US road trip

From Vegas to San Francisco

By Michael Wilson

August 3^rd, 2018

It was time for our biennial Reading mates holiday and this year we were making the trip to the US to attend the wedding of our own Felicity. Flick has been living in San Fransisco for years now so we decided to make a road trip of getting there.

Vegas baby!

Our first stop was Las Vegas where we'd be staying in the incredible Bellagio hotel. I'm not a big gambler so I wouldn't say Vegas was a place I was expecting to love, but it sure is a place like nowhere I have been before.

To start with the Bellagio is just crazy, we arrived after 1am and the casino was still jam packed with people throwing their money at the tables. The place is huge and stupidly over the top, which is probably the best way to describe the whole city.

After a few hours sleep it was time to experience a daytime in Vegas and while the rest of the gang jumped in a sunrise helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, I took the time I had alone to explore some more hotels and 'people' watch. The variety of people walking around kept me entertained for hours, from the 6am lonely gamblers to the old ladies walking around in thongs.

We had two full days in Vegas and while it was fun, I'll admit that was about enough time for me. After seeing pretty much the same casino in every hotel, I felt like I'd had enough people watching and fakery to last me a lifetime. I was excited for the next leg of our journey!

Death Valley

The next day started in a Denny's where we ate too much breakfast and planned the long drive to Yosemite. We'd be driving through Death Valley in what ended up being over 50º heat. The never ending roads and emptiness in Death Valley is really quite special. It felt like we were on another planet at times.

After taking as many opportunities to stop as we could, we'd managed to stretch out what could have been an 8 hour journey into about 12 and so we arrived in Yosemite when it was pitch black and had no idea of what we'd be waking to the next morning.

Yosemite

I woke up at 6am in our Yosemite Airbnb as the sun streamed through my windows. I was greeted with the most incredible views. The landscape in Yosemite is easily the most beautiful I've seen, everything looked like a picture postcard.

We all excitedly packed a bag and made the short drive to Yosemite national park for a day of hiking. The drive we had previously done in the darkness was far more spectacular this time. The incredible mountains, the fast paced rivers and the huge trees kept our mouth agape throughout.

It was hot, the bugs were out in force but nothing could stop us from enjoying the hike around the park, there was just too much to take in!

After what felt like far too short a time in Yosemite we were on our way to the final stop, San Francisco.

San Francisco and Napa Valley

We arrived in San Francisco excited for a friends wedding, but before that we had a couple of days to explore. On our first day, we made our way down to Pier 39 to say hello to the sea lions and to see what the city had to offer. The place has a very relaxed feel (other than the constant waiting in traffic to get anywhere) and was so nice to walk around. Of course seeing Alcatraz was a highlight as it's so iconic...I'll be honest though, I preferred the sea lions ;-)

For day two we had booked a wine tour of Napa Valley. We jumped on our coach and off we went to neck some wine! This was also the first time we'd be close to the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. It was pretty cool to be driving over it and quite amazing to see how different the weather is from one side to the other. It was pretty windy and overcast in the city, but as soon as we crossed the bridge, the wind was gone and the sun was out, perfect wine drinking weather.

Painted ladies

Weed is legal in California, so we thought we'd see what it was like to explore it stoned. We entered what looked more like an Apple store than a marijuana shop and had all of the various options explained to us. We all decided the edibles looked far too good not to try and off we went.

First stop, the Painted Ladies, which is a famous set of incredibly ornate looking houses, which have been used in loads of films because of their unique appearance. The painted ladies are cool, but San Francisco architecture as a whole is quite incredible. The beautifully colourful and well kept old style houses are all over the place and a very stoned Michael enjoyed them greatly.

Down by the piers

After what was a beautiful wedding by the sea (I chose to fully enjoy it, rather than take photos, so you'll have to take my word for it) our final day was upon us. As we drove down to the Bay Bridge for our final wander, I had the distinct feeling that I needed more time because it felt like there was so much to see. And I was right, because we jumped out of the car and explored what was easily my favourite part of the city.

The Golden Gate Bridge can do one, because the Bay Bridge and the surrounding area is far better. We saw the baseball stadium, took in a street food market and found their science museum while bathed in glorious sunshine.

Sadly though, it was time to head to the airport as we had our flight home to catch. Our amazing road trip had come to an end after seeing some really extraordinary things and having a brilliant time with the Reading crew.