Travelling Irish Girl: 2016 West Coast America

For the month of July myself and my girlfriends rented a car and traveled through California and Nevada. We had an absolute ball and covered so many places. California has it all, cities, beaches, forests, lakes, deserts so we had a great time.

We flew from Dublin to San Francisco (Aer Lingus 10hours) directly then our flight home went from Las Vegas then Toronto which we spend two nights in also so I will write about it too.

Our route looked like this and we organised our car rental from a tourist office in Ireland as America have a lot of restrictions on rented cars. You have to be at least 25, have your full licence for two years and have a credit card for your deposit. It costs a lot extra to have more than one person named on the rented car also and for these long journeys you need more than one person. But we managed to get a great 7 seater automatic car (remember luggage for 5 cailíní has to fit) with USB drive to charge phones and play music.

Here is a list of all our accommodation and links in each location:

San Francisco: Hotel Zephyr
Lake Tahoe: Blue Jay Lodge
Yosemite: AirBnB (It is a hard area to get accommodation and this place was very close to the national park!)
Los Angela's: Comfort Suites (near Huntington Beach)
San Diego: Ocean Villa Inn
Las Vegas: MGM of course!
Toronto: Bonnevue Manor B&B

San Francisco

Alcatraz is an island off the coast of San Francisco which was used as a jail. Get your tickets before your trip as they do sell out ($35). You get a great guided tour on the island where you can hear about the famous inmates and if anyone has ever escaped!
Explore Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39 there is always seals longing here.
Cycle the Golden Gate Bridge! This was so much fun! You can rent bikes from lots of places around San Fran and there is a ferry crossing back to the city of you didn't want to cycle back. Cycle the whole way to Sausalito and get the ferry from there.
Get a cable car of the city, it's a main provider of transport for the people of San Fran. Helps getting up some of those hills!
Lombard Street, which has 8 hairpin turns!
Ghiradelli Square- full of chocolate shops!
Castra- the center of gay pride in San Fran and the area Harvey Milk ran for election. There streets are all rainbow colours with the same coloured flags hanging everywhere too!
Painted Ladies- famous houses in a Victorian and Edwardian style. Many were destroyed in an earthquake in 1907.
City Hall- guaranteed to see couples getting married here!
Golden Gate Park- this park is bigger than Central Park in New York. Inside there are the Japanese Gardens and the Botanical Gardens

Lake Tahoe

We spent most our time at the beach here at Lake Tahoe so pack your swim gear and sun cream.
Horse Riding in Camp Richardson Corral. I had never been on a horse in my life before this but it was great fun! We trekked through the woods and the horses are very calm.
Emerald Bay is a great spot for hiking. It is hard to find a parking space in this area so I would suggest to go early. Hike towards Eagle Falls and Eagle Lakes. It's not difficult and takes about 45 mins. You get amazing views overlooking Lake Tahoe.
Harrah's Buffet- it is just unreal ($23)!! We spent hours here eating! The restaurant is on the top floor so great views!
Paddle Boarding is popular in Lake Tahoe. Rent some boards and off you go. Sarah had a go pro to take pictures and she could put on her helmet ($30 p/h)

Yosemite

Yosemite doesn't have a lot of accommodation, many people camp here. But we managed to get a gorgeous AirBnB that was perfect. Out in the woods and so peaceful.
Go early to the park for sunrise, you get great photos. We checked when sunrise was which was 5.47am. Bring lots of food and snacks too. The Big Oak Flat entrance has the best view.
You get a hybrid bus around the park to bring you to starting points for hiking. We started with Yosemite Falls, the 5th tallest waterfall in the world. We then moved onto Mirror Lake and Meadows, which reflects the half dome in the water. You can also visit Half Dome village which has restaurants and gift shops.
You can also visit the Visitor Centre where there is an informative museum.
Next we got the bus to El Captain which is a large granite cliff. Finally we drove to Tunnel Viewpoint which is the most photographed Vista Point in the world!
After we drove to Tuolumme Grove on the Tioga Road which has the oldest Sequoia Trees in the world. Its a one mile hike down, and the paths bring you round the trees and you can walk through some of them. The Mariposa Grove was closed for restoration and due to reopen Spring 2017.

