Vegas-San Fransisco-LA-Vegas trip

hi there we did this last november,drove from vegas through death valley stayed a night in lone pine then drove up to south lake tahoe some great scenery as you go through the sierra madre mountains lots to do in south lake tahoe we went onto sacramento but should have stayed longer in tahoe not much in sacramento then drove onto san fran had 3 nights there then drove down highway 1 big sur and great sceanary down there stayed a night on the coast then drove back to vegas,dont fly youll miss loads of stuff nd you get to the meet the locals which is great fun to have a chat with in these out of the way places

i agree with the road trip thing too. it depends how long a holiday you have planned. if you have the time, do the road trip every time. if you don't, and you will be driving constantly and not seeing anything while there, then i'd consider one flight hop - or do what we did and try not to fit everything in. we did a smaller loop, and have the other places on our 'holiday to-do' list for another road trip.

some of our magical moments on our trip were little places we just expected to drive through, like Overton on the way up to Zion. We detoured through the Valley Of Fire, and had breakfast in this little smallholding town. quaint little diner, full american breakfast, lovely waitress with a full coffeepot, and on the way out had a roadrunner run right across the road in front of us. a great memory that was totally unplanned.

on the way out of Sedona, we took another scenic route, and ended up spending 2 hours plus in an old copper mining town called Jerome which was stunning.

driving in america isn't a chore, and it's part of the trip, so long as it's not all of it. use all the internet resources you can to plan a trip that will balance out for what you want to see and do. if it's looking tight, re-adjust the itinerary. we still haven't see San Fran, but that's a whole other trip to plan!

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

I hope that they have alternative routes available for the small sections that are currently closed, as it will make a real mess of things for people !

just found this small video on the BBC. I really feel for the people that it is affecting.

There aren't really any alternative sections unless you count 101 - there are only a few places that you can cross the Coastal Range. One is a little south of Big Sur but that can be closed from time to time as it's going through a military base - I've never seen it closed the few times I went that way but the park rangers assured me that it gets closed occasionally. Plus it's a goat path that's not really suitable for lorries, but you're OK with a car or a smaller truck, err, lorry.

To the north you pretty much have to go up to Carmel/Monterrey and if the above mentioned goat path is closed, you have to go waaaay south to cross the mountains.

One of the oddities about California that tends to catch me out from time to time is that it's very easy to travel North or South, but travelling East or West can be a challenge and can lead to interesting experiences. For example, there are surprisingly few places to cross the Sierras, especially in Winter - there is nothing between 120 through Yosemite (top drive that, but only open for a few months every year) and 178 down near Bakersfield (another scenic drive, but not as beautiful as 120. It's easier north of Yosemite, but even there several of the roads can well be closed in winter. And if they have a proper winter up in the Sierra, you really don't want to get caught in that.

However my favourite routing screw-up in California so far was being directed (by Google Maps) from Somes Bar to Gazelle via Callahan and Forks of Salmon. Look it up on the map, it does look like a reasonable route, doesn't it?

The only trouble is that a large part of the road (and most of the part between Somes Bar and Forks of Salmon) is just about wide enough for one car (forget about getting through there in a camper) and it's winding its way along the Salmon river, often a good fifty to hundred metres or more above the river. Oh, and did I mention that the edge of the road is exactly that, if you mess up the next thing you hit is the river bed a long way down?

Driving along that with my wife in the car, being in a hurry and with her being sick was an "experience". It is a stunningly beautiful drive, though, especially at stupid o'clock on a Sunday morning.

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

ooooohhhhhhh Jerome, what a places that is/was !!!! Whne you were there, did you notice that there was NO modern marketing/branding to be seen anywhere ? & old town Cottonwood just down the road was a treat as well !

we did notice that! the place was fantastic. we are off to LA & SD at the end of this month, and wanted to share some similar experiences with my teen girls, but it's too far away, and we are beach based for the girls. we have found a similar experience though in CA.

We have just booked a 4 hour jeep tour of the Anza-Burrego desert, just 85 miles inland from SD. This sounds very much like Sedona and Paige, as it has the slot canyons, which are part of our trip. (www.californiaoverland.com).

having chatted to the company owner on the phone about the route to take, he has advised us to go via Julian, which is an old gold rush town founded in 1869 by a group of confederate soldiers and some freed slaves. the town is still occupied and famous for apple growing, and consequently apple pies and cider. we have now extended this day to include lunch at Julian, and having visited Jerome, this day is now one that i'm looking forward to the most out of the whole holiday. (www.julianca.com)

We are doing this trip next month, 3days in San Fran, 4 nights in South Lake Tahoe and 4 nights in Vegas.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!