roadtrip door het Westen van de USA - Sunny Suitcase Stories

Our oldest daughter had her 12th birthday last year. So, it's easy to make longer trips from now on! The United States are easy to travel around, easy to plan and above all: FUN! When we also receive an offer for a home exchange near Los Angeles, the decision is easy. "America, here we come!" We will make a roadtrip of 3 weeks through Western USA: California, Nevada and Arizona.

San Francisco

day 1: City Center and Golden Gate Bridge

Yesterday, a long flight via Munich brought us to San Francisco. Around midnight local time, we crawled into bed, incredibly tired. Yet, everyone was wide awake at 5 a.m. this morning. Jet lag… But also: a long day to explore the city.

We're having breakfast at a coffee shop near the hotel. While we're eating, a man walks in. He takes something from the counter and walks out without paying. The student behind the counter angrily shouts a few curse words, but can't do much else. Hopefully, this isn't the norm everywhere here.

We start a long walking tour of the city and we stop at the "Painted Ladies," six pastel-colored houses that form a well-known landmark. A little further on, we come to another familiar house: the facade was used in the TV series "Full House." We're not the only tourists stopping here to take a photo.

Our journey continues towards the Golden Gate Bridge. We rent bikes at a sporting goods store, which we plan to use to cross the bridge. The climb from the store to the bridge is quite steep, not easy for the inexperienced cyclists among us. The ride across the bridge itself is also challenging: large crowds of other cyclists and pedestrians, a strong wind and, halfway through our journey, it starts to rain. But still, another thing checked off our bucket list.

After a Hawaiian lunch at a stall, we continue our walk towards Lombard Street, a very famous winding street. From there, we continue to Fichermans Wharf. What a hike we've had today! The steep streets here make it even more tiring. So we're very happy when we can sit down and be presented with a delicious clam chowder.

After dinner, everyone is too tired to walk all the way back to the hotel. We decide to take 'a quick ride' with the famous cable car. That's a bit of a disappointment. We wait for over an hour before we can board the tram, in a cold and very windy square. When we finally get on, the joy is short-lived. Suddenly, the tram stops and everyone has to get off. Due to a medical emergency somewhere along the line, all the trams have to stop. Nothing we can do about it: we have to walk the rest of the way. For sure, we will have a good night sleep!

bekende victoriaanse huizen in San Francisco

keerpunt van de cable car in San Francisco

day 2: Alcatraz and Pier 39

We're slowly starting to settle into the American rhythm and wake up to the 8 a.m. alarm (though yesterday's tiring day probably had something to do with that). We get breakfast at the Starbucks near the hotel and eat it at a table on Union Square.

Afterwards, we stroll through Chinatown to Pier 33. From there, we take the boat to Alcatraz. The weather has changed in the meantime. It's very windy and even a bit rainy. Apparently, that's definitely something to be aware of in San Francisco. We visit Alcatraz with an audio guide. This way, we get a lot of interesting information. Several former prisoners share their experiences and there are some very moving stories. Definitely a must-do visit!

Back on land, we head to Pier 39, again under a radiant sun. We have a light lunch, watch the sea lions on the pontoons and pop into a few shops. From there, we continue to Pier 45, to a museum with vintage pinball machines and other "toys."

In the evening, we have a reservation at the Hard Rock Café. Always delicious, always a great atmosphere. We enjoy a nice meal and then head back to our hotel on foot.

From San Francisco to Yosemite

After breakfast, we walk about 10 minutes from our hotel to the car rental office. It's very convenient that it is close by, so we don't have to arrange for an Uber or taxi. And, in retrospect, it was extra convenient because we'd forgotten our passports in the hotel room safe! Luckily, we had to show them to the car rental agent; otherwise, we would have left San Francisco without our passports and probably wouldn't have realized it until our return flight from Los Angeles.

It's about a three-hour drive to our accommodation in Yosemite, a wonderful hotel with beautiful rooms, a fantastic pool and s'mores around the campfire every evening. Upon arrival, everyone immediately agrees that we won't be going anywhere else for the rest of the day.

Yosemite

A slight disappointment upon waking up this morning: rain! It was forecast, but who believes that this time of year? Yesterday,we also exspected rain, but the sun was shining all day.

We set off anyways and after only 5 minutes, we're already in Yosemite. What stunning scenery! We see El Capitan up close as we drive around Yosemite Valley, the Merced River and several waterfalls. From one of the viewpoints, Tunnel View, we see El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridal Vail Falls all in one line. Truly magnificent.

