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Old 3 Sep 19, 03:23 PM  
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room_512
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Join Date: Jun 11
Mission Drive Vegas>SF>LA Pre Trip August 19

Hello Everyone

This I guess is a Post Trip, Pre Trip as we've already been and come back. The idea didn't come to me to write a report until half way through the trip...

So, I'm Neal, and I'm joined by my wife and 'co-pilot' Alison in what for us will be our biggest adventure yet.

Our normal haunts are Orlando/Tampa/Clearwater/Miami but the PCH has long been a dream and now the kids are away from home and seeing as it was my 50th this year it was time to give it a go.

The original plan was to just do SF down to LA but it grew a bit as finances allowed so Las Vegas was tagged on, just to say we'd been, and to tick it off the bucket list really but it worked well as a starting point flight-wise and also as a good way to cover Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire and Death Valley.

When we started planning it became clear quite quickly that hotels in California are very expensive so ways around staying near, rather than actually in, the main places were worked out. We'd also accrued quite a few Marriott Bonvoy points over the years so these also came into play to get us a few free nights as we went along.

Everything was booked by ourselves, through research - Google Maps, Trip Advisor, hotel websites etc. and I have to say this turned out really well for us.

We are both big fans of Adam Richman, Guy Fieri and expecially Anthony Bourdain, so plans also included trying to eat at as many independent food places as we could, especially if they had featured on programmes by any of the above. That mostly worked out but there were a few times when circumstances wouldn't allow, more on that later.

So, after much deliberation and plan was formed and everything booked. Some of it turned out to be very tight time-wise, we really didn't always take into account how long it can take to get between places, assuming everywhere is a 60mph road doesn't work in California!

So, the plan went as follows:-

Saturday 10th August:- Travel Day Manchester to Vegas with VA. Staying at the Aria for 3 nights

Sunday 11th August:- Hoover Dam then Valley of Fire

Monday 12th August:- Death Valley

Tuesday 13th August:- Vegas North Premium Outlets to buy some Jeans in readiness for San Francisco and then the Whale Watching from Moss Landing. Then travel via Bakersfield to Madera.
Overnight at Springhill Suites, Madera

Wednesday 14th August:- Drive to and then through Yosemite, through the bottom and top loops and then on to Oakland.
Staying at the Best Western Plus Bayside

Thursday 15th August:- Drive into SF and do as many of the city sights as we could, including a pre-booked trip over to Alcatraz at 2:30pm

Friday 16th August:- Drive over the Golden Gate bridge then stop at the Visitor Centre and back onto the bridge for photos etc. (Hoping it isn't foggy). Then head onto the '1' at the earliest opportunity to start the journey south to Hollister where we were at the Fairfield Inn for 3 nights.

Saturday 17th August:- Drive over to Moss Landing for 11am for the Sanctuary Cruises Whale Watching trip.

Sunday 18th August:- Drive over to Carmel for a look around followed by 17 Mile Drive then into Monterey

Monday 19th August:- Drive over to PCH and continue South, taking our time for photos as we went. Overnight at Fairfield Inn in Santa Maria.

Tuesday 20th August:- Drive south, calling first at Solvang for a look around and then to Santa Barbara for another wander, then onto our hotel for the next 7 nights, Hampton Inn, Long Beach Airport

Wednesday 21st August:- Pool Day and possibly some shopping

Thursday 22nd August:- Downtown LA, particularly a visit to Grand Central Market

Friday 23rd August:- Pool Day

Saturday 24th August:- Hollywood, Griffith Observatory, quick visit to Kat Von D's tattoo shop, Walk of Fame

Sunday 25th August:- Rockaway Records in Silver Lake then onto the LA Dodgers game against the Yankees

Monday 26th August:- Pool day again then late afternoon drive up the PCH to Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier

Tuesday 27th August:- Leisurely morning packing then drive to Huntington Beach for lunch then over to the Residence Inn on Century Boulevard next to LAX for the last night

Wednesday 28th August:- 8:05 am flight to Boston with Delta then on to Manchester with VA.

Hopefully you've made it this far, I'll make a start on each day as soon as I can, I'll include hotel costs etc. where I have them if anyone is interested.
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Old 4 Sep 19, 07:26 AM  
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KayLouise
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Hope you had an amazing trip, it sounds brilliant! Looking forward to reading more, particularly the LA days 😊
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Old 6 Sep 19, 12:03 PM  
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GandL
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Sounds fantastic! Cant wait to read more x
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Old 7 Sep 19, 12:59 AM  
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KarenG
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This sounds fabulous and I can’t wait to read more. I hope especially to read about any place Anthony Bourdain visited / worked at, as I loved him (RIP).
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Old 8 Sep 19, 09:14 AM  
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pluto99
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we did something like this a good few years ago bur went from vegas to death valley then through the mountains but could not do Yosemite as the passes were blocked but it was november but the changes going from 32 in vegas and death valley them into the mountains the temps dropped, we ended up at lake tahoe were it was -6, also call at san simeon where theres a colony of elephant seals and you can get close to them
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Old 10 Sep 19, 11:46 AM  
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room_512
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Excited about Disney
 
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Thanks everyone for the kind words, I've just posted the travel day report.
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Old 13 Sep 19, 08:41 AM  
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Mortimer Mouse
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Ooh this sounds interesting. Looking forward to reading all about it.
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