American Holiday suggestions.

jonnyburgo

Going next Summer,

Rough itinerary

Land at Portland Oregon - stay 4 days
Train to San Francisco, stay for week
Train To LA stay for a week
Drive to Vegas for 3 days
Fly home from Vegas.

Obviously will do lots of research but does anybody have local knowledge, unmissable things, hidden gems etc?

octatonic

Personally I’d skip Vegas, we were there earlier in the year and it is a sad, massively overrated place.

Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon should absolutely be on your itinerary.

Shrews

I went in 93 and went

Los Angeles 3 nights- stayed at the Airport Hilton, went to Disneyland Anaheim, next two nights in Hollywood (Sunset Boulevard) stayed in a motel, Universal studios  then drove to Las Vegas. It's a six hour drive.

Las Vegas - 3 nights stayed at the Hilton went on a bi-plane to Grand Canyon for the day,  being a gambling man I loved Las Vegas, but 3 nights is enough, the excesses are truly excessive and you lose all track of time.

Drove through the Joshua Tree desert to Palm Springs

Palm Springs - stayed 3 nights in a very nice hotel - bit of a weird place, full of grumpy, rich OAP's, but it was nice just to relax by the pool as we'd crammed in a lot by then

Drove back to Los Angeles - stayed 3 nights at a motel in Long Beach, gunshots heard in the night (!), police raided the motel in the early hours and basically you didn't leave the motel complex after dark.

Drove to Pasadena and watched the Breeders Cup horse racing at Santa Anita, then stayed two more nights at the Airport Hilton

Things I remember most were talking to some bloke who said he lived in a tree on one drunken evening in Palm Springs. Druggies asleep in the gutter in Hollywood still dressed in their Halloween costumes. Universal Studios Back To The Future ride was awesome (not there any more), old rich women with buckets of quarters pumping the fruit machines at 4am in Las Vegas, being stuck in some ghetto in Long Beach when our 'Rough Guide to California' book said it would be one of the highlights of our trip!

But the most memorable was our plane coming in to land at LA and as a relatively new driver shitting myself that their seemed to Spaghetti Junctions everywhere.

If I went again I wouldn't spend so long in LA and would go to San Francisco.  I'd also advise to have a few days somewhere by the pool somewhere just to break it up a bit 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

jonnyburgo said:

Going next Summer,

Rough itinerary

Land at Portland Oregon - stay 4 days
Train to San Francisco, stay for week
Train To LA stay for a week
Drive to Vegas for 3 days
Fly home from Vegas.

Obviously will do lots of research but does anybody have local knowledge, unmissable things, hidden gems etc?

Only place I've been out of those is San Francisco. Loved it, great city with some great people. Only downside is they do have a real problem with homelessness on the streets of the city centre, especially poor sods with obvious mental health problems who have been spat out of their health care system with no safety net.

Get yourself some advance tickets to Alcatraz - fascinating and eerie prison tour, but also a weirdly peaceful and tranquil island with it having no cars and limited numbers of visitors at any one time.

If you're there for a full week I'd try and squeeze in one of the organised day-trips out to Yosemite. It's a long ass trip, but a spectacular place.

I'd also head over the Golden Gate Bridge to the bit national park on the other side to wander around in the redwoods there. Spectacular things. It's where the recent Planet of the Apes reboots are based for reference.

Jez6345789

West Coast USA so much to see

My first thoughts are you are covering a lot of ground and unless you are a train buff then look at using the many shuttle flights up and down the West coast. Plenty of cheap airlines. Also, without doubt, you will need a car when you arrive, you can get around pretty well with Uber most of the West Coast Cities using all the App driven services and the Bart and Muni around SF. 

San Fran
As said all the normal tourist stuff but do some research really great restaurants and food places. I would look at staying in AirBnB
We did 4 days in the city then got a new place down in Pacific Grove stay there rather than Carmel or Monterey (Tip from friends who live in SF) fit in Whale watching, Sunset or Sunrise on 17-mile drive, the aquarium and the tourist stuff.  Worth driving down and seeing some of Big Sur again impressive coastline. 

As said you need to fit in Yosemite for me I would scrap Vegas and do three days in the park it is simply an astounding landscape but then I don't gamble don't want to do pool parties with scantily clad 20 somethings and some banging DJ. Having had a compulsory three-day trade show there this summer, I find it hard to recommend other than to say you did it. If you like fakery then it is the fakest place on earth. I thought I would get a buzz out of people watching and seeing the place just bored me senseless. I was truly a grumpy old man that weekend LOL. 

LA 
Not really my thing but there is loads to do, tourist stuff and I love the beach towns out on the coast far more than the city.
Fender Guitar factory tour was good. 

San Diego is one of my happy places on the west coast love the place home of the West Coast craft brewing scene fantastic bars, music scene and great food. You also can get out to Taylor guitars well worth the time, Also Stone brewery is worth the trip. Great beach and surf areas. Spent 4 days there with friends after Vegas had great fun riding around the city on the BIRD electric scooters. 

My other tip is beside the headline tourist stuff look up local online things going on as there is so much in all of these cities saw some great local artists, bar bands, car shows all completely unplanned and you would not really know unless you dug a bit deeper and looked at whats on.

Start saving nothing is cheap on the West Coast lol

strtdv

My brother did the Grand Canyon and Yosemite last year, really enjoyed it. He also went to death valley which was interesting but was so hot that if you had the Aircon on in the car the engine would overheat!

grungebob

Last went two years ago but used to go every year before the little one was born. All your locations are great (well I’ve not been to Oregon). I would say though a week in San Francisco is maybe a little too long. 4/5 days tops. Whilst your there go to Sausalito and Mur woods. 
I love Vegas, great place to people watch and there’s something to do for all wallets. 
One night your at a classy restaurant the next drinking beer out of a bucket with some hotdogs.

grungebob

strtdv said:

My brother did the Grand Canyon and Yosemite last year, really enjoyed it. He also went to death valley which was interesting but was so hot that if you had the Aircon on in the car the engine would overheat!

I once drove from LA to Tahoe via Death Valley, man it was hot at midnight it was still 38 and the car was struggling. 

tone1

I’d avoid Washington.... There are reports of an orange coloured Mad Man running wild in the area

Limehouse_Blues

Definitely Yosemite. Worth spending a couple of days there and exploring the park on foot.

Wrong time of year for Death Valley which I would avoid in favour of Kings Canyon NP. The drive from the Owens river valley back down to LA through the Mojave desert is beautiful.

Limehouse_Blues

But if you do dare Death Valley in the summer heat (people do but I really wouldn't) then you have to see the Eureka Dunes with the fittingly named 'Last Chance' range looming beyond. I spent a couple of nights camping near there at the end of the winter in 2011, getting up before sunrise to walk over to the dunes with a large format field camera making some big (4x5 inch) transparencies.

Snap

I'd cut your SF trip down to 3 or 4 days. Its an alright city, but you will struggle to fill a week there really, and there are other places to go. Fisherman's Wharf is crap, Chinatown is a bit of a dump. Upper Haight, Mission, Castro, Golden Gate Park, North Beach, downtown, Pacific Heights, Filmore, all good. Tenderloin is nowhere near as rough as people make out.

Its quite spread out, and I'd recommend you use Uber as hailing a cab can be a pain.

As said above, head south down the coast and spend some time in Monterey, Santa Cruz, Big Sur. Whale watching at Monterey is good, worth a stop.

Morro, Pismo, Cambria, all nice little places for a night. Santa Barbara is cool too.

LA - I'd stay in either Venice or Santa Monica. Skip Hollywood - its crap, grubby and naff.

I'd trade Vegas for San Diego. You can fly back from there, or return to LAX. San Diego city centre is nothing special, but the surrounding areas are. Ocean Beach was my favourite - sort of a 70s throwback surf town. A bit rough round the edges, but very free and easy. Coronado is the opposite, but lovely all the same. La Jolla is a bit too artificial for me, a bit sterile.

Balboa Park - interesting, and good for a day out.

We did a North south road trip a couple of years ago, loved it so much we go back next year. Doing less time in SF (2 nights), more time on the coast & Big Sur on the way down, more time in Santa Barbara, skipping S Diego and putting in atrip out to Palm Springs and the desert.

If you can, get a car for at least some of your trip. Car hire is cheap in the US, and driving is really easy, even in busy cities. The drive down highway 1, through Big sur really is something.

All depends what you like. If you like the more relaxed thing, there is loads of that to be had.

Food - ace, everywhere. As veggies we filled our boots everywhere. They love a bit of that, in California. To the point of it being comical. In one place, they brought the water out, then pipetted chloropyll into it!!! FFS. But they were like, totally serious man.

boogieman

I wouldn’t skip Vegas. You wouldn’t want to spend more than a couple of days there, true, but it’s a great place. It’s tacky and full of fakery but it’s a really fun town. I was there a few years back and the place put a massive grin on my face. You don’t have to be into gambling (I’m not) to enjoy the place, just have a wander round the strip and appreciate the sheer showbiz of the place. You can get to the Grand Canyon easily from Vegas too, which is a must see, it really is absolutely gobsmacking. 

toescantalk

The Pacific coast from Portland to San Francisco is a fantastic drive if you go along the coast. Scenery is amazing. Also leads you through Redwood forest which is stunning.

I'd lessen city time and increase time for things like Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon etc. They're all unforgettable.

I was in San Francisco for 3/4 days from memory and didn't feel that I needed more time, not been to LA though. I think Las Vegas is a dump, but I'm glad I've been there to see it myself so don't regret going!

HAL9000

We did the ‘Champagne breakfast in the grand Grand Canyon’ tour with Maverick Helicopters. They’ll pick you up from your Vegas Hotel and drop you back after your flight. Superb tour.

Also, San Diego is a much nicer city than LA. Great parks and museums. If in SD visit Mission Bay and La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya’) beach.

ToneControl

Snap said:

I'd cut your SF trip down to 3 or 4 days. Its an alright city, but you will struggle to fill a week there really, and there are other places to go. Fisherman's Wharf is crap, Chinatown is a bit of a dump. Upper Haight, Mission, Castro, Golden Gate Park, North Beach, downtown, Pacific Heights, Filmore, all good. Tenderloin is nowhere near as rough as people make out.

Its quite spread out, and I'd recommend you use Uber as hailing a cab can be a pain.

As said above, head south down the coast and spend some time in Monterey, Santa Cruz, Big Sur. Whale watching at Monterey is good, worth a stop.

Morro, Pismo, Cambria, all nice little places for a night. Santa Barbara is cool too.

LA - I'd stay in either Venice or Santa Monica. Skip Hollywood - its crap, grubby and naff.

I'd trade Vegas for San Diego. You can fly back from there, or return to LAX. San Diego city centre is nothing special, but the surrounding areas are. Ocean Beach was my favourite - sort of a 70s throwback surf town. A bit rough round the edges, but very free and easy. Coronado is the opposite, but lovely all the same. La Jolla is a bit too artificial for me, a bit sterile.

Balboa Park - interesting, and good for a day out.

We did a North south road trip a couple of years ago, loved it so much we go back next year. Doing less time in SF (2 nights), more time on the coast & Big Sur on the way down, more time in Santa Barbara, skipping S Diego and putting in atrip out to Palm Springs and the desert.

If you can, get a car for at least some of your trip. Car hire is cheap in the US, and driving is really easy, even in busy cities. The drive down highway 1, through Big sur really is something.

All depends what you like. If you like the more relaxed thing, there is loads of that to be had.

Food - ace, everywhere. As veggies we filled our boots everywhere. They love a bit of that, in California. To the point of it being comical. In one place, they brought the water out, then pipetted chloropyll into it!!! FFS. But they were like, totally serious man.

SF is over-rated, It's a great town, but I'd compare with Manchester, so for a tourist 3 days is enough

China town is a surprising view into poverty, we're not used to seeing poor Chinese in the UK, but I saw old Chinese folk in handmade tatty clothes being refused entry to buses  when they were carrying bales of recyclables they had collected. It's very different.

FIsherman's wharf is crappy, worth an hour max.
Much better is the ww2 Liberty ship and submarine. Also visit the Ferry building for a couple of hours for food and drink.

The coast road down the west side of the peninsular is beautiful and empty, but apparently crowded at weekends. Also the woods on mountains are great for a drive, but the drive further south to Monterey is better, through that 17 mile drive or whatever it is called. The aquarium is the best I have ever seen. 3 hours needed min.

EricTheWeary

Nearly 30 years since I did a similar trip. I don't think the Grand Canyon will have changed much and it's a classic bucket list trip. We stayed in a log cabin with scorpions running across the floor.
Vegas will have changed, not my kinda thing but you get to say you've been. 
As LA is more an area than a city it's the one place that needs the most planning, unlike SF where you can stumble across interesting stuff. Might be limited things to do as a tourist in Frisco but you can chill and enjoy the ambience. Alcatraz was cool. 
We went to Carmel just to go to Clint Eastwood's restaurant, I'm not sure we quite fitted in but another cool memory. 

ronnyb

EricTheWeary said:

Nearly 30 years since I did a similar trip. I don't think the Grand Canyon will have changed much and it's a classic bucket list trip. We stayed in a log cabin with scorpions running across the floor.
Vegas will have changed, not my kinda thing but you get to say you've been. 
As LA is more an area than a city it's the one place that needs the most planning, unlike SF where you can stumble across interesting stuff. Might be limited things to do as a tourist in Frisco but you can chill and enjoy the ambience. Alcatraz was cool. 
We went to Carmel just to go to Clint Eastwood's restaurant, I'm not sure we quite fitted in but another cool memory. 

Went to Carmel earlier this year, the restaurant 'Hogs breath inn' hasn't been owned by Clint for a good number of years now. There's a few pictures of him on the walls but other than that it's just like any other bar. Santa Cruz is worth a visit there's a decent guitar shop with some good vintage stuff. 

ToneControl

ronnyb said:

EricTheWeary said:

Nearly 30 years since I did a similar trip. I don't think the Grand Canyon will have changed much and it's a classic bucket list trip. We stayed in a log cabin with scorpions running across the floor.
Vegas will have changed, not my kinda thing but you get to say you've been. 
As LA is more an area than a city it's the one place that needs the most planning, unlike SF where you can stumble across interesting stuff. Might be limited things to do as a tourist in Frisco but you can chill and enjoy the ambience. Alcatraz was cool. 
We went to Carmel just to go to Clint Eastwood's restaurant, I'm not sure we quite fitted in but another cool memory. 

Went to Carmel earlier this year, the restaurant 'Hogs breath inn' hasn't been owned by Clint for a good number of years now. There's a few pictures of him on the walls but other than that it's just like any other bar. Santa Cruz is worth a visit there's a decent guitar shop with some good vintage stuff. 

and you could always do the factory tour at Santa Cruz acoustics
It's only on once a week

sev112

Don’t automatically ignore Death Valley in summer.  It is fabulous, and the heat is dry. Was there in 2002 when it went over 50, and enjoyed it very much.

hated Yosemite, spent 4 days there and thought the Alps have far better mountains and parks and wildlife. Prefrred Sequoia as the6 have amazing massive trees.

loved Vegas as a non-gambler, great for people watching.  Good for drives out to the canyons when you get fed up. 

Flight to Grand Canykn was great. Mrs sev112 didn’t think so when we were the last flight back which had to fly through a storm! 

joneve

jonnyburgo said:

Going next Summer,

Rough itinerary

Land at Portland Oregon - stay 4 days
Train to San Francisco, stay for week
Train To LA stay for a week
Drive to Vegas for 3 days
Fly home from Vegas.

Obviously will do lots of research but does anybody have local knowledge, unmissable things, hidden gems etc?

I'd fly in to Vancouver or Seattle, rather than Portland. do a couple of days in each if you can. Both incredible cities (though if you have to pick one, I'd definitely do Seattle for it's musical roots and general awesomeness) and the drive down the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to Portland is absolutely stunning.