Los Angeles

LA drivers are mad, and the traffic is horrendous. Don't expect to get too far in a day in the city.
We did a Starline tour of the city. We covered Hollywood Boulevard, walk of fame, and Chinese Theatre to start. Then you go through a housing estate that Michael Jackson lived in, Beyonce and JayZ and the Beach Boys. Then it brought us through Bel Air and Beverly Hills. Next we went to Santa Monica beach which is super busy with a boardwalk. Forest Gumps bench is here for you to take pictures. Then we went to Venice beach, which muscle beach can be found with all the body builders working out. Lots of surfing happens here too. On our way home we passed Warner Bro. Studious, Nickolodeon, Fox & Paramount.
We visited Huntington Beach in the evening time to see the sunset. Just gorgeous!
We spent a whole day in Universal Studios and was 100% well worth it! We bought our tickets online the day before for $100. Some of the best rides are Flight of the Hippogriff, Walking Dead, Jurassic Park, Transformers, Waterworld and Mummy. Harry Potter World we spent most of our time in. We sent postcards, listened to the school choir, bought wands, and had food in the three broomsticks with butterbeer. The best ride is in Jurassic Park. We got seats at the front of the ride and got the fright of our lives when the TRex came out! We ended our day with the studio tour which was interactive and cool 3D effects.

San Diego

Kayaking and Snorkeling in La Jolla is a highlight here in San Diego. It was about €50 for over 2 hours with a company called 'Bike & Kayak' and gave us all the gear we needed. The famous thing about this place is the home of Theodor Geisel also known as Dr Seuss. He based characters from his books from the fish that are in the sea here. We got to see so many colourful fish, sea lions and dolphins!
Waterfront is a cool place to visit here. There lots of bars and many marine tributes from World War Two. Most notably there is a 24 foot statue of the picture 'unconditional surrender' of a soldier kissing a nurse when Japan declared surrender.

Las Vegas (Nevada)

We stopped on our way to Las Vegas at the stat-e-line between California and Nevada. We left our car back at the depot beside the airport.
First night we went to Jewel Nightclub in Aria Hotel to see Tiesto!
MGM have amazing swimming pools so we spent a whole day lounging there, ordering food and drinks.
Next night we went to Opium in Caesars Hotel to see Chainsmokers- a class night!
We splashed out and got a helicopter ride with Serenity Tours. They picked us up from our hotel to the helicopter hangers near Boulder City. Only a small number of companies are allowed land in the Canyon, and others are only allowed go to the Skywalk but not allowed cameras so it's important you go with a company like Serenity to land in the Canyon. We had lunch and drinks when we landed and had loads of time to take pictures.
We booked tickets to see Cirque Soleil in MGM, basically acrobat performers.
You can get a zipline across the Vegas Strip and get crazy photos too!

Toronto (Canada)

We flew from Las Vegas to Toronto which was a four hour flight. We had dinner in the CN Tower. The restaurant rotates 360 degrees so you get a full view of the city. You can then walk around and see through the glass floor and take pictures.
We headed to Niagara Falls on our second day. It is a good bit outside the city. We got a taxi to Union Station, then a train to Burlington the an bus to Niagara Falls. The whole journey took 2 and a half hours. We got a cruise called the Hornblower who brought us to the falls and gave us ponchos. Tip here is to put your phones in sandwich bags so save them getting wet. In general the town beside the fall doesn't have much to offer so we didn't stay long.
Downtown Toronto is nice as you can go to the waterfront and there was a concert on with markets and bars open around it.
St Lawrence's Market is good to see as it was voted the best market in 2012 by the National Geographic. It has tons of fresh food in a massive warehouse.
We did some shopping here as the exchange rate was good.