urbaneer: The big American road trip

One the road - Tucson to San Francisco: 23 November - 6 December

After leaving Curtis & Mike in Tucson we headed north to travel on what is probably considered one of the most classic drives in the US, hitting many of the key sights across Arizona, Nevada and California:

Originally we wanted to head towards Page for Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend, but due to a Sat Nav error the road we were meant to drive on had been closed since February 2013. We ended up in Marble Canyon instead. It was the only ‘settlement’ around for miles and we were glad when we chanced upon it in the dark. What was even better, was the fact that in the morning the landscape that awaited us was quite spectacular and as we later learned, Marble Canyon is actually considered the start of the Grand Canyon.
We departed Marble Canyon and head towards the Grand Canyon. At the Grand Canyon we cruised along the south rim on Desert View Road and marveled at the beauty and scale of the cliffs carved out by the Colorado River over millions of years. Once considered ‘worthless,’ this area now draws over 4 million visitors a year.
We spent the night in a little town called Williams on Route 66. It was a very quaint town that celebrated all things Route 66 – diners, souvenir shops, neon signs, you name it. Very cute and great for an overnight stop.
The next day we headed west with Vegas in our sights. On route we cruised past, stopped and walked over the Hoover Dam. In the middle of the dam exists the state-line from Arizona to Nevada, as well as the change from the Mountain time zone to the Pacific time zone. Hoover dam was built between 1931 and 1936. The dam creates the largest reservoir in North America – Lake Mead.
After leaving Hoover dam and Lake Mead we soon arrived in Las Vegas. In total we spend 4 nights in Vegas trying to avoid Thanksgiving traffic. We checked out several casinos, sipped on free alcohol whilst we played the penny slots and walked away with a massive $8 win J. Being on a travel budget meant we stayed in a cheap motel on the dodgy side of the strip sandwiched between two of the famous Vegas wedding chapels – probably a bit different to the average Vegas experience.
On Thanksgiving day we took a day-trip from Vegas to Death Valley. As we entered the Death Valley National Park on Dante’s view road ACDC's ‘Highway to hell’ was being played on the local radio station. Death Valley is one of the hottest and driest place on Earth where the highest temperature on Earth was reliably recorded in July 1913 with 56.7 C. To our surprise we chanced upon a tasty Thanksgiving dinner at Furnace Creek Ranch 200ft below sea-level – a novel setting for Ian’s first ever Thanksgiving turkey day! We enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we headed back to Vegas.
Leaving Vegas we got stuck in a multi-mile long traffic jam before we headed off the scenic route through the boonies towards Joshua Tree National Park. The roads across the Mohave/Sonora desert were probably the worst maintained and most deserted that we had experienced so far. Settlements were few and far between and whilst immensely beautiful landscape-wise, we were glad to reach the desert oasis 29 Palms shortly after nightfall. 29 Palms is where U2 wrote their Joshua tree album and Robert Plant dedicated his ’29 Palms’ song to the place. It got its name from the 29 Palms which were once around a desert oasis. 29 Palms is also one of the entry points to Joshua Tree National Park which we visited in the morning. Astrid made Ian listen to U2 as we drove through the Joshua Tree Park on our way to Los Angeles.
We arrived in Los Angeles in the rain – our first rain since Uruguay. We stayed on Hollywood Boulevard which made it easy for us to visit the ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’. It was a little underwhelming. We checked out Beverly Hills, drove along Rodeo Drive and visited Santa Monica pier before we went past Malibu up the Pacific Coastal highway all the way to San Francisco. It was a beautiful drive with the Ocean by our side. For our final night on the road we ended in a super romantic and expensive homestead in Big Sur.
In San Francisco we checked out the Golden Gate Bridge, headed over to Alcatraz and caught up with another friend over dinner. In San Francisco we also said good bye to our little car.