Usa Roadtrip 2017 California/Nevada/Arizona

[dam0]

Here goes pardners

23rd October:

Fly out of Manchester Airport by British Airways stopping off at Heathrow then onto San Francisco.
Book into The Grove Inn (Pic below) Get settled in ready for the next 2 days and nights of sight seeing. The Golden Gate Bridge, Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Street, China Town, Pier 39, California Academy Of Sciences, definitely one of the Trolley Buses to the very top overlooking the bay and the city. Alcatraz is going to be one of the highlights definitely, tickets already booked. We aren't picking our hire car up until ready for leaving San Francisco and the next part of our trip. we will be utilising the fantastic public transport system as i've read its a nightmare to park anywhere.

25th October:

Pick our hire vehicle up Chevvy Tahoe 7 seater SUV and set off over the Golden Gate Bridge through Sacramento for Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada, we have booked into the Azure Hotel (pic below) for 2 nights and just chilling really we will be going on a couple of hikes but mainly chilling with a tequila or 10 just watching the world go by in spectacular surroundings.

27th October:

From Lake Tahoe we will be heading through the mountains and over the Tioga Pass into Yosemite to Half Dome Village for a 3 night stay, this we are soooooo looking forward to, the scenery and the surroundings are going to be absolutely mind blowing, to see el capitan and half dome up close will be a dream come true. we are staying in whats known as heated tent cabins (pic below) reminds me of paint your wagon with lee marvin and clint eastwood lol. Yosemite was seriously booked up to the max we was so lucky to get anything at all, would've been devastated to not been able to stay inside yosemite so very happy indeed. We cant wait to go hiking as much as we can cram into 3 days and nights its going to be such an amazing adventure. Our hiking boots are a little worse for wear now so we've treated ourselves to a new pair especially for Lake Tahoe Yosemite and the Grand Canyon and God willing for many more adventures in the years to come, can't wait to put them to the test. If any of you hikers out there are thinking of buying a new pair then you won't go wrong with these (see pic) handmade by Meindl a German company... pure quality. Meindl Vakuum MFS Gtx

30th October

We will be heading back out of yosemite and back through the tioga pass again high up in the mountains to make our way through the sierra nevada mountains down to Death Valley Nevada. Definitely stocking up with fuel water and provisions making sure we are ready for this lol. We dont want to be running out of fuel half way across this god forsaken place
We need to do a bit of a detour here because of the huge nellis air force base as we are heading ultimately to Rachel nevada and area 51 and the little ale ien inn for the night... but before we get there we are going to be camping overnight in death valley under the stars... Wow the mind boggles imagining the magical milky way in all its glory above us. Its definitely going to be a life changing experience.
Happy Birthday Jordan

31st October

Area 51 and the little Ale ien Inn for the night, another place that's been on our wish list for many years, this is going to be great, we hope to hike up one of the peaks at night overlooking Groom Lake to see if we can see any little green men lol, well thats the plan but there's that much security and that many MIB patrolling the area. Who incidentally are authorised to use deadly force i think we may just get as close as possible without attracting any unwanted attention lol.
It's Halloween too so hopefully it will add to the spookiness of the place It's my younger Daughter's Birthday too so i will be thinking of her and giving her a little Birthday call so hoping we are going to have access to a phone here

1st November

From our encounters with flying saucers we will be heading down the extraterrestrial highway to Las Vegas the hoover dam and lake mead for two nights staying in the Stratosphere Hotel, wow once again what a mission trying to get somewhere half decent everywhere booked up and the the more famous hotels on the strip the prices are astronomical but i think we done ok with the hotel we finally booked (pic below) always wanted to visit vegas and just marvel at all the sights on the strip as well as the hoover dam, what a marvel of engineering. Looking forward to vegas...Can't wait to try our luck on the slot machines
Just found out Elton John is playing Caesers Palace while we are there so couldn't resist getting a couple of tickets it will be a fantastic experience.

Can't wait to check these rides out from the top of the Stratosphere Hotel

3rd November

We say goodbye to Las Vegas and Head out of Nevada to Arizona for 3 nights in The Grand Canyon, now this is definitely going to be absolutely jaw dropping we are going to be awestruck and speechless with the utter magnificence of this place i know it, definitely an experience of a lifetime to see nature in all its splendour and beauty. To witness a sunset here with the girl of my dreams is going to be unforgettable, and it just so happens its her Birthday while we are there 4th November. I'm hoping its going to be a Birthday she will remember forever. I'm planning a Champagne Breakfast for her while watching the Sunrise from the South Rim of the Canyon, it's going to be magical. In the evening I'm planning a couple of tequila's with my dreamgirl while watching the Sunset Wow! it's going to be incredible.
As you can imagine everywhere is booked solid inside the national park itself... but we finally managed to get something half decent... yavapai lodge (pic below) we are about a mile from the south rim of the canyon which is nothing really so very happy with that. we are going to be doing a few hikes around the canyon, I've always wanted to go rafting down the colorado river we will see whats what when we get there. Maybe an helicopter tour of the canyon too. Its going to be spectacular beyond words

