California Road Trip

I spent the summer of 2015 in San Francisco on a J1 visa with my friends, which was an amazing experience from start to finish. We had many laughs (and surprisingly no fall outs) with 16 girls living in a 2 bedroom apartment and I wouldn’t have changed my experience for a second!

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One of my best friends, Flo, has exquisitely written about this summer on her blog post. Here is the link to it as I wouldn’t be able to put our time better in to words than she did. Her quick wit and brilliant writing style summed up the summer perfectly.

This post therefore, is about the holiday I had within this holiday of a lifetime. For 2 and a half weeks, my twin sister and older sister joined me, and we rented a car and took a trip down the West Coast of America.

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The only things we had planned beforehand were the car rental and the fact that we wanted to drive as far as San Diego. Everything else we were planning on the go, which did prove a bitttt tricky considering it was the middle of July which is peak summer season.

Of course we made it work out and we had an amazing couple of weeks driving around the West Coast, making many memories, soaking up some well needed sun and getting mauled by the big waves of the West Coast beaches!

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We first drove a bit inland as we wanted to go to Lake Tahoe & Yosemite. These places were worth the extra hours of driving and the slight detour of our West Coast trip. After that, we travelled over to the coast and drove all the way down to San Diego, obviously stopping at the many places in between.

See below for the route we took on this amazing 2.5 week trip:

San Francisco -> Lake Tahoe -> Yosemite -> Santa Cruz -> Monterey -> Carmel-by-the-Sea -> Big Sur -> San Simeon -> Solvang -> Santa Barbara -> Santa Monica -> Los Angeles -> Long Beach -> Huntington Beach -> Newport -> Laguna Beach -> Dana Point -> San Clemente -> San Diego -> San Francisco

Lake Tahoe

San Francisco -> Lake Tahoe (3 hr 15 mins)

The first stop on our road trip was Lake Tahoe and what a stop it was. I feared we may have peaked too soon and seen the best place first, but it was only to get better here on in.

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I had been lucky to spend Independence Day weekend in Lake Tahoe with my friends, so I was very excited to go back and see it properly. The weekend with my friends was mostly spent at the lake and partying in the motel area, so there were views and sights I had yet to feast my eyes on.

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The drive into Lake Tahoe is beautiful although a tad scary as you drive round and round the cliff’s edge. The views are amazing though and it is a welcome change from the highway.

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The lake itself is a lovely place to relax and chill when the weather is nice. There are also all sorts of water sports you can do and you can even rent your own boat for the day. Whether you want a chilled day or are an adventure seeker, this place will tick all the boxes.

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Emerald Bay gives you a beautiful view of Lake Tahoe, as far as the eye can see. This would be the top thing I would recommend you do in Lake Tahoe, the views at sunrise, sunset or slap bang in the middle of the day would all be fantastic.

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Tallac Historic Site is a nice place to stroll around whilst also learning about the history of Tahoe. I’m not big into museums or educational experiences when I’m on holiday, but this place is good because the walk is lovely and there is a beach to chill at as well when you are done viewing around the site.

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If you like learning about the history of places here is where to do so in Tahoe, with a museum, exhibits, demonstrations, and tours to provide you with all the information you could think of.

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Meeks Bay beach is a great beach to go to if you want to spend the day sunbathing and relaxing. The backdrop is amazing here with the forest view providing lovely scenery. There is also a campground if you wish to camp, although we didn’t camp so I can’t vouch for how good the site is.

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One thing I would love to do at some point is come back to Lake Tahoe in the winter for skiing. It’s crazy to think that this place morphs into a ski field in the winter having only visited here in the hot summer months, but the background of the lake would give amazing views whilst skiing. It’s one of the many things on my bucket list for sure.

Yosemite

Santa Cruz

Monterey

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Big Sur

San Simeon

Solvang

Santa Barbara

Santa Monica

Los Angeles

Beaches within an hour’s drive of Los Angeles

Dana Point

San Clemente

San Diego

San Francisco