Road Trip Wedding

Big Nasty

Hey all,

Myself and the OH were planning on getting married in Vegas at some stage towards the end of this year and I was being pestered for a date until I remembered the SEMA show was on 1st-4th November so it’s now being planned around that!

Here’s an idea of my itinerary so far, it’s gonna be a bit of a road trip of course, any suggestions along the way of must see places and things to do are welcome!

Sat 29th Oct - Fly Dub to JFK
Stay in New York for two nights
Mon 31st Oct - Fly JFK to LV
SEMA show Tues & Wed (2 full days will be enough)
Thurs 3rd Nov - get married in The Venetian!
Fri 4th Nov - chill out!
Sat 5th Nov - helicopter trip Grand Canyon
Sun 6th Nov - hire Chally and take last leg of Route66 to Santa Monica
Mon 7th Nov - Disneyland
Tues 8th Nov - Universal Studios
Wed 9th Nov - Drive LA>San Fran via PCH
Thurs 10th Nov - Fly SF>DUB
Fri 11th Nov - Sleep
Sat 12th Nov - Evening Wedding Party!
Sun 13th Nov - Hangover Party
Mon 14th Nov - Sleep
Tues 15th Nov - Back To Work!

Bigus

If i was you i'd get married before the show... less chance of her leaving you.

Also not so sure about Chill out day i could think of better things to do , but i haven't seen your intended..

Ha Ha

Best of luck

Seth Brundle

A road trip is a great idea - yours looks good!

Myself and 'er indoors did a road trip honeymoon through Burgundy and wrapping it up at the F1 GP (which was kind of crap but the support races were good). It was an excellent holiday with loads of wine!

Commiserations on getting married though!

no1beemerfan

You lucky B! (On the road trip!:D)

tezzy_v2

I thought i read before that SEMA was trade only? As in not open to general public

Big Nasty

tezzy_v2 wrote: »

I thought i read before that SEMA was trade only? As in not open to general public

It is but we have vays and means!

yllw.ldbttr

Not sure of your budget/ time constraints,
but doing LA > SF (via PCH) in one day is a bit much, you'll miss some amazing scenery and some incredible places to stop along the PCH.
We spent the bones of a week doing San Diego > SF last year.

Try get a night maybe in Big Sur - highly recommend a Glen Oaks river cabin for one night esp if you are just married!

http://www.glenoaksbigsur.com/bigsur.html

Big Nasty

yllw.ldbttr wrote: »

Not sure of your budget/ time constraints,
but doing LA > SF (via PCH) in one day is a bit much, you'll miss some amazing scenery and some incredible places to stop along the PCH.
We spent the bones of a week doing San Diego > SF last year.

Try get a night maybe in Big Sur - highly recommend a Glen Oaks river cabin for one night esp if you are just married!

http://www.glenoaksbigsur.com/bigsur.html

Thanks dude!

Exactly the kind of info I'm looking for - and a fellow PJ fan too!

Eoin

Looks like a great trip. Try out the forum on this site: http://roadtripamerica.com as well - you might get some good tips.

timbel

I defo agree on taking 2 days on the PCH.
Also, I would recommend more than 1 night in SF.

You seem to be trying to fit a lot in, maybe too much.

You could extend your stay and fly home Sunday and have the Wedding party the following weekend??

This will give you a couple of extra days if you fancy staying somewhere an extra night, etc.

yosser hughes

I wouldn't bother with Universal Studios.Waste of time and money inho.Great if your 15 or under.Dice the pacific coast instead.

Voodoomelon

Congrats! The Venetian is epic, this was our suite here and there was more behind me!

Also check out the likes of this car rental, you can get a 911 for $335 a day.
http://www.vegasexoticrentals.com/fleet.php

yllw.ldbttr

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Thanks dude!

Exactly the kind of info I'm looking for - and a fellow PJ fan too!

Here's what we did, a few recommendations below although everyone's taste and budget differs

Cork - London - San Fran with Virgin
3 nights in San Fran - Alcatraz by night (pre book), some shopping, stayed at Parc 55

Flight to Las Vegas
3 nights there ; Helicopter to Grand Canyon (discount on http://www.viator.com/ plenty drinking, some gambling, lots to see and do and loads of choice of hotel, great nightlife obviously

Flight to San Diego
Rented a beach front apartment there, spent 4 days chilling out.
Some shopping again (kept wife happy), plenty places to visit, nice beaches, chilled out atmosphere, great bars and restaurants - we stayed in Pacific Beach.

North to Los Angeles - 1 night there - needs no explantion

North to Santa Barbara - 1 night there - smallish town nice vibe.

North to Big Sur - 2 nights there - link above in my last post

North to Santa Cruz - 4 nights there - stayed at Dreams Inn on the beachfront, handy spot for exploring, close enough to Monterrey and Carmel as far as I can remember. Wife wanted to go wine tasting at local vineyards although I believe this is better north of SF.

North to San Fran, flight home.

Big Nasty

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Congrats! The Venetian is epic, this was our suite here and there was more behind me!

Also check out the likes of this car rental, you can get a 911 for $335 a day.
http://www.vegasexoticrentals.com/fleet.php

Tidy suite dude!

Big Nasty

Update!

After a bit of research this is now the plan for the road trip:

Sat 5th Nov. 9am: Las Vegas > Seligman about a 180 mile / 3hr drive to one of the Route 66 historic towns, reportedly where the Pixar movie 'Cars' is based on. Gonna have a gawk around and a spot of lunch there and leave around 2pm.

Sat 5th Nov. 2pm: Seligman > Barstow the route I've shown here is 290miles / 4.75hrs but the route I'm taking in order to get in as much of the old 'Mother Road' as possible is actually 300 miles but should take closer to 6hrs as it's not on the freeway. When you drag route changes on google maps it doesn't always show up right on a link - you get the idea though. Should arrive in Barstow by 9pm so it will be a couple of beers, dinner and bed at that stage - I don't know anything about the town but I don't plan on seeing much of it anyhow.

Sun 6th Nov. 9am Barstow > Hollywood Route 66, across the mountains via Big Bear Lake and the Rim Of The World Highway dropping down to LA. Staying in Santa Monica where Route 66 ends but want to cathch Universal Studios which is in Hollywood along the way. Total journey from Barstow to Hollywood is 200 miles / 5hrs so should be there by 2pm.

Sun 6th Nov. 5pm Hollywood > Santa Monica via the Hollywood Hills and Mulholland Drive, about 20 miles / 50mins drive. Watch the sun set on Santa Monica Pier, beer, dinner, bed.

Mon 7th. Nov. 9am Santa Monica > Santa Cruz via Pacific Coast Highway. About 350 miles / 6hr hike along the coast arriving in Santa Cruz about 3pm. Have plenty of time to have a look around and a nice relaxing dinner followed by some well needed sleep.

Tues 8th. Nov. 9am Santa Cruz > San Francisco 70 miles / 1.5hrs so will have landed by 10.30am and have the whole day to explore!

Total Journey: 1120 miles / 22 hours

7hrs driving 350 miles a day at an avg speed of 50mph - practically no freeway!

Wed 9th. Nov San Fran > Atlanta, Georgia, Dublin, Ireland.

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep!

e04bf0c8

Hi MCMLXXV,

Just seen your thread and looks like a great plan but you do seem to be underestimating how long it will take to go along the PCH. I done LA to SF only last year as part of a bigger road trip and it will almost certainly take longer than 6 hours to do the Santa Monica to Santa Cruz stretch. You are hoping for nearly a 60mph average on that stretch which is just too optimistic. I would say half that is more realistic. From what I remember it took us about 6 hours to do the stretch from Santa Barbara to Carmel!

Firstly the road itself is quite narrow, twisty and full of hairpin bends in places. Then there is the spectacular scenary. Mark my words you will want to stop after going around every corner not even to get out and take photos but just to take it all in. And then there is the risk of getting stuck behind a camper for a few miles. Although you are not going in high tourist season there still will be a few campers along the route. We found that in most cases they will pull over to let traffic overtake at the first chance they get but not always!

As for places to stop I would highly recommend stopping in Carmel. Its a lovely little place and also has the fantastic pebble beach right beside it. And if you are interested it is also home to Clint Eastwood's bar. I think it is called the Wild Hog/ Flaming Hog or something along those lines.

So overall I would recommend breaking the trip up the PCH into a 2 day trip if at all possible. like I said I have done a big road trip along the west coast before and the constant travelling can get quite tiresome if you are trying to do too much in the one day. Which is why try and leave as much as you can unbooked so you can be very flexable as you are travelling along. just means if you find somewhere really special you can spend a bit more time there if you want.

Hope this helps and best of luck with everythiing

haymur

If you go to Barstow try to get to Calico its a old mining town in the hills. It has a old time general store and a saddle shop. The Ramada in Barstow was good value with large clean rooms. Go to the rail station with its museum and old route 66 plaque. I did San Fran to Monterey (Fantastic Aquarium ) to Santa Barbara to LA(went to Roy Rogers Wild west museum great film memorabilia) and then to the Queen Mary (stayed overnight for wedding anniversary Dinner) in Long beach then to Barstow and on to LV for 4 days.It took 2 weeks and I could have done with a another 2 as I had no time to go to San Diego and loads of other places.My advice is make the trip as long as you can

Matt Simis

yosser hughes wrote: »

I wouldn't bother with Universal Studios.Waste of time and money inho.Great if your 15 or under.Dice the pacific coast instead.