We decide to drive to Wawona and from there take the shuttle bus to Mariposa Grove. There, we take a two-hour hike past impressive sequoias. The rain has stopped now and plenty of wildlife is peeking out: birds, squirrels, chipmunks and even deer. Only the bears are nowhere to be seen. (That might be a good thing) The largest sequoia is the 'Grizzly Giant': 63m tall, 8m in diameter and 29m in circumference at the base. Its unusual branches, with a diameter of 2m, practically form a tree in themselves.

By now it's 3 p.m. and everyone is very hungry. At a small shop near Wawona, we buy a cooler with ice, sandwiches, toppings and water. We find a nice picnic spot. Then it's time to drive back to the hotel, only 42 miles but still about a two-hour drive. Those winding mountain roads with a maximum speed of 25 to 35 mph, naturally slow everything down.

We're back just in time for s'mores! We're having dinner at the hotel restaurant. High prices (like everywhere here) but delicious!

Death Valley

A strange start to the day: We read online that Death Valley is 'flooded'. Isn't that a desert? Floods there? We don't understand it. According to the internet, all the roads are closed. Our next hotel is in the middle of Death Valley. That's quite annoying...

After many attempts, we manage to reach someone from that hotel. "No problem," we are told, "you can definitely reach us from the west side." So we set off and decide to see what lays ahead. Along the way, we take lots of photos from the Tioga Pass and plunge into the Sierra Nevada until we reach the valley that begins in the little town of Levine. There, we picnick on a bench. Many miles follow, passing beautiful vistas. Finally, we reach Highway 190, which we have to take to our accommodation in Death Valley: "Road Closed," a sign, and two cones. There is nothing else to see. We think about it briefly and hope another car will arrive and continue on. Then we follow. But all the other cars turn back. We do the same. After driving for a while, we change our minds: we'll take a chance and see where we get. Near the "road closed" sign, we see a car coming from the opposite direction, from the "restricted area." The driver tells us we can drive another 20 miles but that it will be very rough and we won't be able to enter the park. Back we go... We drive to the nearest McDonald's and check the news online. No changes there. We call the hotel again. They tell us they've just checked someone in and there was no problem at all on the road. Okay, so we should be able to get there too.

For the third time, we see the "Road Closed" sign. This time, we drive past it calmly. We cover quite a few more kilometers and feel alone in this vast landscape. You can see that there have been mudslides but the road isn't blocked anywhere. We finally reach the hotel around 7 p.m. There are two other families there, but no one else. We cool off in the bedroom's air conditioning and then go to the restaurant for dinner. Our late-night dip in the pool is so nice. The water is wonderfully warm. But a refreshing shower before bed is out of the question. The shower water turns out to be warm as well, scalding hot even.

Las Vegas

Today we drive further through Death Valley, heading east. It's clear that the flooding was more severe here. There are stretches of sand on the road. But fortunately, we don't see any scenes of cars being swept away by the water, as we'd seen on the news earlier.

On our way to Las Vegas, we visit the Hoover Dam. We walk across the bridge opposite the dam to get a good view of the entire structure. Impressive! But above all, it 's sweltering here. It's even hotter here than in Death Valley. The car indicates an outside temperature of over 40°C.

In Las Vegas we dropp off our luggage at our hotel and get changed, ready for a refreshing dip in the pool. That pool turns out to be under maintenance, so cooling off won't be happening anytime soon. We decide to take a stroll through the city. The hotels here are attractions in themselves: miniature Venice with gondolas, flamingos, the Eiffel Tower, a rollercoaster… you name it, they have it. As it starts to get dark, everything is even more impressive and the streets become increasingly crowded. We stroll through a few casinos, but don't stop anywhere. The daughters are far too young to do anything here. Walking is allowed, standing and watching is not.
Tonight we're eating at the Hard Rock Café, number 2 of this trip.

Zion

Today we're driving on to Zion National Park. We park the car and then take a shuttle bus to the starting point of a hike, the Riverside Walk. It turns out to be a very beautiful walk through a ravine, along a river. We see plenty of squirrels and chipmunks, some of them quite pushy. It's clear that they regularly get something to eat from the tourists here.

In the late afternoon, we drive to our accommodation for the evening, a ranch with horses and dogs. It's a lovely spot where we can enjoy a delicious dinner and play some traditional games.

Bryce Canyon

Today we're going horseback riding in Bryce Canyon! For completely inexperienced riders like ourselves, it's quite a thrill. We'll each be assigned a horse or mule and then set off. We are a group of about ten people, with two guides.

At the start of the trip, we're terrified. The horses have to descend a steep path into the ravine, always taking the outside bend, right next to the precipice. I keep telling myself that these animals do this every day and that nothing ever happens here, but I'm still not entirely reassured. Then there's my horse that's not very obedient and is mainly interested in anything edible.

After the descent, the fun begins. Beautiful views and the sun shining. The ride goes smoothly and… not unimportant: after a couple of hours, everyone arrives safely back at the starting point.

