March Road Trip

Hi, I was wanting to take a road trip around Arizona in March, see some sites and route 66 but I%26#39;m not sure what the weather is like at that time of year. Will it be alright for a road trip or does the snow get too bad? Any advice would be great as well as tips on what not to miss.

March Road Trip

Anyone with any advice? Would be really appreciated? Don%26#39;t know the area well as from UK!

March Road Trip

March in northern AZ can be snowy and cold. Southern AZ usually is warm (even hot!)

How long do you have?

I would see the Grand Canyon and Sedona, with possibly seeing the national monuments around Flagstaff (Wupatki, Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon)

There are portions of Rte 66 along I40.

In the southern part of the state visit Tucson. See the Az Sonoran Museum, Saguaro Nat. Mon, Kitt Peak National Observatory, Kartchner Caverns, Tombstone, maybe Organ Pipe Cactus Nat Mon.

Other spots to see: Petrified Forest Nat Park, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly Nat Mon, the Hopi Mesas, and I%26#39;m sure plenty more.

Visit:

www.nps.gov for information on all the National Parks and Monuments.

www.historic66.com/arizona for Rt 66 info

www.arizonaguide.com for Arizona info.

Thanks for your advice! Flying over on March 6th and home March 15th so not got long. Want to make the most of it. Want to experiance real Southwest America, think Grand Canyon is a must, as will be some of route 66.

There%26#39;s typically one last snow in March around Flagstaff, but when that will be is anyone%26#39;s guess. If it does snow though, the roads are usually cleared and re-opened in a day or so. 100 miles west or east of Flagstaff will probably be clear.

Are you looking to stick mainly to Route 66? Do you want to head west to California or east to New Mexico? Where are you flying in and out of? How much do you want to drive in a day? Are you interested in Route 66 culture, Native American things, or the real small town Southwest?

Will probably be flying into LAX as is cheapest option from UK but won%26#39;t be spending much time there, will head out east. Not worried about sticking just to route 66 as don%26#39;t want to miss anything really cool. Really interested in route 66 culture, history and myth and small town southwest. Are there any real ghost towns in the area? Really looking forward to the trip!

Hi

Well, driving R66 is not real cool anymore but there%26#39;re some fine places. It takes time and you mainly drive along I40 in Ca. and Az. There are already parts of R66 between San Bernadino and Barstow in Ca. but my advice is to drive R66 from Barstow on I40 to exit 7 (Daggett). Now you%26#39;re on National Trails Hw, former R66. In Newberry is Bagdad Cafe where the movie was made. It had another name but now it%26#39;s Bagdad Cafe and it%26#39;s open for business. From Newberry to Ludlow, refreshments are at the Dairy Queen. A long stretch with some original R66 shield painted on the road to the Lava beds and cones just before Amboy. There%26#39;re also the remains of the ';town'; of Bagdad if you can find it, but just a tree, a graveyard and a lot of glass. In Amboy stop at the classic Roy%26#39;s Cafe, open for food and drinks but the motel is closed. Then drive to hamlets as Cadiz, Danby (nothing there) Essex and Goffs and see the old schoolhouse. Then to Needles for the night. There are many abandonned places on this old R66 stretch, barber wired and all. Driving I40 will be much faster (max speed on Nat. Trails Hw is 55 mph and you can hop on and off from I40 if you like, but a real R66 buff stays on it of course.)

From Needles there%26#39;s a great part of R66 (and it%26#39;s called R66 here). Drive to Topock and to Oatman. Stop in Oatman and feed the ';';wild'; burro%26#39;s. Oatman is a must stop. Then drive Sitgreaves Pass (some switchbacks) to Kingman. Some old relics are still present along this drive. From Kingman take the other part of R66. It%26#39;s on a smooth highway, no shields anymore and 65 mph. A must stop is Hackberry with it%26#39;s outside museum. Awesome!. Then you drive along Valentine, Peach Springs and Grand Canyon Caverns to Seligman, also a little town with some nice places to visit. Last part is from Seligman to the 139 entrance to I40 but nothing there anymore. Williams is a great old R66 town worth a visit and it%26#39;s one hour from Williams to GCNP.

So it makes 2 long days to drive from LA to GCNP using R66. You already knew: We liked it very much!!

but others may find it....well, boring.

Tet

Tet%26#39;s got the western part of Route 66 covered. Newberry Springs is a good stop, especially if you%26#39;ve seen ';Bagdad Cafe'; (it%26#39;s a good movie, although a little weird), and Oatman is definitely worth a stop.

Route 66 culture mostly involves %26#39;50%26#39;s and %26#39;60%26#39;s Americana road culture and neon signs, which is what many people seek out and is what you%26#39;ll find on much of Route 66. The rest is a sort of evolution of diners and gift shops trying hard to placate to that image. But it%26#39;s difficult to find that sort of thing off of Route 66 since none of the other old highways garnered that same sort of imagery and mystique: No one ever wrote a song about Highway 80, even though it%26#39;s just as cool. You%26#39;ll find spotty examples of the road culture and neon signage off Route 66 in Tucson, Benson, Yuma, Gila Bend, and much moreso in New Mexico, but not enough to warrant a visit to most of those towns (especially Gila Bend).

For ';real'; ghost towns, you have to understand that real ghost towns in Arizona are typically nothing but a few abandoned buildings at the most, and foundations and piles of scrap at the least. Only a couple have businesses and a few more have people living there. If you come to the Tucson area, you%26#39;ll have more luck with that in places like Fairbank and Ruby, the latter of which is very well-preserved but has a hefty per person admission ($12, I think), and there are two ';ghost town trails'; nearby, one in Santa Cruz County and the other in Cochise County, both of which go by some interesting places, although I think the latter is much more interesting.

The other ';real'; ghost towns often require high-clearance or even 4x4 to get to, and their relative inaccessibility has kept them in fairly good condition. There are tourist-oriented ';ghost towns'; like Jerome though, which may be more what you%26#39;re looking for.

hth

Go to Jerome for an old mining town they say is a ';ghost town';, it is really interesting if you go to the museum there, funny enough there are ties to the Churchill family included in the history.

Of course you must stay in Sedona ( half hour away)its really beautiful here.

Lots of B%26amp;B%26#39;s to choose from.

Sedona is 4 hours drive east of Las Vegas.

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