"Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread

[1995hoo]

If you want something totally different, look up the Valley of the Gods B&B. It’s near the foot of the Moki Dugway and it’s completely off the grid. Beautiful place to stay and the breakfast was outstanding, though I don’t know whether the same couple still own it. Even nicer was the dark sky. It’s the only building within about a 14-mile radius. We were lucky enough to stay there on the night of a total lunar eclipse and the sky was completely clear. I hadn’t seen stars and the Milky Way like that in a very long time.

[wj73]

I remember seeing that place! IIRC, it was just to the left as you came off Moki Dugway and entered Valley of the Gods. It looked intriguing. Sounds like you had a great stay.

[dracnal]

Just back from a 3 week driving trip to the American Southwest.
*snip*

What a great writeup! Sounds like a wonderful trip!

[imref]

Thanks for sharing WJ.  We did a similar trip a few years ago:
- Colorado Springs (Garden of the Gods)
- Cimarron NM (Philmont Scout Reservation / Historic St. James Hotel)
- Durango / Mesa Verde
- Sedona (with a side trip to Jerome, which sits about 2,500' up and provides spectacular views)

I absolutely loved Sedona and Durango. Mesa Verde was interesting, but the drive up and down was terrifying (as was the drive up to Jerome).

We ended up driving about 1,600 miles. The scenery was spectacular. I wish we had more time in Durango (including time to ride on the railroad that you did), and time to visit Taos (we only drove through) as well as Lake Powell, Horseshoe Bend, and some of the formations in Navajo Nation. There's just so much to see and do in that region you could spend a few months and not see it all.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

1600 miles is a proper road trip. 

The missus and I drove 1200 km over the past week in Eastern & Western Cape provinces in S Africa, which was enough driving to see a lot but not so much that all one did was sit in the car.   

Primary roads there are excellent, and even gravel & dirt tracks in national parks are driveable in a 2wd if you take it slow (I had a VW Polo sedan).  Aside from perhaps the stretch of the N2 between Somerset West and Capetown through Khayelitsha, nothing too dodgy and even that is 100% fine during the day.  Less stressful driving through there than attending a Phillies game anyways.   

Petrol is expensive but most everything else is cheap AF compared to here.  Food & wine are superb. 

After goofing in Capetown for a few days, we flew via Airlink to Port Elizabeth. I rented a lovely little private hut (air con, fridge, balcony with a braai pit) in Addo Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth for 3 nights from the South African Park Service and then we road tripped back to Capetown along the so-called "Garden Route".  The scenery is beyond spectacular.  And United's nonstop flights between Dulles and Capetown are the icing on the cake...almost 16 hours, but overnight in both directions.  We got enough sleep on the plane to have full work days today.   

[Count Walewski]

South Africa is hosting the G20 this year which has grown into far more than one summit and now contains dozens of meetings between different levels of staff. They're hosting a lot of these at national parks and safari lodges. Looks nice.

[imref]

South Africa is hosting the G20 this year which has grown into far more than one summit and now contains dozens of meetings between different levels of staff. They're hosting a lot of these at national parks and safari lodges. Looks nice.

My son was considering going to SA last year for a study-abroad program but we were advised against it by a few people we knew who had spent recent time in the country. The medical system is terrible and crime has gotten bad. He would have been in Cape Town, which from everything i've read is fine if you take normal city precautions (e.g., don't go out to buy drugs at 2 AM).  He ended up going to Australia instead.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

There are "no go" areas but that's true in Camden NJ and Gary Indiana too. And the private healthcare system is pretty good, and in some places, excellent.  The public system is like the NHS in the UK, anyone who can afford to go elsewhere does.  But as bad as the public system can be (especially in rural areas), there actually exists at least the notional access to affordable rudimentary healthcare, unlike some other places that come to mind 

My son was considering going to SA last year for a study-abroad program but we were advised against it by a few people we knew who had spent recent time in the country. The medical system is terrible and crime has gotten bad. He would have been in Cape Town, which from everything i've read is fine if you take normal city precautions (e.g., don't go out to buy drugs at 2 AM).  He ended up going to Australia instead.