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

PeacefulWaters

LA will be a Saturday experience.

I would miss it out

So would I. The lady is not for turning.

John259

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

LA will be a Saturday experience.

Good thinking, Batman!

Murphy_The_Cat

Crispy_Ambulance wrote: »

We are currently in San Diego and drove from SLO to here a couple of days ago. !

You lucky, lucky, lucky so and so.:beer::D

John259

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

The lady is not for turning.

The tragic thing is that when you're sitting in the plane waiting to take off at the end of the trip, I bet she'll say... "I wish we'd had more time in Yosemite". It's an almost universal comment after a trip like this. For example, the sadness is all too evident when this family had to leave the park:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ7RgMNbrzc&index=14&list=PLb-8Gy55ZLXaVGaWY3_O_KUo2H5cgmb7P

PeacefulWaters

John259 wrote: »

Good thinking, Batman!

To be honest, it was achieved by the inflexibility of Mrs PW's employer, British Airways Holidays having the cheapest flights to Phoenix and an early decision to drive ocean side of the PCH meaning an anti-clockwise route.

Crispy_Ambulance

This thread has been so helpful as we planned our recent road trip, so thanks to everyone who has contributed. In case anyone is interested, here is our itinerary:

1. Arrive Phoenix AZ
2. Drive to Grand Canyon South Rim
3. Grand Canyon to Page AZ - Lake Powell & Horseshoe Bend
4. Page to Springdale UT, via Bryce Canyon
5. Hiking in Zion Canyon (Observation Point)
6. Springdale to Las Vegas
7. Day in Vegas (shooting guns at Battlefield Vegas amongst other things)
8. Vegas to Death Valley (Panamint Springs)
9. Death Valley to Lee Vining (Mono Lake)
10. Lee Vining to Yosemite Valley (Hiking to Elizabeth Lake)
11. Hike to Vernal Falls, then drive to Angels Camp
12. Day in the Gold Country incl. Columbia State Park
13. Angels Camp to San Francisco (via Oakland to watch the A's vs the Minnesota Twins)
14. San Francisco with night trip to Alcatraz
15. SF to Carmel Valley via Monterey Bay Aquarium
16. Carmel to San Luis Obispo
17. San Luis Obispo to San Diego
18 - 21. San Diego incl. Zoo, whale watching trip, USS Midway and beaches
22. Fly back home :-(

We had a fantastic time and felt we had a good mix of long drives and shorter rest days. We are a family of 4 and all enjoyed the contrasts of wonderful scenery and then visiting cities as well. We all came away from Yosemite wishing we had more time there and we would have spent longer in Zion Canyon as well as it is stunning.

The driving was fine - the only difficult bit was sitting in hideous traffic going through LA. We ordered a satnav from Walmart to collect on the first morning and it was a great buy and much needed.

If anyone has any questions about where we went, I'll happily answer. Now I'm feeling envious of everyone with upcoming trips to the Southwest - we loved it!

itsanne

We're heading over in November. I'll have other questions, but a quick one for now is to do with satnav. We have a Garmin Nuvi and can buy US maps for it (I have 10% discount for another couple of weeks) or use a smartphone app (basic smartphone). We're not sure which to go for so would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks.

Crispy_Ambulance

We went for the satnav as it was easier to attach to the windscreen so the driver could see it. Also, my phone didn't have enough memory to download the app Martin suggests and I was concerned about it crashing (which it does on a regular basis!) and generally not being very reliable.

The satnav was really helpful, especially in the cities. Also, it never loses it's temper with the driver after he randomly chooses a different road for the fifth time in a row . . . it merely recalculates instead of refusing to navigate in a huff!

BTW, you can get a satnav from Walmart which includes US maps for $72 including tax - that might be cheaper than buying the maps in the UK?

itsanne

Crispy_Ambulance wrote: »

We went for the satnav as it was easier to attach to the windscreen so the driver could see it. Also, my phone didn't have enough memory to download the app Martin suggests and I was concerned about it crashing (which it does on a regular basis!) and generally not being very reliable.

The satnav was really helpful, especially in the cities. Also, it never loses it's temper with the driver after he randomly chooses a different road for the fifth time in a row . . . it merely recalculates instead of refusing to navigate in a huff!

BTW, you can get a satnav from Walmart which includes US maps for $72 including tax - that might be cheaper than buying the maps in the UK?

Thanks. I can get a Garmin map which covers everywhere we'll be going for just over £30, though the one which includes Canada, where we visit friends regularly, is just under £60.

What does the Walmart one cover?

Crispy_Ambulance

49 states I think. Order & pick up were very easy - they hold for 14 days. It can take 10 days to get to store & you do need to use PayPal as they don't take UK credit cards.