Holiday Help.


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The_Kat
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Holiday Help.

Post by The_Kat »

HI Guys,

I'm taking my girlfriend on holiday next April (18th). We're going to be in and around California and Nevada for just short of two weeks. So any suggestions on where to go and what to see would be welcome. Just taking a chance that someone lives or has been to California.

Currently the plan is land at LAX stay 2 nights in LA, drive to San Francisco on highway 1 staying one night on the way, spend 3 nights in San Francisco, and then head to Vegas in one day(if possible). We want to spend a minimum of 5 nights in Vegas. We have two nights leeway before we have to start taking nights from this itinerary.

Any suggestions welcome.

The most pressing things are:

Yosemite pass is closed is there another pass that would be open in late april?
The Big Sur marathon happens a few days after we are planning to pass through, they don't shut highway 1 for more than a day so they?
Any hidden gems of hotels restaurants on Highway 1 between LA and SF?
Is it stupid to try and do San Francisco to Las Vegas in one day?
Should we add more days on to LA, SF, Vegas or take more time on the road trips?
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Omphalos
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by Omphalos »

I'd advise you check with CalTrans on their website before you set out. Our rainy season will just be ending in April. Hwy 1 is beautiful, but its largely carved out of mountains and occasionally parts of it slide into the sea. Its also very remote, so if a section of it has fallen in to the ocean, you will have to back-track quite a ways to find a road that connects to the 101 or I-5. http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, find somewhere better to stay then LAX. LA has some decent hostels and tons and tons of great hotels. LAX sucks. Marina del Rey is very close and has some great places. There are also two great hotels over by Universal Studios - a Hilton and something else. I have stayed at the Hilton a lot. Its a great place to go celebrity spying. If you want to ask about some other places you find, just ask. I work in an office of people that travel there a lot, and we all have our favorite places. When in LA seek out Cuban town. There is some excellent modest-budget fare there, and lots of color.

You also should redo your trip. Maybe SF first, LA second and Vegas last. That will be the easiest drive. That time of year the best way to get to Vegas is across 15, which avoids all the really treacherous parts of the high desert. If you drive from SF to Vegas you will either have to go through Reno, NV down 375, which is the most God AWFUL boring drive in the world, or down I-5 in central CA, which is almost as boring, or down a high-altitude highway that goes down the Sierra Nevada. That trip will take about two days, as opposed to four hours from LA to Vegas. The Sierra Nevada trip is stunningly beautiful, and will take you past Mono Lake, Hetch-Hetchy and Yosemite, but if it snows on you it will probably be a blizzard. Those roads are dangerous when that happens, and you will may get stuck in some bung-hole of a hotel in a bung-hole of a town. On the bright side, you will be only a few miles from some . . . interesting . . . trucker brothels. Really though, if you want to set foot in SF and Vegas on the same day, turn in your car and fly to Vegas, then rent another one when you get there. The map may confuse you, but its really like driving from Penzance to John O'Groats.

If you do wind up going up Hwy 1 stop in Morrow Bay, San Luis Obispo, Monterrey. SLO has a charming place to stay called The Madonna Inn. If you are into schlock, do not miss it. If you aren't, there are a lot of cute places to stay in SLO downtown. Stop at Santa Barbara too. IMHO that place is paradise on Earth. Another great place to spot celebrities, too. If you are looking for good camping Hwy 1 has excellent campgrounds with good beach access all along it, especially in Big Sur. You will also see a ton of turn outs in Big Sur. You should go beach combing at one or two of them. The beaches there are cold water, but beautiful. Try Jade Beach and several around it. Seal Beach is great too, right near San Simeon. You should do a tour or two of San Simeon too. There are some great things on that property. Monterrey itself is worth a solid day. Its got a world class aquarium that IMHO blows the Pier 39 aquarium out of the water.
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The_Kat
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by The_Kat »

Wow thanks for that omphalos.

I'll have to re read your post a few times before i can take most of it in, but seems like some very good advise.

