West Coast Road Trip with a NYC cheeky bonus!

[Squidge6]

Hi everyone!

Thank you to all others who have written trip reports, they have given me invaluable help when planning my own trip and inspired me to try and write my own. So here it goes...

(Apologies for the lack of pictures - I think I'm too new to upload any yet - or just have yet to work it out!)

Cast

Me: Mel. I have visited Florida in 1997 on a family trip, and made it back last year to celebrate my 30th birthday. Following this (and as a remedy to the Disney blues I suffered following this trip) I was lucky enough to visit DLP for my 31st this year!

DB: Ian. Dragged on my birthday Disney adventures, and has agreed to this road trip with promises to visit The Cheesecake Factory and Olive Garden!

The Plan

We are flying out with Virgin on 22nd August to San Francisco, where we will be checking in to the Hotel Beresford for 4 nights. The hotel itself seems to get mixed reviews, but to be honest, with the shock of the hotel prices around San Francisco, I shall be happy as long as it's a clean place to rest after our explorations!

We hope to spend the time here taking it easy and getting used to the time difference before hitting the road. Although the muni system seems simple enough, I think we may consider getting a HOHO tour to begin with to familiarise ourselves with the city - we have enjoyed these tours in other locations in the past. The things we want to see/do are Alcatraz (evening tour booked for the Sunday 24th Aug), the Walt Disney Museum, ride a cable car, visit Fishermans Wharf, and try a Ghirardelli sundae (never got round to this in Florida! ).The Exploratorium also looks interesting, and I may be able to convince DB to bike the Golden Gate Bridge or at least take a cruise to see it (fog dependant!). Also, if we have time, a visit to Muir woods may be on the cards.

We pick up our car from Alamo on Tuesday 26th where we kick off our road trip along the coast. First place of call is Monterey where we are staying at The Monterey Bay Inn for one night. Depending on time of arrival, we may do the 17 mile drive then or visit the aquarium (or just relax after our first day of driving!).

We will continue along the coast on Wednesday 27th (doing 17 mile drive if not yet done), hopefully seeing the seals and the coastal waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Park (I do love a good waterfall!). Time depending, I would like to visit Hearst Castle, and to try my luck at spotting a zebra in the cattle herd. I'm hoping we will be able to get a tour without pre-booking. Plan B would be to retrace our steps to visit the following day if feasible. Our stop for tonight will be The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. It looks wonderfully quirky! I have opted for a room with a rock shower, just because I don't know what one is and want to find out!

The next day we will continue meandering down towards Santa Barbara, staying at The Eagle Inn for a night. Nothing much planned for today other than enjoying the scenery. A detour to a winery may be required!

For Friday 29th, we will be making our way via the Regan museum and Warner Bros tour over to Twentynine Palms, our stop for two nights to relax and explore Joshua Tree NP on the Saturday (there's also meant to be a put on 'shoot out' each Saturday at a nearby town that we hope to see). We will be staying at the Fairfield Inn and Suites, checking out on the Sunday.

Sunday will see our longest drive yet as we travel to the Grand Canyon! Depending on whether we are making good time, I hope to incorporate a bit of route 66. We will check in to the Best Western Premier Grand for two nights, allowing us to spend the Monday exploring the canyon. (Schoolgirl booking error here, we are actually at the Canyon for Labour Day - I'm hoping it won't be too crowded!)

We leave on Tuesday for our drive to Vegas, stopping off for an educational visit to Hoover Dam. We're staying for two nights at the MGM Grand (excitement), where we hope to try our luck at gambling, visit the Gun Store to shoot some guns, marvel at the hotels and maybe see a show. We have also found out that a couple of friends of ours are on their honeymoon here at the time we visit and are staying at Excalibur, so we hope to meet up with them for a quick drink/meal.

We say goodbye to Vegas on the Thursday to begin our journey towards Yosemite NP. We have decided to break this journey up by stopping one night at the Vagabond Inn in Bishop. Because of this, we intend to spend a little time in Death Valley NP, temperature permitting!

