Trip out west

[Dakota731]

What is a good airport to fly into to be able to stay in one city for a week and take day trips to see the sights? I don't want to spend hours driving in a car all week. We've done the Grand Canyon and Vegas and they were great for a week stay with side trips. Any other places we could do that?

 

[pblack]

I think it would depend on what you're interested in doing.

Ex: you could fly into Sacramento and take day trips too: Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz (albeit i'd recommend an overnight stay for these locations). If you're willing to stay in different cities, you could drive down/up the coast.

 

[nordkin]

We just spent a week in Rapid City, SD and visited 5 national parks including Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Minuteman Missle Site, Jewel Cave, and Wind Cave, We also went to Sturgis to a motorcycle museum, Deadwood, Devil's Tower, The South Dakota Aviation Museum, Custer State Park, and rode a steam train. We had a wonderful time and our days were full. I can highly recommend Black Hills Vacations to assist and you have to get tickets for the Minuteman Missle tour through them. The tour books well in advance because only 6 people at a time can do the tour.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

What is a good airport to fly into to be able to stay in one city for a week and take day trips to see the sights? I don't want to spend hours driving in a car all week. We've done the Grand Canyon and Vegas and they were great for a week stay with side trips. Any other places we could do that?

I’m partial to the Monterey Peninsula area (Carmel, Carmel by the Sea, Big Sur, Pacific Grove, Monterey). You could fly into SF & take the short flight to Monterey airport. It’s a small airport. That could get pricey. Or just fly into SF & rent a car. I lived there for 16 years & it’s absolutely beautiful.

 

[pens4821]

Denver area could be good if you like mountains. Although it may be a little far to drive to sights. I'd maybe make a circle. From Denver you could get into a lot of places within 1.5/2 hours, but not sure if I'd want to drive (to say Estes Park area) sight see, then go back.

 

[Dakota731]

We just spent a week in Rapid City, SD and visited 5 national parks including Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Minuteman Missle Site, Jewel Cave, and Wind Cave, We also went to Sturgis to a motorcycle museum, Deadwood, Devil's Tower, The South Dakota Aviation Museum, Custer State Park, and rode a steam train. We had a wonderful time and our days were full. I can highly recommend Black Hills Vacations to assist and you have to get tickets for the Minuteman Missle tour through them. The tour books well in advance because only 6 people at a time can do the tour.

This trip sounds great - how far were the national parks from Rapid City? I'd like to get a rental as home base then do day trips for the week and your agenda sounds perfect!

 

[crazycatstacy]

Glad you enjoyed Rapid City and our area. I live and work here!

 

[kathy884]

We often fly into Denver, stay one night to get used to the altitude and then spend a week in Estes Park, visiting the lovely Rocky Mountain National Park (plenty to do there for an entire week).

We too, have flown into Phoenix and driven the two hours to Sedona, AZ and spent the entire week there (mostly exploring Sedona), but plenty of side trip opportunities too (Montezuma's Castle and Jerome) were side trips we did on our last stay.

We are actually flying into Rapid City later this month, doing two nights there (visiting friends, will see Bear Country USA, and the Reptile Garden), two nights in Wall (around an hour and a 1/2 from Rapid City) around our one day in the Badlands National Park, and then we will visit Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse on our drive to Custer State Park where we are staying three nights in a cabin by the game lodge there with fire pit (total driving time that day is less than two hours). That gives us two days to explore Custer State Park. There are two National Park caves mentioned above that are south of Custer. We aren't going to these, but many people enjoy visiting those too.

 

[Wish Upon A Starbucks]

We love Moab. You fly into Salt Lake City then it’s about three hours to Moab. Arches NP is amazing plus you can see Canyonlands and others. Beautiful country!

 

[nordkin]

This trip sounds great - how far were the national parks from Rapid City? I'd like to get a rental as home base then do day trips for the week and your agenda sounds perfect!

We never drove more than 90 minutes to our first stop of the day. We always drove to the furthest point and worked our way back to Rapid City. We actually stayed at the Residence Inn in Box Elder about 15 minutes from the Rapid City Airport.

 

[tguz]

We never drove more than 90 minutes to our first stop of the day. We always drove to the furthest point and worked our way back to Rapid City. We actually stayed at the Residence Inn in Box Elder about 15 minutes from the Rapid City Airport.

