Hotels

For info: we booked rooms with 2 queen beds for almost all our nights. Rooms with more beds are almost impossible to find (at a decent price). It’s more economical, as it is a standard setup, but it’s also a question of safety: we didn’t want to be split into two rooms. We bought an airbed in addition – one of the hotel we booked gave us that tip.

Nights 1 to 3 – Denver

In Denver, we stayed at La Quinta Inn Westminster. Cheap but nice, modern and clean. Breakfast included, a plus for families with kids. Nice pool, even though we didn’t use it. Close to many shops and restaurants, 10-15 min drive to everything. Rooms were with 2 queen beds.

Night 4 – Fort Collins

A great pick at Fort Collins, the Solarium International Hostel. We just wanted to stay there a few more days, from the moment we got in. Very helpful staff, nice and confortable room, a fantastic common area, under a greenhouse roof, like being in the jungle with trees, flowers, a pond, sofas and tables available for anyone, a nice park, coffee and waffles for breakfast. A very relaxing break.

We chose this one because they had a room with beds for 5, but it was so much more than a room.

Nights 5 to 6 – Cody

Americ’inn

Great pick, nice and spacious room (two queen beds), good breakfast, indoor swimming pool that we used several times.

Slightly outside the historical center, but it’s a short drive away. On the right side of town for the key activities.

Night 7 – Yellowstone

Grant Village Lodge

Well, at least it’s clean. Otherwise not much to be ecstatic about. It’s three times as expensive as it would be in an area with competition. But it’s in the park, so that’s very convenient. The only other option to get a cheaper price was to drive far outside the park.

The location, near the lake, sounded nice, but the hotel is actually in the forest. No view.

Breakfast not included, of course. And… wifi will cost you 5$ for an hour. Welcome back to 2008. At that price, we went back to 1988 and survived without internet for a full 36 hours.

Lucky us, there was a coffee machine in the room. I bet they will soon find out that they could make money also from that.

Night 8 – Grand Teton

Colter Bay Village

In the price range of Yellowstone hotels, but at least it has charm. Some wifi, if you get a cabin near a wifi hotspot.

Nice, spacious room, clean. No AC, but it shouldn’t be a problem for europeans.

Breakfast not included, no coffee machine or boiler in the room.

Night 9 – Rock Springs

Stayed at the Baymont Hotel, we didn’t care too much about the location as it was just a stopover on our trip to Moab. Nice hotel, reasonably priced, quiet despite view on the highway.

Swimming pool, breakfast included and plenty of restaurants nearby, that’s all we needed.

Night 10 to 12 – Moab

Boom! Great – and lucky – pick for Moab, the Expedition Lodge. We had changed hotel just 2 days before as we realized that there was no breakfast at the one we had booked.

So we got breakfast, a nice room, a great swimming pool with a water slide (the kids used it at least a thousand times), an arcade room, yes, an arcade room! And coffee and juice all day long.

We had set Moab as a place where we would relax, and we did, thanks to a great hotel. Good location also, downtown.

Only downside, an A/C that was struggling to keep the temperature low enough.

Night 13 to 14 – Tusayan (Grand Canyon)

Nice hotel in Tusayan, The Red Feather Lodge. Spacious room, nice staff, small but ok swimming pool, near the Grand Canyon park, accessible by shuttle from the bus stop next to the hotel. Plenty of restaurants in the vicinity.

We had a fire alarm during the night. It turned out to be a false call, this happens. Good exercise.

No breakfast but coffee in the room and in the lobby.

We were too late to find accommodation in the park, this would have been a nice alternative – however, we would have missed the swimming pool.

Night 15 to 17 – Kanab

Comfort Suites

Good hotel, recent, clean, big room with an extra sofa, nice swimming pool, continental breakfast.

It’s just that we would probably do things differently now. We thought this location could be a good base camp for both Zion and Bryce, but we looked enviously at hotels nearer each park when we got there. It was 1,5 hrs from Bryce canyon, a bit long for a return trip in one day, with kids…

Night 18 – Las Vegas

We stayed at Holiday Inn Express, a bit outside the city center. When we were planning our trip, we didn’t find it necessary to be on the strip, but we’re happy that we had a hotel quite close. There was a shuttle to the main casinos, which was pretty neat. Room was spacious.

Nights 19 to 20 – Los Angeles

Tarzana Inn

We struggled finding a hotel fitting our budget and our needs in LA. We wanted to be near Universal Studios, or near the metro, but could not find much – as with SF, the main issue is that we are 5… We eventually booked a hotel in Tarzana, north of LA, but well connected. Quite good value for the price.

Night 21 to 22 – Ventura

Motel 6

Same problem as LA, it was difficult to find a room for 5. We picked a cheap motel, walking distance from the beach. Small room, far too small for us. No breakfast but plenty of options nearby.

Ventura was a nice place to stay for a few days, but the hotel was a downside. We initially wanted to stay 5 days here, but 2 nights was how far we could stretch it.

There were some motels/hotels we had not found on the main websites, near or on the beach, maybe something look at for a future stay.

Night 23 – Pismo Beach

Oxford Suite

Lucky pick – A nice hotel, big suites, and a very enjoyable aperitive in the evening, with drinks and snacks. Awesome for the kids. Picked up sushi at a take away nearby.

Night 24 – Salinas

Laurel Inn & Conference Center

Not much to say, ok and convenient. Reasonnable price, good for a stopover. Same as in LA, we struggled to find something at reasonnable price in a nicer location.

Night 25 to 27 – Oakland

Executive Inn & Suites Oakland

Hm, not the best pick. The hotel was ok, but quite a bad location (noisy, view on the highway and railtracks), in a city where I wouldn’t stay out too later. Should have spend a bit more money and found a nicer place in the bay.

SF was very pricey for hotel rooms fitting our needs. We had chosen a hotel outside the city, but there are definitely nicer places. We also thought it would be easier to not have a car for the days in the city.

We went for a last trip to Fisherman’s Wharf, a morning walk prior to the long journey by plane.

Unfortunately, our flight was delayed by more than 6 hours, so we had to wait a long long time in the terminal. Other than this, the trip was fine – we slept most of the time.

Same procedure as yesterday, we took the ferry across the bay; today we are heading towards Japan Town.

Sarah took us to a bookstore, a dream store for her, with thousands of mangas on the shelves. She bought a few books, of course.

Next stop a japanese restaurant, then the Tea Garden in the Golden Gate park.

We finished by a walk in Chinatown – eastern Asia was obviously the topic of the day.

This was our last full day in the US. Our plane back to Norway leaves at 16:00 tomorrow.

Early start of the day for me, I delivered the rental car back (won’t be needed in SF). We took the ferry across the bay, to Fishermans Wharf. Again, we’re lucky with the weather, the bay was covered by clouds right until we left the hotel, so we got a sunny trip to downtown SF.

The ferry took us to pier 41, went to pier 39 to watch the sea lions and the pelicans for about an hour…

We had a plan for the day, but nothing compares to a walk in the city when it’s a sunny day. We still took the bus across town, had an improvised stop at the city hall for the kids to explore two nice playgrounds.

Another bus trip took us to the painted ladies, before we stopped for diner and took the train back home.

Maybe we’ll stick to the plan tomorrow, we’ll see.

We started our day with another visit at the beach. Cold water, but it didn’t stop Tim and Sarah from bodyboarding. Very courageous !

We drove to SF, got stuck in traffic on our way to the Golden Gate Bridge, but reached it mid afternoon. With no clouds over the bay, the view was fantastic.

We continued our drive around the bay before heading to our hotel, in Oakland.

We drove from Pismo Beach to Salinas, along the beautiful California State Route 1. Unfortunately, there was mist just along the coast, but we still got glimpses of the nice scenery.

After arriving at the hotel, we wanted to go to the beach, but it was cold covered by mist. We went back to the hotel, and its swimming pool, fortunately sufficiently far from the coast to be sunny.

Diner next to the hotel in a very American looking and sounding restaurant.