6th November

I think we are going to be leaving The Grand Canyon with heavy
hearts but with memories to last a thousand lifetimes.
We are going to book a Motel for the night en-route from the Grand Canyon back into California and to Los Angeles, we will book a motel while we are there somewhere nice and scenic off the tourist trail where the locals live, find a decent restaurant and bar and just chat the night away over a few beers and tequilas

Not this Motel that's for sure lol.

But for a bit of piece of mind while we're in our hotel rooms we've bought one of these a DoorJammer

7th November

Los Angeles for 2 nights staying in the The Tangerine Hotel in Burbank thanks to advice on theDibb (pic below) perfect for all the studio tours and not too far from all the stuff we've got planned to see and do, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and The Famous Hollywood Sign, Hollywood walk of fame, Graumann's Chinese theatre Sunset Boulevard, Griffith Observatory at night, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Pier, too much to take in really in just 2 nights but we'll try lol. May even got to Disneyland, been to the Florida one a few times when the kids was younger... loved it.

9th November

We head out of Los Angeles back to San Francisco on the final part of our Roadtrip. We will be heading up the Pacific Coast Highway 1 and sticking to Highway 1 as much as we can but due to landslides in the Big Sur area and 1 or 2 other areas we will have to take a couple of diversions inland. No big deal as there is just so much to see and do we will be spoilt for choice. We actually intended going inland off the beaten track when we first planned our Roadtrip

If all goes to plan with the previous parts of our roadtrip (fingers crossed) we have worked out we have 3 nights to play with so we intend to spend 1 night at 3 different locations on our way back to San Francisco... upto now we are going to be spending:

1 night Pismo Beach
1 night Morro Bay
1 night Monterey

Loads of places along the way we want to visit as well as the above Santa Barbara, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Monterey Aquarium, Half Moon Bay... too many to list.

We haven't booked anything yet (Hotels) for this part of the trip as we intend to do that when we are over there, it's nice to know we have a leisurely drive up the West Coast back to San Francisco so we can relax a bit knowing we've got a bit of freedom.

All the previous parts of the trip have had to be booked in advance due to time constraints and logistics and also the huge popularity of the places we will be visiting.

We can't wait to drive along Highway 1 it's been an ambition for many years. We are so looking forward to seeing the diversity of the Landscape and Wildlife and the little Towns dotted along the way.

Looking forward to strolling hand in hand and barefoot on some of the most beautiful beaches anywhere on earth. Even a swim might be on the cards

We will do the 17 mile drive too, thanks for the recommendation/s on theDibb for that. In fact we've had so much fantastic advice recommendations and pointers off members of theDibb we can't thank all those who contributed enough.

We've had 90% of the journey already planned and decided in our mind for a long time so for the 10% we was undecided about thanks to the people who replied with lots of ideas and tips regarding their own roadtrip adventures... Fantastic!

12th November

All going well we will have arrived back in San Francisco and for 1 last night in the good old US of A.

We've booked into a Hotel, El Rancho (pic below) for the night prior to our Flight back home to rainy miserable Manchester UK the next day. We didn't want to risk getting back into San Francisco late and missing our flight home so making sure barring any mishaps we will be back in Frisco the day before we fly out.

If everything goes according to plan we will be landing back in Manchester 14th November.

Hopefully it will have been a trip of a lifetime with enough memories laughs experiences adventures and highs to last a thousand lifetimes.

Our Kids and Grandkids will hopefully not get too fed up of us reliving and recounting the continuous stories of our Adventures lol

In fact we hope to stir their imagination and their own spirit of Adventure inside them to hopefully follow in our footsteps one day, that would mean everything to us, that would definitely be a dream come true.

“Our challenge isn’t so much to teach children about the natural world, but to find ways to nurture and sustain the instinctive connections they already carry.”

13th November

Back to where we started San Francisco Airport, heading back home from our first trip to California Nevada and Arizona hopefully with big dreams and big ideas for our return one day

Thanks to all those here who contributed, really appreciated.

Look out for our full trip report on our return, hopefully all HIGHS

[Kidd McFluff]

Sounds amazing! Did similar about 15 years ago but starting in LA, Death Valley is the most amazing place, definitely somewhere I want to return to. You're going to have an amazing adventure.

