petemadz

All,

I am planning to have a two week trip in CA and neighbourhood during second half of April 2015. I will have my wife and 12 year old daughter with me.

My plan is to land in LAX, spend 3 days in LA area and then move on to other places and finally come back to LA and fly back. I will be hiring a car/SUV for the trip. I know this is a tiring drive, of about 200 miles in 14 days. Kindly suggest alternate routes/tips to improve.

Spend 3 full days (4 nights) in LA, with interests in Universal studios, beaches, science center, Griffith observatory, etc. Not keen on Anaheim/Disney as we have visited some of their properties in other cities. Plans to stay somewhere closer to Hollywood area.

Drive to Grand Canyon on day 4 and spend 2 nights there. Booked in Yavapai lodge.

Drive to LV and spend one night there. I don't see spending much time here as we have no interest in gambling or clubs.

Drive to Yosemite and spend 2 nights there. Booked in Curry village. - Have concerns about this drive given the time of the year. May need route suggestions. Would also like to visit some other interesting areas depending upon weather conditions, such as Mammoth lakes, Dante's view, etc.

Drive to Tahoe and onwards to Sacramento and stay there for one night. Not sure about this part. In late April, I believe Tahoe area may not have much to offer. Hence planning to drive thru and stay in Sacramento area.

Next day, drive thru Napa/Wine country to SFO and then stay at Santa Cruz or Monterey for a night. This may get changed to 2 nights if there are enough stuff to do there. I do have plant to visit Alcatraz, if possible. Also plan to visit Monterey aquarium and some of the beaches/board walks/wharfs in that area.

Drive thru Big Sur and stay at SLO for another night.

Drive back to LA.

bankbabe

It sounds like you will be driving a lot more than 200 miles. I visited Alcatraz a week ago today. It was a lot smaller than I thought, but pretty interesting. The drive on Hwy 1 is not to be missed and kind of fun to drive it yourself. Scenery is breathtaking. Why are you taking a 12 year old to tour wineries?

I cannot suggest any alternate routes, but enjoy your trip.

petemadz

Sorry, that was supposed to be 2000 miles. I am trying to reduce the driving needs, and may be I can skip Wine Country. Looking at other posts here, I am tempted to add at least a day's stay in Tahoe region and skip the stay at Sacramento. What is your suggestion ? Also I will need to add another extra day at Santa Cruz/Monterey. I wanted to have a leisurely drive on Highway 1, so I added another night's stay before reaching LA. Hope this works.

Jean

You dropped a zero. It will be closer to 2000 miles.

I never know where to start on trips like this...

Tioga Pass most probably won't be open until May, so I would drop Yosemite. Lake Tahoe itself is gorgeous, but late April is "mud season" so I probably wouldn't go there at that time. I dislike Las Vegas and I prefer seeing the Grand Canyon while flying over in a 747, so I wouldn't make that drive at all. But my opinions of Tahoe in April, Las Vegas and the GC are just my opinions.

Jean

If you want to reduce driving needs, skip the Grand Canyon. That's almost 1000 miles right there.

jamie99

Tioga Pass will be closed in April so if you want to drive to Yosemite you will probably need to go via Bakersfield. You need an overnight between LV and Yosemite, either Bakersfield or maybe Tehachapi, it is a long drive to do in one day.
Personally I'd stay in Cambria or Pismo Beach rather than SLO which is inland, not much to see there except the mission.

Jean

I disagree that LV to Yosemite via Bakersfield requires an overnight. The drive would take about 7.5-8 hours which is about the same drive time as LA to the Grand Canyon planned by the OP for two days earlier (with a 4.5-5 hour drive to Vegas in between). I just think it's too much driving overall.

tomfuller

You don't say whwere you're coming from but is there a chance you could fly into Las Vegas instead of LA?
Avoid the boring drive through the Mojave Desert. Fly to LV to start. Rent the car there (cheap compared with California).
See Hoover Dam on the way to Grand Canyon South Rim.
A couple of things to see in the LV area are Valley of Fire and the Red Rocks area.
Return the car in LV and then fly to either SF, Sacramento, Oakland or LAX and rent a car to see the California parts including Yosemite. Depending on the winter snowfall, the waterfalls should be flowing very well by the 4th week of April.
If the drought continues the fire season will be bad like it was this year.
My favorite place to stay in Sacramento is the HI Hostel at 10th & H across from City Hall. It is the second oldest Victorian mansion in the city. They do have some family rooms with the double bed on the bottom and a twin on top.
They have a nice kitchen downstairs with a dining room with large old Oak tables.

petemadz

Thank you for all the inputs. I realize that there is too much driving.

@Jean It will be tough to skip GC, as I have already secured hotel bookings there.

The only option may be to tweak the non-driving days to 3 nights in LA, 2 in GC, 2 in LV, 2 in YNP, 1 in Sacramento/Tahoe, 2 in Monterey and 1 in SLO/Pismo/Cambria.

@tomfuller, I will be flying in from Boston. I found the tickets cheapest to LAX ($365 return per head), hence considered starting there. SFO is $410 per head and it is $450+ for LAS.

