Gruss. If you are planning to visit some of the most popular Parks/sites - such as the Grand Canyon or Yosemite or Yellowstone, you should try and reserve early as they do fill up. Most of the other places/cities - should have places to stay but again - the National/State parks do fill up fast for the summers.

There are a lot of other posts in here on/about the Western states (look in/under each state forum) - but I am partial to driving the Pacific Coast - all the way from Oregon to Southern California if you can (depending on your time) - and also getting to see some of the beautiful mountain areas - such as Mt. Hood in Oregon, Lake Tahoe in Cal - or getting over to Utah/Colorado, etc.

Sometime this summer plan which parks you want to see. You can reserve 366 days in advance as I understand the drill.
There is a reservation consolidator which might save you a lot of time on the phone. http://www.nationalparkreservations.com/
At the end of the trip you want to fly from Las Vegas to Los Angeles rather than driving through the Mojave desert.
Come back and ask your questions. There are many of us here who will help with your planning.

Some of the national parks are more than 366 days, some of them are 13 months or more. The three major Concessionaires are Xanterra, Delaware North, and Aramark. They each have slightly different policies. There are many other smaller concessionaires, but these are the Big 3. Most of the major cities like San Francisco, San Diego, LA, Vegas, etc--you don't have to be in as big of a hurry to get those reservations.

I would get reservations at all National Parks on the day they become available. Start planning what you want to do now and be ready to snag them when they become available.
Some of the parks are better in May or June, while other are better in July or August. What month do you plan on coming?

First thing to do is for you to decide more firmly on your desired route.

Research the places you want to see, determine what activities/sites/cities/parks are most important to you. Make lists.

The West Cost of the USA is huge and diverse, with stunning sites and wonderful cultures.

You will have too many choices, actually, so spend time now to think about your priorities and begin to form a plan. THEN make reservations. With 30- 45 days, you can have a grand tour, that's for sure. I am envious.

It is definitely true that you want to make your National Park reservations as early as possible, especially for Yosemite.

PS If you go to Yosemite, grab a room and/or dinner reservation at the Ahwahnee Lodge. It is an elegant, old-style western lodge. I have been only once to Vienna, but somehow I think you might like the Ahwahnee.

Consider camping. It will reduce costs and give you a chance to meet other people on the campground. Of course, that assumes that you would enjoy camping and what it entails. Buying equipment in stores like Target, K-Mart, Sports Authority, etc. will run about $400 or $450 dollars. But keep in mind that even with the cost of the campsite (I suggest public rather than private campsites) and the food for cooking, it would be cheaper than staying at a hotel/motel with eating out breakfast at times and dinner (tax and tip--around 15% for the latter not included in the posted price of meals) all the time.

Here is a link to a trip report from several years ago. It has good infor on planning a route and things to see :

http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/a-californian-odyssey-2010a-live-trip-report-from-the-golden-state.cfm

Hope this helps you plan your time and gives you some ideas.

If you're heading to LA, be sure to visit Santa Monica and Venice. If you want GREAT mexican food try these 2 spots:

1. El Cholo - Traditional Mexican. Family owned since 1923
2. Border Grill - Upscale Mexican (and close the the 3rd street Promenade)

If you like Mexican food you MUST visit 1 or both of these places.

Sorry-- Border Grill? Upscale and good? It's a chain and we've had some awful food in them.

Border Grill is not what I would consider upscale at all. Perhaps an upscale version of El Chico or something.

Border Grill is a chain? What do they have? 2 locations? This makes it a chain?

I've been to both. Vegas and Santa Monica. It's excellent (and upscale Mexican food.) Chef and creator Mary Sue Milliken is known as one of the best chefs in this niche: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue_Milliken

So...yes...Border Grill? I visit often and highly recommend it. Order Ceviche and Carnitas with a round of Margaritas and you'll be happy.

How did we get to crappy Mexican restaurants in 10 posts?
Amazing. Do you want to see scenery-National Parks,big mountains, wildlife and oceans? Big cities and their attractions-museums, architecture, food,in Seattle, Portland, LV,SF and LA, or small towns and countryside indicative of American life? Disneyland and Great America? Other classic tourist attractions?
Don't forget, Summer in the desert,(LV, Phoenix and the Grand Canyon can entail temperatures above 100 degrees.
How much of the trip is for the adults and how much for the kids?

I had the same questions as bbqboy - scenery, nature, cities, etc. What are you mostly interested in seeing and experiencing?

You have plenty of time to figure out a projected itinerary. If you want to stay in the national parks, it's better to make reservations well in advance, but there are always late cancellations. There are numerous threads on here where posters have called and called and found the nights they've needed inside the parks within a few weeks or months of their trip. So yes, make reservations but know that you can change your plans and still be able to switch your reservations around.

It's usually best to start/stop your car rental in the same city to avoid dropoff fees.

ec1970: It's not too early to start planning now.

One of the first questions that we'll be asking and which you are probably asking yourself is: how much of the West Coast do you want to cover? Is it just California? Or the entire US West Coast from Washington down? If you want to go to Washington State, would you want to go across the Canadian border to Vancouver and Victoria?

What is your budget? Are you planning on renting a car or flying between large cities? Have you been here before or is this a first trip?

What are your special interests? What are your children's special interests? You might have each child (and yourselves too) start making out a list of the places to go and things to do. Then start cutting down on the lists and plan your days in each place depending on your lists.

