West Coast USA Road Trip

[The Moose]

K50 DEL said:

Thanks to BA's air mile sale a couple of months ago I've managed to fluke both directions in First Class as well - holiday of a lifetime I think!!

lucky barsteward

[K50 DEL]

The Moose said:

K50 DEL said:

Thanks to BA's air mile sale a couple of months ago I've managed to fluke both directions in First Class as well - holiday of a lifetime I think!!

lucky barsteward

First class return for the princely sum of 75,000 air miles and 300 quid - I was pretty happy with that - there appears to be some benefit to flying to Africa once a month after all!!

[thehawk]

Seriously, skip Tijuana and don't waste your time. It's a sthole, it's increasingly dangerous to tourists and the police are incredibly corrupt in a bad way. Many American friends in San Diego won't ever set foot across that border again.

You could use that whole day around San Diego which is a really nice area or use it for driving to Phoenix at a more leisurely pace. Although I'd probably skip Phoenix too because it's a long drive just to 'see it'

I found a couple of days in Las Vegas enough, although if you are seeing shows and doing other activities in the surrounding areas you could fill up more.

On the whole driving on straight roads for hours on end is not fun.

Don't forget to visit the Petersen Auto Museum in LA - it's a must see IMO.

Edited by thehawk on Tuesday 3rd March 00:07

[K50 DEL]

thehawk said:

Don't forget to visit the Petersen Auto Museum in LA - it's a must see IMO.

I've got the Nethercutt collection in Sylmar CA on the list to see, but you can never have too many car museums!!

[JML]

Been on the West Coast for work a few times

I'd avoid Tijuana as said above.
I go there for work, and it's become a lot less safe over the last few years. Used to be ok to walk around in the centre at night, but definitely not now. (Kidnappings....)

Spend more time in San Diego instread of LA -you can visit this

http://www.midway.org/

and the Gaslamp District has plenty pubs and restaurants - Friday nights are recommended!

Monterey aquarium is excellent if you have time (and I'm not usually a fan of stuff like that) and Cannery Row (Steinbeck) is close by although its a bit touristy.

Pebble Beach/17 Mile Drive is nice as well.


In SF, you can climb the stairs to the top of the Coit Tower: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coit_Tower
and don't forget to drive down Lombard St
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_(San_F...

If you want to land on Alcatraz , book ahead - but boat trips under the bridge and around Alcatraz are normally turn up and go.

If your a techie, Silicon Valley has the NASA Ames research centre museum, the original garage in Palo Alto where Hewlett Packard was founded, and the Intel Museum, amongst other things.


HTH

[K50 DEL]

JML said:

.

If your a techie, Silicon Valley has the NASA Ames research centre museum, the original garage in Palo Alto where Hewlett Packard was founded, and the Intel Museum, amongst other things.


HTH

Sadly I am, so this appeals!!

[j1]

I did something similar last summer - LA, San Diego, LV and AZ.

I'd agree with everybody who is advising against going to Tijuana. I went for the day and it is a sthole, there is nothing to see or do there in particular and the queue's at the Mexican side of the border when trying to get back across into the US were 4 hours long, this alone made it not worthwhile.

Personally I would spend more time in and around San Diego rather than LA, I found it to be a far nicer place, I can fully recommend the US Grant hotel there also .

I found parts of Orange County to be worth a visit.

[BigBen]

K50 DEL said:

BigBen said:

K50 DEL said:

04/17 Tijuana, Mexico (it seems rude not to as I'm so close!) drive to Phoenix, AZ in the evening
04/18 Phoenix AZ then drive toward Vegas in the evening

That is a hell of a long drive for an evening.

Is Phoenix actually a must, not that much to see iirc and a long way. Another suggestion would be to go from San Diego to Vegas via Palm Springs and Joshua Tree national park, lots of scenery straight out of Westerns.

Ben

I've got San Diego to Phoenix as 5.5hrs and 355 miles - it's not a 100% must do - I've set myself the task of visiting all 50 states within the next 3 years - I've done 30+ already so AZ is really just another off the list, it seemed sensible to include it in this leg.

The route you suggest also looks good though - far less Interstate which is good news.

The other thing you can do is tag a trip to the Hoover damn onto your Vegas leg and you can cross into Arizona. The roads on the route I suggest are amazing, straight roads with no other traffic for tens of miles so you can safely cruise at 100mph++ if for instance you have badly misjudged the distances involved and have a flight to catch

Ben

[Goochie]

BigBen said:

The other thing you can do is tag a trip to the Hoover damn onto your Vegas leg and you can cross into Arizona. The roads on the route I suggest are amazing, straight roads with no other traffic for tens of miles so you can safely cruise at 100mph++ if for instance you have badly misjudged the distances involved and have a flight to catch

Ben

On that note, whats the done thing when/if caught speeding over there? CLaim you dont have the means to pay then simply fly home? Or be a good honest tourist and pay up on the spot?

[Goochie]

Here is the route we are planning:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a...

However I'm open to suggestions of ways to break up the driving with a couple of extra stop overs to reduce the number of hours behind the wheel. Particularly between the Grand Canyon (F on the map) and LA (H on the map).