I still need inputs on a possible stay in Tahoe region. Is there anything interesting in late April ?

tomfuller

The cheapest airfare leaves you with the most expensive car rental for a couple days more IMO.
If you're going to Grand Canyon on a specific date, fly to Phoenix if you don't like the price to Las Vegas.
As for Tahoe, spend the night in Reno or Carson City and leave esrly to spend a good part of the day in the Tahoe region and then end the day in either Sacramento or San Francisco/Oakland.
If you do spend 3 days in LA, the 4th night should be spent driving across the Mojave to Las Vegas (or Phoenix) to return the car.
Either way ou do it, spend the time to see Hoover Dam between Las Vegas and Kingman AZ.
In Santa Barbara, your daughter should like the SB zoo.

MichelleY

As much as I love Tahoe, you need to skip it. From Yosemite, head over to the coast and ad that day in there.

clarkgriswold

Why are you skipping San Francisco? Certainly seems a better place to spend a night than Sacramento.

Gardyloo

Would also like to visit some other interesting areas depending upon weather conditions...

You are pretty likely to hit snowy conditions - some years very snowy in the Sierras. How much experience do you have in winter driving conditions?

One suggestion I'd make is to look at the Gold Rush country along California Hwy 49 (so named for the 1849 gold rush) in the western foothills of the Sierras. In the spring it's nothing short of glorious, with fascinating historic little towns, vineyards, great restaurants and cozy hotels, and beautiful spring landscapes all around. It's off the beaten path for many visitors, but well worth the time and (minimal) effort.

jamie99

clarkgriswold asks a very good question, why skip San Francisco? If concerned about parking your car, my understanding is that there are some motels along Lombard Street that have free parking. It would also make the drive from SF to Monterey shorter than leaving from Sacramento.

bankbabe

My question too about San Francisco. Hwy 1 is Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz is there. I just got back from that area and we did Pebble Beach. Wine country and San Fran in 11 days. It sounds like you are going to too many places and will be exhausted, maybe too exhausted to enjoy all because of having to rush on to the next stop.

San Fran has a lot for kids to do. Just my 2 cents but I am probably a lot older than you.

Christina

I love Tahoe for skiing, also, and it is beautiful so I could see its attractions in summer (although I usually go early March). But I wouldn't go there for no reason in April, just don't see the point that much. I would think the snow wouldn't be an issue then as ski season is usually over in early April. Some of those resorts stay open until 3rd week in April, but there usually isn't much snow on the roads at that time that I've ever seen. Of course I've mainly been on the big roads.

The Grand Canyon is much more worth seeing than Tahoe and Sacramento. YOu can get from Yosemite to west coast easily in one day, it's only about 200 miles from Yosemite to San Francisco. So I'd drop Tahoe and Sacramento and just go west, go to Napa if you want. Or, just go to Monterey if you don't want to visit San Francisco, you can easily spend several days in that area.

petemadz

Thank you once again. I ma trying to balance between SFO and Monterey/SC area since I have only 2 nights to spend across. My plan was to drive from Sacramento to SFO, spend time there to see GG Bridge and possibly Alcatraz and then drive on to Monterey to spend 2 nights in that area.

To reduce the driving, instead of driving directly from LA to GC, I am planning to do my first leg from LA to LV, stay there one night, go to GC, spend 2 nights, and drive back to LV for another night. My next concern is the length of the drive from LV to Yosemite, given that Yosemite East entrance (Tioga pass) will be closed. Instead of driving thru Bakersfield and the boring Highway 99, will any other roads that cross over Sierras such as 108 or 4 will be open by late April ?

If Lake Tahoe region has nothing to offer at that time, I would rather skip it and drive straight from YNP to SFO instead of Sacramento.

janisj

If you don't go to Tahoe, there is absolutely no reason to go anywhere near Sacramento . And even if you do go to Tahoe,you don't need to stay in Sacramento.

From Yosemite (absolutely gorgeous in April), drive straight to SF, it is only about a 4.5 hour drive. Stay in SF, and then travel down the coast. That drive from Vegas to Yosemite will be VERY long, and mostly pretty ugly. But I'd bite the bullet and do it in one VERY long day. I would not want to spend a night of my vacation in Barstow or Bakersfield.

mlgb

I disagree. The drive from Grand Canyon is a long one. I would overnight in Barstow or Bakersfield, depending on how early your start is from GC and how much you want to do along the way(checkout is 11 am). In April, I think it would be worthwhile to include some time along Route 66 (just Seligman, or the entire stretch from Seligman to Kingman). Another option is to go via Route 66 from Kingman to Havasu, stopping in Oatman which has the wild burros (your daughter would like that). If it isn't too hot, you could also stop to see the Kelso Depot and Dunes in Mojave Nation Preserve.

Tip..Gas up in Kingman before you leave Arizona. (You can check gas prices online, lots of mobile apps).

A great website for desert info, including wildflower watch, is www.desertusa.com

clarkgriswold

Do you have your air tickets already? If not consider flying into L.A. and flying home from SF.