We're spending the night in Page, a quiet town ut close to our activity tomorrow. Following Tripadvisor's recommendation, we're going to eat at pizzeria "Stromboli." They have some enormous pizzas!

Antelope Canyon – Horseshoe Bend

Antelope Canyon is often overlooked in guidebooks, but it's definitely worth a visit. The canyon is managed by Navajo Indians, who organize all the tours. Therefore, you can't visit this canyon on your own.

We drive to the trailhead and are loaded into the back of a pickup truck. The drive is an adventure in itself: the truck drives smoothly, over potholes and bumps and we're seriously shaken up. Then we arrive at the entrance of a kind of cave. We're accompanied by a Navajo guide with a keen knowledge of photography. At first, we try to take some photos ourselves, but they always have a bluish cast. The guide adjusts some settings on our smartphones and suddenly the photos look much better. She also provides interesting information about the canyon's formation and the floods that have occurred there in recent years.

From Antelope Canyon we travel on to Horseshoe Bend, a place where the Colorado River has carved a serious bend out of the surrounding terrain, in the shape of a horseshoe.

We continue our journey to the Grand Canyon. By the time we arrive at our accommodation in the national park, it's already a bit stormy. We want to watch the sunset over the Canyon but there's not much to see. It's mostly cloudy. The Canyon itself is, of course, very impressive. After a while, a real thunderstorm begins, creating spectacular images over the ravine.

Grand Canyon – Route 66

Another exciting activity today: we're going on a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. We depart from a small airport and fly first over a village and then over a nature reserve. Suddenly, quite unexpectedly, we see a gigantic chasm and find ourselves hovering over the Grand Canyon. A helicopter is very maneuverable and can therefore descend into the canyon. Meanwhile, we get a brief explanation through our headphones.

Unfortunately, the flight ends quickly. Half an hour later, we're already back on the ground. We continue our journey. Today, we're driving west along Route 66 to visit one last national park tomorrow. The bad weather from last night still hasn't completely subsided. We're getting notifications on our smartphone about dangerous thunderstorms nearby. Fortunately, we're spared from those.

To us, Route 66 is a highway like any other. We arrive in Needles, at our motel for the day, in the early evening. From the guy at the reception we get a tip to eat at a typical American diner nearby. Huge portions, delicious food and not too expensive. We haven't experienced that very often here.

zicht over Grand Canyon vanuit helikopter

Joshua Tree

A visit to Joshua Tree reveals a completely different kind of landscape. Beautiful too, but we've already been spoiled with all sorts of natural beauty. Here, unique trees and unusual rock formations are the main attractions.

In the afternoon, we arrive at our exchange house. A very spacious home with a private pool. We do some shopping and then settle in. We're going to enjoy the next few days here!

Los Angeles

day 1: Hollywood – Warner Bros Studios

Today we have a reservation at Warner Bros. Studios. We arrive half an hour early, but we can go right in. No one checks the time on our tickets.
First, we're given a video explaining the studios. Then we hop in a cart that will take us around the grounds. We see quite a few "sound studios," large hangars where recordings are made. It's Sunday, so there's not much activity today. Therefore, we're allowed to take a quick look inside one of the sound studios.
We see locations used for exterior filming of movies and TV shows. It's really cool because we recognize so much! We're big fans of the shows Friends and Gilmore Girls and those shows were filmed here.
Afterward, we enter a room with sets from Friends and The Big Bang Theory, where we see props and photos. We can even take our own pictures. The tour ends with Batman, Superman and all sorts of cool vehicles. We're less familiar with those, but they're fun to see too. This was a very successful visit! We learned a lot, especially that almost everything you see on a screen is fake. But the Oscar we get to hold at the end of the tour is real.

We're driving from here to Mulholland Highway to photograph the Hollywood Sign. We found a list of addresses of famous actors online and decide to take a drive past some houses through Beverly Hills. It turns out to be a bit disappointing. There isn't much to see beyond high walls, hedges and locked gates. You can also do this tour through organizations. They might take you to locations with more interesting sights but we didn't want to spend any money on that.

In the late afternoon, we drive towards Hollywood Boulevard and its famous Walk of Fame. A long search for a parking space yields nothing, so we opt for an underground parking garage. A bit more expensive but the car is supposedly safer there. Via the many stars on the floor and the Chinese Theatre, we arrive at the Hard Rock Café. It's been a while since we've been there! 😉

day 2: Relaxing in our exchange home

After so many days in the car and countless visits, it's time for a day of rest. We relax by the pool and in the jacuzzi. The four turtles in the garden can move freely between the pond and the pool, so they happily swim along with us. We read a book, play board games and the girls get creative in their sketchbooks. Towards the evening we light the barbecue.

day 3: Disneyland

Up early again today. We're going to Disneyland! We leave at 7:10 a.m. and arrive at 7:50 a.m. Everything is well organized here. There are several large parking lots nearby from which you can take a bus to the park. Our backpacks are checked before we board, and we're told that selfie sticks aren't allowed in the park. So, we go back to the car to leave it behind. My traveling companions aren't too fond of my selfie stick, so they're laughing up their sleeves.

