Houston to LA Road Trip
Road trip from Houston to California
Day 1: Drive from Houston to Fort Stockton
Stop for lunch at Fredericksburg. I recommend Vaudeville for lunch. This restaurant is part of a boutique that offers some excellent high end shopping. They have limited outdoor seating and is offered on a first come first served basis. Service is excellent and food is decent.
We made our first stop Fort Stockton so we could get to the Carlsbad Caverns the following day. There are not too many options in Fort Stockton for hotels or Air BnB’s. If you are looking for a really nice place to stay the only option is JL Bar & Ranch resort. It is a little before Fort Stockton but seems to be an amazing place. We stayed at the Fairfiled Inn & Suites. We were very happy with the check in and the room. Everything was really top notch for the price and the type of hotel.
Day 2: Drive from Fort Stockton to Las Cruces
Day 2 we drove from Fort Stockton to Carlsbad caverns. It is situated in the Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico. This is a UNESCO world heritage site. Make sure to make your reservations ahead of time since the number of visitors maybe restricted. The caves themselves are spectacular. In addition there is the bat flight at dusk which I have heard is quite spectacular so if possible do stay back for that. We had to get to Las cruces by the evening and our plan was to drive through the White Sands national park but unfortunately that route was closed and we could not drive through white sands national park. If you do want to drive through the park I suggest you check if the road is open because often the road through the park is closed due to the missile testing of the US army. However when we arrived at Las Cruces we decided to go upto the park border to check it out. The drive itself felt scary – no lights and nobody on the road with no end in sight. So we turned back because it looked like there was absolutely no habitation anywhere. We stayed at the Staybridge suites in Las Cruces and honestly I was not impressed. They are suite style but the room is very tiny and the bathroom was even tinier.
Day 3: Drive from Las Cruces to Tucson
Day 3 we started from Las Cruces to go to Tucson. Our main goal was to spend some time in the lovely Ritz Carlton property up in the mountains in Marana. We were so pleased with the customer service especially during COVID times. The rooms at this property is so spacious with lovely bathrooms. The property is so well laid out with lots of hiking paths, a golf course and the food is also well presented and quite delicious. Catch some brilliant sunsets here. For those interested in shopping there is an outlet mall just at the turning to get to the hotel.
Day 4: Tucson to LA
Having a long drive ahead of us planned through Joshua Tree national park we had an early start. Final destination was Los Angeles. The drive through Arizona onto California was lovely. Went through some sand storms and took the exit to drive through Joshua Tree national park. There are a couple of routes through Joshua Tree; you can take the route that takes you to the north entrance or the more scenic route which takes you to the west entrance. We stopped at the cholla cactus garden, jumbo rocks, skull rock and the Barker dam. There was no water in barker dam (guess it was too hot in June). On the way into LA is one of the biggest outlet malls in the US. On our way we stopped at the California craze: In & Out to pick up burgers. We had it once before and were not impressed but figured out there is a way to order to make sure we get the best. But we were so glad that we did it and then finally landed in LA for the evening exhausted and ready to call it a night.
Day 5 & 6: Los Angeles
We spent both days relaxing and hanging out with our daughter. There are plenty of things to do in LA but that will be for another post. However, I do want to mention some excellent restaurants that we ate at. Given these strange times it was not easy to pick restaurants because of the fear of dining in. We went to Robata Jinya at Studio City. They have outdoor seating and whatever we ordered was delicious – the Brussels sprouts tempura, sautéed shishito peppers, crispy chicken, the spicy chicken ramen and the bento box for the day.
Day 2 we ate at Toranj the Persian restaurant who also offered outdoor seating. Highly recommend the eggplant borani, shallot yoghurt, the mixed skewer with rice & salad. Another great Italian place that my daughter highly recommends is Jon & Vinny’s.
Day 7: LA to Vegas
Starting our drive back to Houston. We decided to take a different route so as to cover much more of the country. Having made up our minds to come back via the Grand Canyon we decided to go via Las Vegas. The drive to Vegas is peppered with interesting pit stops. You can take the iconic Route 66 (Main Route of America). Stop at Barstow for a quick bite at the original del taco – the chain’s longest operating restaurant. Look out for the exit to Zzyzx (named after the last word in the English language in 1944). Another stop is the seven magic mountains where an art installation by Ugo Rondinone is a wonderful photo op. Finally get to Vegas to spend the night. Vegas is filled with fabulous properties to spend the night. My favorite is the Wynnlasvegas.com. During the pandemic we decided to stay away from the strip to avoid the crowds and booked an AirBnb. It was nothing to write home about so I will leave it out. We did eat at a very nice Chinese restaurant in Vegas called Mott32.
