From Vegas we was recommended to visit Death Valley on our way to Mammoth Lake. We was kind of nervous because it is the hottest place on earth, and we also traveled in July. We know it's serious when the signs says we had to turn off the AC in the car, because of the danger if the car broke down. We are talking about 49℃ (120.20°F)
You can read my first post about this roadtrip HERE.
We loved Death Valley. We visited Badwater Basin and Zabriskie Point. This was maybe on of the most amazing views on the whole trip. We couldn't stay outside more than maybe 3 minutes (our Norwegian temperaturescale couldn't handle anything more), even tho we saw people that walked a long way out on Badwater Basin. I had found a lot more places to stop, but my friend was ill and we just had to get to Mammoth Lake. I highly recommend Death Valley, but you need a car in great condition and get prepared of a seriously dangerous heat if you stay outside for a longer period of time in the warmest months. Have a lot of water with you, and maybe some food. But I have heard there is many amazing hikes there in the winter month, but they are closed in the summer because of the heat.
We had one night in Mammoth Lake.
It was such an american village. Pick up trucks as far as the eye can see, american flags everywhere and I found it facinating that it was so many small villages that had these cabin lookalike resteurants, cafes and such as. We saw that along the way. We had to write down what kind of car we had when we arrived at the hotel, and we didn't remember the number or model of the car, only that we drove a Merzedes. The owner of the hotel responded with "That's okay, I guess you are the only one with a merzedes in this town right now". We felt misplaced.
The reason why we slept one night in Mammoth was mostly because of Yosmite National Park, but we figured out when we arrived in Mammoth Lake it was closed because of a lot of water had ruined the road. Such a bummer. I really was looking forward to it. We had to drive around it, and that took so much more time than driving through it too.
We heard that San Fransico was the best city, and we was really looking forward to it,
but the city was so sad and disapointing and we didn't feel safe at all. We had read that SF had become bad because of eqonomic disasters after covid and someone even clamed it was corrupt. We knew it was bad, but not bad like this. I feel so sorry for the city and those who live there. With or without a roof.
Luckily did we stay at the Fishermans Warft, and we felt safe there, since it was a lot of turists. It smelled pee everywhere, and many stores was closed. Tents in so many streets, and it was so sad. We talked to some locals where some of them had plans to move. Someone out of SF and someone out of the US. We recommended Denmark of some reason.
But we visited Pier 39, A cat cafe and Alcatras, and that was at least nice touristy things to do. So don't get me wrong. We did some few fun things in SF too. But we had too high expectations.
We went on a wine tasting in Napa Valley too, but that wine tasting was dissapointing. I think it would be better if I wasnt interessed in wine as much as I am. Loved Napa Valley and the area, but we was so unlucky with the wineproducers. But we wasn't the only ones that didn't like the wine. But we got to visit really nice wineries and learn a little bit about them.
There was so much dissapointment in San Fransisco that we kind of gave up there. China Town was maybe the best thing to do there. But I think we also was kind of tired after all we did on this roadtrip. We slept much more too in SF. I must say that I dont remember so many of the resteurants there but Son and Garden was number one. Loved the food, drinks and atmosphere. A really instagramfriendly look, and it was like night and day from how it looked outside.
I have to add that the water in San Fransisco isn't water. I could rather buy a bottle of clorine and drink that. Note to self: Always buy a bottle of water! Im spoiled because of the tap water in Norway.
But the roadtrip to LA, Vegas and San Fransisco was in total a lot of fun.
We explored a lot and learned to not have high expectations. Somethings was closed, we started to drive way too late and learned that next time we have to book all the resteurants we want to go on before the trip. At least in Vegas. We was really surprised how respectful the drivers was in LA. We thought it would be the worst thing about this trip, but it was really easy. It's actually worse here in Norway.
We came home from this trip and we felt like we didnt do as much as we wanted (mostly because of bad planning and traffic), so me and my best friend are coming back in a few years. But we planned to drive EARLY from every place and stack some food and water so we don't need to go to target every day. But the trip will start in LA, where we are staying by the beach area, then drive to Vegas. We also want to visit Page and see the caves there. We want to have a around trip in Death Valley too, but it depends of what we want to prioritize.
Thank you so much for reading.
You can read our first stage from the trip HERE.