Road trip to California Summer 17 - how it all went

[Frankie & gang]

Be gentle with me please I’ve not done a high’s and lows / Summary etc before but after reading tocpe321 summary I thought I really should. When planning our trip I found reading other’s trip reports and summary’s so helpful, so here goes.
We had 16 nights in California, Arizona and Nevada this August. My family (me, DH 52, DS 20 & DD 17) and our friend Ian. We were also joined on some of the trip by our friends Lesley & Steve

Our itinerary was:
• Fly LGW to SF Virgin, good flights no complaints
• 4 nights San Francisco
• 3 nights Yosemite
• 2 nights Monterey
• 2 nights Pismo Beach
• 2 nights Grand Canyon
• 3 nights Las Vegas – flying home from Las Vegas (PE care of airmiles / combi fare)

How the trip evolved
Our friends Lesley & Steve wanted to renew their vows for their 20th wedding anniversary in Vegas and about 2 years ago mentioned it. I “tongue in cheek” said we’d love to come and then could also explore California. And so the planning started. I love to plan, I love to book holidays and love a spreadsheet – I was in my element. We had 3 days with them in SF, they stayed on longer and flew to San Diego and then later onto Vegas whilst we went off on our road trip.
San Francisco
Following lots of research we booked Columbus Motor Inn. It was clean, in a great location, large rooms but the kids weren’t impressed due to slow wifi! It was also dated. But I thought it was good for the price.
We had a fab day with Dylans tour – “Famous tour” and got the 15% off. All 7 of us did the tour along with 2 visitors from New Zealand. We loved the trip over the Golden gate bridge into Sausalito and then onto Muir Woods, and then around many of the iconic sights. Well worth the money.
Next day we went to Alcatraz, having booked 90 days before. The audio tour is as good as everyone says. Lunch was in Boudin’s bakery – clam chowder, delicious. Lots of other choices.
Whilst in SF we also went to a baseball game San Francisco Giants vs Philadelphia Phillies. Having been to see the Yankees in New York I was a bit disappointed as there wasn’t much atmosphere.
We made the trek up a few very steep blocks to the top of Lombard Street – the zig zag road, I’m glad we did it, great for photo’s and to say we did it. We used the trolley bus and also the tram.
I liked San Francisco, probably as much as New York. On our last morning we picked up our hire car, booked through Discount Florida Car Hire – definitely a HIGH. Great service and price. We then drove to Yosemite. What a drive that is, the last 1 ½ hours very dramatic, beautiful, scary and windy – glad DH was behind the wheel
Yosemite
We stayed at Rush Creek Lodge, 5 mins from the HW120 entrance. WOW such an amazing hotel and would go back in a heartbeat it’s only in its 2nd season but is great. I’ll go against the masses and say we liked escaping to this calm luxurious hotel after being in the national park all day. We all loved Yosemite, its stunning. We took a “Wonders of Yosemite hike & Tour” booked through the hotel. Expensive but worth it as we saw so much. Tuolumne Grove, Yosemite Falls, Bridaviel Falls, Half Dome, Tunnel View and the valley meadows.
Our 2nd day at the hotel we used the pool and had a relaxing morning, then went into the park in the afternoon, driving up to Glacier Point. People overuse this word in my opinion but it was AWESOME. We then went into Yosemite Village to see bits we had missed the day before.
We drove from Yosemite to Monterey stopping in Merced for lunch. Our next hotel was more of a motel, but with a good location.
Monterey
The Stevenson Monterey – large rooms, not much natural light, backing onto a petrol station, but 5 minutes walk to Fishermans Wharf. The town of Monterey was ok, I wouldn’t rush to return, but the main reason for the stay was to visit the Aquarium. WOW – it’s the best one I have ever visited anywhere. We spent 4 hours there and loved it, could have stayed longer. Yes it’s expensive but there is so much to see. Also the café there had good food that wasn’t too expensive.
We drove part of HW1 the next day over Bixby Bridge; it wasn’t as stunning as we expected it to be, probably due to the Californian fog. A bit of an anti-climax for us really.
Next was the drive down to Pismo Beach, when we planned the trip it was before the landslides, so we had to drive inland.
Pismo Beach
Not sure I would go again to Pismo, it was quite cute & did allow us to have a rest day, again we suffered with the fog. However our hotel was lovely, The Kon Tiki Inn. If the sun had come out it would have been stunning on top of the cliffs looking out to sea. The rooms were large, very comfortable and all seaview.
We didn’t fancy the long drive to Grand Canyon from the coast, so we took an internal flight, it was a great experience and we are glad we did it. Cost about £115 each & bags but saved us the 10 hour drive, which would have meant another night’s stay somewhere. The flight was under 1 1 /2 hours, we liked that if flew low so we saw lots of the countryside. We flew Santa Barbara into Phoenix with American Airlines and then drove via flagstaff up to Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
Stayed at Kachina Lodge in partial rim view rooms. I think the rooms had recently been modernised, I was expecting basic and rustic but it was better than anticipated. Walking out of your room and being 1 minute from the rim edge was amazing. We saw a sunset and sunrise – breath-taking. We also kept the car (having picked up a new one from Phoenix) parked at the hotel, explored walking and taking the free shuttle buses.
The drive from GC to Vegas was interesting and also boring! We went via Route 66, glad we did but it’s a bit boring, although watching the storm follow us was quite impressive.
Las Vegas
Our hotel was The Venetian, beautiful hotel with lots of marble & fancy stuff. Lots of restaurants inside – about 30, a shopping centre and a canal. We all found Vegas a bit bonkers, much too hot for us but are glad we went. We wouldn’t however return. We enjoyed a Gondola ride, quite expensive but an experience. DH & Ian went off to the Hoover Dam, they enjoyed that.
The vow renewal was fun, although my family may disagree. It was with “Elvis!” We travelled to the chapel in a limo and then rode the roller coaster at New York New York afterwards. My lovely friend Lesley was pleased to be wearing a wedding dress as hadn’t when they married 20 years ago.
General Thoughts
Our favourite places of the holiday were without a doubt the National Parks. Yosemite & Grand Canyon were both just beautiful & we will return. I would return to San Francisco as well.
We obviously enjoyed our road trip as are now planning next years – to Boston and New England. We will have less stops (4) and 14 nights, as felt 16 was just a bit too long. We used packing cubes and found them great – even the kids liked them.
I’d budgeted £150 ($193) per day for food for 4 of us and at the end of the holiday had a little left over, helped by the “included breakfast’s” on 4 nights stay. Fuel was also a lot less than I had budgeted – we spent $110 I had allowed £190. Hotel’s averaged out @ £164 per night, but we either had 2 rooms or a 2 room suite due to the kids age. I felt it worked better with bathrooms when we had 2 rooms.
For any of you still with me, well done! I hope my ramblings help someone. Please ask if you have any questions. I really enjoy reading other people’s reports / reviews and have enjoyed re-living my holiday through this report.

