California Road Trip

[taemo]

Early May my girlfriend and I decided to drive down to California just because I felt like driving.
We decided to originally go to San Francisco for a week but then decided to do
3 days San Francisco
1 day Pismo Beach
3 days Los Angeles (Hollywood and Santa Monica)
1 day Las Vegas

total KM is 5886 KM, we drove non-stop from Calgary to Weed with me driving 6 hours and my gf 3 hours rotation.
Rested for the night then drove the next morning to San Francisco.
Driving back home, we drove non-stop from Las Vegas to Calgary, once again 6-3 rotation.
Time flew incredibly fast with all the scenery we got to see, except Lethbridge area - been there so many times lol

I hate driving to Vancouver but loved every minute on this trip.

Idaho - BC border
it was around 4:30am when I took this picture and soon after crossing the border I asked my gf to swap with me.
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8412.jpg
Her driving with my cousin on the passenger seat.
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8413.jpg

Took some scenery pictures in Mt. Sashta on our way to San Francisco from Weed (4hrs drive)
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8510.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/Untitled_HDR13.jpg

San Francisco
Car getting The Works after driving us safely to San Francisco. Huge lineups of cars getting hand washed, decided to treat my car out.
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8620.jpg

Alcatraz on the background with sign near Golden Gate bridge
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8692.jpg

Lombard street - one of crookedest street in the world, had to drive it atleast once.
Loved driving the steep hills in San Francisco, felt like a cheap roller coaster [rofl]
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8717.jpg

Night shot from the balcony of our hotel (Hilton Union Square)
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8744.jpg

Golden Gate bridge
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8914.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_8948.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/Untitled-1.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/Untitled_HDR5.jpg

Evo spotted in Chinatown
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9052.jpg

Downtown tower shot
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9083.jpg

San Francisco beach
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/Untitled_HDR12.jpg

San Francisco from the ferry heading to Alcatraz
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9188.jpg

Alcatraz
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9241.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9256.jpg

[taemo]

Pismo Beach

http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/Untitled_HDR7.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9696.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9756.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9802.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9694a.jpg




Los Angeles

Wall painting in Venice Beach
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0608.jpg

Santa Monica beach from the pier
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0474.jpg

Santa Monica condo near the beach
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0443.jpg

Santa Monica Ferris Wheel
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0201.jpg

Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9941.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9942.jpg
My WRX posing in front of Bijan's Veyron (http://www.bijan.com/)
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0051.jpg

Hollywood
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9888.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_9907.jpg

[taemo]

Las Vegas
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0695.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0762.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0763.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0800.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/IMG_0854.jpg

Canyon shot in Phoenix while heading to Salt Lake City from Las Vegas
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/canyon.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/earl.dieta/Cali/Untitled_HDR10.jpg

[Jeremiah]

I love road trips. The drive from Vegas to Calgary is pretty dope, no mountains, just smooth sailing!

[brucebanner]

Looks like an awesome trip, jealous (I love road trips)!

[Thaco]

we did the drive to LA a couple years ago, we had 9 people, 3 were kids, and even they did the trip pretty well. Very nice drive... apparently the drive down the coast is nicer, however a few hours longer.

[davidI]

Damn - not sure if you've seen my Epic Road Trip thread in the Travel forum but this is really making me want to do it!!

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Thaco
we did the drive to LA a couple years ago, we had 9 people, 3 were kids, and even they did the trip pretty well. Very nice drive... apparently the drive down the coast is nicer, however a few hours longer.

Only for the driver. Passengers, not so much. :D

[ExtremeSi]

Sweet. I've always wanted to do a trip like that. Did you book hotels in advance or just pull up and see what's available?

[Stealth22]

Originally posted by ExtremeSi
Sweet. I've always wanted to do a trip like that. Did you book hotels in advance or just pull up and see what's available? Same. I think if I were to do that this summer, I'd Priceline it.

