Southwest USA & The West Coast (California, Arizona etc) - General Thread

Murphy_The_Cat

add me to the SD fan club.
Either (or both) of the harbour trips are well woirth doing and Mrs Cat swears blind that visiting the Las Americas PremiumvOutlets mall is the law !

cottyh24

Another San Diego fan here. I love Coronado, although I'm not so much a fan of the bridge you have to cross to get there. The ferry is much nicer.

Murphy - has Mrs Cat ever been to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets just outside Palm Springs? There's some serious shopping there - it's massive. They even have a Jimmy Choo outlet store, something I've never seen at any of the other outlets we've been to.

Murphy_The_Cat

cottyh24 wrote: »

Murpny - has Mrs Cat ever been to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets just outside Palm Springs? There's some serious shopping there - it's massive. They even have a Jimmy Choo outlet store, something I've never seen at any of the other outlets we've been to.

She has ! -- sadly for her, happily for me, when we went our children were very young and we stayed in the car whilst she shopped. Which kept her visit down to minutes, not hours, and the damage done to the CC minimal and not eyewatering:D

tingtong

Another big San Diego fan here, lovely city (felt very safe too). If there's one place I've been to in the US and thought 'I could live here', that would be it.

Some of the things we've done:

Old Town trolley tour
Cinco de Mayo festival
San Diego Zoo
San Diego Safari Park (formerly Wild Animal Park)
Mission Valley Shopping Mall
Coronado
La Jolla (beautiful town)
Balboa Park
USS Midway
Cabrillo National Monument
Seaport Village shopping
Gaslamp Quarter

I'm sure there's others but can't think of them right now. You will certainly not be short of things to do for a week in San Diego. Also, the public transport pass is a bargain at $5 each for a day.

greenery

Really interesting thread!

We have booked the following for late June:

3 nights in New York
5 nights Las Vegas.
4 nights not sure yet
2 nights Big Sur
3 nights San Fransisco
Fly Home. Hiring a car from the end of Las Vegas to when we get to San Fransisco

Can't decide on the 4 nights after Las vegas. We had thought of LA and / or somewhere on the coast north of LA, but not sure about LA.
We plan to see the grand canyon by air from Las Vegas.
Would have liked San Diego, but I think the distances are too far - don't want too much driving.

Any suggestions for what to do / where to go for these 4 nights please?

Vikki_74

San Diego would be possible if you took an internal flight from Las Vegas, but June isn't really the best time to visit. The same goes for most of the coastal areas in Southern California - google "June gloom" for more info but basically the marine layer can make the weather very cloudy and overcast at that time of year. If you're not bothered about the beach then it's less of an issue but maybe something to think about.

A lot depends on what you're into, but driving up to Yosemite and then across to the coast might be one option to consider. I was also going to suggest Zion NP which is a 3-4 hour drive from Las Vegas, but can't think of a good route to get from there back to the coast for the rest of your trip.

If you can give some clues about what kind of place you're looking for (scenery/national parks, touristy/theme park stuff, cities etc) then it'll be easier to make some more suggestions.

cottyh24

greenery wrote: »

Really interesting thread!

We have booked the following for late June:

3 nights in New York
5 nights Las Vegas.
4 nights not sure yet
2 nights Big Sur
3 nights San Fransisco
Fly Home. Hiring a car from the end of Las Vegas to when we get to San Fransisco

Can't decide on the 4 nights after Las vegas. We had thought of LA and / or somewhere on the coast north of LA, but not sure about LA.
We plan to see the grand canyon by air from Las Vegas.
Would have liked San Diego, but I think the distances are too far - don't want too much driving.

Any suggestions for what to do / where to go for these 4 nights please?

What about driving through Death Valley and Yosemite National Park before heading across to Big Sur? The one problem you may have with this is finding somewhere to stay in Yosemite as the accommodation tends to get booked up pretty early, although there are places outside of Yosemite that you could stay in such as Mariposa.

Another option would be to drive to somewhere on the west coast (for example Santa Barbara) and travel up the coast towards Big Sur.

I think LA is a love it or hate it place. I love it but I seem to be in a minority. The first time I went there I thought I'd hate it but would've happily stayed longer.

San Diego is lovely too but would be a bit more of a drive. It's certainly worth it but only you will know if you are happy to travel that far. You could stay a couple of nights and then head up the coast.

greenery

Thanks for replys.
This is our first trip to California (to celebrate my 50th!) and we want to experience as much as we can but dont want to be travelling all the time.
We thought we would stick to the coast after 5 days in Vegas. I had not heard of the 'June Gloom'! but not too bothered about spending time on the beach.
We just want to see a bit of California. Not interested in the theme parks, we have been to all the Florida parks.

After NY & Vegas, I am not sure about another City (although I am still concidering San Diego).
Maybe Santa Babara, or Santa Monica (is that just part of LA?) 2 nights at 2 different places on the coast maybe. We will probably just want to relax a bit, stroll around, eat & drink.

cottyh24

Santa Monica is actually a city in its own right but is part of Los Angeles County. You could stay a couple of nights there and then pick somewhere further up the coast for your next couple of nights.

New York and Vegas are very different to each other, and the California coastal cities are different again, so it won't feel like you have spent all your time in the same place if you do end up doing another city.

Just a warning though; California is addictive. We went to LA for the first time in 2009, went to California as part of CA, AZ, NV road trips in 2010 and 2011 and are planning another California/Nevada road trip for this year

jackieblack

greenery wrote: »

Really interesting thread!

We have booked the following for late June:

3 nights in New York
5 nights Las Vegas.
4 nights not sure yet
2 nights Big Sur
3 nights San Fransisco
Fly Home. Hiring a car from the end of Las Vegas to when we get to San Fransisco

Can't decide on the 4 nights after Las vegas. We had thought of LA and / or somewhere on the coast north of LA, but not sure about LA.
We plan to see the grand canyon by air from Las Vegas.
Would have liked San Diego, but I think the distances are too far - don't want too much driving.

Any suggestions for what to do / where to go for these 4 nights please?

Another Yosemite vote here - we had two days but would have loved more time here, far more impressive than the GC, (which we also loved , but is basically just a big hole in the ground )
When we went there were alot of parts which were closed off due to snow, we would love to go back, the Giant Sequoia are amazing.