Pff, we arent all crusty old men.

gk5000

Because they drive on the right its nice to do PCH from SF to LA as you are on the coast side, for scenary and pulling over. I'd give it 3 days.

Not sure if route 66 has any of its old character - ie sequence of small towns with own unique restaurants, radio stations etc...

Check out the parks
http://www.nps.gov/state/ca/index.htm?program=parks
Death Valley, Joshua Tree if ur into U2, Big Trees!

Enjoy. Love road trips in the US.

Big Nasty

Howeya lads,

In final planning stages of this now! Last few days in work and then we'll be flying out Saturday.

Anyhow, I have worked things around a little and will now have nearly two full days to travel the PCH from Santa Monica to San Fran. Any recommendations on a good half-way stop off point?

Cheers!

Bigus

Good luck with the trip,

Did you see the article in Car magazine a few months back where they drove an RR silver Ghost off the beaten track near where you're goin to be . i'll see if i can find the Mag to give to you.

Big Nasty

Bigus wrote: »

Good luck with the trip,

Did you see the article in Car magazine a few months back where they drove an RR silver Ghost off the beaten track near where you're goin to be . i'll see if i can find the Mag to give to you.

Wouldn't mind a look at that if you can dig it out Bigus!

Bigus

Yeah lookin hard , for you, because the best part of their trip was been off the clichéd 66 beaten track and seeing the real America, including a gas station attendant who reckoned his Mitsubishi pick up had a higher top speed than the Ghost at 196 mph, but he wouldn't let them take a photo of him because of his beliefs.

MadsL

Don't miss that Route 66 Vegas to Seligman section. Drove that a few years back in a Mustang Convertible; well worth the drive - one of the emptiest sections of 66 and one of the most complete historic routes (rest of the time you are playing on-off with I-40)

Worth lingering in Seligman, best example of a Route 66 town. I had a shave by Angel the barber (good-ish shave, way better conversation about the old times) his wife runs the gift shop and will sit on the store front and natter with the mrs while you wait

Roadkill Cafe does an incredible steak too.


But the real jewel for a petrolhead is the mother road; and this is one of the quietest sections as it is so far from I-40.

gk5000 wrote:

Not sure if route 66 has any of its old character - ie sequence of small towns with own unique restaurants, radio stations etc...

Trust me. In AZ, NM it certainly does...

e04bf0c8

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Howeya lads,

In final planning stages of this now! Last few days in work and then we'll be flying out Saturday.

Anyhow, I have worked things around a little and will now have nearly two full days to travel the PCH from Santa Monica to San Fran. Any recommendations on a good half-way stop off point?

Cheers!

Its a bit more than halfway but there is a place called Carmel. Its near Monterey. Its an absolutely beautiful seaside town with a gorgeous beach. Perfect place to watch the sun set if you can get there in time! I was there in a RV so afraid cant recommend anywhere to stay! Also Clint Eastwood has a restaurant there. The hogs Breath I think!? Was closed when I was there so can't say much about it. Might be something to check out though!

Also whatever size memory cards you are bringing for your camera I would say double it. And also I found an in car charger for your camera came in very handy! You will struggle to put the camera down along the PCH in particular! Hope you have an amazing time.

A sample of the scenery you will see:

MadsL

To warm you up for the trip, try and find a copy - from the cousins maybe - of Horatio's Drive. It's a documentary shot by Ken Burns, narrated by Tom Hanks of Horatio Jackson who set off from San Francisco in 1903 to drive across America in one of those new-fangling horseless carriages. In the same year the Ford Motor Co. was formed.

Bear in mind there was only 150 miles of paved road in the US at the time. Law and order had barely fully penetrated the West.

Incredible thing to imagine and attempt six years before the Model T even when into production.

Recommend.

yllw.ldbttr

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Howeya lads,

In final planning stages of this now! Last few days in work and then we'll be flying out Saturday.

Anyhow, I have worked things around a little and will now have nearly two full days to travel the PCH from Santa Monica to San Fran. Any recommendations on a good half-way stop off point?

Cheers!

+1 on the mentions for Monterey and Carmel,
we stayed at Big Sur overnight, incredible scenery and a perfect overnight getaway. Rented a private cabin by the River for the night. Absolutely cracking spot. Only a stone's throw from Monterey as well.


BTW - as mentioned above, allow plenty travel time on this road, great scenery and many places you will want to stop.
We drove San Diego - Santa Barbara (overnight) - Big Sur (overnight) - Santa Cruz (overnight) - San Francisco.
http://www.glenoaksbigsur.com/bigsur.html

Big Nasty

Thanks lads!

