Road Tripping in the USA!
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Soldato
We had an Expedition and even under the slightest acceleration it would downshift and almost blow itself up. Judging by how few Expeditions you see around here compared to Tahoes, Suburbans, Yukons, etc I'm thinking they're that good.
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Soldato
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Hey all,
Trying to plan a Honeymoon for next year (wedding is actually this year but since time-off work will be easier to come by next year we're having a delayed 'moon)... Have been trying to do some research and stuck together this as an initial idea for a plan - looking for people's thoughts/discussion; what's good, what's bad, etc. so something like this (travelling in August):
What do you guys think?
Trying to plan a Honeymoon for next year (wedding is actually this year but since time-off work will be easier to come by next year we're having a delayed 'moon)... Have been trying to do some research and stuck together this as an initial idea for a plan - looking for people's thoughts/discussion; what's good, what's bad, etc. so something like this (travelling in August):
- Fly from UK to Vegas
- Pickup a decent convertible hire-car (a mustang or something I don't know)
- 3 nights in Vegas - mostly to allow for a trip to the Hoover Dam and a helicopter excursion to the Grand Canyon (and to get our bearings/deal with jet lag?)
- Drive to Death Vally (somewhere, Furnace Creek maybe?) ~2hrs to stay 1 night
- Drive onto Yosemite via the Eastern entrance (HW120) ~4hrs to stay 3 nights, do some hiking etc.
- Onto San Francisco ~4hrs, to stay 2 nights; cycle the Golden Gate, maybe Alcatraz?
- South to Monetery ~2hrs to stay 1 night; would be awesome to fit in whale watching or the aquarium
- South again to Santa Barbera ~4hrs to stay another 1 night
- One more ~2hrs to LA for the final night and access to LAX
- Fly direct to Jamaica for 5 nights and then back to the UK
What do you guys think?
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Soldato
Sounds good, but if you can get extend your itinerary it might be worth spending a couple of days in LA. I enjoyed my time there.
I did a VERY similar trip last year (minus Jamaica), the one mistake I made was flying into LAX and then driving to Vegas. The LA to Vegas drive is incredibly boring and after a long flight from LHR it was exhausting. You seem to be avoiding this mistake, which IMO is good news.
Soldato
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Good to know, thanks! It actually only worked out that way because of the 3 major airports on the route LAX seems to be the only one that will fly direct to Jamaica (earlier variations of our plans did have us doing that drive) but cutting out that extra 4-hour drive was an added bonus; especially if it's boring as you say!
In general one thing we're struggling with is whether the places we're using to break up the journey but only staying for a single night will feel too brief... Can anyone who has done a similar trip comment on that?
Another thing is the Death Valley to Yosemite drive... when you put it in on Google Maps it seems to take you all the way around the park to enter via the Western entrance (I think this has to do with the Eastern entrance being off-limits during the Winter?) Is that right? If we were going in August is it safe to assume that we'll be able to access the Eastern entrance? (this is a big deal as it seems to almost cut the drive in half from 8 to ~4 hours)
You are correct regarding Yosemite and the East entrance, you'll be fine in August.
Personally we did THIS exact route in August 2015 and found it a long day but well worth it.
Leave Vegas at around 8am, drive through and see all the sites before arriving at Mammoth Lakes at around 6pm. It's a long drive but I think 1 day is right as we were never in the car for more than about 90 minutes before stopping and reaching somewhere to jump out and do / view something.
It'll also free you up for another day somewhere else.
Regarding the rest of your route just be aware that the PCH (HW1) is currently closed between Monterey and Santa Barbara due to a bridge being damaged, it's been going on for a while now and you may find if luck goes against you that you need to take the 3 hour detour around the bridge.
Book Alcatraz in advanced, it's well worth it.
Soldato
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Worth thinking about - I like your route a lot, just trying to decide whether we'd quite like to stay in DV for the night or not...
Hmm, fingers crossed they might have completed the new bridge by next August; I don't mind going the other route down HW101 if needed but it would be a shame to miss out on that stretch as I think that's the most iconic bit of the drive...