Leaving Bishop on the Friday, we will make our way over to Yosemite Westgate Lodge hopefully via Tioga Pass. This will be our base for three nights to explore Yosemite. Unfortunately we couldn't get accommodation that we could afford/was available closer or in the NP itself. But as we will have two whole days to see Yosemite, plus the travel day across it, I'm hoping it will be OK.

Checking out on the Monday, we make our way back to San Francisco, ending our road trip. However, all is not lost, as we catch a flight with Delta over to New York! Here we check in to the Hotel Newton for four nights. No fixed plans for our time here, although we hope to see the ESB, TOTR, Times Square, Trade Centre memorial, FAO Schwartz to buy a What-Not, and explore Central Park. On the last night we have tickets to see Wicked! Very excited!

We board another plane on the Friday night, sadly our last to return home and land on the Saturday morning

So that's my pre-trip. You may have noticed I haven't mentioned one essential piece of planning - food! I hope to update with ideas of where to eat once I have managed to get a food plan together. In the meantime, any suggestions for munchies will be well received! (As would be any other suggestions/advice!)

Thanks for reading!

[Guest]

Another west coast trippie yay! Fab sounding plans!

[Mary A]

Sounds fantastic! You'll love Monterey bay inn, it's a wonderful hotel

[Squidge6]

Thanks! Not long 'til you go now Princess_Chazy and Mary A! Don't you just love to see the countdown decrease!

I must admit I am looking forward to The Monterey Bay Inn. We've booked an ocean view room for a bit of a treat!

[Guest]

Fab pre-trippy, can't wait to read more!

[Mary A]

Originally Posted by Squidge6

Thanks! Not long 'til you go now Princess_Chazy and Mary A! Don't you just love to see the countdown decrease!

I must admit I am looking forward to The Monterey Bay Inn. We've booked an ocean view room for a bit of a treat!

See more...

It was lovely sat eating breakfast on the balcony overlooking the ocean.
Yes, not long to go now!

[florida girl]

Looks a brilliant plan and a great countdown. Very similar to our West Coast trip in 2011,our plan is for NY and Vegas next year abit longer than all you lucky people going soon.

MaryA going UC too

[abiknox]

Fabulous stuff! You will be heading back just as we go! Eeeek!

We have the same issue in San Fran, a cheap hotel booked due to budges restraints but as long as its clean we will be happy!

Love that your staying in the Madonna inn, Im hoping we will have time to stop off for a piece of pie, it looks so amazing on all the pics, very unique.

Great stuff that you have the MGM booked for Vegas too, we aren't visiting Vegas on our West Coast trip but we are doing a week there in March and we have booked 2 nights here. It constantly gets good reviews so Im really looking forward to it.

And then... finishing off in NY! You're a girl after my own heart! We absolutely fell in love with NY when we went last year. The ESB at night was a highlight, as was Wicked so you have made a good choice there! Heartlands Brewery, Tony Di Napoli & Shake Shack were all good for food!

I look forward to reading more about your plans

[Squidge6]

Thanks everyone!

Abiknox, we're staying in the Tower Suites in MGM which I think are the rooms you have chosen for your Vegas trip MGM part? I can give you a sneak peek/review of them.

Thanks for the food recommendations, Tony Di Napoli's looks great from your food pics (my OH is partial to chicken parmagiana), and I think at least one visit to Shake Shack is a must. I shall look into Heartlands Brewery too! A cookie from Levain bakery will also be on the cards!

Thanks Florida Girl, I'm glad it's similar to your trip, hopefully it has sparked some great memories!

Mrs_Potatohead, really not long 'til yours now! Hope you have a lovely time!

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by Squidge6

Thanks everyone!

Abiknox, we're staying in the Tower Suites in MGM which I think are the rooms you have chosen for your Vegas trip MGM part? I can give you a sneak peek/review of them.
!

See more...

Oooh yes please do! Lots of photos

I will love reading this trippy! Taking in all of my favourite places!