There comes a time when taken at the flood means that you spend your bonus on 4 very cheap plane tickets to Las Vegas and then embark on a road trip with your wife and 2 kids 16 and 12.
We hold no candle for Vegas but the flights were very cheap there and back. Open to all suggestions for a 2 1/2 week roadtrip. Thinking Grand Canyon, Monument Valley etc. Can we make it to the coast and back on a circular roadtrip?
Thoughts and suggestions, welcome.
You should be able to get to the coast. The only time I went to Las Vegas I drove from north LA in a day on my own and didn’t consider it hard work.
I know it’s changed but back then (1993) Vegas was a horrible place if you don’t like heat, gambling or overblown and overpriced shows.
If you’re staying in or around the Grand Canyon you may need to plan ahead to make sure you get something booked.
Thanks, we’re not bothered about Vegas beyond it being the airport in / out. Though will go to a show if we need to be there for a day / night.
Currently checking roadtrips and this will take place next August so we have plenty of time to plan. Everyone appears to be of the view that the Grand Canyon is a must so will look into that soonest.
Thanks.
The drugs begin to take hold around Barstow, apparently.
Drove past and nothing happened for me unfort.
Apparently that’s most people’s experience of the place.
We’re attempting to leave the fear and loathing at home but will bear that in mind. 😉
“I would have bright grapefruit, but I’m on statins”
Depends how much driving you want to do!
You can do coast and back. You could also look souther. My answer might depend on my first statement, and also time of year…
Hi, @Sitheref2409
We will be there from the end of July to mid August due to UK school holidays.
There will be two of us to drive so distances can be shared. Youngsters pretty content to chill in the back but thinking of interspercing some days without so much travel.
Thanks.
I wouldn’t want to teach granny to suck eggs one so it may be useful to know if you’ve done US road trips before.
Hi @Johnw, not US but we did a few in Canada before the kids came along.
We have done a similar trip.
I recommend Zion National Park; spectacular and beautiful.
Bryce Canyon (though it’s not really a canyon) seems to divide people. I thought it was a wonderful place. Others I have spoken to were unimpressed.
If you go to Monument Valley make sure you get booked into a hotel owned by the Navajo people; they own the land and there are many parts that are only accessible accompanied by a Navajo guide.
The Grand Canyon can be awe-inspiring. Take a few days there. There is an awful lot of it to see. If you want to descend to the bottom you have to set aside a couple of days. Many people have died trying to do a descent/ascent in a single day.
With respect to going to the coast, that is a lot of driving. It is possible, but distances in the US are on a scale that cannot compare to driving in the UK. There is the advantage that you’re often not driving on congested roads, and it becomes so much more relaxed, but you will cover hundreds of miles between destinations as it is.
What Carl said. Plus San Francisco is lovely (book the boat trip to Alcatraz in advance and hope for good weather, we spent a whole day there).
Joshua Tree park is amazing (camp out for incredible sky views) but is in the opposite direction. Probably my fave place in the US.
Vegas is just Blackpool with more money.
LA is also best avoided – think Harlow-on-sea – apart from the touristy things (Hollywood sign, Venice beach, etc), not worth the drive from Vegas.
Yes. If you end up in SF a. Go to Alcatraz b. Book well before you go. The first time I went there (pre-internet) I strolled down to the dock to buy a ticket, only to find the first one available was in two days time! I think, next time we went we have a limited choice on the Internet when we booked a few weeks in advance… and that was out of season! It’s hard to see how they could do anything about it without overcrowding and that would spoil the experience.
I quite like LA – caveat, my b-in-law lives there.
Griffith Observatory, the museums, the beaches to the South.
Hell of a drive though
Thanks Folks,
SF is on the wants list so now looking to see if we can come up with a schedule that allows for it.
Beyond flying into and out of Vegas the adults aren’t bothered about it The youngsters predictably seem keener but hoping this wont be a sticking point. No way to fit everything in so looking to prioritise the good stuff and compromise where we can.
Family currently sat around breakfast table with an assortment of electronic devices, pens, paper and maps as we work out the logistics.
Thanks again.
I suggest one night in Vegas to sleep off the long-haul flight and jetlag. No more than one, though – we spent two nights there and (i) Vegas by daylight is best avoided (ii) it holds no more appeal on the second night.
If you are going to SF, you will be expelled from The Afterword should you fail to visit Amoeba Records.
It’s right at the end of Haight Street, by Golden Gate Park.
Plus you’re at the historic home of Hippiedom.
My mate Dave planned a three week odyssey across the Western Plains and beyond searching for the roots of Rory, and arrived at the Grand Canyon having already written off one hire car on the way. He was well ready to be awed and staggered by the grandeur. The fog was down. He saw nothing. Nothing beyond the lip of the deeply lethal chasm in front of his feet, and he had a tight travel schedule to observe. Just sayin’. You might get there and not see anything, though by all accounts Dave’s experience was unusual, it has to be said. I believe he made up for it by ending the trip in SF, where he had already arranged to meet up with some similarly adventurous psychic explorers.
A late call for New Mexico, Roswell, and Carlsbad Caverns. NM is the size of France with a pop of 3m, most around Alburqurque. You can drive long enough on mostly empty roads to retrain muscle memory and road sense in a couple of hours. Awesome roadside Mexican diners, lots of interest, barmy America in Roswell, and mind blowing nature – bats, caverns, geology – at Carlsbad. Love to do that trip again.
That sounds fantastic, spoilt for choice here; hard decisions will have to be taken but it’s a nice problem to have. Learning a lot just by doing some research and listening to the experiences of others.
Not much time to post today but we loved San Diego. We also spent way too much time driving and if I was doing it again, I’d stay two or three nights most places rather than trying to get around everywhere.
That’s the very debate we’re just having, how long to stay in one place vs how many places to tick off. Ah the fine art of route planning.
We’ve made lots of mistakes like that over the years. If you have a travelling day, unless you’re looking at something en route, it’s just that. Allow at least the whole of the next day at your destination so it should be rare to only have an overnight stay.
We made the mistake a few years back of going from SF to South LA in a day and it was fine until we hit north L.A. at about 4pm….. that was a very long day!
You could go from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonapah? Assuming you’re willin’.
I’m having a Little Feat day.
I suspect that we will be ticking off the musical and cultural reference points as we go. From the last few days limited research I was surprised to see that there’s a road that’s had a pull in added so that people can stop at Forrest Gump Point. There’s also a corner in Winslow Arizona that seems to have added a statue to give visitors a prop to pose with.
Culture reflecting its environment which in turn responds and adapts to the culture. Theres probably a paper to be written about that.
I drove from Vegas to San Jose through Death Valley and Yosemite, spending a night in Furnace Creek. Make sure your car is in good shape and you are able to call for help in the case of breakdowns/punctures especially in the desert if you do this though (and carry plenty of water).
Agree Alcatraz is great, but many other things to do in San Francisco too.
I flew to Grand Canyon in a small plane on a day trip.
Not a fan of Vegas either, but The Beatles – Love is a sensational show. Highly recommended
I used to go to Las Vegas a couple of times a year with work and often did road trips after faffing about at exhibitions/trade shows.
Here’s a few recommendations of circular routes:
– Utah national parks: Zion then Bryce Canyon then Escalante and through Capital Reef – which in the late afternoon was a stunning drive – then via Torrey to Moab for the Arches/Dead Horse Point and return via Monument Valley, Grand Canyon and Flagstaff
– then I did a road trip with my son – up to Williams for the Grand Canyon – across to Flagstaff then south to Sedona and over the mountains to Prescott and Parker and on to 29 Palms – through Joshua Tree to Palm Springs and then on to San Diego where my lad was living at the time. Thought San Diego was great – nice neighbourhoods, plenty of attractions and a little more temperate weather-wise – but the drive back to Vegas skirting Los Angeles is busy and dull
– Yosemite/Death Valley – from Vegas head up towards Bakersfield/Fresno and Sequoia National Park and then Yosemite over the Tioga Road to Mono Lake – short detour to Bodie ghost town then south to Lone Pine to see where they filmed lots of westerns and back to Vegas via Death Valley
Used to do these in five or six days usually Sept/Oct time with some lengthy driving so would make ideal 8-10 day holidays with plenty of stops – but it’ll be ferociously hot in August and places like Yosemite and other national parks will be horrendously clogged with RVs the size of single decker buses trying to navigate windy roads.
As others have said, San Diego is recommended with a road trip along the coast to LA and beyond to Santa Monica and up to SF – might be breezier and cooler in August.
When we went 20 years ago, we didn’t book any accommodation in advance except at the start and end. We used motels along the way and stopped where we fancied which worked well everywhere apart from Yosemite where we had trouble finding anywhere to stay and it was expensive. There was very little near the park and we ended up further away than we would have liked in a pretty poor place but it was better than sleeping in the car.
As you say, August is hot and Palm Springs was easily the hottest place we went to. We were told the locals go elsewhere during August.
I went to Palm Springs in August (a day trip), it was like a ghost town. Nobody on the streets Temperature was 42 deg C. Took the (Swiss) funicular up the nearby mountain, was cooler there.
