In September my boyfriend and I went on a road trip on the west coast of the USA. Usually I write a short guide of our vacations but with this vacation being three weeks and including multiple stops, it was too much to fit in one blog post. I posted the first week of our California road trip in October and today I’m sharing the next post. I hope you enjoy the second week of our California road trip.
Our itinerary for the second week of our road trip looked like this
- Day 9: Las Vegas
- Day 10: Las Vegas
- Day 11: Las Vegas travel to Sequoia National Park
- Day 12: Sequoia National Park
- Day 13: Travel to and Yosemite National Park
- Day 14: Travel to San Francisco
- Day 15: San Francisco
Las Vegas
What to do:
After our morning in Zion national park we hit to road to Las Vegas, with a lunch break at In-n-Out of course. In Vegas we ended up staying at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. It’s only a block away from the strip but a less pricier options, especially if you find yourself in Las Vegas on the weekend, which we did. In total we ended up spending 2,5 days in Vegas, in which we explored all the main hotels on the strips and watched the shows at the Bellagio and the Mirage. We also did quite a bit of shopping in Vegas because we knew that we probably would be short in time in San Francisco due to our sightseeing schedule.
On our last night in Vegas we went to “the old Vegas” on Freemont Street and lucked out with our Uber driver who showed us the wedding chapels and pawn shops on the way, which was a lot of fun. If you are looking for the old school Vegas filled with Neon lights, you should definitely pay Freemont street a visit.
Food recommendations:
- In-n-Out, the famous west coast burger place that’s as good as everyone says. A big bonus is that all their products are gluten-free besides their hamburger buns, but their protein style burgers are gluten-free. (Full disclosure we went here at least once a week during our road trip)!
- Urth caffé, perfect for a healthier option with all the Vegas fast food. I went for the gluten-free corn pancakes and they were delicious. It’s located at the Wynn.
Sequoia National Park
After about a 7 hour drive from Vegas we arrived at our Airbnb in Three Rivers. We often ended up staying in a small town outside the park to save on the cost and to have the opportunity to cook. This Airbnb was great and it was about a 15 minute drive from the entrance of Sequoia National park. Sequoia National Park is stunning, but try to stop t difference did make us a bit queasy on our way up and down the mountain. We obviously wanted to see General Sherman, the most well-know sequoia tree.
After our visit to General Sherman we walked the Congress trail and continued to Moro Rock. It’s quite a climb up to Moro Rock but the views are so worth it. It’s a trail that’s often closed due to bad weather conditions so if you do find it to be open during your visit, I would for sure recommend it.
Food recommendations:
- Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner, I saw pictures of this old school diner before we left, but never expected it to be on our route, which I did turn out to be. We did not eat here, so I can’t vouch for the food, but it’s a must visit even if it’s just for pictures or a refreshing coke.
- Sequoia Coffee Co., the perfect place to get your coffee fix before heading to the National park.
Yosemite National Park
The next day we had an early start to arrive in Yosemite before it would get too crowded. Our first stop was Tunnel view, a scenic viewpoint next to the tunnel on Route 41. Here we we greeted with a amazing view including Half Dome and El Capitan. After this quick photo opportunity we stopped at Bridalveil Fall, a short hike to the base of a waterfall. Our next stop was in Yosemite valley to do the Mirror Lake Trail. Mirror Lake is a small lake, at least in the summer it’s small, which mirrors the rocks above it. It’s a beautiful sight and it’s really fascinating to see the diversity in nature in the different national parks. After a quick stop in the valley village for ice cream we got on the road again, while continuously on the lookout for bears, which we unfortunately did not spot. We opted for an airbnb located midway between Yosemite and San Francisco. Our San Francisco adventures will be included in the next and final post on our road trip.
I hope you enjoyed the second part of our California road trip. The third part covering San Francisco and highway 1 will be up soon.
Love, Meryl