Top Gun experience around San Diego, Glamping in Arizona, walking in a real life screensaver in Navajo Nation, meeting a real Cowboy in Utah, gambling in Las Vegas, this trip just had it all!

Twelve days in the United States were obviously not enough to see everything, but our vacation days were limited so we planned a trip through California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada by limiting ourselves to the highlights of the area.

That meant a lot of research, because… what are those actual highlights exactly, without repeating the same activities and what is a good route, limiting the amount of time driving and without driving on the same road twice? I’ve written it all down, so it might be helpful for anyone planning a similar trip! First of all a list of my personal Top Five’s for movie fans, nature lovers and aviation geeks and below that, a day-to-day itinerary.

TOP 5 SOUTH WEST U.S.A FOR MOVIE FANS

1. TOP GUN: Kansas City Barbecue and High Pie (San Diego and Oceanside, CA) – For the real Top Gun experience, the famous Top Gun bar with the piano (Kansas City Barbecue) is on a walking distance from the USS Midway and Charlie’s house is a 35 minute drive, in Oceanside. It’s a place that sells delicious pies and has a replica of Maverick’s motorbike out front.
2. Old Movie Fort: S’mores and Cowboy Experience (Kanab, UT) – Going with a cowboy around sunset to see their livestock grazing, reaching an old filmset where many Hollywood films have been shot, making s’mores on a campfire and stargazing in the night sky, definitely recommend (link here).
3. FORREST GUMP: Santa Monica Pier (CA) – Just a fun place to visit when in L.A., the end (or beginning?) of the Route 66. It’s like a little amusement park on a pier, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and for the fans, the famous (Forrest Gump) Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. with its bench is located there.
4. Pioneertown (CA) – Finding yourself in the Old Wild West as lots of films were shot here, so bring your cowboy hat and take some awesome pictures!
5. Warner Bros Studios – I must admit, we didn’t go there as we were limited in time. But from everything I’ve seen online, it’s a great experience to do a guided tour and see many studios (and the Friends Fountain!).

TOP 5 SOUTH WEST U.S.A FOR NATURE LOVERS

1. Antelope Canyon X (Page, AZ) – Walking in deep red colored canyons, with a clearblue sky above, guided by people from the Navajo tribe who were happy to share details about their beautiful culture.
2. Grand Canyon (AZ) – I’ve seen pictures of Grand Canyon before and always thought it was beautiful BUT I never expected to have goosebumps when I saw it in real life!
3. Zion National Park (UT) – Absolutely worth a visit. Already driving through the tunnels to reach the visitor centre is a wonderful experience. If you take appropriate clothes, you could hike up the river to The Narrows, depending on the water level and the weather.
4. Joshua Tree National Park (CA) – Characteristic Palm trees and hot water springs
5. Monument Valley (AZ) – As it was a bit too far off-route, we didn’t go to Monument Valley but it’s on my list for the next time. When driving towards Page (AZ) we already saw the nature and mountain shapes changing, similar to what (we believe) Monument Valley would be like.

TOP 5 SOUTH WEST U.S.A FOR AVGEEKS

1. USS Midway (San Diego, CA) – Museum with loads of military aircraft inside and on top of an aircraft carrier. Real (retired) airforce pilots who are happy to explain passionately how they would land on the ship!
2. Kansas City Barbecue (San Diego, CA) – For the real Top Gun experience, the famous Top Gun bar with the piano (Kansas City Barbecue) is on a walking distance from the USS Midway. Very affordable to have dinner and lots of signed pictures from the actors. Have a seat behind the piano and play Great Balls of Fire on the jukebox!
3. High Pie (Oceanside, CA) Charlie’s house is a 35 minute drive from San Diego, in Oceanside. It’s a place that sells delicious pies and has a replica of Maverick’s motorbike out front.
4. Victorville (CA) – The Graveyard of Boeing planes! Although it’s not easy to come up close, you see hundreds of retired aircraft and it’s an actual cool experience to see them all together.
5. Helicopter Flight in Grand Canyon (AZ) –  This was (and still is, because we didn’t do it) very high on my wishlist! Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines offers a variety of flights to the Grand Canyon from different departure locations. So instead of seeing the Grand Canyon from the North or South Rim, why not consider watching it from above..? (link here).

DAY BY DAY ITINERARY

DAY 1: We arrived to LAX late at night, grabbed an Uber to the Airbnb in Inglewood near LAX airport.

DAY 2: We woke up and went to Pann’s Restaurant for some delicious waffles and pancakes! Then picked up our rental car, drove to Santa Monica. Walked towards the beach, the Santa Monica Pier and after lunch we took the car to drive via Beverly Hills to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Parking costs were massive there, the cheapest we found was 40USD, even if we wanted to park for just 10 minutes, so…. we decided to skip it :). Instead we drove up to the Hollywood Sign, which was beautiful as we arrived there just before sunset! We then proceeded to Desert Hot Springs, near Palm Springs and next to Joshua Tree National Park as our Airbnb in Desert Hot Springs was a Glamping site with furnished tents and a fully equipped and stocked outdoor kitchen to make s’mores and eat them next to a campfire.

