West Coast USA Road Trip

[K50 DEL]

SO I'm starting to plan out my next road trip - this time around the West Coast of the USA.
I've done a forum search and read the relevent posts that resulted, but would be interested in feedback / advice from those that have been to the areas I'm planning to visit.

Here's my rough itinerary so far:

04/13 Land LA at lunchtime
04/14 LA
04/15 LA then drive to San Diego in the evening
04/16 San Diego
04/17 Tijuana, Mexico (it seems rude not to as I'm so close!) drive to Phoenix, AZ in the evening
04/18 Phoenix AZ then drive toward Vegas in the evening
04/19 Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon then Vegas
04/20 Vegas
04/21 Vegas
04/22 Vegas
04/23 Vegas then drive to Salt Lake City, UT
04/24 Salt Lake City then drive to Twin Falls, ID in the evening
04/25 Twin Falls, ID
04/26 Drive to Medford, OR
04/27 Medford, OR then drive to Eureka, CA
04/28 Eureka, CA then drive to San Francisco, CA
04/29 SF
04/30 SF
05/01 SF
05/02 SF
05/03 SF, leave lunchtime to drive to Monterey, CA
05/04 Drive to San Louis Obispo, CA then drive to Santa Barbara, CA
05/05 Santa Barbara CA then drive to LAX - maybe a mini PH meet at lunchtime!
05/05 17.50pm fly home

[mikef]

You'll be lucky to get to take a rental into Mejico. You're missing some interesting places along the route - Moab, National Parks, Crater Lake. Nothing much of note in Twin Falls or Eureka imo

Suggest you buy Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen off of eBay, there's a lot of interesting stuff on these roads if you know where to stop off

Edited to add: lived for a few years in San Fran and driven to everywhere you mention except Tijuana

Apart from the places you mention, I'd consider taking in some of:
Palm Springs
Joshua Tree NP
Death Valley NP
Grand Canyon NP
Sedona
Santa Fe
Taos
Canyon de Chelly NP
Durango & Silverton Railroad
Bryce Canyon NP
Moab
Arches NP
Mesa Verde NP
Zion NP
Canyonlands NP
Ely Railroad
Grand Teton NP
Craters of the Moon NP
Crater Lake NP

Edited by mikef on Tuesday 3rd March 13:51

[toasty]

That's a looooooooong drive.

I did a similar thing a few years back SF-Yosemite-Death Valley-Phoenix-LV-Palm Springs-LA-SBarbara-SClara-SF

Great scenery but sometimes spent all day in the driving seat on dead straight roads zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

LA-SF is a hoon though

[K50 DEL]

mikef said:

You'll be lucky to get to take a rental into Mejico. You're missing some interesting places along the route - Moab, National Parks, Crater Lake. Nothing much of note in Twin Falls or Eureka imo

Suggest you buy Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen off of eBay, there's a lot of interesting stuff on these roads if you know where to stop off

You're correct about Mexico - I'll be leaving the car in the car park at the border and taking the bus over.
As far as the other stuff goes, this is the sort of thing I'm looking for - I've got all the lonely planet guides, as well as the frommers guide to USA campsites (I'm going to do some of the trip under canvas) but there's no substitute for direct experience!

Twin Falls and Eureka are stops of convenience from a mileage and time point of view - more than open to any decent alternatives!

[V12Les]

mikef said:

You'll be lucky to get to take a rental into Mejico. You're missing some interesting places along the route - Moab, National Parks, Crater Lake. Nothing much of note in Twin Falls or Eureka imo

Suggest you buy Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen off of eBay, there's a lot of interesting stuff on these roads if you know where to stop off

I'll ditto that. A couple of those places i haven't been to but it does seem like your missing a lot.
Go to a decent book store, loads on offer. If i get chance i'll add some places.

[K50 DEL]

V12Les said:

mikef said:

You'll be lucky to get to take a rental into Mejico. You're missing some interesting places along the route - Moab, National Parks, Crater Lake. Nothing much of note in Twin Falls or Eureka imo

Suggest you buy Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen off of eBay, there's a lot of interesting stuff on these roads if you know where to stop off

I'll ditto that. A couple of those places i haven't been to but it does seem like your missing a lot.
Go to a decent book store, loads on offer. If i get chance i'll add some places.

I'd be grateful if you could

[Rollin]

I have driven to Tijuana in a rented car. Wouldn't do it again though as the police robbed us and Tijuana is st

[K50 DEL]

Rollin said:

I have driven to Tijuana in a rented car. Wouldn't do it again though as the police robbed us and Tijuana is st

My rental agreement tells me I'm allowed, but there's an excess, so I'd rather not!!

