10 Day Roadtrip
Hello everyone! I am so happy to see you back for the second installment of my blog series Party in the USA. Previously in my last blog post I discussed the nature of our three part, three-week trip, with some basic knowledge all should know about traveling during COVID. For the second part of the series I am going to dive straight into the first part of our trip, which consisted of ten days on the road from San Francisco, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. This blog post includes as much information as possible, from where we stayed, ate, activities we did, and how much everything roughly cost. Keep in mind as well, for almost all of the pricing we split it by four people, so make sure when calculating the cost of the trip you are dividing everything by the amount of people participating.
Before we jump into the daily, there were a few things we did previously to the trip that helped us prepare. For our transportation we decided to go through a rental car company so we made sure we picked up the vehicle the day before packed it up, and filled it with gas. Right before we go on a trip I like to run as many errands and have everything settled as much as I can, so when it’s time to take off it’s smooth sailing. This includes getting my nails done, doing my dry cleaning, preparing everything for our cat, and picking up any last minute items. Items that I always make sure I bring or buy at the store before we leave include our favorite snacks, board games, candles, bug spray, Christmas lights, a coloring book, face masks, and a disposable camera. After all this preparation, it’s time to pack and just relax for your trip. Yay! I am so thrilled to take you along our fabulous trip so lets begin with day 1.
Day 1 July 25, 2020
It was our official first day of our road trip so we decided to wake up early and get a head start, we were on the road to LA by 8am. We drove most of the day along I-5, stopping for a light lunch and gas, as we arrived in Santa Monica around 4pm. We checked into our hotel which was the JW Marriott Santa Monica Le Merigot that we previously reserved for about $325 a night. The resort was just absolutely beautiful and offered a ton of amenities like private access to the beach, beach supplies, a pool, and an awesome bar. Our room was spacious, had an ocean view, as well as a balcony. After relaxing in our room we decided to take Lime Scooters to the streets for shopping and site seeing. Since this was our first night and we wanted to do something classy we decided to dine in at the glorious The Ivy. This beach side restaurant was absolutely beautiful and the food was AMAZING, some of the things we ordered included their fresh cocktails, lobster, and shrimp tacos, everything blew us away by its quality! All together the tip and tab was about $425. After the restaurant, we sat on the patio of our hotel which overlooked the beach and had fireplaces, so of course we ordered a round of drinks. For the rest of the night we just relaxed on the beach and watched a movie in the hotel, it was the perfect day one!
Day 2 July 26, 2020
For day 2 we decided to sleep in a bit and hang out on our patio to enjoy the morning sun. We got ready for the day and decided to hunt for some breakfast. We found an awesome beach shack called Dogtown that offered a full coffee bar and breakfast items. Their vanilla ice coffee and breakfast burrito was the perfect pair to get my morning going, so after we ate we decided to continue to scoot until we found the Santa Monica pier. Everything was still pretty much closed but the restaurants and shops were open so we had a great time exploring. Next, we went back to the room, changed, packed, and checked out of our beautiful hotel room. We drove to the downtown shopping area called The Third Street Promenade and they had a multitude of different stores to go into. We shopped at Uniqlo, Nordstroms, Aldo, Free people, and Forever 21. We had a quick lunch and then hopped back into the car to hit our next destination. We drove about 40 minutes from Santa Monica which put us smack dab in the middle of LA, so we checked into the next hotel which was The Millennium Biltmore, this costs about $425 for two nights. The hotel was huge so we pretty much explored for the rest of the day and Door Dash’s sushi so we could relax and lay in bed.
Day 3 July 27, 2020
First, if you did not know The Millennium Biltmore hotel is actually a historical building and is extremely famous for the first hotel-hosted Oscars. Due to these reasons the whole building was very antique, and honestly I had troubles with it being haunted. Downtown LA also was extremely on lock down due to the riots and COVID-19 so there was nothing to really do in the whole city. For day 3 we actually wanted to go back to Santa Monica because we liked the area so much, so before we headed back there we wanted to try Downtown LA. The Grand Central Market which is a huge warehouse area that homes a ton of small vendor restaurants and stores. We ended up walking around and trying a whole bunch of different food which ranged from Eggslut, G&B Coffee, PBJLA, and Olio Wood Fired Pizzeria. The food all had a modern updated twist to classic comfort foods, and were super “Instagramy”. This was one of our favorite food experiences for sure. After lunch we decided to go back to the promenade area and do a little more shopping (I bought my first ever All Saints coat and am now a complete women). After shopping we went to Carlos’ Bakery and bought a few pastries like lobster tails to enjoy by the beach. After relaxing and doing a photoshoot we ordered some pizza to the hotel, had a few drinks and then went to bed.
