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USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸
  • Katerina Augsdörfer
  • Florian Augsdörfer

USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

A 17-day adventure by Katerina & Florian Read more
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  • Trip start
    March 17, 2024
    USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Arrival to Las Vegas

    March 17, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    We departed Sunday morning from Munich and flew for 40 minutes to Frankfurt. The flight from Frankfurt to Las Vegas was super long 10,5 hours and as it was a day flight we were also not tired at all. The service on board was really good. For all alcoholic beverages you need to pay now, that was new. We landed at 14:00 Las Vegas times (with 8 hours time difference) and went quickly through the immigrations. Flo booked for us this amazing Paris Las Vegas hotel 😍!

    To handle better the jet lag we wanted to stay awake ASAP. We explored a bit our hotel and walk along the strip to LINQ Promenade and then back along two very famous hotels - Ceaser’s palace and Bellagio. We entered Bellagio Palace and see the interior of the most luxurious hotel in Vegas and see their indoor botanical garden 😁 every 30 minutes there is outside a huge fountain show 🥰 after dinner we returned back to hotel as we were super tired (Flo almost fell asleep in the restaurant). So after 24 hours it’s time to sleep for us 💤    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Vegas

    March 18, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    After well deserved sleep we woke up and went for a Bruch to the French restaurant in our hotel. For 8$ we bought 24h bus ticket and started exploring other parts of the city.

    Our first stop was Las Vegas welcome sign. We were shock how many people were queuing to get the picture 🤣 we took quickly picture from the site and were gone in 5 minutes. Next stop was premium south outlets. We checked few stores and the discounts were around 30-50%. Also the mall was super empty so it was enjoyable to walk around. After little shopping we drove bus to first casino Mandalay Bay and walk towards to our hotel passing some incredible hotels - Luxor, Excalibur, New York.

    We returned to our hotel 15 minutes before our departure to the Sphere Show. Sphere is this crazy LED Globus, it’s like a 4D giant cinema where the whole building is the screen from inside and outside. We watched the documentary about earth 🌍 which blew around minds!

    After the incredible show we took bus to the end station to the downtown of Las Vegas. Fremont Street Experience is definitely sth not to be missed. Tons of bars, casinos, restaurants, street artists and vendors. We had lot of fun walking around and checking everything out. We ended up our great day and evening in Mexican restaurant with some burritos and nachos.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Casino, cabaret and chill in Vegas

    March 19, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After calm morning we went for a walk to the nearby Venetian hotel. We saw bubble tea Chain Happy Lemon we knew from Shanghai and had to order our favorite bubble tea 😍. Venetian hotel is pure luxury with very authentic copy of Venice. Indoor shopping mall is giant and the event rebuilt famous St. Mark’s square. We continued the walk to nearby shopping mall and few more casinos. Another impressive building was Caesar’s Palace with own concert hall ~ Colosseum 😂. It was very hot yesterday so we decided to spend the afternoon by the pool. Although it’s off season here the pool is heated so there were many people. Only the drink’s prices let us again speechless 😅 beer 12$ and cocktails 35$ 🙈.

    For our last evening here we drove to casino Strat. We bought a package of Tower Entrance, theatre 🎭 and dinner. We also played a bit in casino ~ roulette & dice roller. Although we didn’t win any money it was very nice evening!    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Valley of Fire state park

    March 20, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    After breakfast and morning by the pool we drove to Cruise America office in Las Vegas. 13:30 was our pickup time and we were very excited to start this roadtrip. After 1,5 h drive through incredible sceneries we arrived to Valley of Fire state park. Entrance fee was 15$. Valley of fire is a rocky valley with typical red rocks and incredible road carved in between the rocks. As it was already quite late in the afternoon we decided to do just 1 hike ~ fire wave look which took us around 1 hour. Although it’s offseason it was super warm 😆 after hike we drove another 2 hours to Hurricane to go to Wallmart and buy everything they have 😂. We arrived in the darkness to our free camping stop and after quick dinner went to sleep 💤Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Zion National Park - day 1

    March 21, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    After very cold night and breakfast we departed to nearby Zion National park. We camped only 30 minutes from the park so around 9.30 we were already in the parking lot. For today we planned to do two hikes ~ Watchman Trail & Riverside Walk. Cars are not allowed to enter Zion canyon so you need to park a car and drive by shuttle bus to the start of the hike. Shuttle has in total 9 stops and offers tons of cool trails. Directly by the visitor center are two additional trails. Most of the people comes to do one of the two most iconic trails ~ Angels Landing where you need to apply in advance for permit or Narrows where you walk in the water through the canyon.