Currently we're looking at stopping in Lake Havasu (G on the map) but that still leaves us with a rather long drive to LA.

So can anyone suggest an alternative way to get from the Grand Canyon to LA, preferably with 2 stop-overs that are not in the middle of nowhere?

[BigBen]

Goochie said:

BigBen said:

The other thing you can do is tag a trip to the Hoover damn onto your Vegas leg and you can cross into Arizona. The roads on the route I suggest are amazing, straight roads with no other traffic for tens of miles so you can safely cruise at 100mph++ if for instance you have badly misjudged the distances involved and have a flight to catch

Ben

On that note, whats the done thing when/if caught speeding over there? CLaim you dont have the means to pay then simply fly home? Or be a good honest tourist and pay up on the spot?

Touch wood I have managed to talk my way out of it on the two occasions I have been stopped. Once doing 90 on an empty six lane freeway with a 55 limit in CA and once doing 90ish on an empty dual carriageway with massive separation (200m+) between opposing lanes, again 55 limit.

I suspect the cops don't really know what to do in that situation either so save themselves the work, of course YMMV

Ben

[MikeyT]

Defo go to Palm Springs if you can - a real nice place (well, ws when I was there 10 years ago) - very nice food - very relaxed, VERY warm - just a nice atmosphere everywhere.

[Nickyboy]

When you're in SF i would suggest a Segway tour, around $70 for 2-3 hours. I did one in Pittsburgh last year, was excellent fun and am planning the same for our next trip.

[mikef]

Goochie said:

Here is the route we are planning:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a...

Goochie - when are you thinking of taking this trip? Tioga Pass over the top of Yosemite is usually closed until at least mid-May (check out http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/tiogapass.ht... Having done SF to Vegas several times (and I'll be doing the opposite direction 10 days from now), I'd suggest Bishop (on your route) as a good stopping off point with decent Best Western-type motels. Gives you time to see Yosemite and Death Valley and arrive in Vegas on the second evening.

On the way back from Flagstaff to LA, if you have time, I'd tour a bit further south and take in Joshua Tree NP and stop over around Palm Springs - not 29 Palms though, it's a horrid military base. There's nothing much on 40 after Havasu and Barstow in particular is a hell-hole.

[HOGEPH]

Rollin said:

audidoody said:

Five nights in Las Vegas? Three nights is more than enough!

Yup. Much better to cut that short and see Yosemite and Death Valley.

2 nights would be enough in Vegas. It's a great place, but wears thin very quickly!

[HOGEPH]

Goochie said:

BigBen said:

The other thing you can do is tag a trip to the Hoover damn onto your Vegas leg and you can cross into Arizona. The roads on the route I suggest are amazing, straight roads with no other traffic for tens of miles so you can safely cruise at 100mph++ if for instance you have badly misjudged the distances involved and have a flight to catch

Ben

On that note, whats the done thing when/if caught speeding over there? CLaim you dont have the means to pay then simply fly home? Or be a good honest tourist and pay up on the spot?

Pay up. If you get caught on a subsequent trip to the area, I suspect an unpaid fine would not be looked upon kindly. Buy a radar detector in Walmart, they have saved me a couple of times!

[Goochie]

mikef said:

Goochie said:

Here is the route we are planning:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a...

Goochie - when are you thinking of taking this trip? Tioga Pass over the top of Yosemite is usually closed until at least mid-May (check out http://www.monobasinresearch.org/data/tiogapass.ht... Having done SF to Vegas several times (and I'll be doing the opposite direction 10 days from now), I'd suggest Bishop (on your route) as a good stopping off point with decent Best Western-type motels. Gives you time to see Yosemite and Death Valley and arrive in Vegas on the second evening.

On the way back from Flagstaff to LA, if you have time, I'd tour a bit further south and take in Joshua Tree NP and stop over around Palm Springs - not 29 Palms though, it's a horrid military base. There's nothing much on 40 after Havasu and Barstow in particular is a hell-hole.

Thanks for the tip on Bishop - it'll break up one of the longer legs of the trip nicely!

We're looking at going in May - Flying on the Tuesday after the first bank holiday. We're having 4 days in San Fran then another in Monterey before Yosemite. I think we'll just be on the cusp of road closures but I assume there is an alternative "diversion" route?

[Goochie]

MikeyT said:

Defo go to Palm Springs if you can - a real nice place (well, ws when I was there 10 years ago) - very nice food - very relaxed, VERY warm - just a nice atmosphere everywhere.

Thanks for the tip - Just added a stop-over in Palm Springs to break up the other long leg on our trip!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&a...

Edited by Goochie on Sunday 8th March 17:31

[mikef]

Goochie said:

We're looking at going in May - Flying on the Tuesday after the first bank holiday. We're having 4 days in San Fran then another in Monterey before Yosemite. I think we'll just be on the cusp of road closures but I assume there is an alternative "diversion" route?

Diversion north around Tahoe or south through Bakersfield is going to add 150 miles, I'd check before setting off for Yosemite