Road Tripping in the USA!

Agree with Fox

We had 3 weeks to do grand canyon lake Powel arches Bryce zion LV and Yosemite. We did the tetons Yellowstone and glacier in our last trip of 3 weeks. Glacier is 1350 from LV that would be 4 days just getting there and back. Try a less ambitious route we did this in the last 3 weeks.

Do glacier on another trip it is worth doing at the same time as Yellowstone.
 
Got back on Monday, the whole trip was amazing.

I'm already thinking of what to do / where to go next year!

Are there any other trips that you can do around California but slightly different routes, I don't mind staying in a few of the same areas again (I could have easily spent double the time in San Diego and San Fran) but wouldn't want to do the exact same trip.

Despite being out there for 3 weeks I feel like there is still so much more to see and do (apart from the obviously touristy stuff in LA etc...)
 
I don't think I paid a single toll in that end of the country? Other than Seven Mile Drive. There are not very many of them, bridges excepted.
 
[TW]Fox;26844563 said:
I don't think I paid a single toll in that end of the country? Other than Seven Mile Drive. There are not very many of them, bridges excepted.
Click to expand...

Did you sit on highways most of the time though, between cities, at least, and detour off as / when required? ie, if I followed your map route from earlier on in the thread, being the most scenic?
 
Peerzy forgot your exact route but if you enjoyed the coast and forests you could fly in to San Fran, go up to Tahoe and back down through Yosemite to San Fran, down PCH to SB, drive over the top of L.A and go out to Palm Springs, explore a bit of Joshua Tree and then head down to San Diego for a few days, head out of L.A.

Not a bad little trip that, you'd miss the big-ass drives through Death Valley, Vegas etc and could spend a bit more time in your preferred CA places. You can save a ton of time by just taking 101 from SF instead of the 1 or even the 5 the whole way from SF to SD but seems a shame if you're looking to spend time in SF and SD not to do PCH again.

You'd have to post your itinerary again to see where you went, it's probably about a dozen pages back by now :p
 
Last edited:
Django x2 said:
Seattle down is always good. Google HQ, etc, :)

Did you manage to avoid the toll roads in the end? The majority of them?
Click to expand...

Yeah, basically we paid for the SF bridges (usually $6 or so each time), 17 mile drive and then every national park (so $60 as it was $20 each for Death Valley, Yosemite and Grand Canyon).

Other than that we didn't even see any signs for tolls (apart from one motorway where you could pay like 50 cents per mile to use an extra fast lane), going for SD to LV I think.

Rich_L said:
Peerzy forgot your exact route but if you enjoyed the coast and forests you could fly in to San Fran, go up to Tahoe and back down through Yosemite to San Fran, down PCH to SB, drive over the top of L.A and go out to Palm Springs, explore a bit of Joshua Tree and then head down to San Diego for a few days, head out of L.A.

Not a bad little trip that, you'd miss the big-ass drives through Death Valley, Vegas etc and could spend a bit more time in your preferred CA places. You can save a ton of time by just taking 101 from SF instead of the 1 or even the 5 the whole way from SF to SD but seems a shame if you're looking to spend time in SF and SD not to do PCH again.

You'd have to post your itinerary again to see where you went, it's probably about a dozen pages back by now :p
Click to expand...

We basically did LA -> San Diego (via the 5) -> Vegas -> Gran Canyon -> Vegas -> Death Valley -> Yosemite -> San Fran -> PCH down to LA

Using the obvious scenic routes where possible and standard freeways if there wasn't anything better.

One place that nobody has mentioned and we loved was Mammoth Lakes which is just outside of Yosemite, I think it's a ski resort in the winter but had a really good vibe and some amazing lakes there. Juno lake just before Yosemite was stunning as well!

PS done some very quick basic maths and the total cost for us to do the entire trip was about £6k, this included hotels, flights, food, drinks, trips out and everything even down to petrol and parking. £3k each for 3 weeks is good value if you ask me, especially as we stayed in decent places, did all the big things and ate out at restaurants every night.
 
Yep, which is the only class you should book bar Std convertible or any of the specific car classes depending on your requirement.
 
Peerzy said:
One place that nobody has mentioned and we loved was Mammoth Lakes which is just outside of Yosemite, I think it's a ski resort in the winter but had a really good vibe and some amazing lakes there. Juno lake just before Yosemite was stunning as well!
Click to expand...

Stayed here for a night before our Vegas weekend, and it was a great place, didn't see much of it as we got there quite late, but was so chilled out, and relatively quiet, and had great surroundings. Worth a stop off, although due to being a ski resort prices weren't rock bottom like others in the area.
 
SoliD said:
Stayed here for a night before our Vegas weekend, and it was a great place, didn't see much of it as we got there quite late, but was so chilled out, and relatively quiet, and had great surroundings. Worth a stop off, although due to being a ski resort prices weren't rock bottom like others in the area.
Click to expand...

We picked it as it was only 35 minutes drive further than Bishop and for the same money we got somewhere that looked a bit nicer and and the place looked like it might have a bit more character (which it did).

If I was to go back I'd try and arrange to do 2 nights here.
 
Django x2 said:
Which hotel in mammoth lakes Peerzy?
Click to expand...

We stayed at 'Holiday Haus Motel' which has some good reviews, it was pretty cheap for us - about £60 I think in the middle of August (we had a budget of £100 per night for hotels and averaged about £75 a night I think).

We only stayed 1 night sadly but it was within a 5 minute walk of the whole village which had some cool bars and places to eat. The service at the hotel was great, they had a good hot tub which we used and the room was massive and clean (not too dated).

I'd stay at the hotel again, as although it wasn't 4* or anything as nice as the MGM Grand in Vegas that we'd came from it gave us a real good opportunity the explore the area.
 
Fox - what was the route trip you did in / around Seattle / Vancouver? Just looking at lots of options but can get flights to Seattle for about £500.00 return in April (2 weeks off).
 
500 quid return to Seattle is exceptional.

We went up to Vancouver, across the Rockies to Banff then down into Montana and the incredible Glacier National Park then over to Oregon.

My favourite trip but most of the good bits will be closed duE to snow tim April. The road through glacier park is open only 4 months a year.
 
Jez said:
Yep, which is the only class you should book bar Std convertible or any of the specific car classes depending on your requirement.
Click to expand...

[TW]Fox;26853437 said:
Yea, Luxury. They did try to give me a Volvo but I asked for something else and they brought this down.
Click to expand...

Luxury for 2 weeks is 500 pounds. Full size is 300.

Can't see how its worth nearly twice the price.
 
[TW]Fox;26859019 said:
500 quid return to Seattle is exceptional.

We went up to Vancouver, across the Rockies to Banff then down into Montana and the incredible Glacier National Park then over to Oregon.

My favourite trip but most of the good bits will be closed duE to snow tim April. The road through glacier park is open only 4 months a year.
Click to expand...

Not much point if the NPs are closed, hmmm where else can we do in the US around that time - we've got the first 2 weeks of April off?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom