h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

3 friends and I are planning a fly drive tour to California in late August/early September. We were going to go on a set itinerary from a tour operator but have come around to the idea of organising it ourselves, not least because we have done enough research to realise we can do it more cheaply.

This is our suggested itinerary:

Day 1 - Fly to LA. Stay overnight in airport motel.
Day 2 - LA. Pick up car, do whatever.
Day 3 - Drive up coast. Stay overnight Santa Barbara.
Day 4 - Drive up coast. Stay in Monterey or Carmel.
Day 5 - Drive to San Francisco.
Day 6 - Day in San Francisco.
Day 7 - Day in San Francisco.
Day 8 - Drive to Yosemite. Stay overnight (Yosemite Village?)
Day 9 - Day in Yosemite. Hiking, riding etc.
Day 10 - Drive - stop overnight somewhere (Furnace Creek?)
Day 11 - Drive to Las Vegas.
Day 12 - Bus tour to Grand Canyon.
Day 13 - Day in Las Vegas.
Day 14 - Drive to LA.
Day 15 - Fly back.

Possible extra day.

So my question is - does anyone have any tips (budget conscious?) What must we see in these places? Should we do a South Rim tour or a West Rim tour at the Grand Canyon (we definitely want to do a helicopter flight). What should we do in Vegas?

Elentari,

I would think Phred Firecloud would be a good researcher to ask U1293358

Yosemite, Grand Canyon Make sure your camera is charged up. I shall look forward to photos when you get back.

Hope all goes well.


Websailor

Phred would have some great tips, definitely.

In San Francisco, I liked Lombard Street (enough to write an entry about it A2773253). The Pier 39 Sea Lions were entertaining for a few minutes. I went to Alcatraz, which was interesting to me... they show you Al Capone's cell. Take one of those trolleys someplace if you can, though when I used one, it was more just to try one out, and I ended up somewhere strange in SF.

There's a cute little amusement park in Santa Cruz, which is south of SF. Santa Cruz is a neat city, too. I'd maybe try San Jose or Santa Cruz out if you run out of things to do in SF (which is probably not likely, to be honest).

San Francisco's a great city. I'm not sure I would enjoy LA - I've never been, but I think I'd sooner go... almost anywhere else

Well you've certainly got quite a trip lined up there.

The main problem is that there is just too much to see and do. It's how much you have to leave out or just skim through that you miss afterwards. But I guess anything I say here is probably out of date by now, but here goes.

We (Mrs deke and I) did much the same route about 10 years ago but in reverse order. We started from Denver and ended up in LA. We had almost 4 weeks to get around the route I'd planned and there must be a dozen places that we didn't get to see. If I was to do it again I'd rent a small mobile home RTV's I think they called them, to save on the hotel bills. There seemed to be plenty of parks for them.

If you're staying in hotels each night you could try picking a 'chain' and seeing if they have any deals going if you use them exclusively. We mostly used Best Western which was a good standard wherever you went. There are a lot of others though. Also if you can spring for it, get a convertible for the drive bit, although four up might be a bit cramped. But keep the hood down all the way.

You could try visiting Hollywood but I thought downtown was a bit tacky. We never did get to see the sign a it was shrouded in mist all the time we were there.

Santa Barbara is a lovely place and would be a great place to stop overnight. Great palm lined beach. .

Take the coast road Highway 1, though it sounds as if you've already planned that. It was a mostly single road that follows the coastline. There's a lot of turns and ups and downs, and the driver really had to concentrate, but the views out over the Pacific on one side and the hills on t'other were fantastic. On that road you'll find San Simeon, the Randolph Hearst's 'castle'. Take the tour to see that money and taste don't always go hand in hand. Nevertheless it's an amazing place and well worth a visit.

We stayed at Big Sur one night, which was the sixties hippy/surfing paradise. Accommodation was a bit sparse then, we had to get into a chalet near the head of the beach. Great views in the morning though. Monterey is great, as is their fantastic aquarium. If you like sea food the place to be is in the harbour restaurants. Try the sea food chowder in a loaf and have a look at the remains of Cannery Row.

We were short on time after three weeks and we had to bypass SF. Which was a pity because I had always wanted to drive over the Golden Gate bridge. (I might have to go back one day for that). We had taken the route 95 from Las Vegas then cut across through Death Valley to route 395. One of the most memorable parts of the trip was travelling north along that road to Yosemite with the whole of the Sierra Nevada on our left. Thoroughly recommended. So is Death Valley, it's hot. I stopped the car and had a walk around through the scrub. It's below sea level at one point and there are sand dunes in the lower part.

Yosemite is beautiful But it was crowded, and as far as I recall there wasn't very much accommodation then. Only the one hotel which was very expensive and booked way ahead. The village was a sort of tented city, also mostly booked up. And you couldn't leave any food around for fear of attracting bears. In the end we had to drive quite some way out of the area to find a motel.

Enough for now though. I hope you'll have a great time.

Deke

Hi Elentari,

I've never visited Southern California, so I can't offer any advice on that part of your trip.

You might consider a long day in Yosemite after San Francisco and then drive on though to the Mono Lake are just outside the Eastern boundry of Yosemite to find lodging for the night. The little town of Lee Vining might be a place to stay. The South tufas are worth an early morning trip for photos.

From there, drive south though Bishop (consider a short side trip out of Bishop to view some lovely High Sierra lakes) and then over Death Valley (be sure to drive though the Artist's loop and up to Dante's Point).

I don't gamble so I find Vegas to be a bore. You can spend a day wandering though the casinos. I do have a few other suggestions, but I need to check my mapping program to see if the distances are doable...

More later...

Ok...if you like cities and lots of driving, your plan will work.

I have constructed another trip for you, just in case... it's a 1497 mile loop that touches the best things that the American SW has to offer...

Las vegas
Sedona
Grand Canyon
Monument Valley
Page
Mesa Verde
Canyon of the Ancients
Arches
Canyonlands
Bryce
Zion
back to Sin City

http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2009/07/blog-post_09.html

Dear Elenatari,

What a wonderful trip youare planning.

I would follow Phred firecloud's trip. He and his wife are longtime friends of mine and they have a quite fantastic knowledge of the States.

I would choose the trip he has mapped out on posting 9 - unless of course you want to see the big cities.

How marvellous O hope you send me a postcard.

Much affection

Christiane
AR80

Sorry my dear E,

It is Phred's post no 6.

I was ahead of myself. !!

Again with affection

CMEAR80

Hi again

In all of this, for me, the one visit you absolutely must make is the Grand Canyon. It is the only sight I’ve ever seen that has literally taken my breath away. Photographs don’t do it justice, you have to see it first hand. We had parked up and walked out of the car park onto the edge of the canyon. It is jaw droppingly impressive. We were on the south side edge and there was quite a bit going on around the viewing points by way of displays by the local Indian populace.

There is, I believe now a glass floored viewpoint somewhere there. We took a helicopter flight over the canyon and that is something else! There are flights from Las Vegas, but that is quite a way from the canyon and I imagine is more expensive than the ones that you could get from local towns/airports.

Spending a bit more time around the canyon area puts a number of other sights within relatively easy driving distance. As Phred mentions there’s Monument Valley and also the Painted Desert and a drive out to the Hoover Dam. One of the places I missed but would love to go to would have been Meteor Crater near Flagstaff. There‘s also a bit of Route 66 you could find which has the occasional Diner with assorted memorabilia, it’s worth a browse in one of those.

Las Vegas is worth a visit, just to see it the once. You just have to remember that the casinos are there for one purpose only, to part you from your money. We spent a couple of days there, but that was more than enough.

Deke

Here are some blogs about the loop I was recommending. I've been to most of these places multiple times. The big meteor crater is worth a couple of hours. My favorite thing to do on the south rim of the grand canyon is to take the shuttlebus all the way west to Hermit's Point and walk the rim as far back as you can manage...great views, no crowds of Japanese tourist with 15 minutes to spend snapping pictures...no guardrails, no little kids...you're all alone with infinity...

Las Vegas. Hoover Dam
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2006/11/our-special-today.html

Sedona
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2007/01/gregory-peccary-invented-calendar.html

Grand Canyon
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2007/01/slipping-surly-bonds-of-earth.html

Page, Arizona
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2008/04/if-coyote-crosses-your-path.html

Monument Valley
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2008/04/monument-valley.html

Mesa Verde
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2008/04/greatest-invention.html

Chaco Canyon
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2006/11/chaco-canyon-dark-mystery.html

Arches National Park (Moab)
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2008/05/fiery-furnace.html

Canyonlands National Park (Moab)
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2006/11/canyon-lands-national-park-by-jeep.html

Zion National Park
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2006/11/turning-point.html

Bryce National Park
http://thefirecloudreport.blogspot.com/2006/11/hoodoos-legend-people.html