Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona

torbrex

Pee wrote: »

Hello. I haven't got to the end of reading through this thread yet. Wow, it's huge!!

At the moment I've got as far as "the weather will be good in May, the weather will be too hot in July". I'm thinking about going over Christmas. I have a good friend who lives out there that it would be great to catch up with and he might come along with us or not, as suits him. He lives near Monterey, so I want to do the Monterey/ Big Sur thing and also fancy the Grand Canyon. At the moment this is just a crazy idea. I've never been to America. Is the weather in December/ January or the length of the days going to scupper this plan?

I did a trip covering Tucson, Yuma, Joshua Tree NP, Sequoa NP and Death valley then crossing over to Gran Canyon and The Painted Desert & Petrified Forest then back south via Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon with start and finish in Phoenix.
The snow at new years eve prevented me from taking the car up to the canyon so I took a train excurtion instead and was glad I did as I saw a lot more and met some great people.
I flew from Scotland on 24th December and stayed 13 nights
The weather was no great problem and I only had one time where I missjudged the distance I would be able to cover in a day and got kind of stuck up a mountain running out of fuel, I managed to get a tank of petrol at about 7pm and directions to a motel then continued the next day on to Death valley.

Murphy_The_Cat

mich_city wrote: »

Hi folks..



complimentary breakfast at hotel then on the road again to san louis obispo .. beautiful place, could live there easily. walked around the shops, had lunch, a look at the mission.
We could become neighbours. SLO is my all time favourite place that I've visited on holiday :j:j


day 6:
what a relief to get out of LA, wasn't my cup of tea at all..
Or mine. I couldn't wait to get out of there

on the road to palm springs, nice drive.. the wind farms were something else (I love wind turbines ) arrived and got out of the air conditioned coach into 105 degree heat..
It really is something else, isn't it. IF you ever get the chance to go back, try the aeriel tramway. spectacular


day 7:
1st stop today was in sedona, a lovely quaint town.. again, longer there would have been nice. The entire area around Sedona is lovely. Sedona has a real (very rich) hippy feel about it.

I can't say anything about Vegas that hasn't been said before.

Murphy_The_Cat

mich_city wrote: »

we had fish and chips elsewhere where they were chips!

they were nice tho so wasn't complaining.. :rotfl:

.

IIRC the seagulls on teh pier at Santa Barbara were the size of eagles -- probably all the chips/crisps that they eat (yes, I had some as well !)

Murphy_The_Cat

jackieblack wrote: »

Wow - I'm exhausted just reading your TR mich_city!
You must feel like you need a holiday to recover!

Can you remember how long it took to drive from Monterey to San Luis Opispo?

I can !!!

Hugging the coast and that is the ONLY way to do it in a car will take you about 3-31/2 hours if you do it non-stop. But its such a drop dead gorgeous route, with so many beautiful thing to see *** (plus some nice villages to drop into), it may be an idea to allow slightly longer.



*** so beautiful in fact that Mrs Cat, MTK & MTK2 all fell asleep in the car - thats what happens when you get a big soggy Lincoln to go touring in

Murphy_The_Cat

mich_city wrote: »

OH doesnt drive and I hate it, so wouldn't have driven over there.. know that for sure.. I nearly had a nervous breakdown driving in france once :rotfl:

If you are ever tempted to give it a whirl, I can 100% recommend a self touring holiday for you as well. The country is set out for the car & driver and I find driving in the US soooooooo relaxing compared to over here.

torbrex

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

If you are ever tempted to give it a whirl, I can 100% recommend a self touring holiday for you as well. The country is set out for the car & driver and I find driving in the US soooooooo relaxing compared to over here.

I have to agree Murph, once out of the cities, there is no pressure and you can go at your own pace.
I always find that I can shift the miles if I need to and enjoy the scenery if I dont.
Even driving in the cities is ok if you know where you are going and can hit the right exit off the freeway.

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

I can !!!