[dam0]

Thanks m8 we are so looking forward to this and Death Valley is definitely going to be an highlight... can't wait to blast Don't Fear The Reaper out of the speakers with the windows wound down lol (Blue Oyster Cult) It's going to be amazing

[Twiggy1953]

Have you considered that going in October/November that it’s likely that the Tioga Pass will be closed. Maybe for the season or quite possibly temporarily because of snow. It’s already been closed last week for a while. The Sonora Pass (still beautiful) will probably still be open but adds many driving hours onto your journey. Chances are you won’t know until you’re actually there - so best to have a Plan B in place. Hope you have a lovely holiday. Yosemite is brilliant. I could live there.

[JoS]

Sounds amazing. Hope you have a fantastic time.

[dam0]

Thanks for the replies

Hi Twiggy, thanks for the heads up, we actually planned to do our road trip originally the opposite way around, instead of going from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe etc like we are doing, we originally planned to go from San Francisco down the pacific coast highway to Los Angeles and do the whole trip anti clockwise.

After doing a bit of research and asking about we was advised and agreed it was best to do Yosemite at the beginning of our road trip rather than near the end as originally planned because of the precise reason you mentioned (Tioga Pass) A lot rides on Tioga Pass being open if not it could throw our whole schedule into disarray so we've got our fingers crossed.

We've took into account Sonora as a back up plan but definitely hope that is a very last resort as we we would have to go on a massive circle to get back on track for Death Valley and over to Rachel Nevada. Our plan once we've spent 3 nights in Yosemite is back out of Yosemite through the Tioga Pass and down the 395 then across Death Valley.

We are hoping the weather Gods will be on our side

[Twiggy1953]

We’ve done it several times, usually May/June time. We stop at Lee Vining(bottom of Tioga Pass) the night before. The first time we went we were praying it would have opened but no joy, so the Sonora Pass it was. Added on a lot of travelling time. The most annoying thing was it opened the day after🙄. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

[Myakka17]

Hi we are back a month from California. Re Vegas we stayed at Tuscany suites just behind Parus and Ballys. Walking distance. It was a godsend as even for Vegas it was 12degrees higher than norm! Have you tried looking for somewhere nearer. The Stratosphere is a long way out.
Re SF consider Dylan's tours we saw so much and I think with everything you want to do you may struggle otherwise.
Have you checked past reports of Tioga pass closures? It's very very high up 10,000 feet what is your back up plan?
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[dam0]

Originally Posted by Twiggy1953

We’ve done it several times, usually May/June time. We stop at Lee Vining(bottom of Tioga Pass) the night before. The first time we went we were praying it would have opened but no joy, so the Sonora Pass it was. Added on a lot of travelling time. The most annoying thing was it opened the day after🙄. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

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What a bummer your first time having to do Sonora Pass when Tioga opened the next day.

Please be open tioga.

Yeah please keep your fingers crossed for us Twiggy much appreciated

Originally Posted by Myakka Lodge

Hi we are back a month from California. Re Vegas we stayed at Tuscany suites just behind Parus and Ballys. Walking distance. It was a godsend as even for Vegas it was 12degrees higher than norm! Have you tried looking for somewhere nearer. The Stratosphere is a long way out.
Re SF consider Dylan's tours we saw so much and I think with everything you want to do you may struggle otherwise.
Have you checked past reports of Tioga pass closures? It's very very high up 10,000 feet what is your back up plan?
[APP]https://www.thedibb.co.uk/postImages/46189/ecbb1dc6a48b6d.jpg[/APP
[APP]https://www.thedibb.co.uk/postImages/46189/03f3f2f2c94f3d.jpg[/APP

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Thanks for the tip regarding Dylans Tour we've read a lot about it, sounds good. We will check it out when we get to San Francisco.

Unfortunately when trying to book Vegas it was almost impossible to get anything close to the strip without paying mega dollars so we had to compromise. We will be making use of our hire car cruising up and down the strip taking all the fantastic sights in, parking up too and having a walk cant wait it looks absolutely fantastic lit up at night.

We are definitely going to try our luck in one of the famous casinos

Yeah we have checked the reports on the official government site for official opening and closing times of Tioga for the past few years and it seems mainly to be November onwards statistically. We are going the end of October so pushing it fine but i'm quietly confident

[Guest]

Similar to a trip we did back in '95. You are going to love it. Like above, do check the condition of Tioga Pass. Snows come early and you may have to leave the park the long way around so allow for that. Up to date info is here:

nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm