Stats:

Duration: 21/22 days
States Visited: 4 (California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah)

Average MPG: 35mpg (Ford Focus SES)
Cheapest Gas: 3.449 (Flagstaff, AZ)
Priciest Gas: 4.199 (Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA)

Distance Travelled: 3050 miles
Longest Drive: 372.5 miles (San Diego> Joshua Tree> Laughlin)

Highest Temp: 116 F (Death Valley, CA)
Lowest Temp: 48 F (Glacier Point, Yosemite NP, CA)

Highest Altitude: 9945ft (Tioga Pass, CA)
Lowest Altitude: 282ft below sea level (Badwater Basin, CA)

Cheapest Hotel: $24.63 (Golden Nugget, Laughlin, NV)
Priciest Hotel: $87.48 (Travelodge LAX, Los Angeles, CA)

Number of Airports: 5 (LHR, JFK, LAX, DTW, ORD)
Number of problems with Delta: 3 (Flight Delayed, Lost Baggage, Flight Cancelled)

Costs:

Flights: £1044.26
Accom.: £305.29
Car: £624
Gas: £200
Insurance: £34.95
Spending (inc. food): £652 cash, £1210 fairfx, £202 credit card
TOTAL = £4273 approx.

(rate approx. $1 = £0.60)

Up early today for our last full day in America… Left the hostel at 8.30am for Universal Studios, which we were both really excited about as we’d get to do a studio tour and a theme park in one. It was only a 15min drive away, and by the time we were through parking ($15) and walking through City Walk it was a little after 9am, the time the park opens. We bought our tickets which were quite expensive at $75 each.

From Road Trip USA

It was really quiet as we got there so early, and after walking through the gates a lady approached us and asked us if we could do a survey for her. We said yes iffily and answered a couple of questions and were then given queue jump pass for the studio tour! Had read last night that the best way to do the park if you arrive early is the studio tour, then the lower lot and finally the upper lot. So we headed for the tour and used our queue jump so had no wait. We boarded the tram and sat on the left (the best side to sit).

Began the studio tour by driving around all the currently used sound stages, most of them closed up looked like they were in use. Saw a few bits and pieces and went in to the King Kong 3D experience, it was incredible, best 3D we’ve ever seen. Didn’t realise until halfway through there were screens on both sides (King Kong was killing Dinosaurs oh yeah). Then we did the outdoor lots, the New York plot which looked great but didn’t get to go through it as they were preparing it for filming a new movie. Transformers 3 was just filmed there. After that drove past the famous cars from movies bit which was also really cool, every car would be followed by an ooh and aah. Saw the DeLorean from Back to the Future, jeeps from Jurassic Park and the good cars from fast and the furious.

From Road Trip USA

Next we went to the set from Jaws with a fully functioning mechanical shark (the one they actually used in the movies). Wisteria Lane followed that, where they were actually filming when we drove past, saw a “Silence on set” sign which was cool. War of the Worlds plane crash set was insane, which we went to next. Had a real Boeing 747 smashed up as part of the set, looked very realistic, apparently a Pilot who flew over the set called in an emergency saying that there had been a plane crash haha. There was so  much stuff it could easily be a blog post just on the studio tour, Jimmy Kimmel did the video guide (“Have a Tramtastic Day!”).

We walked down to the lower lots, which were surprisingly empty and went straight for the Jurassic Park ride. Wasn’t expecting much thought it was more of a child’s ride but the final drop was an 85ft vertical drop which scared the hell out of us and soaked us right through. Then we hopped over to The Mummy ride (feeling like we were kids again) put my bag into the fingerprint secured lockers (COOL). No queue at all, and surprised us again being so good. We went on it straight after with pretty much no queue the second time either. To be honest it was no where near as good the second time I think it is more of a shock factor ride.

After the thrill of Jurassic Park and The Mummy rides we headed over to the Cinnabon stand to get some snacks (my Cinnamon swirl was 850calories and delicious). It was getting a lot busier by this time and the queue for the Studio Tour was 60mins!  Hit up the House of Horrors after Cinnabon, was the biggest queue yet of nearly 10mins and half worth the wait.

From Road Trip USA

Could have been scary but there are so many people walking around you are never alone long enough to get frightened. I did get jumped out on by this weird mummy thing which made me poop myself but other than that was a walk through a dark house.  On to the Terminator 2: 3D show….Wow, first sign it was old was when Sarah remembers watching the trailer for it on the Terminator 2 VHS. Then on to the show – pretty much a joke. Everything was ancient, apart from the guy onstage who was supposed to be Arnold Schwarzenegger who looked nothing like him. Aftwerwards we went to Shrek 4D, where we got lucky and managed to join the back of the queue just as everyone started moving and got into the next showing. Was much, much better than the Terminator 2: 3D nonsense. Really funny with the weird moving seats (SPOILER).

Then the Special Effects Stage, got seats right at the front which was awesome, two classic American presenters bantering with each other. There was also Larry the hilarious stage hand which was apparently his “first day”. We were a bit nervous to be sat so close to the front when they started asking for volunteers but luckily there were lots of eager people in the audience, someone sat right behind us screamed for a chance and got chosen. They spoke about and demonstrated CGI, motion capture (was cool to see it being done), etc. Was a really good show, funny and informative. It was about 3.15 and we were aiming to leave at 4 so we had enough time to do one last thing  - The Simpsons Ride. The queue took 35mins but didn’t feel like it as there were tv’s everywhere showing The Simpsons so could watch whilst we waited. We weren’t really sure what the ride was and found it weird when the queue split and people were going upstairs as we were going downstairs. We ended up in a tiny room of 6 before getting on the ride. Won’t spoil it for anyone but we both really enjoyed it and was nothing like anything we’ve seen/been on before!

After the thrill of the park we headed to the shops for some last minute souvenir buying and a well needed rest. We went to Starbucks where we had the worst customer service… Hardly any staff so a big queue, and the staff that were working weren’t really doing a lot and gave the wrong drink to one woman. Then we received the wrong drink too, and the woman was really rude about it, muttering to the other workers about it! Glad to get out of there and finish our coffees we headed back to the hostel. Didn’t stay long as it was around half 6 and didn’t want to leave packing too late. We found directions for the nearest Walmart – about 15mins away. When we arrived there it looked a bit scary, but found out it was right next to a police station. We bought lots of American snacks so we could bring some back with us, then went back to the hostel to find directions to In-n-out burger. We’d been looking forward to this for a while as we’d read such great reviews about it. And it definitely was the best fast food we’d had this holiday! There wasn’t much choice but didn’t need any more than it offered, was really fresh, great service, the fries were a bit weird compared to other places (they are cut in the store).

We went back to the hostel for the last time… packed everything up which took quite a while. Both feeling sad to leave we went to sleep at about 12.30. Getting up earlier than originally planned as we are slightly worried about carmageddon!

J.

Day 19, boohoo only 3 nights left in the states before we return home to the UK. Woke up at a reasonable 8am after another horrible nights sleep camping. (Can definitely conclude that after finishing all our camping, you either need to go for it 100% e.g. Buy an inflatable mattress and a camp stove, hammock etc or sleep in the car and spend nothing.) Walked down to the beach through an immaculately kept trail(NOT) and was pretty nice, really foggy though seems to take ages for the fog to clear especially the higher up you go.

From Road Trip USA

We packed up the tent for the last time and headed off before 10. Drove for miles through thick fog. A lot of road works where there had been rock slides and it had taken the road with it, so sometimes had to wait up to 20minutes to get through the single lanes. Sarah and I were planning what to do in L.A whilst waiting though so it wasn’t much of a problem.

Made a detour to drive through San Luis Obispo and stopped at the famous Madonna Inn.

