PeterJayne

Hi Everyone. My wife and I are planning a US west coast trip in summer 2014 for ourselves and our 4 "children" (aged 12,14,16 and 18) and would be interested in any feedback. We're from Sydney.

At this stage we're thinking around 3 weeks in total in June/July. Were looking at flying into LA and then hiring a car/van and doing a loop around San Fracisco, Las Vegas, San Diego and back to LA. We would of course want to see Yosemite and Grand Canyon but interested in any other must-sees or travel tips you can give.

It's never easy travelling with so many of us so any advice on good value for such a large family would be especially appreciated.

Peter

spirobulldog

For the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, I would go the very first week in June. Your already super late for booking lodging at both places. So much so, that I would suggest waiting until 2015. Some lodging is available 12-13 months in advance and some sell out very very early. I always book on the day it becomes available.

Sequoia National Park is nice. I like Bryce and Zion National Parks better than the Grand Canyon. I would suggest just 1 day/1 night at the Grand Canyon, unless you are doing some serious hiking. I'm not saying the Grand Canyon isn't a wonderful place(I love to raft and hike), but I just feel the other parks offer more. Especially for the casual visitor.
The earlier you can go to Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon the cooler it will be. Waterfalls in Yosemite are best early June. By July they could be dry(i'm pretty sure this year they will be dry very early as they have had very little rainfall/snow this year)

Many areas of The Coast between LA all the way up to the Oregon Coast would be worth seeing--Monterey, Big Sur, Hearst Castle, Channel Islands, Redwoods, Point Reyes. This area would be fine in June or July.

Perhaps an "off the radar" place would be Lassen Volcano National Park. It is a nice place too.

You might be able to get reservations at Yosemite or Grand Canyon because of cancellations, but trying to coordinate for that many people and including multiple places would be hard, IMOP. You can stay outside the parks, but it is far far far less enjoyable, IMOP. I wouldn't even consider staying out of the park at GC. Skip the train at the GC.

PeterJayne

Thanks for the feedback Spiro.

I had heard Yosemite was a nightmare with crowds so we may need to skip it unless anyone can suggest a less crowded part. I was still hopeful we could get somewhere at the GC - it really isn't even worth driving through if you can't stay in the park?

Thanks for the tip on Lassen. I'll check it out although its a little futher north than we were planning on travelling.

Cheers,
Peter

MichelleY

Peter - don't skip Yosemite. Unless you are going to make it over here again soon, see it on this trip.

Here is a link to a very good trip report from several years ago. It will give some great ideas on planning you trip:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...lden-state.cfm

MichelleY

.. Your trip

clarkgriswold

http://www.fodors.com/search/results...lifornia+drive

voyager61

Congratulations on planning a fun and ambitious trip. I will try to help as I can.

For booking accommodations in any of the U.S. national parks, go to the National Park Service website. Here is a link to the Yosemite page: http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm

For other parks, like Grand Canyon, click on "find a park", then go to the advanced search, by name and click on the letter that the park begins with, G for Grand, etc. It is not the most intuitive website for finding lodging information, so that is why I am offering detailed instructions. After you get on the park page, click on "plan your visit" to find lodging options.

As many people have said, in-park accommodations for the more popular national parks (Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and others) are booked up to a year in advance. However, there are cancellations too, so you might as well try.

Although it is more desirable to stay in the parks, because driving in and out is time-consuming and slow, usually there are places you can stay outside the parks as well. I would use TripAdvisor to help identify some possibilities. The good news is that when you by a pass for a national park on your first visit, it can be used for a few days (the receipt will show expiration), so driving in and out is not a problem.

What you call a caravan is (I think) an RV (recreational vehicle) here; you might want to check out Cruise America for rentals and probably links to private RV park websites. I think you would want to stay in outlying areas of the cities and use public transportation whenever possible to get into the city centers because parking an RV in downtown San Francisco, for example, would be a nightmare.

The other possibility is just renting an SUV that will carry 6 people and staying in hotels. (Hampton and Comfort Inns are good for families and mid-range in price.)

PeterJayne

Thanks Voyager. All good advice. By car/van I meant car or van but SUV would also be fine.

This trip is starting to take shape but it keeps getting bigger and bigger. After ~18 days on US West Coast, we're now looking at splitting up with me taking my 18yo (Liam) to Mexico and Cuba for 10 days and my wife (Jayne) taking our 3 other kids to Hawaii for 3-4 days.

There seems to be some accommodation available in Yosemite and GC but I need to lock in some flights before I can start booking (I'm hoping to use frequent flyer points so it is a real juggle).

Also need to work out where we go 4th of July for a good experience but also where we can get accommodation. How would San Francisco be that weekend?

voyager61

I really need to wear glasses at the computer because I read that as caravan...yikes.

You can get a lot of info about Hawaii on this forum, including from me if you are going to Maui, the Big Island or Kauai. For Mexico and Cuba, you will probably have to post on those forums to get info, although I have been to the Mayan Riviera and can answer very general questions about it.

Once you get your flights, book the national park reservations first...you can take your time with everything else.

All major (and minor) U.S. cities have a large fireworks display and other festivities on July 4. Hopefully someone will helpfully provide information on San Francisco's specific celebration. It should be a lot of fun for your children. I would also book that weekend early, because a lot of people turn it into a vacation and book well in advance. As far as a good experience on the 4th, you can probably get that most of the places you have mentioned, but the cities throw the biggest parties.

When you have a tentative itinerary worked out, post that under a new heading and you will probably get a lot more feedback with specific places to stay and things to do.