California, Arizona e Nevada grand circle
August 2007
7 days, 2600 miles and you will know a lot.
Contact Us about this trip
The trip report and MAP are at the end. This was a car trip with a couple friends from Brazil. We did the quick Western Tour to them. |
Please, if you find errors or want just to send us a comment on this page, use the form on the left. The first two days we stay around our house, then we start the tour. |
When I pick Nelco and Sonia at the LAX we immediately drove towards Beverly Hills and Hollywood. The centennial palms in Beverly Hills are really beautiful and impress a lot.
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At Rodeo Drive we always can spot some personality shopping. Could not see who was in this Rolls Royce, but it's some car
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The famous hotel from the movie Lady in Red , Four Seasons, at the corner of Rodeo Dr. and wilshire Blvd. |
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| From Rodeo Dr. we went to Hollywood. This is the main mall where all the Oscar's are delivered |  |
| And then the also famous Chinese Theatre. |  |
Walking at Rodeo Dr. |
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Way back on the pictures, below the first crossing, you may see the famous Hollywood sigh. |
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| And down below the center you can see the also famous Walk of Fame |  |
I found one of my favorites singers Elton John |
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| as well one of my favorites actors, Anthony Hopkins |  |
Then we went to my secret spot to take pictures of the famous Hollywood sigh. Is there a way to go really close to the sigh. And that was the end of the first day. Actually it was only half day. |
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The second day we head to San Diego area, and stop at March Field Air Base Museum. |
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| to see some nice jets and cargo planes |  |
In Coronado, near San Diego, we had a chance to see this guy doing para-surf??, He has a surf board on his feet and a parasail on his back, and was going back and forth on the beach, by the wind. |
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| Coronado beach. One of the few with real white sand |  |
| Then we had to stop at Anthony's for a good fish and view to Maritime Museum. The pictures shows the "Star of India" an import cargo ship from the old days |  |
| San Diego always have some interesting thing to do, like see a real soviet submarine... B-39 |  |
| ... or a real carrier, open to visitation, the Midway where you can visit for hours if you have time to spend. |  |
| then you also can check the sails there |  |
| going north, near La Joia, there are some secluded beach's |  |
| and some interesting ships, like this one on the photo: a ship repair for other ships. The damaged one can go dry, inside the repair boat. The beige one on the left, as well the second smaller one at the center. |  |
Another closed beach near La Joia |
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with a lot of sea gulfs . And that was the and of our second day. |
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| Then Sunday we start our grand circle. Palm Springs was our first destination, where I could show Nelco how the rich people can get a cool breeze on the desert: the pay to install giant fans to make that hot city of Palm Springs to be cooler. |  |
| Few miles later, on I-10 and we hit the General Patton museum. |  |
| and then we cross the famous California aqueduct |  |
| and as soon as we entered Arizona, a big cactus for our delight |  |
The by afternoon we were at our first major destination on this trip: Montezuma Castle. It was an ancient village for indians, dated for the years 1100 to 1400, that suddenly disappear, believed by a long dry period. |
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| Later we got to Sedona, a beautiful county with many red mountains and formations |  |
famous for it's mysticism and exoteric. That is a very nice church in a rock. |
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| Leaving Sedona, going North towards Flagstaff, there are this amazing motorcycle road going up the mountains. Hwy 89 |  |
and there we saw some wild life. A few dears/elks along the road. We slept at Williams, a nice little town in Arizona. |
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The next day was kind of mix feelings: The Grand Canyon West was suppose to be a great experience... At the and I think it was a rip-off. Tourist trap. |
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| First you have to endure almost 30 miles of very dirty road. If there is a car or a truck in front of you. Stop and let it goes because you will see nothing on the road. |  |
| that is how it looks |  |
| the last 11 miles are paved. They are inside an Indian Reservation of the Hualapai |  |
when you get there. after paying $80 for a meal and for the right to walk on the skywalk, I realized that I'm not seeing the grand canyon, but a side arm of it. The Grand Canyon is about mile North, and much deeper. This is just a louse side arm. |