    There was a quite long queue for shuttle bus so we started with Watchman trail. The trail took us in total 1h45 minutes and offered incredible panoramic views of the whole Zion valley. There were also few people so we were back in camper for lunch.

    After lunch we took shuttle to the last stop and walk to the start of the narrows trail by the river. The shuttle ride was also amazing 🤩 this hike / walk is super easy and family friendly.

    After hiking and stop for drinks in local bar we started searching for the camping spot for tonight. In the town there are directly three campgrounds but one is closed for renovations and other two were super pricey ~ 90-130$ per night so no thanks. We ended up camping wild 15 minutes from Zion for free.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Zion National park - day 2

    March 22, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    After another cold night we woke up in the incredible scenery and had tasty breakfast. After “camping place” was located only 10 minutes drive from Zion so we already before 9 in the morning boarded the shuttle bus and drove to stop #6 Grotto. I really wanted to hike Angel’s landing sometimes called the most dangerous hike in America but as the path is very narrow special permit is required. I applied twice for lottery but I wasn’t selected. One day before you can apply for hiking permit, pay 6$ and hope that you win. The lottery is not refundable so I just wasted 12$ 🤣. Unlucky hikers can hike at least to Scout Lookout, the place where permits get controlled by rangers. The view from there is also stunning and it’s definitely worth to go even without permit for Angel’s landing. As always we saw many people not dressed properly or without any hiking skills / physical conditions which won permit and were having difficulties to walk this narrow steep path 🙈

    Before leaving the park we stopped quickly at Zion’s lodge ~ the only hotel inside of park and eat some snacks and got coffee. The food and drinks were surprisingly cheap.

    After tasty lunch back in our camper we were good to go to our last hike of this National Park. Canyon Overlook Trail is located already on the way to our next stop and in order to get there you need to drive super scenic and historical Mt. Carmel Road. Around 5 miles from Zion visitor Center is the first tunnel located. We needed to pay a fee of 15$ to be able to pass it. Big campers can only drive through if the drive in the middle so the rangers have to stop the whole traffic 🤣

    Right after the tunnel parking lots for the trail are located. Flo was bit skeptical if it’s worth to go but the trail was short, super fun and views were incredible, overlooking the whole canyon from above.

    Back in the car we drove only about an hour to the next national park ~ Bryce Canyon. The elevation of Bryce Canyon is quite high (around 2700m) and there is everywhere snow. That also means that most of the camping place are shut down and are opening from April / May. The only opened camping place was already full so we are camping once again for free.

    It’s gonna be another very cold night as it can get close to 0 degrees at night 🥶    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Bryce Canyon

    March 23, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    After very cold night we drove to the first view points ~ Bryce Point & Inspiration Point. You get a view of the whole canyon covered in snow, some hiking trails are still closed and shuttle buses are not driving. Most of the people drive to the two main spots of the national park Sunrise and Sunset spot which are connected by a very nice and short walk. For adventurous spirits the most recommended hike is Queen’s garden trail & Navajo Loop Trail. These two hikes are connected so you hike one trail down to the canyon and other way up. In total it took us less than 2 hours and it was very very beautiful. Due to snow, ice and mud we got a bit dirty 🤣 but at least we didn’t slipped as other tourists 🤣. Back in the Bryce city we had a short maintenance stop (we need to refill the water, empty the dirty water storage and tank).

    Our next stop is Capitol Reef National Park. There are two ways to get there but after reading reviews we decided to take the 15 minutes longer route #12 which is known as one of the most beautiful roads in USA 🇺🇸. This 2,5h long drive took us through the mountain passes, rocks, snow fields and few almost abandoned villages. We were almost alone and the road was surprisingly in the best conditions. Also during the drive we experienced all the seasons from sunshine to snowstorm 😂. After coffee and ice cream break in village Torrey we drove to the view point with incredible views over Capitol Reef Park before camping for free nearby.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸
    Sunset from our camper

    Capitol Reef national park

    March 24, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C

    After breakfast we drove for few minutes to Fruita ~ the gateway to the Capitol Reef National Park. Fruita is oasis known for huge production of different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Most of the hikes are stopping in Gifford Homestead for homemade pie 🥧. We bought for 9$ cherry pie and drove to our hike Cassidy Arch which was unfortunately due to winter still closed.

    What shocked us were the signs beware of mountain lions 😆 which apparently live there are were seen recently.

