USA: A Road Trip, and a Journey Through Time

Phoenix - Williams - Grand Canyon

We left on 5/8 from Bologna for Phoenix via London. We rented two SUVs and on the morning of the 6th we set off for Williams. First stop at Montezuma Castle then toward Oak Creek village and along the scenic 89A through Sedona and the first canyons among red rocks already suggestive. We arrived in Williams on Route 66 and settled into the motel. In the afternoon arrival at the Grand Canyon and tour with the buses and on foot in the West area not accessible by car, and return to Williams. Total 490 km

Williams - Grand Canyon - Blanding

Morning wandering around Williams then again toward the Grand Canyon, this time first visiting the visitor center then the eastern area crossing it by car and leaving the park toward Monument Valley. To reach the motel in Blanding we pass through Monument Valley enjoying some glimpses as a taste of what we will see tomorrow. We arrive at 20:00 at the delightful Stone Lizard Lodging for the night.. Total km of the day 510 km

Blanding - Monument Valley - Page

Today departure for Monument Valley. Beautiful morning after yesterday's rains, with white clouds crossing the sky and making the photos look almost fake. We do the tour with our own cars and for two and a half hours we are catapulted into the West of John Wayne, of Thelma and Louise, of Wild Wild West and of Back to the Future III, just to give a few examples! Also evocative is the visit to the Goulding Trading post where the crews stayed during the filming of the movies. In the afternoon we reach the Motel 6 in Page where we will stay two nights to visit the surroundings. First thing we head at sunset toward Glen Canyon and its dam and arrive at the Marina Weapon where we spend a pleasant evening among the restaurants and the "houseboats" on the docks of Lake Powell.

An informational note: to enter the Glen Canyon area you pay the ticket since it is a national park and therefore the annual Pass is also valid here. Today total 350 km.

Page - Anthelope Canyon - Horseshoe Bend - Page

One, or rather two, of the wonders of this trip are in the surroundings of Page. We knew that Antelope Canyon was a suggestive place, but finding yourself inside the mountain walking along the crack created by nature and admiring the plays of light and colors, exceeded any imagination. The visit to the Canyon in Navajo territory is compulsorily guided. Knowing that in August there is a lot of demand, we had booked online from home already in April and so we managed to book the 12:30 visit which is the one with the best light because the sun enters directly into the fissure between the rocks. It is no coincidence that the midday tour is also the most expensive one! The visit in total, between the ride in the trucks and the route, lasts about 2 hours. After recovering from the heat and hunger, in the late afternoon we headed to Horseshoe Bend.

Just outside Page along HWY 89 heading South, you see the signs on the right for the parking lot and after a 10-15 minute walk, already fascinating in itself, you arrive at the edge overlooking the river that flows around a horseshoe-shaped rock spur. Despite the people around, you really feel alone and small in the midst of such a manifestation of nature and its force. We stayed for the whole sunset until the sun disappeared behind the horizon, immersed in the colors and the silence of the moment. A perfect day, with lots of nature and few km. 100 Km.

Page - Bryce Canyon - Panghuitch

Today departure for Bryce Canyon. We have to cover 240 km many of which on scenic roads. Along the way we make a stop at a market in Kanab to buy what we need for our packed lunch, then a stop at an Emporium very well stocked with artisanal products for our purchases and finally around 11:00 we arrive at Bryce and together with us also arrive a series of black clouds and thunder. We leave the cars in the parking lots just after the entrance and with the bus we reach Inspiration Point. We decide to head right away toward Sunset Point to walk the most famous trail, the Navajo Loop Trail, descending toward "Wall Street" but during the descent, the blackness of the sky and the thunder made us decide for the "about-face." Once back up, we found a table to have lunch, half seated and ready to bolt if the storm arrived which instead, after two drops, decided to divert its path elsewhere.

Ok at this point it is late to set off again along the Navajo Loop Trail so we decide to walk the Rim Trail that skirts the whole Canyon stopping at the most famous points, without descending inside the Canyon. In the late afternoon we take the bus again to the parking lot and reach the motel in Panghuitch 25 km away. Panghuitch is an old west style town with 4 houses a few motels and 2 restaurants that close at 21:00. Very picturesque the cinema in a western building, with a single showing at 19:00 and with the tiny fast food place in front for dinner (naturally to be consumed before the start of the movie). Total km of the day 270 km.

