Hi,
We're thinking of touring around a bit after the Sedona festival and think it might be nice to drive to Los Angeles / California area to check out some of the raw places. Can anybody help with a query?

What is the journey like between Sedona and L.A.? (It is obviously a very long way - over 7 hours drive without stops!).

Has anybody done it? If so what was it like for scenery and road conditions?

We are travelling from England - so we don't know the area.

We would be thankful of any advice / help.

Thanks,
John

Last year we went up to the Grand Canyon after the fest. That trip was only, I think, three hours. We tried to go to Sante Fe, New Mexico on our way home but there was a terrible storm so we just went home.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!!!!

Yes. You could go north through Flagstaff and visit the Grand Canyon first (that's what I did last year....about a 2 hour drive). After that, you could shoot over on I40 towards Las Vegas....then continue west into California. Otherwise, you could go from Sedona south into Phoenix, the go west on I10, passing the Joshua Tree monument and towards Los Angeles. Plenty of stuff to see and do along either route. Once you're into Southern California....it all depends on what your schedule and priorities are!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Hello,
Thanks David and Pakd4fun for your replies.

Yes, we are planning to go to the Grand Canyon (very good idea), but we are hoping to do that as a day out from Sedona and not enroute to L.A. (We decided that we only really wanted to overnight places where we can indulge in raw gourmet vegan food - as we have virtually no raw vegan places in the U.K. and don't really get much of a chance to do so at home. We usually have to do self-catering).

Although Las Vegas will be of real interest to the majority of people, it doesn't really inspire us (of course we have never been and only know of the gambling, drinking and shows. Is there anything else there that might interest a raw vegan that does not drink alcohol or gamble? We're not that particularly interested in caberet type shows either. What else is there to do there?).

I guess we're really interested in seeing natural scenic beauty.

Is it mainly desert between Sedona and L.A.? We are not sure which route we would like to take (e.g. via Las Vegas or via Phoenix). It would depend on which would be the more scenic route (for beautiful,natural scenery). And also on how long it would take. We should like to travel from Sedona to L.A. in the day (even though that is a long way).

What kind of stuff would be along those routes? And does anyone know of a raw vegan cafes, restaurants, eateries etc for us to visit on the journey between Sedona and L.A.?

We're hoping that some of you in the U.S.A. could help us out with some more info, because we live in the U.K. And obviously we have no idea about that area and have so little time to explore and enjoy it.
Many thanks,
John

vegan john Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

Is there anything
> else there that might interest a raw vegan that
> does not drink alcohol or gamble? We're not that
> particularly interested in caberet type shows
> either. What else is there to do there?).
>
red rock canyon is a pretty site as well as the hoover dam
patty

I'd say bring a tent and check out Joshua Tree National Park, but check the average seasonal temps before you go. It's directly north of the 10 in Cali. The 10 is an interstate highway and should be well maintained. As someone already mentioned, it will take you from Phoenix to LA. Once you start heading west on the 10 in AZ, your trip should get a little desolate until you start getting near the LA sprawl. However, it's virtually impossible to get lost in America these days. If you desire reasonably priced accommodations, you should have no problem. I've included two links. One is the Joshua Tree govt. site and the other gives some good info about what you'll find on interstate 10 in every state that it goes through (don't be turned off by the theme parks reference in the URL. it offers practical info on the highway). Scroll down to find Arizona and Cali. You can also google any highway in America and find info on it.

I've done massive amounts of traveling in America. Feel free to drop me a letter if you have any specific questions. It always make me feel good to put this knowledge to use as I stagnate in the industrial midwest, dreaming of getting on the road again.

It's funny, because as soon as you said that 7 hours is a long way, I knew you had to be English!

[www.nps.gov]
[www.family-vacation-getaways-at-los-angeles-theme-parks.com]

Hi Guys I am coming!!!

me to can we do lunch?

Vegan John, if you want the wilderness, drive up to northern Ca. Mendocino,
Humbolt , and Trinite countys Rewoods montians wild rivers, so cal has nice `sites, but to many people
if you have not been in an old growth woods you are missing out.
feel free to email for info on Northern Ca.
riverhousebill@yahoo.com

Hello,
Many thanks to Derek, Patty and Riverhousebill for your very kind help and info. It is very much appreciated.

I'm still trying to work out which route from Sedona to L.A. would be the most scenic (for natural beauty) without making any long detours.
Which do you think:
Sedona via Las Vegas to L.A.?
orSedona via Phoenix to L.A.?

Please help.
Thanks,
John

Both routes are desolate from what I have seen and heard. The Hoover Dam is impressive, I wish I had spent more time seeing it.

I will never go to LA again unless I have to. Too many superficial people, it sucks the wind out from under me.

Northern California has magnificent scenery and San Francisco has raw restaurants that sound wonderful.

i`m with pakd. the route from vegas to la is boring
hoover damn is magnificent but its heartbreaking to see how badly the water level has receded
patty

I will do lunch with anyone. I am coming with my mom, so if you guys have moms coming please find us

Anyone have any experience with kids at this festival? I have a four and a three year old that I am debating about and am not sure it will be any fun for them. I am definitely going though!

