So I have a few weeks off between contracts and I figured, fuck it, I am going to fly to Vegas. So today I booked a flight. My plan is to spend a couple of nights in Vegas, then hire a car and drive to LA, then head north to San Fran. Then I am going to fly up to Canada to see a friend for a few days, before flying home for Christmas.
This is the plan - Fly to Vegas Friday - Barstow - Santa Monica - Santa Maria - Monterey - San Fran - fly to Kelowna/ BC - fly home to London.
Reason I bring this up - I don't have a clue what I am doing! I am hoping the likes of
@NapaAddick and
@SDAddick can give me some tips, along with anyone who has done a holiday like this before...
Comments
But have a good trip.
Vegas is mad but brilliant for a short stay and covered pretty thoroughly elsewhere. Much much bigger than I expected.
Barstow is a shit-hole with no obvious qualities, so if you can handle an epic drive, give it a miss.
Santa Monica is a really cool place to just hang out. I wanted to move there.
Don't know Santa Maria.
Monterey quite small but very nice. We had a brilliant whale watching tour there, but I don't know if it's the season.
SF absolutely great. Fisherman's Wharf is a bit tacky, but pleasant enough. City centre great. My favourite suburb was Haight-Ashbury. Very cool. Alcatraz was superb and much better than I expected.
You're going to have a great time.
Edit: LV to SM is only 4 1/2 hours, so not even that epic.
If you're West side, you need to go see Malibu and Santa Barbara too. SB and the purple trees lining the streets, I could easily move there!
Monterrey, nice place. Check out the acquarium. Its huge.
San Fran is an amazing place. Alcatraz with the tour is a must.
Oh and get out the car and get a picture of Bixby Creek Bridge at Big Sur. You might want to take a lot of pictures along the PCH.
There's also a seal sanctuary along part of the beach on PCH. The Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery. You must go and have a look at that. When we was there, there was like a thousand seals on the sand. Never seen anything like it.
To anyone making the trip to the West Coast, I'd put Yosemite, Sequoia and Death Valley on the list of must sees too. Obviously you're going in the opposite direction but definitely something to consider for next time.
Vegas is marmite. You'll either love it or hate it. I loved it while I was there but if I was doing the trip again, I'd probably give it a swerve, preferring to use the time elsewhere.
Thanks everyone else for your comments, really useful stuff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badwater_Basin
Bit selfish of you leaving poor old Ross1 to deal with all the matchday commentaries by himself. :-)
Just joking, of course. Have a great trip.
That stretch of coastline is arguably the best in the world and I'm sure you'll have a great time. North to south is best though!!
What are the dates you're going (you can DM me and I promise I'll respond)? I'm going down to LA for the holidays and I'm guessing I'm gonna miss you by like a week.
I can do more detail on this, but
1) Santa Monica--Yeah, it's beautiful and just nice to wander along the cliff that overlooks the ocean. I also recommend Venice Beach, which isn't too far (by LA standards) south of Santa Monica. The Venice boardwalk is what you've seen in loads of films and it's just fun to wander around. I know it's kind of cliche, but it's one of the touristy things I still enjoy whenever I'm showing people around.
2) Monterrey: Yes! An absolutely beautiful part of the world. Go to the aquarium. It's absolutely brilliant.
3) SF: I don't know that I have anything that you wouldn't get in guidebooks really. Eat in Chinatown is probably my one thing. It's a compact city by American standards, so when I've taken people there it's usually just been good to kind of wander around. Everyone else in my family has either spent large chunks of time or lived in SF so I'll ask them.
I completely agree with the Grand Canyon and Death Valley. The problem is they're well out of the way for what you'll be doing. Yosemite is slightly less out of the way, also absolutely stunning, but I think it's still a good three hour drive from SF. So it's just a question of the time investment.
I'll come back and update this as I think of stuff. Weed is legal in California if that's your thing. I think a lot of things are legal in Vegas but I'm not much help there. And unfortunately I've never been to Canada.
Also, I have no plan for San Fran and can imagine not making the most of it, so all tips welcome on that one. I am considering Yosemite!
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm
We drove the Tioga Pass in a RV in May. We made it halfway across when they shut the road at both ends to new traffic. One of the most amazing yet horrific all at the same time experiences I've ever had lol. Done about 10 miles in 4 hrs in thick blizard conditons.
Also get a convertible Mustang. Great fun to drive!!
If you fancy a beer while you're in San Francisco let me know.
For another day - Leave early ish. Drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. A great vista point on the Marin side for photos. Hope the weather is clear. From there you could drive up past San Quentin prison and then go on to Napa Valley for the day. You could even stay up there the night somewhere and come back to San Francisco the next day but you'd be able to do it in a day if you preferred. The Napa Valley is beautiful and try some wine tasting. There's also another place up there called Sonoma. A quaint little town with a bit of California history. There's an old Mission there and it also has wine tasting. You could manage that if you decided to stay the night somewhere. If you do stay the night Calistoga in the Napa Valley is a quaint little town to stay and then back to San Francisco via Sonoma on the way back.
Regarding flying from San Francisco. Oakland is another airport you could fly from if that was more convenient. From downtown San Francisco it's much the same distance wise to San Francisco airport or Oakland airport.
Like i said, if you fancy a beer in San Francisco let me know.
Cheers. Rob
From google -
Spring is by far the best time to visit Yosemite Valley. In May the waterfalls are at their peak, the wildflowers are blooming, and the summer crowds have not yet arrived. Daytime temperatures are often divine, but be prepared for chilly temperatures at night.
Mirror Lake was only half full when we went, which was a bit gutting!
thanks