Hugging the coast and that is the ONLY way to do it in a car will take you about 3-31/2 hours if you do it non-stop. But its such a drop dead gorgeous route, with so many beautiful thing to see *** (plus some nice villages to drop into), it may be an idea to allow slightly longer.



*** so beautiful in fact that Mrs Cat, MTK & MTK2 all fell asleep in the car - thats what happens when you get a big soggy Lincoln to go touring in

So, thinking about our trip next year :j and debating where down the coast to stay - we could do Monterey to SLO/Pismo Beach, with enough time for a few stops to look at stuff and stretch legs etc, in a day?



BTW Virgin Holidays have changed their car rental from Dollar to Alamo, so instead of the Chrysler Sebring we thought we would get it (and which we've had before, so knew what to expect) it looks like we'll now end up with a Pontiac G6 (or similar) - anyone got any experience of this car?

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

If you are ever tempted to give it a whirl, I can 100% recommend a self touring holiday for you as well. The country is set out for the car & driver and I find driving in the US soooooooo relaxing compared to over here.

Couldn't agree more - first time we went to the USA the driving was the thing I was most worried about - we have now driven a few thousand miles in 4 different states, :jno worries (apart from nearly being killed once on the freeway crossing LA :eek:, but that's a long story and re-inforces one of many reasons why we don't much like LA!:rolleyes: )

Murphy_The_Cat

jackieblack wrote: »

So, thinking about our trip next year :j and debating where down the coast to stay - we could do Monterey to SLO/Pismo Beach, with enough time for a few stops to look at stuff and stretch legs etc, in a day?

Oh yes very easily. If kitcsh is your thing, you may enjoy a visit to Hearst Castle which is on your way down, but consider booking in advance. there are some nice small towns on that route as well, Cambria springs top mind as a nice place for a brew. If you can possible arrange your trip so that you are in SLO for a Thursday night, please do so - so that you can fall in love with the place like Mrs Cat & I have.



BTW Virgin Holidays have changed their car rental from Dollar to Alamo, so instead of the Chrysler Sebring we thought we would get it (and which we've had before, so knew what to expect) it looks like we'll now end up with a Pontiac G6 (or similar) - anyone got any experience of this car?
Sorry, I can't help you on the car front, although looking on the Pontiac site, its a 'nice' looking car

jackieblack wrote: »

Couldn't agree more - first time we went to the USA the driving was the thing I was most worried about - we have now driven a few thousand miles in 4 different states, :jno worries (apart from nearly being killed once on the freeway crossing LA :eek:, but that's a long story and re-inforces one of many reasons why we don't much like LA!:rolleyes: )

It may have been obvious from some of my previous posts, but I really enjoy my driving and especially touring new places. For my Texas trip next year, Mrs Cat has asked if we can keep the mileage down a bit this time - whilst it may be great fun for me to eat up a couple of thousand miles behind the wheel, the rest of the Cats would rather be 'enjoying' Texas, rather than seeing loads of it through the winscreen.

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

If you can possible arrange your trip so that you are in SLO for a Thursday night, please do so - so that you can fall in love with the place like Mrs Cat & I have.

It looks like we will have 4 nights to spend between leaving Monterey on a Tueday morning and flying home from LAX Saturday afternoon :sad:.
Currently thinking of doing Monterey - SLO/Avila Beach/Pismo Beach area on the Tuesday (have already had a look at Hearst castle website - think we'll give it a miss), leaving us 3 days to 'chill out' a bit.
DD would like to surf, so I need to check out places for that, she's only been once before so very much a beginner but she's really keen to have another go if possible, and DH & DD would like a day at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which (on the map) looks easily do-able from Ventura/Oxnard.

So now thinking maybe 1 night (Tues) SLO/Avila Beach/Pismo Beach area and 2 nights (Thurs & Fri) Ventura/Oxnard area, leaving us Wednesday & Thursday to 'do' the bit in between, possibly spending the Wednesday night in/around Santa Barbara.
Then from Ventura/Oxnard along the last bit of coast road south on Saturday morning, arriving at LAX Saturday afternoon.