Panguitch - Zion N.P. - Grafton - Las Vegas

Today we leave the Bryce area, to go toward Las Vegas. In our plan, having to make a choice, we decided to "give up" the visit to Zion park, opting only for crossing it along the main road, from East to West. In the end the choice turned out to be a good one, since the cloudy weather and a fine drizzle allowed us just a stop at the park's visitor center and nothing more. A few km outside the park, we made a stop at Grafton, where, after crossing the little river and a wooden bridge, there is a small but real ghost town. After a few km in the absolute middle of nowhere, you arrive at the foot of the mountains encountering first the old abandoned cemetery, still with clearly legible gravestones.

Further on we arrive at the clearing where a school, a house and a church remain motionless and solitary as evidence of a past, that although not too distant in time, seems light years away from us. After this little journey through time, we set off again for Las Vegas which welcomes us in the late afternoon, inside our Hotel, the Luxor. The first evening among lights, sounds and colors ends late at night since for tomorrow morning we have planned a good "workout in the pool." Total km of the day. km 400

Las Vegas

Day dedicated to the pool and tour of the Las Vegas hotels

Las Vegas - Los Angeles

Today departure for Los Angeles. Along the way, to break up the trip a bit and stretch our legs we make a stop at one of the outlets found in Barstow then we resume the journey. Our plan to arrive in the early afternoon in Los Angeles fades because of a series of roadworks and accidents along the highways that make the trip over 2 hours longer. So we arrive in Los Angeles in the late afternoon and we just have time to unload the luggage and take a stroll on Sunset Boulevard at sunset (what more could you ask for!). The evening passes along Hollywood Boulevard and at the Chinese theatre to see the stars and handprints of the actors, then we end the evening with dinner to celebrate Giampaolo's birthday, at the Hard Rock Café. Total km of the day. 450 km.

Los Angeles - Santa Monica - Venice - Los Angeles

Breakfast at one of the very well stocked stalls of the Farmer Market, a tour of The Groove for some shopping and then we set off for the sea. Day of beaches first at Santa Monica and after lunch, at Venice, with a walk along the canals and then to Venice Beach to enjoy again the beach, the sun and the sea. At sunset we walk along the avenues full of little shops and stop to admire the acrobatics of the kids with the skates, then after dinner we return to Los Angeles. Total km of the day 70 km.

Los Angeles - Modesto

Today is a transfer day. We have to go further north, to the East area of Sacramento, the gold seekers' area, the true Far west, but to get there, after a final goodbye to Los Angeles, we have to cover more than 600 km. So we decide to push on to get as close as possible to our destination, and we arrive at Modesto; an anonymous little town but big enough to find a motel for the night. Since we are in a normal American city, we decide to act like "normal American citizens" and go bowling. We choose one of the lanes and throw ourselves into a game decided at the last throw, not before however having eaten a mega pizza with the strangest toppings, comfortably seated at the tables behind the lane. Total km of the day 520 km.

Modesto - Jamestown - Columbia State History Park - Sonora

Only 70 km separate us from Jamestown, where we arrive in the morning. Jamestown is a small town where the buildings are still in western style and where the "Railtown 1897 State History Park" is also located. In this railway museum, set in the countryside, trains, locomotives and tools still working from 1897 onwards are kept. The park is run by retired gentlemen, all volunteers who, in period costumes, welcome, entertain and guide visitors, taking them back in time with a visit to the warehouses and sheds that house the various locomotives, carriages and machinery. From April to October, then, every weekend four times a day, it is possible to take a ride on the old west train, about an hour long, and since today is Sunday, it's 1:00 pm and we're dying of heat, we decide to buy the ticket and enjoy some "cool" sitting in the open carriages of the train.

It was all very evocative and I must say everyone was surprised that we were Italian because this kind of attraction is little known and outside international tourist routes and therefore is mainly frequented by American tourists. After the train tour we headed to the other attraction which in my opinion is spectacular, the Columbia State History Park, a few km away. This park tells the story of the gold rush period and this was the second largest city in the state at that time. Today the town has maintained its historic center made up of 4 intersecting streets, exactly as it was in the gold rush days, and the volunteer guides actually live and work in the park carrying out the various trades and businesses, inside shops and saloons as they once were.

