Thinking of a west coast drive with older kids for about a week, late July or early August. Don't want to drive too much, maybe stay in one place a couple of nights then move on. Have been to the San Juan Islands & Vancouver & love Carmel & Monterrey, The Oregon coast is appealing but north or south of SF sounds good too. Kids are 11, 11 (boys) & 17 (girl). We love the ocean but good pools are important too. Any suggestions? Betsy

I vote for Highway 1 from Santa Monica to Half Moon Bay.

The coast along Hwy 1 is lovely, esp. from Big Sur to northern CA. I'm sure it's nice in OR too, but I haven't done that.

Any thoughts about the Oregon coast, which towns to stay in, etc?

My favs: Rt, 17, 9, are windy redwood lined roller coasters. Route 280 is from San Jose to SF is is a trip during off-peak hours. Humboldt County and the 101 is also legendary. Enjoy!

Bandon, OR, with its dramatic sea stacks, was one of our favorites.

I just returned from driving north from Pismo Beach to San Francisco with my travel buddy from PA. It was beautiful! We stayed at Asilomar in Pacific Grove--right across from the beach and close enough to Monterey Aquarium, great resto's (although you can sign up as a leisure guest at Asilomar and have breakfast). Have to recommend Steamer's of Pismo as a great seafood resto.

the Oregon coast from Brookings to Tillimook..the best scenery in the world.

the oregon coast is beautiful. anywhere including oregon down to santa barbara is fabulous.

Thanks all for the input, wish we had more time for travel!!
Betsy

BetsyG: We drove the Oregon coast last summer. We flew into San Francisco drove up to Seattle and then flew home. It was a wonderful trip!! We spent the first night in San Francisco at Fisherman's Wharf, rode the cable cars and did the touristy stuff. The next day we drove through Sonoma and spent a few hours wandering through town and then headed up to Garberville (near the entrance to the Avenue of the Giants) and spent the night. Great little pizza place behind the Best Western. Lots of families at the hotel with a decent outdoor pool and hot tub. The next day we drove through the Avenue of the Giants (fabulous!), spent a few hours at a street festival at Eureka and up to Bandon. We were in Bandon the 4th of July and they had a fantastic (and lengthy!) fireworks display down by the waterfront. Wonderful beach for walking (too cold for swimming though). The next morning we drove up the Oregon coast to Cannon Beach. Along the way we stopped for a dune buggy tour (fun!), visited Sea Lion Caves and the Tillamook cheese factory. Cannon Beach was beautiful. The next day we headed inland and visited Mt St Helens on our way to Seattle. The last few nights we stayed at the Marriott Courtyard at Lake Union. It was a good choice with a free shuttle to most of downtown Seattle which eliminates the need to have to find parking. One of our days we went whalewatching, another doing Seattle stuff (Pike's Market, Space Needle, etc.) The last day we drove up to Mt Ranier and then came back and spent the evening along the waterfront. We covered about 1100 miles that week and had a great time along the way.

Luvtravel - did you do all that in a week? How many hours did you end up driving each day? Right now I am thinking either a loop from SF(south), Portland (Oregon coast), or Seattle(San Juan Islands,Vancouver,etc).We have done the third many years ago with only one child & loved it. Does anyone know if you can see the Orcas in July from San Juans? Betsy

Hi Betsy G! We flew into SanFrancisco on Saturday, July 2 and flew home from Seattle on Sunday, July 10. We drove several hours each day but made many stops along the way. I don't think you can go wrong with either the SanFrancisco or Seattle loop. Regarding orcas, July is a great time to see them. We took our tour out of Anacortes (leaves directly from Anacortes and lasts about half the day). The surprising thing for me with watching Orcas is that they move SO fast! It's not like watching humpbacks where you hang out in one location and can watch them for a while. On the orca tour, the boat positioned itself ahead of where they thought the Orcas were going and sat and waiting until they passed by (at a high rate of speed!). Dress warm if you decide to do one of these trips - even in July it is cold when you are out on the water.

luvtravel - I am tempted to try your trip! Thanks for the info, Betsy