Day 4 July 28, 2020
We woke up and decided we were ready to leave downtown LA so we got ready, packed our things, and checked out. We wanted to explore the downtown LA shopping scene a little bit more so we drove through the area for a little bit. We stopped at No Ghost Bears which was a coffee bar, and we took, (you guessed it) an iced vanilla coffee to-go, while we walked around the Southern California Flower Market. This market was a whole sale flower market that had a ton of different vendors that offered flowers, plants, and pottery, I definitely recommend stopping here if you’re in the area. We hopped in the car and drove 45 mins down to Anaheim and decided to make a stop at Downtown Disney. We honestly were missing Disney a lot so we visited Earl of Sandwiches, Salt and Straw, and World of Disney. It was really awesome to be able to be in Disney again despite all of the new COVID measures. We took our ice cream to go and drove another two hours south to San Diego. Once we arrived in San Diego we checked into our hotel which was the Island Palms Hotel and Marina and this was such a beautiful hotel! It sat right on the water and harbor, and cost $220 for the night. We relaxed for a while then decided we wanted to explore the Downtown San Diego area. One piece of advice I’d include is that with traveling during COVID expect everything to close around 10pm. We didn’t know this before heading out so once we got to downtown we only had about an hour. We hung out, got a snacks and drinks at one of the restaurants, and decided to head back to our hotel room.
Day 5 July 29, 2020
The San Diego beautiful sunlight woke us up pretty early and we enjoyed a cup of coffee overlooking the water. We actually found a brunch spot through Tik Tok so we were pretty excited! We got ready checked out of our hotel room and carried on. The brunch spot was called Crushed and this restaurant was So. Fricken. Awesome! From their flight of mimosas, to their diverse and flavorful meals we had such an amazing time. Some food items we ordered included Parmesan chicken sliders, the breakfast burrito, and melt in your mouth Brioche French toast. We walked around the area for a little bit and found a lot of really cute boutique stores that offered local art, vendors, and clothing. We hopped back into the car, stopped at Trader Joe’s to pick up supplies and food for the night, and drove three more hours south through the dessert. We arrived at our next stop which was Joshua Tree! We were all very excited about this location because none of us had ever been there before and we all heard about how beautiful and spiritual the area was. Let me tell you Joshua Tree did not disappoint, upon arrival we drive into a breathtaking pink sunset sky. The location we stayed at was perfectly secluded and booked on Airbnb, it was called Hip, Light Filled Bungalow with a BBQ Grill and Firepit and cost around $310 per night. For the rest of the night we ate our Trader Joe snacks and honestly just hung out outside. We had a hammock, firepit area, and a rustic kitchen that we chilled in. The whole vibe of the day was dessert paradise and we relaxed as much as possible before our long drive the next day.
Day 6 July 30, 2020
Rise and Shine! The heat woke us up bright and early, Joshua Tree’s temperature that day was 115, so if you're sensitive to the heat DO NOT GO during the summer. We had another full day of driving and we wanted to check out the National park, so we ate a light breakfast and left the Airbnb. We drove to the National Park and got out of the car to take pictures, even though we planned on exploring the park it was just way too hot for a hike. We drove east for about three and a half hours, passing the boarder and ended up in Scottsdale, Arizona. This was the first time we stayed in the same place for two nights since Downtown LA and it was honestly so perfect. By this point we knew we were going to be pretty exhausted from moving and traveling around for six days so we wanted to stay in a tranquil home with tons of amenities. We booked another Airbnb which was called Cozy Den, MidCentury Retreat Space with Pool and Hottube and it was $656 for two nights. This Airbnb was the best place to kick it for two days. The decoration was really peaceful, and had a pool, hot tub, yoga equipment, and two living rooms. Once we checked in we were pretty beat from driving so we just swam, made dinner, and watched a movie.