From Road Trip USA

It has crazy décor with every room having a different theme, we just popped into the toilets as we had read that theses are something you should do if you are not staying at the hotel. Stopped off at McDonalds (again) for some snacks before hitting the road again. By the way, McDonalds really is that cheap, cheaper to buy food there than at a supermarket. $1 for a super large coke with 2 free refills against $1 for 900ml of powerade is no competition.

Carried on driving and stopped at Santa Barbara and Malibu(stacey). Got stuck in some bad traffic, just a taster of the carmageddon that will be coming on the day we leave. They are closing the 405 freeway which is the busiest road in L.A. The news has reported that you shouldn’t go out in your car as you will be jammed up for hours. Not looking forward to leaving even more so now that we are potentially going to be stuck in traffic trying to drop our car off and get to the airport.

Arrived at the orbit hostel after a few wrong turns and many turn arounds. Tried to check in and must have forgotten to read through the terms and conditions of this place as it was cash only and we only had a few bucks on us. Had to run across to a Bank of America that was down the street to withdraw some money. A second pin guess later and a dash down the street we had money and paid for our three nights. Not before the receptionist had to pop her head out of her office to say we had given her $20 to little…whoops. Went up to the room to get showered ASAP as we were desperate to head out for some food and to have a proper look around L.A. No wifi signal in our room so once we were ready we popped to the communal area to use the wifi and do some checks before we headed out. Found Pink’s, a really famous hot dog stand just around the corner from us so  went and got in line.( It was huge, took around an hour to get served and eaten, but well worth the wait. I had a stretch chilli dog and Sarah had a cheese chilli dog. It was chilli as in mexican bean chilli not just hot sauce(never had anything like it on hot dogs before) and was awesome, super tasty would definitely go back again, reasonably priced too. The wall there was covered with famous peoples photos and signatures so must be popular with the celebrity locals.

From Road Trip USA

From Pink’s we headed straight to the grove shopping center not far from the orbit hostel. After a lot of searching we found the parking and where the cinema was (we planned on seeing transformers 3). Movie was due to start at 9.15 and we arrived into the cinema at 9.20, decided to risk it and get tickets for the 9.15 showing. Also got a medium popcorn(salty eugh) and a drink, made it in time for just after the start of the movie so we were pleased with our efforts. Movie wasn’t great would have preffered to have a fire alarm go off after the first hour so everyone could leave thinking it was great. The last hour and a half were balls. Highlights of the cinema experience were A. Funny Americans doing what Americans do best laughing clapping and cheering in the movie. B. just how grand the cinema actually was, no tacky building here no sir, only the best for L.A.

Zoomed to the hostel to find no parking so risked it in a dodgy spot outside ( It was fine in the end) and had a well deserved sleep…in a bed! Amazing how much you miss a bed not being in one for a night. Anywho its late and need some sleep after an action packed day, will try and write a blog post on it tomorrow.

J.

After an amazing sleep we were up at 8am to shower and get ready for our busy day. We were all ready by 9, and had made lots of plans to fit in everything we wanted to see/do. We left and discovered how cold it was! We decided to go to the car to get some trousers and hoodies as shorts were a definite no. The fog was around so the air was wet and windy, felt good to get into some warmer clothes. We left for Lombard Street’s crookedest part which was just around the corner, where we encountered our first steep hill and wow it was steep. We made it to the bottom of the crooked part to get some pics, there were quite a few tourists here all looking tired from the walk. We continued up Lombard St where we planned to get a bus. However we were chatting away and didn’t realise how far we’d actually walked, so decided to just walk to Golden Gate Bridge instead of catching the bus. This was a 3.9mile walk (didn’t realise it was this long) but the views of the bay were fab. There wasn’t many tourists about  it was mainly joggers and people doing various exercises along the boardwalk. We picked up a hot chocolate as we were freezing which definitely helped. We finally made it to Fort Point and there were amazing views here, shame about the fog though.

