Itinerary
- Day 1: Flew into Reno, Drove to Tahoe (stayed the night)
- Day 2: Squaw Valley, Drove to Marysville (stayed in Marysville)
- Day 3: Drove to San Francisco for the Day (stayed in Marysville)
- Day 4: Drove through Sacramento on our way to Yosemite (stayed in Fresno)
- Day 5: Drove to Sequoia National Forest, Trail of 100 Giants (stayed in Bakersfield)
- Day 6: Drove to Vegas (stayed at Trump towers)
- Day 7: Vegas
- Day 8: Vegas / Hoover Dam
- Day 9: Flew home from Vegas
We drove a lot. A lot a lot. It wasn’t bad because Ricky drove but I do wish we would have gotten to spend more time in each location. Just a little reflection. Also, it was SOO nice and necessary to rest a few days in Vegas after the trip. To have days to sit around was needed.
This was quite an ambitious trip. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time at each place, but we got to see a lot and that was the point.
I will say it was SOO nice to relax at the end in Vegas for a few days!
Costs
Some of the locations we stayed, we stayed because we had friends there or someone who was letting us use their house as a place to stay, so maybe not the closest but this trip was by no means cheap. Here’s a breakdown of the trip
Car rental: $216.75
We booked our car a month in advance from Alamo with a pickup location of Nevada and drop of location of Vegas
Flights: $922 (total for 2 people)
- Flight to Reno: $426 via United
- Flight home from Vegas $496 via Spirit
Straight up – we hated our Spirit flight. For the money we “saved” we had tiny seats, no food… I don’t think we’ll ever fly spirit again. If you’re doing just carry on or a work trip maybe it’d be fine but it’s a no for us.
Lodging: $681
Placed we did have to rent were in Bakersfield, Fresno and Vegas. The two places we stayed in Bakersfield and Fesno were around $80 or less (because we stayed in motels) and we booked them that day on tripadvisor as we drove into town.
We wanted something nicer for Vegas, so we spent more to stay at Trump International because it was right near the strip but wasn’t ON the strip. We could still walk to everything but we didn’t have a casino in the hotel or people smoking. Just remember for Vegas hotels there is a resort fee!!! We did end up using the pool but I think even if you don’t use the pool you have to pay the fee! We don’t gamble or smoke so we loved this hotel. Rooms were great, maid was great – even wrote us a nice little note – pool was great and quiet. We barely stayed up past 10pm so were weren’t partying in Vegas.
Gas: $123:18… but this was 2018
Eating Out: $511.72
This was a huge expense because we had to basically buy breakfast, lunch and dinner! Thankfully when we stayed with friends we didn’t have to but everywhere else, you’re forking out money. We did buy PB&J for our trip and tried to eat that for lunch on days we were going to parks. That helped!
These were the main fees but we bought an annual pass while there, souvenirs, had a couple of parking meters and we did the Sky Lift at Squaw valley which cost $90 and we did the Alcatraz tour which cost money too. Soooo those were the costs.
Tips to pack or do before leaving
- Sunglasses
- LONG PANTS to hike in
- Layers. Layers and more Layers
- Download a book to listen to while driving
- Make a Spotify Playlist (offline it)
- I brought a vest
- Sunscreen
- Bathing Suite for Vegas
- shorts and tanks for Vegas
- Chacos would have been perfect for Vegas
- Hat
- Comfortable Shoes to Walk in
We went from being in the Mountains with snow to 80/90 degree hot weather in Vegas so we had to pack for literally everything, from hiking to the city and everything in between. So I had 1 jacket, 2 hoodies, 3 pairs of long pants, 3 long sleeve shirts, a few t-shirts, 1 skirt, 2 pairs of shorts, a few t-shirts and that was it!