I hear you on we should have done SF, LA then Vegas. Unfortunately flights are booked already so we are pretty stuck with that, originally we were only going to do LA and Vegas, but have been advised by friends to go to SF instead of spending a week in LA.

I think i'll have to look into flights, when i checked the route on google from SF to Vegas it said 10 hours. Which yes is a long time but it took me 14 hours to get to Glastonbury festival this year so not to bad, is this wrong than is it more than 10 hours? Any advise on airlines? Although i think i'm warming to taking two days to drive instead maybe stopping somewhere picturesque near the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Oh and we aren't staying in LAX we have found a hotel in santa monica that we like but not booked yet, so i'll check out your suggestions first.
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Omphalos
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by Omphalos »

SFO is the major airport of the NorCal region, and there are probably tons and tons of flights to Vegas from there. In my experience Southwest Airlines (http://www.southwest.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) has the cheapest flights. Ive gotten to Vegas from Sacramento (the next major city east from SF) for as little as $39 round trip when they have a sale. You'll be flying a bit after Easter, so it might be as much as $89 one way. Check flights from SF and Oakland, as the Oakland airport is just a short BART ride away from SF. Sometimes you can do better by leaving from Oakland.

As far as it being a ten hour drive, I would need to see your itinerary. If you travelled by major highway systems you would go I-5 to I-15, switching in LA, which upon further thought would probably take a bit over ten hours if there were no traffic. LA and SF are two of the worst traffic areas in the world though, so count on at least some delay, especially in LA. But if you are going down the Sierra Nevada past Yosemite, that would take two days at least. If you are contemplating the Yosemite Pass, you are probably not going I-5. Going I-5 down to Fresno then cutting off to Yosemite would add several hours to your trip. Anyway, air fare would probably be cheaper then the fuel you would spend driving between the two cities, and Southwest is a great airline - no frills, but no screwing around either; they get the job done right.

PM me some details of your itinerary and what you are expecting. I'll let you know if you are correct or not, and make some suggestions if you want to hear them. CA is an enormous state. I-5 is a boring ass drive, though along a mountain range called The Grapevine it can be tolerable. You won't get much picturesque scenery along it.
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by Hunchback Jack »

Wow, Omph, all I can say is:

:text-goodpost:

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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by TheDukester »

Omphalos wrote:... down 375 ...
One quick correction: it's 395 in the Reno area, then it's just plain old 95 through the desert.

And, yes, it's a boring drive for most people. I sort of like it, but I like desert scenery. Most people I know do it once or twice and swear they'll never do it again.

Also, Omph is right about one thing: your plan looks fine, except for one pretty important detail. San Francisco to Las Vegas in one day? That would be a tall order in the summer, and it might be downright impossible during the rain/snow season. All you'd need is one late-season snow storm in the Sierras and you'd be screwed.

Finally, one practical note: if you do end up on I-80 between San Francisco and Reno, be aware that the stretch from Reno to roughly 100 miles west of Reno is under massive construction in both directions, and will be until like 2013. It's a bit of a crapshoot, too: my last trip had maybe 10 minutes in total delays; the trip before that one had nearly two hours in delays.

That construction area even has its own website: http://www.getacross80.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by Omphalos »

:oops: Whoops! 395, right.

I may have over stated it above. I drove from Washington DC across 40 in October then up 395 from Vegas to Reno. That was days 10 and 11 of an 11 day trip, and I was kind of out of my mind then. The fucking U-Haul I was in had a governor that kept it below 56 mph the whole fucking way. I did not figure that out in DC until I had it loaded with crap from my parents house. On 395 I remember a lot of rocky desert scapes and incredibly long, straight roads. A few places I remember driving 40 minutes or so into a valley, with my eye on an intersection, just getting slowly closer and closer. It was a bit mind-numbing, even though I like desert scapes too. Oh! And a naval war station or two out in the middle of the desert. Figure that one out!
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by TheDukester »

It's a challenging drive for most people. I generally enjoy it, but there's two sections that come to mind (one before and one after Tonopah) where even I start to go a little bonkers. It's like: "Jesus God, it's a desert; I get it already!"