Day 8: Las Vegas to Flagstaff
Had an early start from Vegas to be able to go to the western rim of Grand Canyon. Stopped on the way to get some beautiful views of Lake Mead. The drive itself was stunning. When we got to the entrance to the western rim we were impressed with all the precautions taken. Our temperatures were checked while we were in the car and once we passed that we were sent on. Further temperature checks were taken and we bought tickets to go to the rim. Shuttle buses were taking only 8 people in a bus so there was sufficient spacing between folks. The most interesting thing was to walk out on the glass bottomed bridge and with my fear of heights it was a challenge. But totally worth it. The sad thing is that you are not allowed to take your phones or anything so have to rely on the photographer there if you need pictures. A word of caution – those who cannot handle extreme heat should stay away during summer particularly July/august.
Subsequently we drove to Flagstaff through the Coconino national forest. Note that there are no places to stop for food until you leave grand canyon. The temperature suddenly drops from the incredibly hot grand canyon to much cooler temperatures. In Flagstaff we stayed at the Little America.
We absolutely loved this hotel. It was situated right off the highway amidst 1400 acres of private forest land. The rooms were large with good sized bathrooms and they had Gilchrist & Soames toiletries. We went for a nice long walk on the property and did takeout from Delhi Palace for Indian food. Surprisingly the food was reasonable.
Day 9: Flagstaff to El Paso
We had a long drive ahead of us since we wanted to get to El Paso so once again we had an early start. The drive to El Paso took us through the Petrified Forest National Park (so called for the large deposits of fallen trees that lived about 225 million years ago. El Paso is very interesting with lot of good restaurants. Juarez in Mexico is adjacent to El Paso. We got to El paso by late afternoon and stayed at the lovely Plazahotelelpaso. The hotel was gorgeous with luxury le labo toiletries. From our room we could see Juarez in the distance. Although the hotel was lovely the staff were unfriendly and something that took us by surprise. The bellhop was not there when we arrived and nobody helped us out with anything. So we were very disappointed. The onsite restaurant Ambar offering Mexican food was excellent and well laid out for a socially distanced meal. We had the ceviche, grilled asparagus, queso anejo smashed potatoes and the al carbon tacos. For dessert we got the mesquite chocolate cake. All the dishes we had were delicious & enjoyed watching our food being prepared in the open kitchen.
Day 10: El Paso to Big Bend
Our goal was to get to the Big Bend national Park or rather the hotel located right at the tip of Big Bend and close to the Rio Grande which divides the US and Mexico at this part of the country. On our way we passed by the lovely town of Marfa, an arts hub. We grabbed lunch at The Water Stop since every other restaurant was closed and were absolutely delighted with the food. We also stopped at the Sentinel to get some coffee and fresh watermelon juice. There we ran into an LA designer who had moved to Marfa. You can shop for her collection Garbo.
I have to say I also got the iconic IG photo in front of the Prada storefront. This storefront is located a few miles away from the town and there is nothing around there. This is not an actual store but an art installation and offers good photo ops.
We continued on to get to another beautiful resort Lajitas Golf Resort" This is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Texas but they do offer other activities like zip lining, equestrian etc. It’s a perfect place to relax since there is nothing else within miles of there. We had dinner on site – while its nothing to write home about the staff were friendly & service was very good.
Day 11: Big Bend to Marathon
Next morning on our way back we took FM170 from Lajitas to Presidio – also known as “River Road” because it parallels the Rio Grande. What a fun drive it was. I felt like I was on a roller coaster – its full of twists and turns.
This route is also supposed to be one of the most scenic routes of Texas. We wanted to get to Marathon for the night ‘coz we found a lovely hotel that we wanted to spend the night at. We stopped at Marfa again on the way back to pick up some coffee and arrived at Gage hotel. Built in 1927 this hotel has been given a lot of awards. Apart from the hotel there is a 27 acre landscaped garden which we loved walking in. As we were walking into the rose garden a deer jumped out startled by our presence. We made reservations for dinner at the restaurant on site and enjoyed eating there. Marathon’s claim to fame was Wim Wenders movie Paris, Texas that was partly shot here.
Day 12: Drive Back Home to Houston
The next morning after picking up some coffee from the restaurant on site we made our long drive back home to Houston. En route we stopped in Austin