You can ride on an authentic stagecoach, visit a working blacksmith's forge, the Wells Fargo Express office with its memorabilia, eat in a saloon or sleep in the hotel. The appearance of the town is authentic: there are no cars and the people who work there are all in costume. We too have lunch in one of the saloons and then wander around, captivated by the atmosphere, among little streets and shops. In the late afternoon, exhausted from the heat, we go to take possession of our rooms in the motel in Sonora, strictly with a pool, which we make the most of until the last minute, before going to dinner. Total km of the day 100 km.

Sonora - Sacramento

Departure for Sacramento, the capital of California. As a first attraction, then, a visit to the Capitol (State Capitol) where the government and governor of the State are headquartered cannot be missed. After the usual and mandatory checks of backpacks and bags, we enter the building built in neoclassical style and head to the information desk where they tell us that the guided tour has just started but they give us brochures with the building's floor plan and some information, and then they let us know that we are very lucky because today the House of Representatives is in session.... We look at each other surprised and think it's a shame because that way we won't be able to see the chambers, but instead the luck lies precisely in the fact that we can enter and attend a session of the California House... naturally with the obligation of silence and the prohibition of photos and videos.

We enter the chamber accessing from elevated bleachers and below us we witness (for about ten minutes) a debate, we observe the representatives of California citizens immersed in their activities, all at their desks listening to the speech or talking among themselves or working on the computer. We are all impressed by the not-high number of seats (53) compared to the 38 million citizens of California and we count only a few empty desks.... just like back home! We finish the tour visiting the "museum" area, the historic offices of the first governors, the gallery of portraits of the governors, and we end the tour by crossing the large park that surrounds the building. It's too hot anyway so we look for a place to have lunch and then head toward "Old Sacramento".

We make the mistake of thinking we can get there comfortably on foot and we overheat under the 40° at 2 in the afternoon, so much so that we have to stop at a Starbucks for a cold drink before reaching our destination, which by the way has enormous parking lots.... Old Sacramento is an area that develops along the bank of the river of the same name, offering a fantastic cross-section of life in the days of the gold prospectors, with over 100 restored and perfectly maintained buildings set in a 12-hectare park. We wander among the shops, visit the fire station, the area of the railway station, of the river with the steamboat today transformed into a restaurant, savoring to the fullest the atmosphere of the old west.

We end the evening in a Chinese restaurant where in an "American similar to Bolognese dialect" Fabiano tries to explain to the waiters who speak an "American similar to Chinese" the differences between the Chinese dishes they brought us and those instead cooked in Italy. Ha! Ha! Ha! Total km of the day 150 km.

Sacramento - San Josè

Departure for San Jose in Silicon Valley, where we will finally leave our suitcases for a week, since we are stopping at my cousin's place, who lives there with his family and is hosting us. A day spent around this beautiful and large town 70 km from San Francisco and a few km from all the headquarters of the most famous companies in the world that we plan to visit in the coming days. Total km of the day 200 km.

San Josè - Montery - San Josè // San Josè - Santa Cruz - San Josè

Today our group splits for two different destinations: Four go to visit the Winchester House in San Jose and end the day at the beach in Santa Cruz. The Winchester House is a gigantic villa, now a museum, which was the residence of Sarah Pardee Winchester, widow of the arms manufacturer William Wirt Winchester. The widow, left alone because she also lost her daughter, consulted a medium who told her that she should build a large house and that she would live as long as she kept building it, making it similar to a labyrinth, in order to confuse the spirits of those killed by the rifles made by her husband.

Sarah, very wealthy thanks to the inheritance she received, built a house with staircases that stop in mid-air, doors that open onto walls and rooms inside other rooms, so much so that the visit is strictly guided and with a mandatory route, to prevent anyone from getting lost inside the villa. We have already visited the Winchester House on a previous vacation, so we head to Monterey and visit the famous and touristy Cannery Row area, enjoying the sun and the sea and savoring some very good shrimp in one of the many restaurants of the Bubba Gump chain. In the afternoon we head toward Carmel, passing through the 17 Mile Drive, the famous paid scenic road. We stop at almost all the scenic points indicated on the map they gave us at the entrance until we reach the very famous "lone cypress"; the most photographed tree in the world.

We then take a tour around Carmel, have a coffee and return home. Total km of the day 250 km. For our friends instead... only 150 km.