Will do! Wasn't completely sure about it as I could imagine it either being great or being a bit overrated, I've heard others say it's good as well
There isn't really much point in staying in DV imo unless you feel the day will be too long. There isn't really anything there, expensive crap accommodation and a few canteen style places to heat. The enjoyment of DV is Badwater Basin, Dantes View and driving through it.
I get massively bored by museums and general tourist tours but Alcatraz was one of the best. You get a free audio tour and can go at your own pace or just walk around. It's quite a bit of walking, especially outside but well worth the 3-4 hours you'll spend there (plus you get amazing views of SF).
I just got back from my 3 week trip in that area and I wouldn't extend DV to more than one day.
The biggest issue with DV in August is that it is just too hot to be outside for any length of time. It's 50C there right now. As the others have said the best two points are Dante's View and Badwater both of which are before you get to furnace creak.
With Yosemite you should be prepared for weather if your going hiking. We were in death valley at 45C the day before to light hail and snow at 2C in Yosmite Valley. The car was showing 0C up on Glacier Point, while we were the the whole place got enveloped in a cloud and followed with light snow. This is in June.
Alcatraz tickets are released 3 months in advance and will be sold out before you travel so book in advance.
If you do the Hoover Dam get there early as the Dam tour is first come first served and sells out quickly. You will have to resort to the shorter power plant tour (which is still interesting). It's worth taking a look at the Valley of Fire also on the same day.
There is also the Red Rock Canyon the other side of Vegas is well worth a look.
Highway 1 will be closed for a long time now as there was another huge land slip further south which has thrown a spanner in the works. We drove through Carmel Valley instead of taking the highway which was a bit more interesting.
The biggest issue with DV in August is that it is just too hot to be outside for any length of time. It's 50C there right now. As the others have said the best two points are Dante's View and Badwater both of which are before you get to furnace creak.
With Yosemite you should be prepared for weather if your going hiking. We were in death valley at 45C the day before to light hail and snow at 2C in Yosmite Valley. The car was showing 0C up on Glacier Point, while we were the the whole place got enveloped in a cloud and followed with light snow. This is in June.
Alcatraz tickets are released 3 months in advance and will be sold out before you travel so book in advance.
If you do the Hoover Dam get there early as the Dam tour is first come first served and sells out quickly. You will have to resort to the shorter power plant tour (which is still interesting). It's worth taking a look at the Valley of Fire also on the same day.
There is also the Red Rock Canyon the other side of Vegas is well worth a look.
Highway 1 will be closed for a long time now as there was another huge land slip further south which has thrown a spanner in the works. We drove through Carmel Valley instead of taking the highway which was a bit more interesting.
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Soldato
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Nice one, thanks to both of you 
I'll definitely pickup tickets to Alcatraz in advance as it looks excellent...
Presumably re: the cold in Yosemite that's mostly if you choose to venture up to higher altitude places? We'll make sure we're prepared at any rate...
Great tips, keep them coming! I'm taking notes
I'll definitely pickup tickets to Alcatraz in advance as it looks excellent...
Presumably re: the cold in Yosemite that's mostly if you choose to venture up to higher altitude places? We'll make sure we're prepared at any rate...
Great tips, keep them coming! I'm taking notes
Even the valley floor itself is at 4000ft elevation.
That's almost twice as high as the highest road in the UK.
Just got back from our west coast trip, we hired the new Mustang.
In the end we decided to start the trip off in San Diego instead of LA and so glad that we did. There's so much to see there and I wish we had more time to spend a couple of extra nights. In the full day that we had we saw the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Cabrillo National Monument, the USS Midway Museum and wandered around Balboa Park. With it being cloudy and only 20 degrees I decided not to apply sun block to my peril and started the trip off in typical English style by getting burnt
.
Food recommendation in San Diego - Richard Walker's Pancake House. Great pancakes as you can probably guess. Fortunately we were still on UK time at this point so woke up nice and early and headed down at 6.30am. We were shocked on leaving (7.30am or so) to see a queue of about 20 people outisde waiting for a table! Definitely get there early if you want breakfast.