Also, satellite radio is a must! :dance:
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by Omphalos »

There were a lot of parts where I thought how cool it would be to just jump off the road and go into the deep desert. Then I thought about all the hours it would take to drive back to those spots, which is why it hasn't actually happened.

You do a lot of camping in that part of the state, Dukester?

Also, I have not been past Grass Valley on I-80 in some time. What are they doing to the road? We're getting concrete Jersey walls all over the freeways in Northern California. Are they just adding those, or are they widening and fixing the road? The last time I was on 80 I went out 50 to Carson City, then up to Reno and back down again. Driving in NV was like driving on glass. They I crossed the boarder into CA and it was like driving on an African back road. That highway really needed some serious work.
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by TheDukester »

Omphalos wrote: What are they doing to the road? We're getting concrete Jersey walls all over the freeways in Northern California. Are they just adding those, or are they widening and fixing the road?
It's pretty extensive. I don't think it's widening so much as it's simply much-needed repairs.

In particular, the section from the Cal-Neva state line to just below Truckee is being torn up and overhauled. Much of that road dates back to the original completion of the interstate, and it's just crumbling after 40 or 50 years of the freeze-thaw cycle combined with much more traffic than the designers ever would have guessed. In general, these repairs probably should have been started about 10 years ago.

As far as traveling goes, it does appear to be a bit of a crapshoot. If you get there when they're backing huge cranes out into the road, then you just sit until they decide to let you through. If you get there when all they're doing is work on the shoulders, then you can cruise right through and not even have to slow down that much.
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by The_Kat »

Sorry to resurrect old threads.

I'd just like to thank all those that offered advice above. Special thanks to omphalos.

For those that are interested. The trip schedule is now. 3 nights in LA -> drive to San Fransisco staying one night on the way -> 3 nights in SF -> fly to vegas -> 6 nights vegas -> fly to new york -> 7 nightsm in NY.

We have everything sorted now with regards, to flights hotels and car hire. (and i'm working every hour to pay for it, hence my absence from here) What i was wondering is what is the best place to find out about gigs while we are in america? Over here between ticketmaster and seetickets you can pretty much be sure you have everything covered. I've been struggling with finding the same info for the US, nowhere i have looked yet seems to have the large majority of tickets in one place. Any suggestions wold be greatly welcome.
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by SandRider »

take the time while you're in Las Vegas to go out to Boulder (Hoover) Dam & take the tour down into it.

I haven't been up to Mount Charleston in over twenty years, but it used to be just fantastic -
Valley of Fire is a day trip, Zion up in Utah - biggest barfight I was ever in was in Beaver ...

I'm surprised the Duke didn't advise you to stay out of Southern Nevada altogether, stay around
Lake Tahoe - I'd advise that as well; there's a reason I haven't been back to Vegas since
George Sr. was president ...
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by TheDukester »

SandRider wrote:I'm surprised the Duke didn't advise you to stay out of Southern Nevada altogether, stay around
Lake Tahoe ...
Oh, I do recommend that ... plus, we need those tourist dollars. Mmmmm ... tourist dollars ... jelly-filled ...
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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by Omphalos »

Ill be in South Lake Tahoe for a week myself in the beginning of March. Can't wait.

The best places for finding out about gigs is local independent papers. Just try googling "<city name> independent newspapers" and you should find what you want. In SF its called the Bay Guardian, but there are a few others. There are several in LA too, and I think its called City Paper in NYC. In Vegas you will have absolutely zero problem finding a show to see. But Vegas does have a good web-site that should give you some ideas.

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Re: Holiday Help.

Post by The_Kat »

Thanks for that. I had kinda thought i'd have to do something like that, was just hoping their would be some catch all i'd over looked.
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