    We didn’t see any mountain lions but we did another hike which was on our bucket list - Hickaman’s natural bridge. This short but very beautiful hike can be done in 1 hour and takes you around beautiful natural bridge and cute canyon.

    The visit of Capital Reef National Park was short but beautiful. We were already done with our visit around 11 oclock and started a long drive to Moab. This 2,5h drive was filled with moon landscapes, abandoned land and red canyons.

    When we arrived to Moab we immediately noticed how touristy this place is. Also the amount of people was crazy compared to the places we visited before. On the other hand we could enjoy good coffee, walk around the city and wash our clothes.

    As every day we struggled with finding the camping spot 😂 all the free spots were canceled, simple campsites were rebuilt to luxury glamping resorts and camping places costs almost 100$ a night 😅🥲. My google skills were again very good and we found a good camping place for just 15$/night and paid the fee for three nights directly. Moab is the furthermost place of our road trip and from here we will start returning to Vegas.

    Good night from Moab with perfect sunset 🌅    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸
    Shafer road back to MoabDead Horse Point Overlook

    Canyonlands & Dead Horse Point park

    March 25, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Today was a full of highlights and incredible views. We drove for almost an hour to huge and barely visited national park Canyonlands. The park is huge, divided into three main areas. Most of the tourists come here for viewpoints, multi day hikes, cycling, off road trips and rafting. We visited only one area in our trip - Island in the Sky. There are several incredible viewpoints directly by the main road. It is worth it to walk a bit to the further viewpoint such as Grand View Point, White Rim Overlook or Mesa Arch. The weather today was very unpredictable from sunshine to snow 😂 we walked to all three viewpoints and stopped several times along the road for more views. The canyon is endless and you can see the Green River and Colorado river which carved the canyon thousands of years ago.

    Really crazy was to watch all these 4x4 cars driving down the Shafer Canyon back to Moab. Moab is a gem for off-road driving as there are plenty of trails and parks.

    On the way back to Moab we stopped in Dead Horse Point State Park. This little park offers really nice hiking trails and more viewpoints. You have the feeling of being directly inside of the canyon. After the whole day, the views got kind of same and we were ready to return back to civilization.

    Today we wanted to go to local microbrewery and drink some local beer and eat some food.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Arches National Park

    March 26, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C

    Today we woke up already 7 in the morning and drove immediately to Arches National Park. The main attraction is the hike to Delicate Arch. We started hiking already at 8 and in 45 minutes we were up by the viewpoint with few other people. We enjoyed tasty breakfast up there and the amazing view. In 30 minutes the place got packed and people were queuing for pictures 😲…

    The way down was also super quick and back in the car I cooked tea and coffee accompanied by cookies and Jogurt. The luxury of camping 🤩. The parking lot was packed with tourists, cars waiting to get next spot so it was a really good idea to get there so early.

    The weather today was super changeable from warm to stormy 😂 we did two more short hikes to Double Arch & Landscape Arch but it was too cold and we were simply not motivated anymore.

    Back in the Moab we wanted to have a coffee but around 3 o clock most of the cafes already shut down 🤣🥲.

    In our campsite we were observing all these cars up on the rocks and chilling a bit before we drive to next stop tmr morning.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸
    Lunch spot

    Monument Valley

    March 27, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    After 2,5 hours drive we arrived to the touristy center of Navajo people ~ Monument Valley. Shortly before the visitor center you can stop by the Forest Gump Point to take pictures of incredible landscape in the background. Campers are not allowed to drive the scenic road and that’s why I booked the jeep safari for the afternoon. We were there early and stopped by cute rest area and even saw some wildlife 🥰.

    The tour started from the visitor center and our guide Duffy was a native Navajo. Apart from sightseeing he wanted to teach us as much as possible about his culture, history of Monument Valley and the core values of Navajo People. Interesting was that Navajo people still live the simple life, have houses without electricity and running water and are very hard working people with strong bond to Mother Earth. There were some interesting facts but to be honest his speeches about how spoiled we are were bit too much 🤣. The tour ended right after sunset and it got super cold 🥶. We drove for about 30 minutes accompanied by beautiful sunset to the next town Kayenta to finally have a dinner in McDonald‘s and then went straight to bed 💤.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸
    Entrance room❤️ & Antelope HeadSo many groups are in the canyon in just 1 hourLone Rock Beach Campsite

    Horseshoe Bend & Upper Antelope Canyon

    March 28, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We woke up in the morning on the Burger King parking lot and observed first the long line for drive in 😂. 1,5 hours later we arrived to uninterested city Page. The city center consisted of two road and two cafes 🤣. Most of the tourists come here for the beautiful places around Page or to tour the Lake Powell either as a day trip or for multiple days on the houseboats.

