Western USA
2 week roadtrip: Arizona, Nevada and California:
The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Zion NP, Yosemite NP And San Francisco
We hired a car and did as much as we could in two weeks! Landing in Las Vegas, we stayed one night and then drove to a campsite in the Grand Canyon. From here, we journeyed to Utah and Zion National Park. Next, we headed North to Lee Vining, via Las Vegas, before taking the Tioga Pass into Yosemite National Park where we stayed in Curry Village. The final leg of our trip was spent in San Francisco, before flying home to London.
day 1: Land in Las vegas
After 20 hours of travelling, we were ready to go straight to bed. We stayed in the Wyndham Travelodge Motel. This was perfectly fine for the night, but pretty expensive for what it was, probably because we were paying Saturday rates.
day 2: drive to the grand canyon (3 hours)
We picked up our pre-booked rental car at 8am. After being told it wasn’t suitable for driving to the Grand Canyon (!!!), we took out the roadside cover. In the end, we actually got a free upgrade. We never ended up using the roadside cover, and I’m not sure how useful it would have been as we had no phone signal during most of our trip. Anyway, after about 3 hours driving, we got the entrance of the Grand Canyon and bought out America the Great pass ($80 for annual vehicle entry into ALL of North America’s national parks!). We went to the visit centre and spoke to some of the rangers who gave us some great advice about how to spend our time in the park. As we only had a couple of hours, we went to the first viewpoint and walked along for 20 minutes before watching the sunset. The colours of the Grand Canyon truly at sunset are truly magnificent, and photos don’t do it justice.
Check in to our campsite
We stayed at [name]. Getting to the site was quite tricky and we definitely would have benefited from a 4×4, although we managed it. We had a great time here, staying out in the desert under the clearest night sky we had ever seen. Our host cooked chilli for us and the other guests both nights, and he even showed us some of the planets through his telescope.
day 3: second day in the grand canyon
Where did we go.
Day 4:
We stayed at [name]. Getting to the site was quite tricky and we definitely would have benefited from a 4×4, although we managed it. We had a great time here, staying out in the desert under the clearest night sky we had ever seen. Our host cooked chilli for us and the other guests both nights, and he even showed us some of the planets through his telescope.