RenatoM

Hello everyone!

We are a 30 year old couple from Brazil. We enjoy making roadtrips in preferably small scenic routes in different countries, going through small towns. We like mid size towns too, but we like to stay away from huge towns for about 3/4 of the time when we are travelling. But we do enjoy stopping by larger intersting towns.

Last year in June we took a road trip from San Diego to Monterey and then back to Los Angeles, all this around the coast, staying at nice little american motels and towns, etc (except when we went to Julian, while staying in San Diego). This year we are coming back and we want to make a larger trip.

We will be arriving in LA on August 20th. From there we will go straight to San Diego, to stay with some friends for about 4 days and just enjoy San Diego. Tips on small trips to do close to San Diego, or things to do in San Diego are welcome!

On the 23rd or 24th we leave for Las Vegas, as we have to attend an event that will be taking place on august 25th. From august 26th until september 8th, we can do whatever we want! I thought of driving all the way to Yellowstone National park, but gave up the idea because it seems kind of far. (also looked up some places in Oregon, Colorado Idaho and Utah). We definetely want to go to Yosemite, and we want to drive by Big Sur with more time to spare than last year. If possible, We also want to stop by San Francisco for a couple of days (tips for parking?).

To sum things up:
1) we want suggestions of things to do in San Diego, on the way to Las Vegas, and in Las Vegas, keeping in mind that we dont really love crowds, love nature and little towns and are really going to Las Vegas because we already have a commitment there. But we want to seize the opportunity to see things on the way there and back there. Are there cool isolated beautiful routes? ghost towns, that sort of thing? haha

2) After Vegas, we have 13 days (aug 26 to sept 8) to arrive in LA for our flight back home. In this time, we can do whatever we want. Going to Yosemite is on the list, aswell as revisiting Big Sur and that region... We have thought of going to Arizona (grand canyon) and to Oregon (places like Bend, and the more northern part of the western coast, and looking at the map we also thought of Idaho, Colorado and Utah. We also think of stopping by Santa Cruz, because we couldn't do it last time.
We usually enjoy to drive around 190 miles per day (300 km), sometimes more, and we want to see beautiful nature, little towns with real people. My lady doesnt enjoy too much hot weather when we travel abroad (since we live in a very warm year round location), so we prefer going to more mountainous less warm regions (i know its summer, so it wont be chilli or anything) instead of more desert super hot kind of thing. We love hiking, and we want to make a simple trip, seeing america, beautiful nature eating at those diners (that to us looks like movie stuff LOL).


Anyways, we just bought are tickets so we are starting to focus on planning the trip now! We dont know where to start, so we need all the tips we can get!

Thanks!

MmePerdu

If you fly from San Diego to Las Vegas, after your event there you can fly anywhere you like without concern about distance. It's a waste of time, and not fun, to drive to Las Vegas then be limited to only places you can drive from there. I'd urge you to simply drop the car in San Diego, then get another wherever you decide you'd like to spend the balance of your trip.

janisj

If you don't like heat -- then driving to San Diego to Las Vegas and then driving from Vegas to Yosemite and other places won't be fun for you. (Las vegas will be VERY hot but you have an event there so that can't be helped) I agree, fly from San Diego to Las Vegas, attend your event (and stay indoors in the air conditioning ) then fly on to say Sacramento or Oakland or San Jose. Rent a car there and drive to Yosemite, Carmel/Monterey/Big Sur and maybe up the coast a bit to see some of the northern California coast and the Redwoods.

13 days would give you enough time for a loop something like San Jose to Carmel/Big Sur/Point Lobos to Yosemite to Mendocino County/redwoods and the Sonoma/Napa wine country, drop the car at SFO and fly to LAX for your flight home. Southwest Airlines serves San Diego, Las Vegas, SFO, LAX, Sacramento, Oakland and San Jose so you can arrange your itinerary in any order you'd like.

(note: you would only be able to see the northern bits of Big Sur because the road is blocked by a bridge collapse)

Patty

We had some pretty severe weather all across the west coast this past winter resulting in about 50 miles of Hwy 1 through Big Sur being closed. Right now you can only drive 26 miles south of Carmel as far as Big Sur Station before having to turn around due to the collapse of Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge which won't be rebuilt until fall at the earliest. On the southern end, driving north from Cambria, it's closed at Ragged Point due to two major landslides. It was initially hoped that the southern end of the highway could reopen in June but that's now looking very unlikely as one of the slides is still very actively moving to the point that some are speculating that could take even longer than rebuilding the bridge http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/lo...149885067.html

DebbieDoesDulles

HOT HOT HOT in Vegas and probably also in Los Angeles and everywhere in between.

Visit Zion National Park north of Las Vegas.

"Looking at the map we thought...."
Everything looks close on a map. Research your drive times. No use spending 10 hour driving just to see a town or city at sunset and then leave next morning.

Start by figuring out if you can get reservations at or near Yosemite, usually you have to plan a year in advance for summer accommodation....you might have to re-route your trip depending on which dates you find anything available....and you might not find anything available until someone happens to cancel which means checking every day or two from now until August.

janisj

If nothing is available in Yosemite Valley . . . Then book at Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal. That solves the problem if nothing is available in the Valley.

Once you have a booking at Yosemite View, keep trying for a cancellation in the Valley. Nail that down first and then work the rest of your itinerary around those dates. That will partially determine which airports you use.

2desitravellers

Hi, so some more suggestions for you:

Utah: Try if you get a permit to the world famous hike "the narrows" in Zion national park. If you do not then do Angel's landing hike. The view of the hike is promising.

Arizona: Grand canyon is a totally a must visit place. Also, ensure to visit the Horseshoe bend of the canyon in Page.

California & Nevada: Death Valley National park, I agree it will be super warm but the topography, salt flats will blow your mind. This can be covered as a road trip from Los Angels to Las vegas. To see pictures of the park visit https://desitravellers.blogspot.com/...onal-park.html

Oregon: Of course as you mentioned the scenic drive. Multnomah falls, thor's well is a big yes yes. On your way, you can visit Crater Lake National Park. In Oregon-Washington border you can do a lava tube hike called "Ape caves".

One quick question: Have you booked an open jaw ticket or a round trip...?

You can do Yellow stone but then should give up on visiting Oregon and visiting
California extensively.

Any particular question, feel free to get in touch

Patty

Most of southern Utah/northern Arizona is going to be very hot unless you stick with the higher elevation areas like Bryce, Grand Canyon North Rim, etc.

Coastal areas will offer much cooler temperatures. If you end up driving from Vegas to Yosemite (you'll have to drive through some hot desert), I'd spend a few days around the Mammoth/June Lakes area.

Everywhere will be busy and you're running into our Labor Day holiday (first weekend in September) in the middle.