I've read that Tijuana is st, but I'm only really going to get the stamp in the passport and say I've been to Mexico.
I'll do a proper trip there one year for the Mexican round of the WRC

[V12Les]

K50 DEL said:

V12Les said:

mikef said:

You'll be lucky to get to take a rental into Mejico. You're missing some interesting places along the route - Moab, National Parks, Crater Lake. Nothing much of note in Twin Falls or Eureka imo

Suggest you buy Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen off of eBay, there's a lot of interesting stuff on these roads if you know where to stop off

I'll ditto that. A couple of those places i haven't been to but it does seem like your missing a lot.
Go to a decent book store, loads on offer. If i get chance i'll add some places.

I'd be grateful if you could

Will do! probably be tommorow evening.

[audidoody]

Five nights in Las Vegas? Three nights is more than enough!

[pwd95]

Monterey is a beautiful place & the coast road down to LA is a cracking drive.

[mitchipoo06]

I did the whole west coast last summer and it was fantastic! Whish i was comeing along again....

Must dos id say are,

Grang Canyon,
Yosemite Park,
Monterey - Laguna Seca! I turned up one day in a taxi and they took me for 2 free laps and let me wander the whole course alone! Standing in the middle of the corkscrew was fantastic, MUCH steaper than it looks on TV!
San Fran, Drive over the bridge and take the right had turn down into a little seaside village. Beautiful.
Mexico, eeeeeh. Id save the stamp for the WRC.
Archs National park in Utah, FANTASTIC! You realy should try and link it in if your heading north to Salt Lake.
Bonneville Salt flats, Battering our rental around the deserted flats as the sun was setting is something ill never forget!

Have a great trip! :-)

[Rollin]

audidoody said:

Five nights in Las Vegas? Three nights is more than enough!

Yup. Much better to cut that short and see Yosemite and Death Valley.

[K50 DEL]

Rollin said:

audidoody said:

Five nights in Las Vegas? Three nights is more than enough!

Yup. Much better to cut that short and see Yosemite and Death Valley.

Had planned to see both of these, which side of vegas (road trip wise) would you recommend?

[Rollin]

K50 DEL said:

Rollin said:

audidoody said:

Five nights in Las Vegas? Three nights is more than enough!

Yup. Much better to cut that short and see Yosemite and Death Valley.

Had planned to see both of these, which side of vegas (road trip wise) would you recommend?

I've done a few trips driving the west coast. The best was...

Los Angeles
San Francisco
Yosemite
Tioga Pass
Death Valley
Las Vegas

This took 2 weeks with stops when we wanted in small towns in between the cities.

You can try and pack too much in and end up knackered and not really enjoying where you are.

ETA I've generally always got flights back from a different airport to arrival.

ETA But whatever you decide you'll have a fantastic time and I wish I was going!! (My favourite destination) In fact I'm going to check opodo now!

Edited by Rollin on Monday 2nd March 22:47

Edited by Rollin on Monday 2nd March 22:49

[K50 DEL]

Thanks to BA's air mile sale a couple of months ago I've managed to fluke both directions in First Class as well - holiday of a lifetime I think!!

[BigBen]

K50 DEL said:

04/17 Tijuana, Mexico (it seems rude not to as I'm so close!) drive to Phoenix, AZ in the evening
04/18 Phoenix AZ then drive toward Vegas in the evening

That is a hell of a long drive for an evening.

Is Phoenix actually a must, not that much to see iirc and a long way. Another suggestion would be to go from San Diego to Vegas via Palm Springs and Joshua Tree national park, lots of scenery straight out of Westerns.

Ben

[K50 DEL]

BigBen said:

K50 DEL said:

04/17 Tijuana, Mexico (it seems rude not to as I'm so close!) drive to Phoenix, AZ in the evening
04/18 Phoenix AZ then drive toward Vegas in the evening

That is a hell of a long drive for an evening.

Is Phoenix actually a must, not that much to see iirc and a long way. Another suggestion would be to go from San Diego to Vegas via Palm Springs and Joshua Tree national park, lots of scenery straight out of Westerns.

Ben

I've got San Diego to Phoenix as 5.5hrs and 355 miles - it's not a 100% must do - I've set myself the task of visiting all 50 states within the next 3 years - I've done 30+ already so AZ is really just another off the list, it seemed sensible to include it in this leg.

The route you suggest also looks good though - far less Interstate which is good news.

[cazzer]

Can I suggest, if all you want is the stamp.
Cross the border on foot.
Get the stamp.
Cross the road.
Leave Tijhuana and Mexico.
It's a sthole. It stinks....3 feet across the border it stinks....and you will get dysentery from looking at mexicans.
I've been, it's all true, only very slightly exagerated.

Edited by cazzer on Monday 2nd March 23:21

[K50 DEL]

cazzer said:

Can I suggest, if all you want is the stamp.
Cross the border on foot.
Get the stamp.
Cross the road.
Leave Tijhuana and Mexico.
It's a sthole. It stinks....3 feet across the border it stinks....and you will get dysentery from looking at mexicans.
I've been, it's all true, only very slightly exagerated.

Edited by cazzer on Monday 2nd March 23:21

I must confess that I've read a few things that make me think that Mehico might not be the best place to go!