    After stop in the cafe we drove to Horseshoe Bend incredible viewpoint over the canyon and Colorado river. From parking lot you need to walk only about 10 minutes to the viewpoint. The best is to arrive around noon when the canyon is not in shade. There were lot of people and tour buses but we liked it a lot 😍.

    At 2:30 I booked the tour of Upper Antelope Canyon. There are in total 3 slot canyons in the area ~ Upper Antelope Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon and Antelope X Canyon. When we checked in Moab the tickets it was almost everything sold out. The tour comes with very high price 120-150$. Flo said that he is not ready to pay that so I went alone while Flo had a coffee in McDonald’s.

    Upper Antelope Canyon has a shape of A wide on bottom and tiny on the top where just small portion of light gets in. The tour takes approximately 2 hours but you drive for 20 minutes there, then walk for about 30 minutes through the canyon, walk 30 minutes back to the car and then 20 minutes drive back to the visitor center. The canyon itself is very impressive and beautiful but you get rushed through the canyon as they try to sell as many tours as possible so you spend in each “room” like 2 minutes and guide was shouting on us all the time: “did you get a picture then move to next room”.

    Overall I would probably not recommend this experience and would spend money on different activity.

    The town of Page is located next to big a lake Powell. We wanted to enjoy a bit a lake and found this incredible beach campsite. Last picture was taken from our dining table with excellent view of the lake 🤩.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸
    1

    Lake Powell & arrival to Grand Canyon

    March 29, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    I woke just on time for spectacular sunrise over lake Powell 🤩🌅. This night was finally very warm and the weather looked great. After tasty breakfast we sat down by the lake drunk coffee, read books and played monopoly. Super chilled and cosy morning with great weather ~ perfect just for t-shirt and shorts. After lunch we started driving to our final stop of the trip ~ Grand Canyon. Before the long drive (almost 3 hours) we stopped quickly at the viewpoint to see the small part of lake Powell from above.

    The drive felt quite long, there was lot of traffic (for the first time in the whole trip) and strong wind. We entered the Grand Canyon via Desert Road which is less popular so there were no queues and we could stop on the way by two viewpoints where shuttle buses don’t drive. The views were very impressive and we can’t wait what we gonna see the next days. 😍

    I managed to booked a camping spot just for 18$ directly inside of Grand Canyon so we parked inside and had a relaxed evening before full day exploring of Grand Canyon tomorrow 🥰.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Grand Canyon

    March 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    I managed to reserve only one night in the campsite. Luckily Mather Campground gives around 20 spots on first come first serve basis. The lady recommended me to come to their office already around 7:30 in the morning to secure my spot as people lines up from 6 already 🙈.

    I arrived 7:15 and there were already few people waiting. Office opens at 8 so we still had plenty of time 🥲😆. Around 7:30 one guy with same RV as we have showed up because he is departing earlier and can offer one spot for 1 night. I directly talked to him and we got a spot for free 😎.

    After breakfast and reparking the car we took shuttle bus to the visitor center and start walking along the rim. There are several km of well maintained trails along the Grand Canyon and also 3 different shuttle lines driving around. We walked all the way from Mather viewpoint till the Grand Canyon Village. It took us around 2 hours and once we passed the visitor center the path got quite empty. Unfortunately the weather was not completely in our favor, it was cold and windy and for tonight they predicted a snowstorm 😂.

    In Grand Canyon Village we boarded the red bus line going to Hermit Trail. This path is very popular for cycling but due to weather we decided to take a bus instead. Red bus line has in total 9 stops and you can hop on and hop off all the time. We decided to combine some viewpoints and walk around. The most I liked the walk between Powell, Hopi & Mohave Point, very scenic 2km long walk 😍.

    After lot of walking we ordered hot chocolate and returned to our camper quite early. It was nice and cold day here in Grand Canyon.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Route 66 & Hoover Dam

    March 31, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    We woke up in winter wonderland 🥶😂 everywhere was a lot of snow and we were wondering how the people in tents survived the night. After breakfast and coffee we drove quickly to the viewpoint to have a look on Grand Canyon covered in snow. It was very foggy and the visibility was poor. To our surprise only the top of the canyon was covered by snow ❄️.

