Where to camp in Vegas, AZ and where to go from there?

[Lesherp]

We are heading for Vegas in a couple of weeks and are wondering where to camp there. I thought I had seen a post here about places to stay but I can’t find it. I have the worst luck with using search engines. We are meeting friends there and will are looking for other places to visit around there and on the way back home to Oregon. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We will be staying on the road until the heat or homesickness gets to us.

[Bill]

I don't know where Vegas, AZ is. Google maps doesn't seem to know, either. Can you be a bit more specific?

Bill

[Lesherp]

LOL I am probably going to spend a couple of weeks just driving around trying to find it.

Kinda depends on your interests, doesn't it? I don't find much of interest in Las Vegas but you might consider coming back to Oregon via New Mexico & Colorado. Lots of great country to see there. Or come north through Sedona and up through Utah catching the national parks - Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, etc.

FWIW, I just spent 5 days at Ghost Ranch about 50 miles north of Santa Fe on Hwy 84. It's the former home of the artist, Georgia O'Keefe. The 20,000 acre ranch is now a conference center but has a campground with full hook up or no hook up sites, lots of hiking, spectacular scenery, an archeology museum with active dinosaur digs, tours of places O'Keefe painted, and of course, spectacular red rock canyons, mesas, and meadows along the river.

I go there each Spring to meet with a bunch of bluegrass musicians but there are plenty of people who go there just to camp or hike. You can also buy meal tickets if you are tired of cooking.

Keith

[T and C]

Originally Posted by Lesherp

We are heading for Vegas in a couple of weeks and are wondering where to camp there. I thought I had seen a post here about places to stay but I can’t find it. I have the worst luck with using search engines. We are meeting friends there and will are looking for other places to visit around there and on the way back home to Oregon. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We will be staying on the road until the heat or homesickness gets to us.

Lesherp,

I am assuming that you meant Las Vegas, NV and Arizona.

While at Las Vegas, DO go down to Hoover Dam. It is pretty impressive. The "hard hat" tour costs $30, but you spend an hour down inside the dam and it is very interesting.

If I were into Las Vegas, I would either look for a KOA or a place listed in Woodall's guide for an RV park.

If you plan to tourist in AZ for a while, of course the Grand Canyon is the biggest draw...with good reason. Everyone should see it, IMHO. There are some interesting things to see around Flagstaff, which is nearby. Cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon, Ancient Indian ruins. Sunset crater national monument, (an inactive volcano cinder cone you can climb and an ice cave you can enter). A couple of hours east of Flagstaff one finds the Meteor Crater, (impressive), and Petrified Forest national park.

At Phoenix, you can visit the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen West architectural school.

At Tucson, if you are a military buff, is one of the world's best aviation museums: The Pima Air Museum. From the museum you can go on a bus tour of the aircraft "boneyard" at Davis-Monthan AFB. About 20 miles south at Sahuarita you can tour an Atlas missile silo complete with deactivated Atlas missile.

There's a lot more in AZ. Just a few places I have seen.

Tom

[wbmiller3]

As someone said, it depends on your interests, but our two don't-miss spots in Arizona are Tucson Mountain Park and Chiricahua National Monument.