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| then once there, you cannot take your camera to the skywalk. They say that is for your protection, but at U$28 per pictures, using their one pictures service that was way too much. |  |
| then you have to pay for the lockers before entering. Quite rude people there attending you that we decided not to leave it there. My friend went to the skywalk, I took pictures of him, them we switch. |  |
| next to the skywalk there are some fake huts and wannabe be indian tents, legit tourist trap. |  |
| The food was good. The meat was delicious, but the people serving you there were way too rude. If you have to think if you want meat or chicken, then will push you on the line... |  |
| then I took few more pictures of what is 'near' grand canyon |  |
| and using a 200mm zoom I could spot the Colorado River (the real Grand Canyon) way there |  |
| So I walk towards a place that I could at least tell that I saw the Colorado River |  |
| This security was making sure nobody walk close to the rim. |  |
| We left there and about 4:00PM we were ate Hoover Dam. |  |
| it's always is a great view. Now they are constructing a road pass over the mountains (can you see it on the upper left?) It will short the passage in about 30 to 40 minutes. |  |
| and at night we were in Las Vegas. We stay at Treasure Island Hotel |  |
| Caesars Hotel. the artificial sky is an amazing view |  |
| and the beautiful Bellagio Hotel |  |
| Inside the Bellagio hotel they always have a different show/exposition |  |
| this summer was to the famous Hwy 66 |  |
| Treasure Island |  |
the fount at the mirage hotel |
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| Next morning we walk at Vegas Strip for half day |  |
and again at the Caesars sky. Then we depart Vegas, towards ... |
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the magnificent Death Valley. This pictures was taken at Dante's Peak, at 8.000 feet |
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| and this was take at BadWater, at -280 feet bellow sea level. Both places are about 1 to 2 miles as the condor fly from each other. |  |
Do not miss the Painter Pallet turn off. Many natural colors on the mountains. |
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| and of course there are the sand dunes. |  |
| and today we got the hottest day, 47Celcius (117 Fahrenheit) |  |
| and the next day we got 14 Celsius (57 F) at Juno Lake, just few hours of Death Valley. |  |
| Juno Lake is another loop you cannot miss when driving up on Hwy 395 |  |
| and then there is the Mono Lake |  |
| After that we went to another major destination, Yosemite Park. Mule team caring supplies to a expedition inside the park. |  |
| is hard to see but there are 3 teams of escalators on this picture. |  |
| Yosemite park is always marvelous. |  |
The half dome at Yosemite. Some many many years ago that was a full dome. They say that it crack and the rock went down on the valley bellow. |
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| half dome |  |
| Yosemite valley |  |
| this was the location of the movie Maverick. |  |
| Next day we went to Napa valley with another couple of friends who take us to a nice tour on the area. |  |
| some nice vines |  |
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| we had lunch there and depart towards San Francisco |  |
and the Golden Gate Bridge was there for our amusement.
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| Alcatraz island |  |
| Bellas Artes Museum |  |
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| houses in San Francisco |  |
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| the famous Lombard street |  |
and also famous cable car. We rode it to downtown and walk back. |
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| San Francisco cable car |  |
| the view from Pier 39 |  |
| Fishersman wharf |  |
| the chinese district |  |
Fisherman's Wharf And that was the and of our day. |
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| Today we wake up near Sequoia National Park |  |
| Nelco has 2 of this planted on his own backyard. |  |
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| Of course we had to take pictures here at the Tunnel Log. |  |
| and walk all the way up to the Morro Rock |  |
| because the view from there worth it. |  |
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| and that was the and of our trip. Just rode straight home from here. |  |
Click on each day for a map view
| 08/10 180 - |
180 miles - 9:00hours | Home to LAX and sightseend Beverly Hills and Hollywood | |
| 08/11 |
260 miles - 9:30hours | San Diego | |
| 08/12 |
510 miles - 12:30hours | Home to Williams |
Motel 6 |
| 08/13 |
330 miles - 6:00hours | Williams to Las Vegas | Treasure Island Hotel |
| 08/14 |
370 miles - 10:00Hours | Las Vegas to Bishop | |
| 08/15 |
410 miles - 12:00Hours | Bishop to Roseville | Alvaro's house |
| 08/16 |
250 miles - 9:30Hours | Roseville to Modesto | |
08/17 |
490 miles - 14:00Hours | Modesto to Home |
Who is Elton I was born in Brazil and my wife and I moved to USA, California in 1996, for a change in our lives. Took us some time to learn the language and get into this country, but I think we are doing very well expect the learning a new language after 35 is not easy. We became citizens in 2007. |
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