From Road Trip USA

We nearly got splashed a few times by the waves which were coming up over the road.  We went in to the gift shop and bought a large coffee to warm us up some more before heading up to the bridge.

We took lots of photos of the bridge, but decided not to cross as we were cold and had lots more to do. We did a camera swap with a family from Los Angeles, took me a while to work out how to use their phone for their pic but managed it in the end. From here we caught a muni bus that would take us to the Golden Gate Park. It cost $2 for a transfer which means you can use any buses for 90mins (although ours lasted longer) which is a pretty good deal. The bus got quite crowded with lots of students from UCSF which is right near the park. Luckily we got off at the right stop and could see signs for the Japanese Tea Gardens which is where we were headed. The park was quite quiet as the weather wasn’t too good and it was still quite early, around 11.30. It’s huge though and we walked a lot here, our feet began to ache.. We got to the Japanese gardens but it cost $7 each so decided we’d rather the money to spend on food! We could see in though and it did look beautiful, maybe some other time.. We walked to the De Young Museum which currently had Picasso’s art inside, but was shut on a Monday so couldn’t get in. So we went to the Carousel which was built in 1912, and had a hotdog while watching it go round.

After refuelling on hotdog, we went out of the park to find a bus to Union Sq. We easily found the 21 trolley stop but just missed one so continued on until one came. The 21 stops at Alamo Sq too so we jumped off there to take some pics of the painted ladies, which looked really pretty.

From Road Trip USA

Caught the next bus which dropped us off at the Powell St cable car turnaround. Jon instantly recognized this area, so led us in to a mall where we stopped in A&F and Hollister, but as this was a central area the sales were only 30% off so didn’t get anything. We walked around Union Sq. before noticing that it was nearly half 2 and our tickets ran out at 3. So it kinda went crazy as we rushed to Chinatown to have a little look and bought a souvenir before attempting to find a bus to Fisherman’s Wharf. We arrived at the stop around 10 to, so we waited until 5 past but no bus… We had no more cash on us so couldn’t catch the next bus if it ever arrived, so instead we decided to walk it.

We walked through Chinatown and up the hills past Coit Tower all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf, our feet were so tired. Headed straight for Boudin Bakery where we both had the ‘Best of Boudin’ half sandwhich and soup in sourdough roll. I had grilled cheese and clam chowder, Jon had grilled cheese and chilli. We finally got to rest our feet although the floor was full of birds eating crumbs.

From Road Trip USA

The food was delicious and there was so much of it as always. After the well deserved rest we headed for one last stop before returning to the hotel for a rest. We went to Ghirardelli Sq. which was originally a chocolate factory now done up full of restaurants and shops. We of course headed straight for the Ghirardelli chocolate shop where we received a free sample which was delicious!

Our feet were now crying out for a lie down, so we walked back to the hotel. On the way Jon twisted his ankle pretty bad down a hill, which meant having to pretty much hop the rest of the way. Got back to the hotel and had a nap for an hour or so. Luckily Jon’s ankle was feeling a bit better after a rest as we had planned on eating out at Cafe Zoetrope. So at around 8ish we left, missed the turn but managed to find our way anyway as had kinda learnt the major roads now. Arrived at Francis Ford Coppola’s cafe, which was really nice but we felt a bit under-dressed. Was cool that it had a few of his awards on the wall and pictures from his movies. I had the Malfatti and Jon had the Tony Special Pizza, both were yummy! We walked the 15mins back to the hotel, but got to a big junction and walked back and forth 3 times crossing the same homeless guy until we conceded that we were lost. So we put some money in his pot and asked for directions to Mason St. Bless him, he was so nice and gave us the right directions so managed to get back fine.

Just gone 10pm now, feeling really tired. We worked out we’ve walked around 12.5miles today up and down the hills.. so we shall sleep well. Tomorrow we are hitting the road again down the pacific coast to Big Sur, will be staying at a lovely campground on the coast so may not be able to post till the 13th when we’ll be in our final destination (aww) Los Angeles!