I bought a sandwich from a shop in Palm Springs on our way from Hollywood to Joshua Tree park, during the first week of September. It was very quiet, I think everyone was playing golf.
I have other dull stories to share.
I’ll be following this thread closely – I am planning a two and a half week Route 66 and side-trips extravaganza for next year. I figure it’s time to blow a chunk of savings on this one-off pilgrimage, partly just to escape the foetid political atmosphere of the UK, to be there to see Trump’s palace as it falls apart as soon it must, and partly as a last-gasp attempt to see a load of stuff I’ll soon be too old to fully appreciate and enjoy. I am hoping to avoid the obvious perils of the likes of the Commodore Hotel, but other than that my expectations and intentions are wide open.
NE1 I am so Jealous.
GLW and I did something like this 2 years ago and would love to repeat it.
Basically we flew into San Fran spend approx 4 days there.
We stayed in the King George hotel – basic but very central.
The key asset was the Pinecrest Diner a few doors up – we dined there a lot.
Took the hopon-hopoff to get acclimatized.
Visited Pier 39. – I hired a bike and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and back – very doable for the casual cyclist.
Did a catamaran cruise of the bay.
Visited Haight-Ashbury – now beware took in Ameoba Music – Like hotel California – you may never leave.
We flew to Las Vagas stayed overnight – such as sad place – the end of civilisation – people feeding slot machines at 7am on a Sunday morning.
Picked up hire car and did canyon country for 7 days.
Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, Monument valley, Grand Canyon and Back to fly home from Las Vagas.
Brilliant trip, we booked with Trailfinders, who were uber helpful and had lots of experience.
We basically took this trip with modifications:
https://www.trailfinders.ie/tours/usa/western-usa/las-vegas/tour-the-grand-circle
You must spend a night at Goulding’s Lodges in Monument valley – to watch the sun rise over the mesas and buttes. memorable.
Amazing country.
We flew home from Las Vagas after spending a night again in the Mandalay Hotel, the night before the mass shooting at the hotel.
Trip of a lifetime.
Hope you have a great one.
I live in LA and drive to Las Vegas for a trade show every January. It’s about a 3 and half hour drive, 4 if you take it steady. Beware of the cops (Highway Patrol). They will nick you for speeding given half a chance. It’s an easy drive but the closer you get to LA, the worse the traffic. Avoid holidays and rush hour.
If you do stay a night in Las Vegas at least the hotels are cheap by American standards and the well known ones on the strip are fine. There are plenty of decent hotels off the strip, too, if you want to avoid a casino. My company puts us up in the Holiday Inn on Koval Lane. All the rooms are two bedroom suites, there’s no casino and a family of four could stay there for around $100 a night.
Once you get to the California coast, there’s thousands of places to go and thousands of things to do. You could easily stay in somewhere like Santa Monica or could drive up or down the coast. There’s some lovely coastal towns you could visit, especially north of LA.
Have fun!
The coastal drive I’m sure is lovely.
On one US trip we took a detour to ensure we could drive along it, pass Big Sir (which I understand is private and so not accessible) on our way to Monterey.
It probably was lovely. Unfortunately it was enveloped in fog that day.
Ah! Fog! The bane of North West US road trips. Last time we were in SF we almost gave up waiting for the fog to clear over the Golden Gate Bridge but at the last minute it just disappeared and it was glorious. A few days previously, our plan was a trip to Crater Lake in Oregon which only opened again about three hours before we arrived after a couple of days being fog bound. Some people stay for a week in SF and never see the GGB which considering it’s size seems impossible if you visit on a sunny day.
BTW, the drive down the coast is indeed very scenic but I felt it got a bit samey after a while.
Agreed about the Pacific Coast Highway, plus there were lots of places that looked lovely but were inaccessible. Carmel and 17 Mile Drive were great though.
Easy peasy.
2 years ago we did: San Francisco – Sequoia National Park – Furnace Creek (Death Valley) – Las Vegas – Venice Beach (LAX) – San Luis Obispo – Monterrey – San Francisco airport.
Vegas isn’t that bad for 1 or 2 days no more – the drive from, Sequoia National park to Death Valley was spectacular, the big Sur from Lax to San Francisco also great.
Next year we are doing a 2 and half week trip on Route 66 but adding New York at the start, flying to Oklahoma City and driving from there – it is half of route 66 and we are calling it Route 33. We will again stop at Vegas but my daughter and her boyfriend will be 21 and they are convinced they are gonna win a fortune on the slots.
Road trips in the USA are great – I have done several.