How's California in March?

[denpo]

Mrs Denpo and your servitor are contemplating a little road trip in the south west of USA in march.
Probably two week, what we got so far in the check list :
SF, LA, Vegas and Some Park (we heard good comment about Arches Park).
How's the weather in March :rain:?
Any suggestions?

I'd be also delighted to meet IRL any forum member who wanna see how Frenchies are made these days.:drink:

 

[73 Mike]

SF should be nice by March. Some years the rains carry over that far but they are mostly benign. I'd vote for Arches. A truly awesome place. March might be a little early but I'm not positive about that.

LA should be very nice by March though the evenings will still be cool.

As for a get together, I'll even speak French to you if you're buying :rofl:

 

[Kid Vette]

SF should be nice by March. Some years the rains carry over that far but they are mostly benign. I'd vote for Arches. A truly awesome place. March might be a little early but I'm not positive about that.

LA should be very nice by March though the evenings will still be cool.

As for a get together, I'll even speak French to you if you're buying :rofl:

What he said except I don't speak any French. We could show you the sights here in Santa Cruz though. :beer:

 

[mrvette]

I can't help you on the weather patterns, I assume you flying to SF, then head down to LA, then head west to Vegas....once you at Vegas, you simply have to see the DAM, and then to head east to see the Grand Canyon, which is less than a day's drive from Vegas, Linda and I did that trip coming from Santa Fe NMex at my sister's place, we never saw Vegas and the dam though.....

as you catch the southern lookout of the Grand Canyon, you head east along Canyon road there, that viers south toward Painted Desert, and the Meteor Crater....both worth seeing, along with Petrified Forest .....

It's all doable in 2 weeks easy.....we only had ten days for our trip....

maybe you can arrange a flight back home from that region, save driving back to SFran.....??

long time ago, airlines didn't book flights like that, or they gave all sorts of shit reasons, almost sounded like a .gov operation....but worth a shot....

:crutches:

 

[denpo]

Thanks you guys for the input.
I'll probably buy my tickets tonight, the sooner the better.
Our plans, as Mr Vette guessed, is to land in SF, head down LA then east, and catch a plane back home from here, maybe Phoenix or Salt Lake City.
This all boil down to how much is it to rent a car at one place and leave it at another.
Can't wait to see you live guys.

 

[clutchdust]

Southern California will be about how it is any other time of the year. That's why it's so popular. Figure somewhere in the 70s (F) and sunny. Bring shorts.
If you're stopping in Vegas, be sure to give me a shout.

 

[mrvette]

Thanks you guys for the input.
I'll probably buy my tickets tonight, the sooner the better.
Our plans, as Mr Vette guessed, is to land in SF, head down LA then east, and catch a plane back home from here, maybe Phoenix or Salt Lake City.
This all boil down to how much is it to rent a car at one place and leave it at another.
Can't wait to see you live guys.

Just make damn sure you see ALL the sites I mentioned above....

be nice to see Carlsbad N. Mex caverns...also, but it's a bit of a push on you then, doable, but a push....

the Caverns are neat, the Az side of the GC is not to be missed, I sunno about the north edge, never seen it....but one thing you gotta do, is sit there near the edge, get yourself set for the afternoon, and watch the sunset from about 2pm on till whenever, we were there in like June, so pick up on the times for sunsets, surely that varies and is noted on the net....

:friends::crutches:

OH, one more thing I forgot to mention, when you get into the high plains of Az/NMex....you look UP at night......~7200 feet elevation and CLEAR, you can scoop up stars...for a east coast guy, THAT was a site....

 

[denpo]

Southern California will be about how it is any other time of the year. That's why it's so popular. Figure somewhere in the 70s (F) and sunny. Bring shorts.
If you're stopping in Vegas, be sure to give me a shout.

