Hi,We are in the early stages of planning a 14 day trip out to The Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, California, Yosemite, SF and LA. Our plan is to start in LV and spend 4 or 5 days in the Utah/Arizona Park area, double back to LV and head to Bakersfield, Fresno, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, SF and some of Wine Country. Lastly down to LA via the Pacific Coast Hwy. Is this doable or are we nuts. Friends of ours have done this trip in 18 days and had a ball. We are wondering if anyone has any comments or ideas on how this can work or possibly how to better arrange it. Thank You
Harvey

Okay, Harvey, I'll bite. First off, I'd imagine the only reason you want to visit Bakersfield or Fresno is because they are on the way from Vegas to Kings Canyon. However, I think they would be a waste of your precious time in trying to hit all the other places you list. You could change your plan and go south to north, because the drive from Vegas to Los Angeles is not so bad. If you cannot, due to plane trips, etc., then let's see what we can do.

Now, if you have 14 days total and spend 5 of them in Arizona/Utah, you are looking at 9 days to hit all the other spots.

Day 1/2- drive from Vegas to Kings Canyon, spend the night in Fresno and then in the park (4+ hrs. drive each day)
Day 3/4-Drive from Kings Canyon to Yosemite, spend two nights (4 hrs. drive)
Day 5/4-Drive from Yosemite to SF, spend two nights (4 hrs. drive)
Day 6-Drive to Sonoma or Napa and spend the night (2+ hrs. drive)
Day 7-Drive from wine country to Carmel, spend the night (6+ hrs. drive)
Day 8-Drive the Big Sur coastline down to Cambria, spend the night(4 hrs. drive)
Day 9-Visit Hearst Castle then drive to LA, spend the night (6 hrs. drive)

Whoo! That sounds like a lot of driving. You can do it, but you'll be spending half of most of your days in the car. A suggestion would be to spend less time in Utah/Arizona, or eliminate the north half of your trip (SF and the wine country). Depends on if you will ever make it to California again ...

Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce and North Rim (if open can easily be done in 5 days. I did LA, Kings Canyon/Sequoia, Yosemite, Death Valley and Joshue Tree in 8 days. Certainly can do LV, Kings/sequoia and Yosemite in 8 days and you can throw in Death Valley on the way back to LV if this is being done in the summer and Tioga Pass is open.

Don't forget that many of the parks, expecially Yosemite, can get rather crouded in the summer. Look to make reservations as soon as possible. Try the national parks web site.
www.nps.gov

Harvey,

You will need a vacation from the vacation. I would completely eliminate the San Francisco and Wine Country part of your trip. They are too far from the other areas of the state that you will be visiting. In order to be able to spend enough time in any given place that you will be visiting, I would head directly to San Jose (www.sanjose.org) from Yosemite. In SJ there are several notable museums (The Tech Museum is highly recommended), great restaurants, theater productions etc. to check out. From there you are about 30 miles from Santa Cruz in the Northern Monterey Bay. Highway 17 South will lead you to Highway 1 South. (www.monterey.com) By the way, make your Yosemite reservations early (www.yosemitepark.com) since hotels book up very quickly during peak season. I would spend at least 3 or 4 days in Yosemite. Definitely take the Glacier point tour. The scenary is spectacular.