Gas Prices. What Are You Going To Do?

A cottage industry seems to have sprouted up giving people advice about what to do, travel-wise, what with gas costing a little more than last summer. Like here in the D/FW Metroplex, in the local papers and on the radio, I've heard advice to stay close to home and visit the local attractions.

And then a few days ago in the New York Times I saw a pretty goofy variant under the title, "The 31 Places to Go This Summer." The article starts off with, "Traveling this summer may sound like a cruel joke: airlines are getting worse, gas prices are creeping toward $5 a gallon and the euro continues to go up, up, up. It's almost enough to make you stay home. Almost."

And then proceeded to offer 31 suggestions. I'd been to quite a few of the suggestions, so I slightly know whereof I speak. One suggestion that made sense, yet oddly named, as in the label was "Pacific Northwest." The suggestion was to ride AmTrak and stay in Glacier National Park.

Another suggestion that sort of made sense, if you were already in Washington, was to take the ferry to the San Juan Islands. I have not done that since the summer before I moved to Texas. Walked onboard in Anacortes and for only 4 bucks you could ride to all the islands. Lulu informed me yesterday that it now costs something like 60 bucks to take your car and one passenger out to Friday Harbor in the San Juans. She did not know how much a walk on now costs.

As for goofy gas and money saving suggestions, one was houseboating on Lake Powell. I've done this twice. No matter which marina you find your boat, it is gonna be a long drive to get there, even if you fly into the nearest airport and rent a car. And renting a houseboat is not cheap, as in over a couple thousand bucks for 4 days. And you pay for the gas. The houseboats do not get good gas mileage.

That is a Lake Powell pic at the top. Me in the lotus position high atop a redrock bluff in a place we called Bobcat Cove, misnamed because it was a Mountain Lion, not a Bobcat, that I heroically saved everyone from in the middle of the night. You can read all about that trauma here. That is me being the Captain of what I came to call Hell Houseboat in the photo on the left.

Another goofy suggestion was to go to Monument Valley. Now, Monument Valley is very cool. And the drive there goes through some great scenery, like the Painted Desert. But once more, there is driving involved. Monument Valley is in a rather isolated location.

One of the suggestions was to go to Las Vegas. I can get behind this. Easily flown to and once there you don't have to drive. Lulu would suggest you fly to Vegas and then rent a car to drive to Lake Powell. Or Monument Valley. I think I make mention of why Lulu would suggest this in the Lake Powell link above. Or just click here.

# 1 on the NY Times list is Texas Hill Country. Been there done that. I wouldn't suggest it. Unless you've not seen hills before. I believe Texas Hill Country is #1 on the list due to the list being arranged in no particular order, not due to it being in order of supposed merit.

The Western Road Trip suggestion goes through some nice scenery, starting in Vegas and having you go to Bryce Canyon NP en route to Capitol Reef NP. Why it has you skipping the North Rim of the Grand Canyon or Zion NP, I do not know. But, once more, a lot of driving would be involved.

I can get behind the suggestion to visit Portland, Oregon. But it makes no mention of nearby Mt. St. Helens. Another suggestion is to drive Highway 101 along the Oregon Coast. I've not done that in a long time and would love to.

Anyway, go here to check out the rest of the list in the New York Times.