S.

So we did manage to get up at 6am this morning. After an OKish sleep (quite cool here) we were up, ready and into the car by 6.30. The roads were so quiet with only a few people about. We went straight for tunnel view but unfortunately as the sun was still quite low it was in the worst spot for photos so had to leave that for later. We carried on driving up to Glacier Point. Along the road 3 deer ran across the road in front of us, lots of chipmunks and a few californian ground squirrels – luckily we didn’t hit any. We arrived at Glacier Point (7214ft) and parked up before walking out to the viewpoint. We were the only ones there which was awesome, so could take lots of pics and have breakfast of trail mix whilst sitting on the rocks. We could see into the valley and all the famous points – Half dome, Yosemite falls, etc. Apparently this is a good place to spot bears but sadly we didn’t . After being harassed by chipmunks for our food we decided to drive to the trail head for sentinel dome, a moderate 2.2mile hike.

We parked up and headed out to the dome which would take us up to an elevation of 8100ft. It was a fantastic easy walk, with views all around. The view of Yosemite Falls in particular was amazing. At the top was also one of the worlds most famous dead trees – the Jeffrey Pine. After taking lots of photos we walked back to the car and drove off to Mariposa Grove. Here there are hundreds of giant Sequoias, where we went for a walk to the Grizzly Giant. The trees are HUGE, and the Grizzly Giant in particular is the 25th largest giant sequoia living today. It’s approx 209ft tall with a circumference of 96.5ft. It was hard to get pics of them as the photos just don’t show how big they really are.

From Road Trip USA

We decided to start heading back into the valley as the car park here was already full as it was a Saturday.

On the way we stopped off at Tunnel View again, this time the lot was full and there was a queue. People were just sat in their cars eating which was kinda frustrating as most people just wanna take a few pics as this is probably the most photographed spot of Yosemite. We carried on a couple hundred yards and luckily there was loads of parking spaces long the road so we stopped there and walked back up. We both had our photos and then we got a photo taken of the both us.

From Road Trip USA

After a quick stop we got back in the car to go back to our tent for lunch which consisted of muffins.. The traffic started to build to a crawl, and after a while we saw signs saying lane closed as there were flood warnings. It took us nearly an hour to get through it all and in to the campground. We thought it was best to stay here for a while as it was way too busy to get anywhere.

At around 4pm we went off to the shuttle stop because we thought the traffic would be too bad to drive in. 3 buses full later we decided to give up and just drive as there was no chance we’d get on a bus anytime soon. Not such a good idea as the traffic was still really bad. We drove to the Ahwahnee Hotel, which is where Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ hotel was modelled on. We walked around and saw the huge fireplace and the creepy looking elevators. As we were leaving we heard some Americans chatting, saying that Prince William and Kate should come stay here on their tour.

We then went to Yosemite falls, the highest waterfall in the US and the 6th highest in the world (2425ft). We chose to do the 0.5m walk just to the lower falls as it was around 5pm and were getting hungry. This is a definite must do!! We got to the falls and it was so loud and the wind and spray was freeeezing!

From Road Trip USA

It was really busy which kinda sucked but we got some pictures before spotting people on the rocks right up to the waterfall. So yeah we decided to do the same.. which was amazing! We climbed over the rocks and were absolutely soaked through but was well worth it. Once we got back down we could finally hear again and as we were walking back to the car we were getting some odd/worried looks.

We got back to the tent to change in to some dry clothes before heading out to Curry village for some pizza. We paid $20 for a 16inch pizza. Was pretty busy here so had to eat it at our tent, with a warm beer thanks to the bear boxes getting so hot. After the feast of pizza we headed to bed early again at around 10pm. Could’ve spent a lot longer here exploring but off to San Francisco tomorrow which we are both excited about!!

S.