    Today we had a lot of kilometers to drive… straight way to Las Vegas takes more then 4 hours and covers the distance of 270 miles which is I think more then 400km (crazy that people do that as a day trip from Vegas).

    To make the drive more enjoyable we planned to stop several times and finish our day by lake Mead which is only 30 minutes drive from Vegas. 1 hours drive south from Grand Canyon we passed city Williams one of the important stops on the historical Route 66 connecting Los Angeles to Chicago and covering the total distance of 2500 miles / 4000km. Along the Route 66 there are plenty of ghost towns and retro restaurants, old motels and vintage shops. Apart from Williams we made a quick stop in Seligman & Kingman. In Kingman we found a great restaurant but unfortunately due to Easter Holidays the restaurant was shut down 🥲.

    Finally approaching lake Mead we decided to make a small detour to Hoover Dam which we passed by anyway. Hoover Dam is very huge and impressive construction built on lake Mead and river Colorado. The entrance to the Hoover Dam felt like entrance to the military base ~ strong controls, we needed to get out of the car, open the bathroom and interior of the car 🤣. Once there we were shocked by the amount of people and traffic. The site is huge and you can even join organized tours. There is also an option to walk on the highway bridge to see the Hoover Dam from above. It was definitely impressive and nice visit and if you have spare time it’s worth to stop for hour.

    After very short drive we finally arrived in our beautiful campsite with the views of lake Mead - Boulder Beach Campground.    Read more

  • USA Roadtrip 🇺🇸

    Time to go home!

    April 1, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    After really warm and comfortable night we packed our stuff, cleaned the camper and drove back to Vegas to return our RV.

    Our flight back home goes via Denver where we have 4 hours layover. Crazy fact is that we have already 9 hours time difference 😆 I guess we gonna have some crazy jet lag 😅🥲.

    To sum up our travel here so key facts or things which surprised us/ were unexpected:

    - We drove 1600 miles / 2575 km with our RV but as this distance was spreaded in 13 days it didn’t seem that long.
    - we visited three states ~ Nevada, Utah & Arizona
    - road in US are really nice even the least important streets were in great conditions
    - we experienced all the seasons from sunbathing by pool in Vegas till snowstorm in Grand Canyon
    - 3 days in Vegas were really memorable and fun but Vegas is very pricey compared to other places we visited, e.g. beer for 13$ or cocktails for 35$ no thanks
    - prices in supermarkets are almost the same some things are cheaper in Europe some here in US
    - Americans love huge packages 😂 so you can either buy orange juice in 0,2l bottle or 4l bottle 🙈😂
    - Americas love barbecue / fireplaces, every campsite have a private firespot, even in middle of the snowstorm in Grand Canyon they still make fire 😅
    - water in the restaurant is for free and sometimes for the drinks you pay just once and the rest is free refill you just never know what comes on your bill 😂
    - all prices in supermarkets, restaurants ect are without taxes and additional fees so you can expect always much higher price then you thought
    - tipping culture is a different level here, people live here from tips and they expect them all the time usually tips are between 18-25% 🥲
    - out of 12 nights in RV we paid only 6 nights with prices varying from 14-20$, to find free or affordable campsites is quite difficult and require research because most of the campsites were turned to luxury RV resorts with pool and other facilities costing around 100$ per night.
    - entrances to national park are quite high and it’s worth to purchase the national park pass for 80$ which gives you free access to all national parks for 1 year
    - apart from national parks there are also state parks which you need to pay extra 😆
    - in America live many different tribes, the only tribe owning a land is a Navajo Nation. The entrance fees to Navajo tourists sites were the most expensive of the whole trip and we were not sure if we would do it again.
    - internet connection was extremely poor and made us realize how good is it in Europe. In most of the cafes and restaurants they do not offer WiFi and even with local SIM card we had often difficulties to connect to internet which was in general fine but not so funny if you need to find next camping place or reserve some tour
    - all the national parks and camping places we visited has a really good infrastructure, nice visitor center, clean toilets everywhere, picnic spots, water refill stations and maps for all the points of interest
    - hikes are well marked with profile, distance, time required ect. Also the hiking paths are in best conditions and are much easier then hikes in Europe
    - American are very friendly and communicative people and it was fun talking to them as Flo said many times: “I don’t know how they can all be so overexcited” 🤣 well we got very excited about your country and will for sure come back for more adventures ❤️🇺🇸

    Until next time!    Read more

    Trip end
    April 2, 2024
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