US Road trip knife stops

Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
145
Good evening all,

Myself and my gf are visiting the states next week from the UK, for a bit of a trip of a lifetime before we both deploy again.

We will be flying to Denver, spending a few days there before heading to Grand junction, Monument valley, Flagstaff, Lake Havusu, LA, Carmel Valley, Monterey, Salinas and finishing in San Francisco.

My Girl is pretty encouraging about my “peculiar” knife obsession, and as such I was just wondering if anyone can recommend any knife shops/shows or makers that fit in at all to our itinerary?

As other than going to the Spyderco shop in Golden, I’m not very clued up, as I’ve never been anywhere other than Denver before.

Many thanks in advance.

Kit
 
Bass pro shops near LA is cool, the have a nice assortment of knives and other outdoorsy stuff..really big place..like a amusement park for outdoorsy people.

But why not stop in Vegas? How did you miss that stop on this trip?
 
Bass Pro is what Cabelas was trying to be like before they got bought by Bass pro. Now Cabelas is a much smaller version of Bass Pro and is much improved IMO but Bass pro is the place you want to see with Many top name production knives in stock. Definitely a great place to shop but plan on spending 2 to 3 hours at and most of them have a nice restaurant and food court in them. Also if you like fishing plan on spending 3 or 4 hours there, I speak from experience. Have fun on your trip it sounds like a great time.
 
Bass Pro is what Cabelas was trying to be like before they got bought by Bass pro. Now Cabelas is a much smaller version of Bass Pro and is much improved IMO but Bass pro is the place you want to see with Many top name production knives in stock. Definitely a great place to shop but plan on spending 2 to 3 hours at and most of them have a nice restaurant and food court in them. Also if you like fishing plan on spending 3 or 4 hours there, I speak from experience. Have fun on your trip it sounds like a great time.
I am 100% going to have to check one of these out, it sounds awesome!!!
 
Bass Pro is, in my opinion, not that good for knives. And I say this having been to a large number of them, including their main store in Springfield, MO.

There's a decent knife (Knife City) shop off I40 between the petrified forest and Flagstaff. It's in the middle of nowhere, but they carry a lot of stuff you wouldn't expect.

There's a good shop in Solvang (Solvang Knives), which is on your way between Ventura and Monterey.

LA Police Gear in San Jose usually has some good stuff if you get all the way up there, but if you do, the time is better spent walking around the Winchester house.

There's a couple cutlery shop in the L.A. area, but one you should visit is the Cold Steel shop in Oxnard.

Denver has a couple shops (try Rocky Mountain Specialty) but I like older stuff and usually have decent luck around the antique district off South Broadway.

There used to be a shop in Lake Havasu near the London Bridge, but it's been a long time since I was there last.

There's a place in on Rt 66 in Williams. AZ too, but they deal in a lot of tourist stuff and the knives are from local guys.
 
Bass Pro is, in my opinion, not that good for knives. And I say this having been to a large number of them, including their main store in Springfield, MO.

There's a decent knife (Knife City) shop off I40 between the petrified forest and Flagstaff. It's in the middle of nowhere, but they carry a lot of stuff you wouldn't expect.

There's a good shop in Solvang (Solvang Knives), which is on your way between Ventura and Monterey.

LA Police Gear in San Jose usually has some good stuff if you get all the way up there, but if you do, the time is better spent walking around the Winchester house.

There's a couple cutlery shop in the L.A. area, but one you should visit is the Cold Steel shop in Oxnard.

Denver has a couple shops (try Rocky Mountain Specialty) but I like older stuff and usually have decent luck around the antique district off South Broadway.

There used to be a shop in Lake Havasu near the London Bridge, but it's been a long time since I was there last.

There's a place in on Rt 66 in Williams. AZ too, but they deal in a lot of tourist stuff and the knives are from local guys.

This is the exact sort of info I was hoping for! Cheers man
 
The Bass Pro Store (Pyramid near downtown) in Memphis is amazing! Just a tad out of your way. :D

On my last visit to Smoky Mt National Park (Eastern TN-Western NC), I ran into some folks from London. They told me that the Smoky's have been the highlight of their trip and they visited a lot of places. The flew into LA and started hopping East.
 
Here's some more advice on your trip from someone who's been there, lived there, and still goes back...

When you come out of Grand Junction and head to Monument Valley stop for a day (or more) in Moab. There's a lot you can see from the road (or short walks), and one of the best it the 3 miles hike out to Delicate Arch. But, take LOT's of water, or go in the evening. No joke, a couple gallons each this time of year. Sunstroke is no joke and you cannot believe how hot it can get. Make sure you have more water in the car. Always.

Dna7QcO.jpg


Monument Valley is best in the early morning or late afternoon. Any other time it's too hot and the colors will be washed out.

If you stay the night in Flagstaff, and it's clear, go to the Lowell Observatory and watch the stars. Remember, Flag is high, and it's monsoon season. Take a rain jacket or fleece just in case.

When you drive from Flag to L.A. it's going to be hot (think 120+), take water! Also, make sure you top off your gas in Needles, the next stop is a very long ways out and you do not want to break down on that stretch of road.

If you go to Oxnard and see Cold Steel, get eat at Lalo's, one of the best Mexican restaurants anywhere. Period. Get the Molcajete. And Bohemia beer!

pqptI2N.jpg


If you do go to Monterrey make sure you do the Aquarium. Also, if you can, get breakfast at The C, early in the morning it's all locals.

In San Jose, you should see the Winchester House. You can take the tour, but if you don't want to spend the money you can walk around the outside. Across the street is Santana Row, which is for San Jose what Rodeo Drive is for Beverly Hills. Most nights you can easy see $50 million dollars in cars parked in 3-4 blocks. Lots of very expensive people too. Sitting at the Starbucks in the morning you can watch all the trophy wives going to and from the gym. For dinner I recommend you drive a couple miles down the road and find a place in Saratoga. Try Big Basin or Bella's.

Have a good trip!
 
So....how'd the trip go? Where did you end up visiting?
 
So....how'd the trip go? Where did you end up visiting?

Got back last night, what an amazing trip!

We started off in Denver, then drove up through the mountains through Palisade to Grand Junction and spent a night there. We then drove the 128? Through Utah to Moab, and down to monument valley where we camped on the reservation.

We then went down to Flagstaff, took my gf to a shooting range which was fun, and something she had never done before.

From there she surprised me with a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon (absolutely unreal experience), before we went down to Lake Havasu for a night.

From there we travelled to LA for a few days, went in to Ross Cutlery, where I was like a Kid in a candy shop! The highlight of LA for me.

Then up from LA to Solvang knives, great shop and a great owner. Bought my first ever Benchmade, a 940 Osborne in G10. Spent that night in Grover beach, before driving up the 1 through Big Sur to Carmel valley.

Went whale watching in Monterey, and had a humpback fin splashing about 3-5 yards from the boat.

Then stopped a night in Salinas before going on to San Francisco.

Bernal Cutlery in SF is an awesome shop, and home to one of my biggest knife buying regrets.

They had a gorgeous 1960 Case serpentine Jack in CV and red bone, spent ages looking at it. Left and then decided to come back and buy it the next morning, it had already sold though

Probably the beat two weeks of my life! And If I can figure out how to stop being so do at putting pics on here, I shall add some.
 
Sounds like you had a good trip. You hit some great country. Do have to question Salinas as a stop though. Most tourists end up a little north in Gilroy.
 
Thanks for sharing! Sounds like a great trip! Would have loved to been on that helicopter ride.
 
Back
Top