DAY 3: The Santa Ana wind was blowing very strongly and with a temperature around freezing level, we were happy that the bed was heated by an electric blanket! After a quick breakfast we drove towards Pioneertown and walked around all the Old Wild West – inspired buildings. Very very cool! We then proceeded to a place nearby where we did an archery experience. Then it was time for the longest stretch of our trip: Driving from Joshua Tree to Williams, just south of the Grand Canyon South Rim. The route was beautiful, although long (about 6 hours). We passed through the Mojave desert, drove a part of the route 66 (which we found by chance, written on the road). We had another Glamping night ahead of us, so we bought some cobs of corn that we would cook on the campfire. The tent was in the middle of nowhere and the sky was full of stars when we arrived!

DAY 4: We woke up feeling freezing cold, I guess November isn’t the best month to go camping, or glamping in the desert…. 🙂 It had nonetheless been a nice experience, but as the heater stopped working in the middle of the night, the first thing we did in the morning was make a campfire again as we watched the sunrise. We then drove to the south rim of the Grand Canyon and when I saw it… GOOSEBUMPS! Pictures don’t do justice, it’s really breathtaking! We walked a bit around the south rim and then proceeded to do a short hike to the Ooh Aah point.

The drive to our next location wasn’t too long, we made a stop at the Cameron Trading Post for a real Navajo Taco and then tried to make it to the Horseshoe Bend for sunset…. well, we missed it! The horseshoe bend was very beautiful regardless, although I believe it would have been amazing to see it before sunset. We slept in a motel in Page which was the perfect location as the next day we had another activity in the area.

DAY 5: We booked the Antelope Canyon X tour which I think was the best experience of all the trip. I felt like walking in a real life screensaver and the contrast of the orange-red colored stone with the deep blue sky was just wonderful! The guides were very friendly and as we asked about their life in the Navajo Tribe. We learned so much about their culture and way of living! After the tour we crossed the state border to Utah and proceeded to Kanab. We found a lovely Airbnb, probably the best one of all the airbnbs we’ve stayed at. At sunset we had another activity planned, we went with Adventure Tour Company on a Campfire s’mores and stars excursion. With a cowboy we entered their private property where we found a lot of their livestock, the Texas Longhorn walking around freely. We arrived at an old movie fort, shooting location for over 35 movies. There was a campfire, s’mores and a sky full of stars!

DAY 6: The next day we drove to Zion National Park. It was a bit of a cloudy day, but the views were spectacular nonetheless. There was a bus service to 9 different locations from where you could start multiple hikes. We wanted to hike along the river to the Narrows, but we were not properly equipped and the water was very high. On the bucketlist for the next time! After having done multiple hikes, we got into the car to drive to Las Vegas. It was already dark when we crossed the final hill and saw Las Vegas in front of us, with its bright lights in an otherwise completely dark area. We had booked the Excalibur Hotel which is located on the Strip. Perfect location to just go out and explore the rest of the Strip by foot. It was like walking in an amusement park, everything extremely fake but definitely fun to see. All hotels and casinos are massive and as much as I enjoyed being there for one night, I didn’t mind much to leave the next day already. Even if we would’ve had more time, I don’t think we would have stayed longer in Las Vegas, but rather spent more time in the National Parks.

DAY 7: The original plan was to head for Death Valley and then towards San Diego, but as we had already spent a lot of time driving, we considered we’d rather head towards San Diego directly as we had just 3 more days left. Death Valley absolutely deserves a visit another time, it was just a little bit out of the way for our itinerary. And we didn’t want to skip San Diego! We found a perfect Airbnb in Murrieta and had a lovely dinner in Temecula with friends that we know from Instagram.

DAY 8: After another pancake and waffel breakfast in Temecula, it was time to visit San Diego! The road towards San Diego was really beautiful, I really loved this area of SoCal. We coincidentally passed by Miramar military base, which of course we couldn’t access but the idea of having seen it, was fun (as I was traveling with a huge Top Gun fan). Reason why we, after strolling through Gaslamp Quarter and seeing seals from our lunch spot in Seaport Village, obviously had to visit the USS Midway museum! I loved it. The aircraft carrier is huge, a great variety of military aircraft, we kind of got lost inside, because inside the ship it really is a maze of rooms and spaces, getting an idea of how the staff lives for months on the ship. On the deck there were more aircraft and (retired) airforce pilots who were passionately explaining how they would land on the ship.

To stay in the Top Gun vibes, we had a bite to eat at the Kansas City Barbecue, the famous Top Gun bar. The piano and jukebox are there and the walls are filled with signed photos of the main cast. Final thing we wanted to do when in San Diego, was to spot some aircraft landing in San Diego Airport. We knew about a spotter location that was the top of a parking garage and indeed, they are right below final runway 27.

DAY 9: And for the final Top Gun experience, on the last day of our trip, we visited High Pie in Oceanside: Charlie’s house! Outside of the house there is a replica of Maverick’s motorbike. Great place for some photos and… for some delicious (but a bit pricey) pies! We then proceeded towards Los Angeles to wrap up our trip at the famous In ‘n Out burger next to LAX airport, which is a great place to spot planes, but not if that runway is closed, which was the case for us.

So that’s California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada in 9 days! Again, if we had more time, we would have explored the area much more. But we still believe that we made most out of the time we had! Wrapping up: 40 hours on the road (1650 miles or 2650 kilometers) driven in 9 days!