Sure we'll stop by, everybody got to visit Hell-on-earth-city at least once in his lifetime :bonkers::rofl:

 

[Kid Vette]

Thanks you guys for the input.
I'll probably buy my tickets tonight, the sooner the better.
Our plans, as Mr Vette guessed, is to land in SF, head down LA then east, and catch a plane back home from here, maybe Phoenix or Salt Lake City.
This all boil down to how much is it to rent a car at one place and leave it at another.
Can't wait to see you live guys.

I assume you will be taking US 1 from SF to LA which goes right through Santa Cruz. Got dates set yet?

 

[denpo]

Thanks you guys for the input.
I'll probably buy my tickets tonight, the sooner the better.
Our plans, as Mr Vette guessed, is to land in SF, head down LA then east, and catch a plane back home from here, maybe Phoenix or Salt Lake City.
This all boil down to how much is it to rent a car at one place and leave it at another.
Can't wait to see you live guys.

I assume you will be taking US 1 from SF to LA which goes right through Santa Cruz. Got dates set yet?

I'll get dates probably tonigh once I figure out the cheapest days to fly,it will be probably the two last week of March.
I didn't plan the route yet, but that probably will be just as you said.

Does you guys have preferences went it comes to choose a car rental company?

 

[MYBAD79]

I've done the trip around the Canyon, started in Vegas and returned to Vegas... there's tons of amazing scenery, the Grand canyon, Monument valley, Zion Ntl park, Bryce Canyon is all close together, Arches is further north. One important thing: buy water, some food and blankets for emergency ... as silly as it might sound to someone who hasn't been in this area, if your car brakes down you're F'ed ... there's not even cellphone signal in most of that area... rent from National/Hertz,Avis.... none of the shady half price rentals if you go out in the desert...
there was a couple who died not too long ago, read it in the news, if I remember correctly it was de-hydration near Joshua tree park

 

[denpo]

I've done the trip around the Canyon, started in Vegas and returned to Vegas... there's tons of amazing scenery, the Grand canyon, Monument valley, Zion Ntl park, Bryce Canyon is all close together, Arches is further north. One important thing: buy water, some food and blankets for emergency ... as silly as it might sound to someone who hasn't been in this area, if your car brakes down you're F'ed ... there's not even cellphone signal in most of that area... rent from National/Hertz,Avis.... none of the shady half price rentals if you go out in the desert...
there was a couple who died not too long ago, read it in the news, if I remember correctly it was de-hydration near Joshua tree park

Good to know, I'm not used to desertic climate.

 

[73 Mike]

Thanks you guys for the input.
I'll probably buy my tickets tonight, the sooner the better.
Our plans, as Mr Vette guessed, is to land in SF, head down LA then east, and catch a plane back home from here, maybe Phoenix or Salt Lake City.
This all boil down to how much is it to rent a car at one place and leave it at another.
Can't wait to see you live guys.

A suggestion that may save you a few bucks. If you plan on flying into the Bay Area, San Jose and Oakland airports are about 1/2 hour from SFO and it's usually cheaper to fly into them. You just may not have as many choices out of Montreal.

If you have the time to drive down Highway 1, as KidVette suggested, it would be very worthwhile. The scenery is stunning. Santa Cruz is fun too.

 

[mrvette]

Thanks you guys for the input.
I'll probably buy my tickets tonight, the sooner the better.
Our plans, as Mr Vette guessed, is to land in SF, head down LA then east, and catch a plane back home from here, maybe Phoenix or Salt Lake City.
This all boil down to how much is it to rent a car at one place and leave it at another.
Can't wait to see you live guys.

A suggestion that may save you a few bucks. If you plan on flying into the Bay Area, San Jose and Oakland airports are about 1/2 hour from SFO and it's usually cheaper to fly into them. You just may not have as many choices out of Montreal.

If you have the time to drive down Highway 1, as KidVette suggested, it would be very worthwhile. The scenery is stunning. Santa Cruz is fun too.