We did a vacation out that way in 2016 and loved it. We stayed in Deadwood and it was very cool. We visited the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, explored The Black Hills, and Devils Tower. We enjoyed the reenactments of the shootouts in the street of Deadwood and all of the Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane stuff.

 

[tvguy]

I think it would depend on what you're interested in doing.

Ex: you could fly into Sacramento and take day trips too: Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz (albeit i'd recommend an overnight stay for these locations). If you're willing to stay in different cities, you could drive down/up the coast.

If you like history, and wine, the Sacramento area is good. Tahoe, San Francisco......Lodi for wine (oh yeah, there is Napa for wine too ) Coloma Gold Discovery area. Empire Mine Gold Mine. Bode Historic state park. Jelly Belly factory tour in Fairfield.

 

[StarlitNight05]

I agree Sacramento would be a good option to fly into. I'm from Sacramento and one of the things I always hear people say about our city is that it's a great central location to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the wine country (Napa/Sonoma -- but as a PP mentioned Lodi is also great for wines as is Plymouth, Ca). Sacramento itself is slightly underwhelming, but we do have the Capitol building and Old Sacramento. Old Sacramento is cute with some touristy shops. There is also a pretty cool train museum in Old Sacramento, and the Crocker art museum nearby.

In addition to what others have mentioned, there are also some awesome redwoods in our area -- Muir Woods near San Francisco and Big Trees in Calaveras county.

San Francisco also has the Walt Disney Family Museum. A must visit for Disney fans!

If you are into thrill rides, there is also Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo (also near San Francisco). Granted I haven't been in ages, so I can't speak to the current conditions there.

 

[disneycat321]

San Francisco also has the Walt Disney Family Museum. A must visit for Disney fans!

YES. An absolutely amazing museum. It's worth the price of admission for the little detailed model of Disneyland alone.

 

[Someluck]

This trip sounds great - how far were the national parks from Rapid City? I'd like to get a rental as home base then do day trips for the week and your agenda sounds perfect!

I took a tour through collette tours where I stayed in the same hotel each night in Rapid City and then each day we went to see something in the area. With two hours drive you can go to Mammoth Hot Springs and see the dig site, Black Hills towns like Deadwood, Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park I'd check out Collette tours itinerary and see where they take people. We were busy everyday.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Someone said this but i was going to say Denver Colorado... you can take the train up into the mountains lots to do in the city snd airfare is cheap cause its in the middle of the us its a hub for a few airlines

 

[Dakota731]

Any national parks or scenic attractions within a few hours of Denver?

 

[2TxAgs]

Any national parks or scenic attractions within a few hours of Denver?

Rocky Mountain NP is 2 hours away and is one of the most beautiful places in America. Estes Park on the east side is a popular place and you're close enough to do some hikes and see lots of wildlife. An hour south of Denver is the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs - everyone should see that in their lifetime. Amazing drive thru and some good hikes. While in Colo Spgs, you can also visit the US Olympic training facility as well as the US Air Force Academy.

 

[Dakota731]

We are actually flying into Rapid City later this month, doing two nights there (visiting friends, will see Bear Country USA, and the Reptile Garden), two nights in Wall (around an hour and a 1/2 from Rapid City) around our one day in the Badlands National Park, and then we will visit Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse on our drive to Custer State Park where we are staying three nights in a cabin by the game lodge there with fire pit (total driving time that day is less than two hours). That gives us two days to explore Custer State Park. There are two National Park caves mentioned above that are south of Custer. We aren't going to these, but many people enjoy visiting those too.

We are hoping to do this trip in July. Which attractions did you think were worth recommending?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We flew into Vegas and drove north to visit Bryce Canyon NP and Zion NP. We rented a huge, beautiful cabin halfway between the 2. (I can look up that rental.) Dh gets stressed out to keep packing up and moving on to another town every couple days so this was a good spot to settle for 4 days.

We then drove to Page, AZ where the Colorado River enters AZ, to see Horseshoe Bend and took a rafting trip down the Colorado. So beautiful.
Since we live on the east coast most flights home are morning ones, we spent our last night at a hotel near LAS with airport shuttle so we could drop off the rental car the night before and use the shuttle in the am.

This was a very memorable trip for ds19 beacuse in Utah they let him ride his own ATV at age 14 and we had a blast. Not only would NJ never allow that but there are no public lands that would allow ATV riding here at all in the State of a Zillion Laws. Sigh. Unless you have lots of acreage to ride on your own property, there’s no point in owning one.