Day 7 July 31, 2020
Honestly, we woke up and decided this was just going to be our chillest day. We simply sat in our bathing suits all day soaking up the sun, listened to music, and just ate and drank all day. I defiantly would say this gave us enough energy for the rest of the trip and when you are planning your long itineraries make sure you include days like this because they are VITAL. It was awesome being able to just connect with the boys and create a small home atmosphere.
Day 8 August 1, 2020
Since we really hadn’t done much in Arizona we wanted to make sure we scoped out some of the area before we left. We heard they had a pretty cool mall so we decided to check it out and I am so glad we did! The mall was honestly huge and they had a ton of really awesome stores like Morphe, Nordstroms, Lush, Anthropologie, and Quay. They also had a large food court area and we decided to eat there since we all had our eye on something different. After the mall we jumped into the car to head to our final destination. We drove almost four hours north up into Vegas! I honestly really enjoyed Vegas and this was the first time we all were there as 21 year olds. We wanted to stay as central to the strip as possible so we decided to stay at the glorious The Venetian which was $452 for two nights. However when we were checking in they offered us an upgrade to the Palazzo tower (adults only) with a bigger and better room. I would have to say it was one of the most elegant rooms we’ve ever stayed in especially in Vegas. The bathroom had a vanity, TV, large bathtub, and was covered in gold, I literally felt like a princess when I was getting ready. The first night we pregamed, went out, and partied the strip for a while. One tip I would let everyone know before going to Vegas currently is that there are NO bars open whatsoever. The only way you could buy alcohol or drinks is through a restaurant or cocktail waitress. We didn’t mind this too much since we do most of our drinking in the hotel as it’s usually more cost affective. We walked through some of the neighboring hotels and decided to call it a night.
Day 9 August 2, 2020
In The Venetian they have their own whole separate mall area that has a river with gondola rides running through it. It was quite impressive and there was a ton of shopping and restaurants, you could probably spend a whole day in this area. We hung out in bed for most of the morning till around lunch time and we decided we were in the mood for Mexican food. On a previous trip I had been introduced to the mouthwatering Tacos el Gordo, and we decided to stop there for lunch. Since this was our last night of the trip we wanted to end it the same way we started, with a classy dinner. We made reservations at Cut by WolfGang Puck which was located inside the Venetian. (Can we talk about boujee?) The five star, white glove dining service was so elegant and we received such amazing hospitality from all of the staff. They even came by with a bar cart that offered custom aged Old Fashions’ that was literally smoked in front of us with bark. The servings were pretty much bite sized but I got the salmon, and the boys ordered a Wagu filet, a Ribeye and tons of sides. Everything was so yummy and worth the kind of crazy price tag. With tab and tip it came out to around $600. After dinner we walked around the casino and decided to gamble for a while. We made our luck at some roulette tables and slots and after 2am we decided to head to bed.
Day 10 August 3, 2020
Unfortunately, this was the last day of our trip and we were all pretty sad to say the least. We had about a nine hour drive home so we wanted to leave as early as possible. After a few trials and tribulations of our morning we got a quick lunch and trucked it all the way home. We actually drove through a lot of different terrain and saw some really interesting scenery. We got home around 8pm and knew we had two days to rest, relax, and and repack for our second trip.
Overall this time was so awesome, and honestly it was the perfect road trip. We had such a great time just hanging out, getting to know one another, and doing so many different activities together. What was important was that we had such a variety of things to do throughout the whole trip from relaxing on the beach, to exploring the dessert, to partying in Vegas we were entertained and constantly doing something everyday. I would say during usual traveling we would have done a lot more excursions but because of COVID and the riots a lot of things were not available. This is why we just did a lot of shopping and eating. Hopefully through this blog post you have some new ideas of a trip you would like to take, some new places you can stay at, a new restaurant you can try, or a new experience to do. There are so many experiences out there ranging for all budgets and time schedules so try and get out and travel as much as you can! Let me know if you have any more specific questions about our itinerary or if you need any help with planning a new itinerary. I am always more than happy to help a fellow traveler. I will see you next week for my third installment of my blog series Party in the USA where we talk about our trip to Colorado Denver. Stay Safe and Happy Travels.
Cheers to our Twenty-Somethings.
Rayna
P.S. Speacial shout out to @Jordanbirdi for some photo credits!