Side Trips

[PaulandMary]

We are traveling from Riverside, CA, to Prescott, AZ, to Taos, NM, to Moab, UT. This is our first venture in that direction. Can anyone advise interesting sites within this route?:h

[2gypsies1]

Do you have a special reason for Prescott? Cottonwood State Park in Cottonwood, AZ would be our choice. It's a good area for exploring Indian ruins and also Sedona. You could even do a day trip to Grand Canyon but a long day.

For Prescott or wherever... take Hwy 89 north out of Flagstaff, AZ and pick up 160 at Tuba City, AZ to Kayenta. Then pick up 163 north and stop for Monument Valley. Then continue north on 163 to 191 to Moab.

You'd then have to backtrack on 191 south to 491 to 160 across southern Colorado - Mesa Verde Nat'l Park at Cortez, Durango and Pagosa Springs for a wonder soak.

From Pagosa Springs, CO take 84 south to 64 east into Taos.

[artillery6]

In Taos take the Enchanted Circle Drive. There is an outstanding pottery factory just outside of Angle Fire as you drive back to Taos taking the drive clockwise from Taos. The RV park in Angle is stupendous. It has been voted as one of the top 100 in the US.

[jfkmk]

All of the above and Sedona too, although it gets crowded depending on the time of year. My brother had hyped Jerome, but we were unimpressed. Although 89a is fun to drive if you have a toad.

[jplante4]

Painted desert and the Petrified Forest.

[RoyB]

Everytime we try this we end up staying in Flagstaff as home base and spending a week or so checking out all of the so called side trips haha...

Roy Ken

[MountainAir05]

barmcd wrote:
I don't know if those locations are in the order you're going to drive, but Prescott isn't a long way from Moab.

Check out the old mining area aroud Jerome, Clarksdale and Cottonwood, AZ. If you like railroads, take the Verde Canyon Railroad from Clarksdale to Perkinsville. You could also check out Tuzigoot National Monument and Montezuma's Castle while you're in the area.

Over in New Mexico, Chaco Canyon is an impressive an Anasazi ruin as you'll see. Eagle's Nest, Angel Fire, and Red River are interesting places to see near Taos. There is also white water rafting on the Rio Grande river if you're into that.

Not enough water in the river to float a boat.

[crasster]

Sounds fun! Look for the meteor crater. 🙂 google it.

[wallynm]

In addition to what has been named - Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Four Corners, Mesa Verde, Hubble Trading Post, Gorge Bridge to name a few.

PaulandMary wrote:
We are traveling from Riverside, CA, to Prescott, AZ, to Taos, NM, to Moab, UT. This is our first venture in that direction. Can anyone advise interesting sites within this route?:h

[barmcd]

I don't know if those locations are in the order you're going to drive, but Prescott isn't a long way from Moab.

Check out the old mining area aroud Jerome, Clarksdale and Cottonwood, AZ. If you like railroads, take the Verde Canyon Railroad from Clarksdale to Perkinsville. You could also check out Tuzigoot National Monument and Montezuma's Castle while you're in the area.

Over in New Mexico, Chaco Canyon is an impressive an Anasazi ruin as you'll see. Eagle's Nest, Angel Fire, and Red River are interesting places to see near Taos. There is also white water rafting on the Rio Grande river if you're into that.

[Dick_B]

Do a Google search for `_____ tourism' and put the town, state, area, or whatever in the blank to read what the specialists have to recommend.