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By: John Muir Wannabe, Thu Sep 11th, 2008
We recently had a road trip through California and Arizona. We started at San Francisco, drove all the way to Phoenix Arizona and came back in 8 days. So, what did we see? What did we enjoy? Day 1: Drive down to Palm Springs. In one day it is possible to drive all the way to the Palm Spring from San Francisco. Take 580 through Oakland, Pleasonton, Livermore. Then take 5 all the way to south. Follow through northern outskirts of LA towards 10. In about 8 hours we were in Palm Springs. We spent the night there in a $50 hotel. Day 2: Woke up refreshed, had hour continental breakfast and headed for Joshua Tree National Park. Don't let the name trick you. It is not a forest there. If you like the desert landscape, you will like Joshua Tree. We took few photos. Spent sometime enjoying the view and we continued towards Arizona. In about 4 hours you will be in Arizona, on time to dine on Camel Back with beautiful city lights under your eyes. We stayed with a friend. Trying to make this a cheap trip :) Day 3: Woke up to the desert heat. Climbed up the Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale. The view is beautiful again. Warning! This is for hikers only. It is a tough climb in the heat. You need to have enough water or you won't survive. Then we drove to the Salt River Canyon through route 60. We have seen Grand Canyon already, so let's see what else is out there. It is beautiful rocky river bed far down below. We do our duty for artful photography. Then we continue to Theodore Roosevelt Lake. It is a reservoir. There is a cactus forest around it. It is Tonto National Forest. It is nice, scenic, and a pleasant drive. Then we drove back to Phoenix using 188 and 87. Don't try 88. It is on the map, but it looked like an unreliable dirt road. We had dinner in friends' place. Day 4: We left Phoenix north bound through 17. We will soon reach Prescott. This is a beautiful town (Prescott Posters) in the pine forest. If you like the nature and the small town atmosphere this is a nice place to live. Little further north we reach Jerome. Jerome is on the edge of a cliff, while coming down the plateau. Far far away, on a clear day you can see the red rocks of Sedona like a wall in front of you. Jerome is an old mining town with a character of it's own. Today, it is a small tourist attraction on the way. We are racing towards Sedona as the red horizon in front of us reveals itself like a giant wall. Just before Sedona, south of it, there is a Red Rock State Park. You need to stop there and take some color photographs of Cathedral Rock. If you bring lunch with you it will be better since it's a pleasure to sit by the creek under the shade of the trees and enjoy food in a heavenly setting. We did not. So we headed towards Sedona and ate buffet in the Kentucy Fried Chicken with the beautiful view of the Sedona's red rocks all around us. Sedona is a beautiful town and is a must see. Once we heartbreakingly decided to leave this beauty behind, we headed north through the Sedona creek canyon. We climbed north and up again on higher ground and reached Flagstaff before dark. Sedona creek canyon is also nice to picnic around, or to just rest. In Flagstaff we stayed in another $50 hotel which was quite nice and comfortable. Day 5: We are driving back to California. Now, Flagstaff is just south of Grand Canyon. If you have not see Grand Canyon National Park yet, you need to spend one more day here. We knew it all so we decided to leave, but you are welcome to stay. We took our time taking photos in the forests around the Flagstaff. It is fall, and the colors are beautiful. We drove, drove, drove through the desert taking 40 all the way to California. Not much else to do today except reach Bakersfield before dark. My wife is craving Chinese food and wants to have buffet. Hmmm. Challenging. We reach Bakersfield, and right across the hotel there is the Chinese Buffet! Haha. I think the hotel was Extended Stay America. Not expensive at all. I recommend it to the budget conscious. Day 6: Guess where we are going? Driving up north from Bakersfield to Sequoia National Park. Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Visalia, California (close to Fresno), in the United States of America. It was established in 1890 as the second U.S. national park, after Yellowstone National Park. The park is most famous for its Giant Sequoia trees. We climb, hug the biggest tree on earth. The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest (by volume) tree in the world. Then we take a look at King's Canyon nearby and head back to Fresno to spend the night. There is a Denny's nearby. Hmmm. Day 7: We are awake, and craving for more Denny's Omlettes. Once we fuel ourselves, we are heady to head to Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is my favorite park. It is not possible to describe it's beauty in words. Yosemite National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada of California. It takes approximately 3.5 hours to drive to the park from San Francisco and approximately 6 hours from Los Angeles. Yosemite is surrounded by wilderness areas: the Ansel Adams Wilderness to the southeast, the Hoover Wilderness to the northeast, and the Emigrant Wilderness to the north. We indulge ourselves into the beauty of it's hiking trails and set out to conquer Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. It takes quite a long time and now we are late and the sun has already set as we are heading out of the park. But, our plan is to drive further east, cross the park in an heroic effort through curvy roads and approach Lake Tahoe from east, surprising the enemy with great strategy this night. We are both tired. My wife is sleeping. I am sleeping too. Not sure who is driving. Day 8. I don't remember previous night. We must have made it to the hotel in Lake Tahoe. We are now refreshed once again. And we are ready to breath in the energizing air of Lake Tahoe and enjoy it's charming beauty via boat trip! Yes. You can take a boat from South Lake Tahoe, or North Lake Tahoe. It costs about $80 plus food on the boat. If you have the coupon book for Lake Tahoe region, then you can get a discount of buy one get one free for the boat ticket. I highly recommend it. Actually this discount alone covers the cost of the book. And if you have a friend who lives in the area, you can give the book to them to use rest of the coupons as there are hundreds of them and you cannot use them all in few days trip. We enjoy our lunch on the boat and head back towards Bay Area. On the way we stop by Davis and visit friends. After a nice dinner, we head back home with the memories of a fun trip. To enjoy the visual marvel of these beautiful destinations, you can buy posters at viewposters.com