We have a really great day at the park. There are long lines for most of the rides but we don't mind. In the end, we manage to get on quite a lot. We also have a photo opportunity with Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore. At the end of the day we've been in line for an hour for "Indiana Jones Adventure." After a while, we get the impression that the line isn't moving anymore. A message blares over the loudspeakers that there's a problem and that they can't say how long it will take for the ride to work again. Many people back off but we persevere. An hour later, we're finally able to go in. A fantastic ride! How lucky we are to have waited.

Meanwhile, it's time for the parade. We find a spot on Main Street and rest a bit on the sidewalk. A whole day at the amusement park is quite tiring. The parade is worth it though, so we're glad we stayed so late. Tomorrow we'll just take it easy again.

day 4: Newport Beach

The early birds are awake at 9 a.m. today, while the sleeping beauties don't show up until noon. We decide to spend the afternoon at the beach. Newport Beach is a twenty-minute drive away. It's sparsely populated, making parking easy (though there's a fee everywhere). We read in the sunshine and the daughters venture into the sea.

In the evening we go to "Trenta," an Italian restaurant recommended to us by our exchange family. A very pleasant atmosphere and delicious pizzas. The pizzas are rectangular and you can combine three different pizzas on one dough. They're also more than big enough for a family of four. We have no room left for dessert.

day 5: Santa Monica – Venice Beach

An hour's drive takes us to Santa Monica. The distances here are manageable, but the traffic is terrible in many places. We're constantly stuck.

The pier is Santa Monica's main attraction. It's full of atmosphere: street theater, dancing, magic and so on. There's even a small amusement park on the pier. We take a ride on the rollercoaster. We also eat at a restaurant on the pier. It's not haute cuisine; the selection is mainly fried fish but it's tasty.

Then we walk along the beach to Venice Beach. We pass "Muscle Beach," a beach gym where muscled men demonstrate their strength and a skate park. There's not much else to see in Venice Beach. We see some strange individuals clearly under the influence of some kind, as the smell of marijuana hangs everywhere. Not our favorite location this vacation.

day 6: Universal Studios

The last stop on this trip is another theme park. Universal Studios is all about movies. The park opens at 9:00 AM, so we leave at 7:15 AM, ETA 8:15 AM. But that's without taking the heavy traffic into account. Around L.A., there's traffic everywhere and that wretched GPS sends us right through the city center. We don't pull into the parking lot until 9:00 AM.

We start the day with the Harry Potter attractions, because rumor has it there's going to be a long queue later in the day. We understand why afterwards. "Harry Potter and the Secret Journey" is truly spectacular. You're suspended in a container attached to a robotic arm and flung in all directions. Meanwhile, you're attacked by all sorts of creepy 3D creatures. Luckily you get help from Harry Potter himself.

We continue with the Studio Tour: we ride past all kinds of sets in a little train, we end up in an earthquake, witness a flood and are attacked by Jaws.

After a small lunch, we do one attraction after the other: Jurassic Park, The Simpsons, Kung Fu Panda, the Minions, the Secret Life of Pets… Many attractions have 3D effects. Spectacular, but a few of us get a bit nauseous. The queues are part of the spectacle and that's really cool. For example, with 'The Secret Life of Pets' we go through an entire apartment building.
We also take in a few shows: 'Animal Actors' and 'Waterworld'.

Just before closing time we pass by the 'Harry Potter' zone. Completely empty there. We can do this morning's impressive attraction two more times in fifteen minutes.

Thankfully, the return trip goes more smoothly than the outward journey. When we get home, we pop a few pizzas in the oven and watch some Netflix.

attractie Life With Pets Universal Studios

Attractie Jurassic Park Universal Studios

day 7: another day of relaxing and cleaning up

Today we're enjoying the facilities of our exchange house, swimming, using the jacuzzi and playing board games. Unfortunately, we also have to start packing our suitcases and doing some cleaning in the afternoon. Tomorrow morning we're expected at the airport for our return flight to Belgium.

It was a wonderful trip with so much variety: cities, nature, amusement parks, and thankfully, some peace and quiet at the end. We'll look back on it with fond memories.

Plan yourself?

Itching to get out and about? All the practical tips about transportation, accommodations and activities can be found in the "Practical" section. You'll also find transparent information about the costs there:
West-USA praktisch

Road trip with teenagers through the western USA

San Francisco