Suvine - you live in Miami right? I am just north of you. Hope to meet you in person.

Andrea

Hello,
Just a note to ask for clarification. Some people have said that he road from Sedona to L.A. is 'desolate' another said 'boring'. As some people love the glitz, glamour and activities or big towns and cities and other people prefer the quietness and solitude of beautiful countryside ... well I am trying to understand whether desolate means quiet and peaceful or whether it means the countryside is ugly and not attractive on that route. Please clarify.

DerekXMcCoy and Pakd4fun, when you say that the road from Sedona to L.A. is 'desolate' do you mean quiet with no towns, villages etc or do you mean that the countryside is not attractive?

Patty when you say that the road from Vegas to L.A. is boring - do you mean that the countryside is not attractive or just that there are no towns and it is quiet?

Sorry for asking for this clarification - but we are now trying to understand whether it really is not worth driving from Sedona to L.A. and whether we should take a flight instead.

Many thanks,
John
P.S. For those of you who recommended going to northern California etc - we visited San Francisco (many years ago) and then we drove up to Mount Shasta for a few days (wonderful) and then went back down to San Francisco and up to the RedWoods (magnificent). After which we drove down the Big Sur. It was truly wonderful, but would like to do something different this time.

i meant the countryside is pretty boring. there are a few flat vineyards...but it`s nothing to oooohhhh and ahhhhhh over. northern cal is a different story as it`s beautiful
patty

john-
by desolate i mean not a lot of towns but a lot of desert. you should still see plenty of fellow travelers on the road and be able to get gas, etc. personally, i find things like that to be visually stimulating and not boring at all, but that's just one man's opinion. i'm one of the only people i know who loves driving through the cornfields of nebraska and iowa. and if you go through vegas on your way to la from sedona, you'll be going way out of your way. there's no need to get anywhere near vegas. you can take either 10 west at phoenix or 40 west at flagstaff i believe. both of these will get you to la. i talked to a friend of mine and he described 40 in eastern california as barren. have you zoomed in on an on-line road map yet? you'll be able to tell how many towns are along a road by looking at one. if they aren't on the map, that means they don't exist. are you absolutely set on going to la? one place that's very beautiful and which should be pretty quiet in September is Moab, Utah and Arches Natl. Park. I think that would be around 3 hours from Sedona. I doubt they have a raw restaurant, but organic produce and an alt-foods store would be an almost certainty. I've done this route before. It's off the beaten path and takes you right through the Hopi and Navajo Reservations, and as I recall, it was real tripped out with a lot of shifting landscape.

John,

You will see a diversely beautiful land that includes mountainous, high desert, low lying semi flat sand desert, more mountains and hills, then the unique climate of southern Calif. coastal desert.

It's all incredible, not boring, but honestly, some of your path will not be spectacular either. Most of your way will be desert. The best time of year in the desert (flower blooming) is months past, so it will be hot and dry, not much green in September. But the mornings and evenings will be nice. And the sunsets OR sun rises can be great, if there are storms on either horizon.

I'm in the north part of San Diego County, maybe we can hook up somewhere?

By desolate I mean not a lot of life or diverse landscape to look at. I love the desert but not if it goes on and on without anything new to see. I don't care for flat and baron which I find that part of the country to be.

Veggiefreak,

I took my three kids last year. They were 12, 6 and 2. The younger two stayed mostly at the kids area, which was fantastic. You could leave them there but it didn't feel like a good idea because there weren't enough adults to keep track of them. There were lots of talks at the kids area on family and kid topics. Our 12 YO met a friend from Idaho and they had a great time running around. They are now penpals. They all had the best time ever. They still talk about it. It super charged their enthusiasm for the raw lifestyle. Meeting other raw vegan kids made them feel like they were a part of something bigger and not so "different". They became more confident about raw, a lot more, like they saw it was cool to be raw!! I am very glad I took them and wouldn't THINK about leaving them if we go again.

Hello,
Thanks so much to you all for the info and help (especially Derek, Swimmer, Pakd4fun and Patty).

We are still currently trying to decide whether to drive from Sedona as Derek said via the 10 west at Phoenix or the 40 west at Flagstaff to get to L.A. Otherwise, we are still asking ourselves whether it would be best to take an internal flight (Hhmmm, cannot decide).

We are not planning to stay exactly in downtown L.A. itself (due to hearing about the smog / pollution ??? etc), but planning to probably stay by the beach at e.g. Santa Monica. We think that Santa Monica might be an ok place to have the benefit of the raw gourmet food of the L.A. area and reasonably positioned to go off for day trips by car (not sure - what do you think?). We will only have a few days in the Santa Monica area, so where do those of you familiar with that area think would be good day trips out for scenic natural beauty.

What do you think of day trips by car to:

Ojai?
Santa Monica coastal road down to San Diego area?
Santa Monica coastal road up northwards?
Anywhere else that you can recommend?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
John

P.S. Derek,
Moab, Utah and Arches Natl. Park sound wonderful. Thanks for all the kind and helpful info. However, we are already committed to flying back to the U.K. from L.A.