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/227599/priceline-is-amazing/

[Machi]

NICE trip!! I'd love to do that this summer! :burnout:
Just curious.. what was the cost of gas after the whole trip? haha

[Jeremiah]

Probably around $450-$500

[Roarasaur]

Only $500? Thats amazing. I would love to do something like this. The furthest I went on a trip was to Vancouver and Seattle and that was pretty awesome.

[OzzyOzzman]

Thanks for the nice pictures. We're thinking of doing this trip in July.

[Royle9]

Nice pictures! Seems like a solid road trip, although I've been told heading to Sanfran via the Oregon coast is the way to go scenery wise.

Last year I took a road trip to Alaska (all the way to Homer) and it was a blast, I should dig up some photo's because the glaciers up there are amazing, and loads of wildlife.:thumbsup:

[Phenix]

Awesome trip. what were your driving times non stop from the various locations? specifically Vegas to Calgary?

[Jeremiah]

Originally posted by Roarasaur
Only $500? Thats amazing. I would love to do something like this. The furthest I went on a trip was to Vancouver and Seattle and that was pretty awesome.

Well I get about 600KM on the highway to a tank, and using gas in the states is about $40-$50 tank, at 10 tanks thats 6000kms and anywhere between $400-$500

Not bad when you split it either

I'm not 100% sure what a WRX gets though so YMMV

[Super_Geo]

What camera did you use?

[taemo]

Originally posted by Thaco
we did the drive to LA a couple years ago, we had 9 people, 3 were kids, and even they did the trip pretty well. Very nice drive... apparently the drive down the coast is nicer, however a few hours longer.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing it with a group of friends with a bigger van.
Was it a convoy or one vehicle only Thaco?



Originally posted by ExtremeSi
Sweet. I've always wanted to do a trip like that. Did you book hotels in advance or just pull up and see what's available?
I booked the hotels back in March all through Expedia, didn't know what to expect so just played it safe. Totally forgot about priceline or hotwire though, maybe for Hawaii this october.
The only place I didn't book ahead of time was in Weed, CA because I wasn't sure if we should take a pit stop for the night or keep driving to San Fran. So just stopped at a random motel and had some Four Loko.



Originally posted by Machi
NICE trip!! I'd love to do that this summer! :burnout:
Just curious.. what was the cost of gas after the whole trip? haha
Do it! If I didn't have a cousin and gf, I would have been a bum and slept in my car.
Calgary to San Fran, gas would be around $260, Las Vegas to Calgary was a little bit more.. 300.
According to my roadtrip iphone app, I spent $642 in total for the whole 5886KM trip.


Originally posted by OzzyOzzman
Thanks for the nice pictures. We're thinking of doing this trip in July.
You'll have tons of fun.
I regret not going through the PCH, but it was either PCH from San Fran to Pismo Beach for 7hours or 4hours through 101. Had to recuperate some loss time in San Fran.
But definitely the whole PCH and route 66 are on my bucket list to drive.


Originally posted by Phenix
Awesome trip. what were your driving times non stop from the various locations? specifically Vegas to Calgary?

Here's my schedule from Calgary to San Fran

Calgary to Cranbrook
388KM - hwy3/95

Cranbrook to Spokane
303KM - hwy3/95 to I90

Spokane to Kennewick
225KM - I90 to H395

Kennewick to Bend
389KM - H395/I82 to I84/H30 to H97

Bend to Weed
334KM - H97

Weed to San Francisco
458KM - I5 to I505 to I80 to I780

We left Calgary at 11pm on May 5th and was in Weed, CA at 9pm on May 6th.
This including gas/pee break, brunch in Spokane IHOP, quick supper somewhere in Oregon.

Vegas to Calgary, we left Vegas at 5pm and we arrived at the border at noon.


Originally posted by Super_Geo
What camera did you use?

Canon 40D with my 17-85mm during the day. my 24mm 2.8A at night, alcatraz and beverly hills.

[leftwing]

Wicked pictures, this is something I'd like to do one day, just need to convince a friend to come with me.