California is best planned as several trips rather than one quick circuit: the official state tourism site divides the state into regions that range from Pacific beaches and major cities to deserts, wine country, redwood forest...

Nevada is more than Las Vegas: it is a huge desert-and-mountain road-trip state with ghost towns, hot springs, mining history, Basque food, Lake Tahoe, dark skies, art installations, state and national parks, rockhounding, wint...