San Josè - san Francisco

Today we go to San Francisco where we will stay for 2 nights. After leaving the cars in the motel parking lot, we start touring the city visiting... all the musts of the perfect tourist: Union Square, Chinatown, the Marina District area and Pier 39, Lombard Street, the Golden Gate, Market Street, Alcatraz and Golden Gate Park with the "Japanese tea gardens". Besides that, I want to point out the visit to the neighborhood called Mission. It is mainly inhabited by Hispanics, very similar to European towns with streets full of small shops of various kinds, fruit sellers, bakers, pastry shops etc.. but the main feature of the area is the many and very colorful murals, some even by famous artists. The area is also full of small restaurants and bistros in European style frequented by many young people until late in the evening.

San Francisco - Muir Wood N.M - Sausalito - San josè

Today our friends said goodbye to us and went back home, their vacation is over. We, on the other hand, leave the San Francisco motel and head toward the Golden Gate. Today the day is sunny and by car we cross the bridge to reach the first American state park, the Muir Woods National Monument. Here there are some of the tallest redwoods in the world, called redwood because of their reddish color. We walk along the trails that go deep into the park observing very tall redwoods, unlike those seen in Mariposa at Yosemite, which instead stand out for their width. After our walk among the giants, we head toward Sausalito, a delightful seaside town, a vacation spot, where we stroll along the waterfront, have lunch and enjoy the sun, then return to San Jose toward evening. Total km of the day: 140 km.

San Josè - Cupertino - Mountain view - Palo Alto - San Josè

Today is Sunday morning. We dedicate the day to the "social tour". Being in the land of the internet giants makes us want to see up close that the virtual is not really that "virtual", so we start our tour, passing by Ebay with its colorful little houses, then heading to Google. Here we enter the "campus" which is practically a small town made up of all the buildings such as gym, auditorium, offices, etc.. and after some photos outside with the Google car and the bikes that employees use to move from one building to another, we arrive at the visitor center and discover it is open! So we enter the world of Google.

The center hosts a series of distinctive and characteristic elements of the company such as various versions in different sizes of many Androids, then we find photos and graphs that illustrate the history of Google and their progress, a mega Google Earth station, a "typical office" where you can see how Google employees work, with height-adjustable desks, relaxing armchairs, stations for sharing ideas and materials, etc... We really enjoyed feeling a bit... part of it! We then move on to Facebook but here everything is closed, there are no visitor centers and we can only settle for the tourist photo in front of the designated spot with the "thumbs up". At Apple, the visitor center is under construction so when we arrive it is still closed... maybe next trip! After lunch, instead, we get ready to take part in another "myth" of the USA: an American Football game in San Francisco.

Finally, on our third trip to the USA, we managed to get tickets for a preseason game (since the championship starts in September). In the brand new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, where in February 2016 the 50th Superbowl will be held, we watch the match between the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys (won by the home team). The atmosphere is electrifying! The show starts already in the parking lots in front of the stadium, where hundreds of families are "camped" next to their cars setting up barbecues and picnics. As soon as we enter the gates, then, our attention is drawn to the shows taking place on small stages where cheerleaders dance or give away team gadgets, and finally, the entrance to the stadium where everything is a show.

The teams training, entering the field, the cheerleaders, the bands or musical groups and the spectators themselves filmed at various moments by the cameras and shown on the stadium's giant screens. A real fun experience where the fans are all together indiscriminately, separated only based on the ability to buy more or less expensive tickets and not by fan allegiance. What unites everyone instead is the food. Thousands of hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, nachos and much more are consumed, unfortunately in an unparalleled race to waste. Total km of the day: 80 km.

San Josè - Santa Cruz - San Josè

A relaxing day. Today the sea at Santa Cruz on the beautiful boardwalk by the sea, and before returning, a visit to the Mystery Spot. A few km from Santa Cruz there is a park where strange physical phenomena occur that, through a play of perspectives and positions, upset the visitor: we can see water flowing contrary to gravity, people of different heights all appearing the same height, we can stand perfectly fine as if we were perpendicular to the ground but at a 45° angle... all seemingly inexplicable but very entertaining nonetheless. Total km of the day: 120 km.

San Francisco - Dallas - London - Bologna.

Tips? As already recommended by many others before us: Sleeping outside the parks costs less. Drive respecting the rules. At intersections with 4 stops, you go in the order of arrival at the intersection. On the mega highways, follow the signs and stay exactly in the lanes that indicate your destination (since you don't only exit to the right from the highways) because it takes next to nothing to find yourself on a highway that takes you somewhere completely different. Buy a polystyrene cooler box to fill with ice, which you find everywhere, to keep food and drinks cool for every occasion.