3miles one looks great).

StriderGDM said:

For the Grand Canyon, it may sound obvious, but take at least some time to hike INTO it (and remember it takes longer to hike out than in.)

I've seen far too many tourists that stay on the edge and observe it, but never get below the Rim.

If you've only got the one night and no camping gear, I'd recommend descending to the 1.5 mile or 3 mile hut and back.

If you have camping gear, try to get a permit now (don't wait) and descend to Indian Gardens for the night.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I've already downloaded them all

niemi24s said:

Just in case you have not already come across these Route Guides, many Amtrak routes have one published. Here are the ones for the Cardinal http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/771/269/Amtrak-Cardinal-Train-Route-Guide.pdf and the Southwest Chief http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/933/628/Amtrak-Southwest-Chief-Train-Route-Guide.pdf

Click to expand...