[Twilight Nerd]

I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday, I've enjoyed reading your report and I have to agree the national parks are amazing.

[lynne6705]

Thanks for the information, good luck with Boston and New England, loved travelling around there and happy to help if you need any planning assitance

[jocat]

Sounds a fab trip. Yosemite wasn't our favourite part too.

[Frankie & gang]

Originally Posted by Twilight Nerd

I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday, I've enjoyed reading your report and I have to agree the national parks are amazing.

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Aw thanks

[Frankie & gang]

Originally Posted by jocat

Sounds a fab trip. Yosemite wasn't our favourite part too.

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Do you mean Yosemite was your favourite?

[Frankie & gang]

Originally Posted by lynne6705

Thanks for the information, good luck with Boston and New England, loved travelling around there and happy to help if you need any planning assitance

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Thanks Lynne

[Macca04]

Thanks for sharing sounds like you had a great time. I loved it when we went 4 years ago. Thinking of going again next year. Agree about Monterey loved the aquarium but wouldn't return now we've been. We only stayed one night in San Francisco and want to stay at least 3 if we go next year. Vegas is bonkers but we love it and we don't really gamble. If you do go again Death Valley is worth a drive through.

[abiknox]

Sounds like an incredible trip ! We drove into Yosemite in the dark due to bad traffic. Couldn't believe it the next day when we saw the sort of roads we had been whizzing along on !

[daytonababe]

Sounds a fab trip :-)