The fairly dull drive to Grand Canyon was brightened up by a stop at Oatman, a bizarre ghost (ish) town on Route 66 taken over by donkeys. This was followed up an epic drive on twisty roads through the hills of Arizona on the way to Kingman. There were barely any other cars on the way and there were several spots to pull over to take photos. Kingman also had a cool diner called Mr. D'z. If you're making the drive to Vegas / GC I would recommended these stops.
The Grand Canyon was the highlight of the trip and staying a couple of nights on the South Rim is a must in my opinion, the views are breathtaking.
A couple of other random observations as I am too jet lagged to describe the rest of the trip:
There was a USB port but I couldn't see any headphone jacks. If you have an iPhone you can connect via USB and play music via iTunes. It also had Bluetooth stereo which is what we used for most of the trip.
In the end we decided to start the trip off in San Diego instead of LA and so glad that we did. There's so much to see there and I wish we had more time to spend a couple of extra nights. In the full day that we had we saw the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Cabrillo National Monument, the USS Midway Museum and wandered around Balboa Park. With it being cloudy and only 20 degrees I decided not to apply sun block to my peril and started the trip off in typical English style by getting burnt
. Food recommendation in San Diego - Richard Walker's Pancake House. Great pancakes as you can probably guess. Fortunately we were still on UK time at this point so woke up nice and early and headed down at 6.30am. We were shocked on leaving (7.30am or so) to see a queue of about 20 people outisde waiting for a table! Definitely get there early if you want breakfast.
The fairly dull drive to Grand Canyon was brightened up by a stop at Oatman, a bizarre ghost (ish) town on Route 66 taken over by donkeys. This was followed up an epic drive on twisty roads through the hills of Arizona on the way to Kingman. There were barely any other cars on the way and there were several spots to pull over to take photos. Kingman also had a cool diner called Mr. D'z. If you're making the drive to Vegas / GC I would recommended these stops.
The Grand Canyon was the highlight of the trip and staying a couple of nights on the South Rim is a must in my opinion, the views are breathtaking.
A couple of other random observations as I am too jet lagged to describe the rest of the trip:
- I have never received a speeding ticket nor been pulled over in 6 years of driving in the UK but managed to get pulled over for driving 75 in a 65 within 3 days of driving in the US! Fortunately the copper seemed more interested in chatting to us about life in London and just issued us with a warning. Watch out especially in Arizona as we saw loads of cars pulled.
- The coast of California can be surprising cold and very windy especially further north. Whilst the UK was basking in 35 degree heat last week we were shivering in a windy 16!
- If you're planning on staying in Monterrey, stay in Carmel instead. The town of Monterrey can be avoided altogether imo unless you are there specifically for the aquarium or whale watching.
- Tioga Pass was closed and still is. Very unlucky as history would suggest it has a 90+% chance of being open by mid June. Unfortunately that meant we missed Death Valley.
- PCH was closed down the Big Sur. We knew this already but it was still a shame. On the plus side it was very foggy the day we would have driven it so we would have been disappointed either way .
There was a USB port but I couldn't see any headphone jacks. If you have an iPhone you can connect via USB and play music via iTunes. It also had Bluetooth stereo which is what we used for most of the trip.
I went the long way from Death Valley to Yosemite via Bakersfield and Fresno a couple of weeks ago and while it was a long drive it was well worth it. We set off from Vegas at around 10AM by the time we had fueled up. We made it to Fresno about 9.45-10PM. It was around 500 miles and we did stop off for dinner on route. The roads were pretty quiet so were able to push on after leaving the park.Disappointments:
- Tioga Pass was closed and still is. Very unlucky as history would suggest it has a 90+% chance of being open by mid June. Unfortunately that meant we missed Death Valley.
- PCH was closed down the Big Sur. We knew this already but it was still a shame. On the plus side it was very foggy the day we would have driven it so we would have been disappointed either way
We didn't go down the dead end to see the top of Big Sur either, we got up late so didn't have time to double back on ourselves and it was really foggy so we have an excuse to go back.