ONLY time in SFran was for the '87 Bay Bridge walk, 50th anniv of the bridge....75th is coming up....on May 24th........surely the joint will be crazy then, I remember we stayed in Oakland in some apt. and took the BART system to SF, and one day we walked the entire area, from SF side of BART around the warehouses, up the hill to under the BRIDGE, and then climbed some hills to towers and then looked down that famous Lombard street,

have lunch/dinner at some famous Chinese Restaurant, and walk out the front door, to your right about 2 blocks away you looking into the TENTH story of a office building.....:rofl: being from the flatlands of the east coast, THAT was a site for ME....

IF they flattened out Ca. it would be easy the size of the entire country....
verticality is order of the day....

:rofl::rofl: IF you can swing it, a side tour to San Diego is nice too, sailing on Mission Bay....and many view of rock vs ocean all over the joint.....:bump:

 

[denpo]

Thanks you guys for the input.
I'll probably buy my tickets tonight, the sooner the better.
Our plans, as Mr Vette guessed, is to land in SF, head down LA then east, and catch a plane back home from here, maybe Phoenix or Salt Lake City.
This all boil down to how much is it to rent a car at one place and leave it at another.
Can't wait to see you live guys.

A suggestion that may save you a few bucks. If you plan on flying into the Bay Area, San Jose and Oakland airports are about 1/2 hour from SFO and it's usually cheaper to fly into them. You just may not have as many choices out of Montreal.

If you have the time to drive down Highway 1, as KidVette suggested, it would be very worthwhile. The scenery is stunning. Santa Cruz is fun too.

I used Kayak.com (pretty efficient) to look up for flight, and yes, I saw San Jose being cheaper. I also learned that Thursdays are the cheapest day in the week.
And surprisingly there is Air Canada direct fly from Montreal to pretty much any major US cities (eg: Pheonix AZ is in the list)
And, icing on the cake, it doesn't matter if you're not going back from the same location/company/airport. I'm used to transatlantic scams where price doubles up if you're switching airports.

 

[denpo]

ONLY time in SFran was for the '87 Bay Bridge walk, 50th anniv of the bridge....75th is coming up....on May 24th........surely the joint will be crazy then, I remember we stayed in Oakland in some apt. and took the BART system to SF, and one day we walked the entire area, from SF side of BART around the warehouses, up the hill to under the BRIDGE, and then climbed some hills to towers and then looked down that famous Lombard street,

have lunch/dinner at some famous Chinese Restaurant, and walk out the front door, to your right about 2 blocks away you looking into the TENTH story of a office building.....:rofl: being from the flatlands of the east coast, THAT was a site for ME....

IF they flattened out Ca. it would be easy the size of the entire country....
verticality is order of the day....

:rofl::rofl: IF you can swing it, a side tour to San Diego is nice too, sailing on Mission Bay....and many view of rock vs ocean all over the joint.....:bump:

Taking notes.....

 

[DC3]

Don't know if would work for you to fly into and then out of Vegas but sometimes I am amazed at how cheap flights to and from Vegas can be compared to other cities. Vegas may be subsidizing flights.

DC

 

[Grampy]

I have 3 Montreal Winter Combat ribbons. I flew there every week 3 out of the last 4 winters. Occasionally there was a 40*C temp change from home to Dorval.

March weather in the west will vary. SF and LA are at at sea level and will likely be very pleasant. The rainy season is ending and we are having a dry winter. Temps about 22*C and usually sunny.

When you move inland LV, arches, grand canyon, SLC you will be well above sea level (1.5 Km) and it will likely be colder and with some wind so you'll need jackets.

The suggested sights are all winners. You can't go wrong with any of those destinations.

Have a great trip.

Grampy

 

[big2bird]

No gaurantees, but Darrow was talking about a run in March. My schedule is kinda foggy that far ahead.:ghost:

 

[MYBAD79]

Don't know if would work for you to fly into and then out of Vegas but sometimes I am amazed at how cheap flights to and from Vegas can be compared to other cities. Vegas may be subsidizing flights.

DC

I suspect the hotels are paying..... to keep flights cheap and people coming....