Sometimes I wonder what the heck we’re doing. When my husband and I get antsy, it means that a day trip is in order. However, I’m pretty sure my family’s definition of “day trip” borders on delusion.
Here’s a taste of what we’ve been up to recently to help illustrate my point:
A day trip to Huntington Beach. I know what you’re thinking, so let me answer your question. Why yes, Huntington Beach is about a four-hour drive each way from Las Vegas. This little bit of madness was a joint effort between me and my husband, since I think I was the one who wistfully mentioned the beach, but it was his idea that this was a reasonable thing to do in one day rather than one weekend. We enjoyed some time at the beach, ate lunch at Sandy’s, and had post-sandcastle milkshakes at the 50′s-style diner, Ruby’s. We also spent a lot of time in the car.
A day trip to Zion National Park. When we had family in town, it was suggested that Zion is “just a couple hours away” and that we could totally drive there, look around, and come home in one day. Well, it turns out “a couple” is more like 3.5, and it didn’t help that we accidentally took the scenic route home. Although the Zion excurion wasn’t my husband’s idea, it did come from his side of the family, which I think demonstrates that crazy travel schemes are at least somewhat genetic.
We’ve got a lot planned for this summer: big adventures that involve flights and/or long drives, but also a few day trips near Las Vegas. Despite the crazy desert heat, I love this time of year! Something about summer makes you think you can go out and do anything…like drive 8 hours roundtrip, enjoy your destination, and get home in time to maintain your sanity.
What do you think? Where is that fine line between “day trip” and “weekend getaway?”
If I had my way I’d be taking day trips and weekend getaways all summer long but time and money just don’t allow. Dangit.
And I consider a weekend get away to be one where it’s overnight or two nights. A day trip is one that can start at 6 am and end at midnight…or just be 5-6 hours and only a hundred or so miles away.
By the way, have you been to the China Ranch Date Farm yet?
I hear ya! The more day trips the better!
What I meant by determing the difference between day trips and weekend trips is what distance would you be willing to drive roundtrip in one day? What distance would make you say, “Ok. We can’t drive that far and still have time to have fun. We’re spending the night.”?
John and I have done several trips to L.A. in one day and still had a good time so you know that right there is an okay distance for us. It’s when we want to do more than a 2-4 hour hangout that we decide to do overnight.
Anything related to Route 66 is an overnighter. We’ve stayed in Barstow overnight so we could photograph the signs there and then got up early the next day to hit Route 66 from Daggett to Needles.
If you’re interested in that and E can handle long stretches without a break, it’s an interesting drive. The drive from Barstow to Victorville on Route 66 is also a fun one.
I think too far would be anything north of LA. We’re pretty willing to drive 4 hours to our destination, hangout for a few hours, then drive back. It’s hard sometimes and we would stay if both of us were too tired to drive but it’s well worth it.
The beauty is the huge number of places that you can make a day trip out of if you’re willing to drive four hours from Vegas. Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Utah….I think for us most of those would be overnighters though. Unless hotel rates were astronomical…then I think we’d drive back.
I once chatted with a nice couple on the beach in San Diego. They said they’d driven over on a daytrip from Phoenix. My reaction was, “Whaaaaaaaat?”