Carmel is a bit much to do in one day from LA. After a little research I'm thinking of Cambria which is almost bang on halfway between LA and San Fran. Will make sure to stop of in Carmel, Monterey and Big Sur along the way.

Cheers!:)

Victor Meldrew

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Thanks lads!

Carmel is a bit much to do in one day from LA. After a little research I'm thinking of Cambria which is almost bang on halfway between LA and San Fran. Will make sure to stop of in Carmel, Monterey and Big Sur along the way.

Cheers!:)

I got hitched in early March, flew to San Diego and drove to vegas. Vegas to Yosemite involved big detour courtesy of big snow storm. Had rented a SUV, so was fine, but there was a mad scramble for the last set of snow chains....



enjoy....! sounds great...

Bigus

I found it,

Car Magazine trip was called "Chasing Ghosts" August 2010

" we started our Ghost trip in Palm Springs then headed down to Salton Sea, actually a huge lake formed in 1905 when the Colorado River burst its man made banks and flooded nearly 400 square miles.

After a stop at Bombay Beach and a chat with a one eyed alcoholic named Patchwe headed over the Cottonwood Mountains,through the Joshua Tree national park to Twentynine Palms for a Marine Haircut,

before driving across the Sheep Hole Mountains towards Route 66 and the sun baked hippy hang outs and military Bases around Amboy, Baghdad and Chambles. Next Stop was the relative civility of Barstow, where highway 15 and 40 meet
Finally we turned south into Palm Springs to end our Journey"

PM me to collect hard copy
B

Pharaoh1

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Having travelled LA to LV as part of a cross country trip to NY I think it would be a shame to miss out on the real Grand Canyon experience.

Around 4.5 hrs drive from LV across Hoover Dam I arrived in the late afternoon for the sunset on south rim and was up in time for the sunrise followed by a gentle enough hike into the canyon finishing up at lunchtime.
Nothing can compare with the sheer majesty of it imo and for me it was the highlight of the entire trip.

Big Nasty

Cheers all for the input!

The plans remained pretty much the same from the get-go but with advice from here and elsewhere the route and timing has been slightly altered.

Here's the final itinerary:

Itinerary

Sat 29/10/11 Dublin > Atlanta
Arrive 4.30p.m. local time and head straight to Acworth for Classic Car Show.

Mon 31/10/11 Atlanta > Las Vegas, Accommodation: MGM Grand
Carroll Shelby Museum
Halloween Celebrations

Tues 01/11/11
Helicopter Tour over Grand Canyon, Lake Meade, Hoover Dam
Imperial Palace Hotel Classic Car Showrooms

Wed 02/11/11
Get married in a little white chapel!

Thurs 03/11/11
SEMA Show
Shooting

The Road Trip

Fri 04/11/11 Las Vegas > Kingman (R93) 100miles / 2hours
Visit: Kingman Route 66 Museum
Lunch: Mr D’z Route 66 Diner
Visit: Old 66 Classic Car Garage
Kingman > Barstow (I-40 / R66) 215miles / 4hrs 40min
Accommodation: Ramada Hotel, Barstow

Sat 05/11/11 Barstow > Hollywood (I-15) 120miles / 2hours
Visit: Universal Studios
Hollywood > Santa Monica (Mulholland Dr) 20miles / 50mins
Hollywood & Highland Boulevard Star Signs, Chinese Theatre.
Dinner: Musso & Frank
Accommodation: TBC

Sun 06/11/11 Petersen Automotive Museum – Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica > Cambria (CA-1) 230miles / 4hrs 30min
Dinner: Black Cat Bistro
Accommodation: Blue Dolphin Inn

Mon 07/11/11 Cambria > San Fran (CA-1) 230miles / 4hrs 30min

That gives me two full days to drive the PCH and two full days in San Fran.

Wish me luck dudes!

Bearcat

What's this beer/dinner/bed stuff on your h/moon? Surely it should be beer/bed/dinner?

Your trip sounds fantastic......

MCMLXXV

MCMLXXV wrote: »

........... Last few days in work and then we'll be flying out Saturday...........

Best wishes to yourself and your Good Lady for the trip

Big Nasty

RoverJames wrote: »

Best wishes to yourself and your Good Lady for the trip

Cheers RJ!

Heading to the airport shortly - see y'all in a couple of weeks!

galwaytt

MCMLXXV wrote: »

RoverJames wrote: »

Best wishes to yourself and your Good Lady for the trip

Cheers RJ!

Heading to the airport shortly - see y'all in a couple of weeks!

Best of luck - and have a ball. . .