For now, I'd suggest that with children that age, San Diego is a definite must. There are so many things for them to do there - and you will enjoy doing them with your children!

Happy planning! You'll receive a lot of good suggestions on here.

PS Vienna is one of my favorite cities in Europe.

Hi Everyone,

First, thanks a lot for all your advices and sorry for my very late reply. It took me some time to convince my wife that a trip like that should be planned over a year in advance (as an Austrian she normally plans 12 months in advance only ...).

I totally agree with everything you wrote (by the way, Border Grill is now on the top of my list .....) and will first plan the locations where we want to visit and then the attraction, hotels etc'. I read a lot about the different locations and will share with you, below, my initial plan.

We plan to land in Las Vegas, rent a car and do the whole trip with the car. We will give back the car in L.A and plan, if time will allow, to fly and spend few days in DC and NYC before flying back to Vienna.

As for the exact dates, I am still not sure. You got me worried a bit with the national parks during July and August. We are flexibe with the dates but should be wihin July and August (we might be able to miss few days of school in September if you guys think it will "up grade" the trip).

Below are the loccations we are looking at. I will be happy to hear from you if you think it make sense to do it in ~30 days. We are very flexible and open for suggestions so feel free to let me have your thoughts. Let me know if I should add anything or remove anyhting.

- Las Vegas (Grand Canyon, Havasu Waterfall, Monument Valley, Zion National Park and the Death Valley).
- Sequia National Park.
- Yosemite
- Lake Tahoe
- San Francisco
- Santa Cruz
- Monterey
- Santa Barbara
- L.A

I was trying to look at some hotels and you were right, I can only book from ~13 months in advanc so I will wait.Any recommendations as for where to stay at the natinal parks will be appreciated.

I look forward to hear from you.....

thanks and best regard from, still, cold Vienna

eylon and Sonja

Grand Canyon is a 4-5 hour drive from Las Vegas, Zion is a bit closer, so hopefully you will book overnight accommodations there and not try to do as day trips using Las Vegas as a base. How long do you have for this trip anyway?

Skip Sequoia. You'll see the same kind of trees in Yosemite. Better to drive 395 up the east side of the Sierras and see a few things there, such as Devil's Postpile National Park, Mono Lake, go up to Mammoth Lakes (prime skiing area during the winter) and stay in the Swiss Chalet B&B.

http://www.swisschalet-mammoth.com/

After Yosemite, exit on the east side of the park to get back on 395 going up to Lake Tahoe.

As for Yosemite, it's important that you really need to pin down your dates there if you want to stay inside the park. Make the reservations as soon as possible. Yes, you can change your mind, but you may not get to stay inside the park on your changed dates.

As for Santa Cruz, you may want to spend less time there and more time in Big Sur which is between Monterey and Santa Barbara. There are plenty of things for you to do and see in this area, so portion more time here: Carmel, Point Lobos (the "crown jewel" of California's numerous state parks), Pfeiffer Big Sur, Nepenthe, Pfeiffer Beach, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=571

You can stay inside Pfeiffer Big Sur among the coastal redwoods (different from the redwoods that you will see in Yosemite):

http://www.bigsurlodge.com/

I totally totally disagree with skipping Sequoia. I think the trees there are far far better than Yosemite. Yes the trees in Yosemite are super good, but the ones in Sequoia are better.

Monument Valley is ok, but it is the one place I would skip.

I would add in Bryce to your mix of places. It's great.

Grand Canyon-Bright Angel-try to score a cabin on the rim
Have one meal at El Tovar

Bryce- Bryce Lodge-I prefer a cabin

Zion-Zion Lodge- I prefer a cabin here too

Death Valley--Furnace Creek Inn

Sequoia-Wuksachi Lodge

Yosemite-Yosemite Lodge at the falls, or Curry Village
Heck- you might consider a tent cabin if you are adventurous
Do have a meal at the Awahnee. If you don't go to Sequoia, then do one night at Wawonna Lodge here too

Stop at Elkhorn Slough (a few miles north of Monterey) great kayaking here with lots of wildlife
Places we like to eat at in Monterey/Carmel
First Awakenings-breakfast
The Sardine Factory
The Tuck Box- breakfast or afternoon tea
Demetra's--very good moussaka

Don't miss Monterey Bay Aquarium
Point Lobos
McWay Falls
Big Sur
Hearst Castle

You could add Channel Islands National Park

Buy a National Park Pass and save some $$

Hi Eylon and Sonja,

I did this trip with kids a similar age about 3 years ago.

I researched it thoroughly on this forum and with the help of all the awesome members here, put together a trip of a lifetime.

You may like to browse through the "live" trip report I did. Hopefully amongst all the dribble, you may find something useful.

http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/a-californian-odyssey-2010a-live-trip-report-from-the-golden-state.cfm

Shane- I loved your report so much I already posted a link in my post above. I often post a link to your report to help others out. You had such a great trip and a great report!

I remember shanek's report too - it was a great read!

I have recently gone back and read my trip report and it was such a great way to re-live the amazing time we had. We will start to plan an East Coast trip shortly ,but current circumstances may mean that this doesn't take place until 2015. When this is decided, the two non-negotiables are that I will use Fodors to plan my trip and I will post a trip report!
You may also get some inspiration from one of the many planning threads from over 3 years ago.

http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/california-dreamingplanning-a-family-trip-to-the-west-coast.cfm

And thank you so much for the kind words. I loved posting my report and it is very nice to hear that others enjoyed reading it.