tonyL64

My wife and I are taking Amtrak from Chicago to San Francisco arriving on May 19th. We have seen SF several times so we going to Yosemite first. Then toward Seattle. We do not want to take I-5 anymore than necessary we want to go up the coast but do not know where to start. We were thinking getting off I-5 at Colusa and heading for 101 from there . Or should we just go back through SF from Yosemite and head up 101 from there . We do not need to see every town on the coast but would like to see the best of 101. We plan on going to Portland but is a stop at Crater Lake in May worthwhile? Would like to go up the coast from there to Portland and Seattle. Then to Salt Lake City. Is this doable in 12 days? We do not have to go to SLC but probably will not get this way again.
How much time is Yosemite worth? What should we not miss on the California coast drive ? How much time in Portland? Seattle? Any help you can give will be appreciated so I thank you in advance for your words of knowledge from experience. Oh, we are flying out on Sunday May 31 from Seattle or SLC.

janisj

Just time for one quick comment right now . . . If you aren't going to visit SF, why are you going to SF?

If Yosemite is your ultimate destination, get off Amtrak 2 hours earlier in Sacramento and pick up your car there? Otherwise you will have to futz about w/ the bus from Emeryville to SF and then get a car and deal w/ horrendous Bay Area traffic.

Sac to YNP is about 3 hours. SF to YNP is about 4 hours - but could be much longer depending on time of day.

tomfuller

Good question janisj. Take the California Zephyr to Sacramento arriving mid afternoon. Rent a car in downtown Sacramento before the car rental places close at 5.
drive as far as Merced and spend the night there. Head for Yosemite in the morning. If the weather is good, you should enjoy the drive and the park.
Return the car to Sacramento and then take the Coast Starlight (leaves SAC about midnight) to Klamath Falls OR. Rent a car and drive to Crater Lake NP (south entrance).
Leaving Crater Lake you have the choice of heading to Seattle (or Portland) or heading back south to Sacramento to catch the California Zephyr east to SLC.
The CZ makes a late night (early AM) stop in SLC if you wanted to stop and visit for 24 hours on the way to California.
I can assure you that in late May there will be some roads closed by snow in Crater Lake NP.

janisj

>>Rent a car in downtown Sacramento before the car rental places close at 5.
drive as far as Merced and spend the night there. Sonoma > the coast. Head north as far as you want -- jogging over to central Oregon if you want to see Crater Lake (but the rim road will likely not be open in May)

Dayle

tony64,

Why do you want to visit SLC? Anything specific? Northern UT is beautiful, but just for sightseeing I wouldn't come to just the SLC valley. Would you be taking the train back from here or something?

tomfuller

By all means if the CZ is late into SAC, spend the night in Sacramento and rent the car in the morning to head directly to Yosemite.
You other choice with the Coast Starlight would be to go to Portland and rent the car there. You can head for the coast and head south as far as Reedsport on US 101. Head east on Rt. 38 to see the elk. Just east of Elkton, take Rt. 138 to I-5. Take I-5 south about 10 miles to Roseburg where you get on Rt. 138 again past Diamond Lake. You'll have to take Rt. 230 south to get to Rt. 62 to the south entrance of Crater Lake. Leaving Crater Lake head east on 62 to get on US 97.
Head north on US97 to Bend which I can assure you is not a pit.
Leaving Bend, head north on 97 to Madras then US 26 to near Government Camp where you get on Rt. 35 north to Hood River.
See the waterfalls and the Columbia between Hood River and Portland. If you still have a day left, go see Seattle. If you return the car in Portland, there are several trains per day to Seattle. The Cascades trains use Talgo units which are a little nicer than the older Superliner cars.

tonyL64

Janisj, thank you for the tip about getting off in SAC. I was going to rent from Enterprise which an office directly across the street from the train station in Emeryville. But I was wondering about fighting traffic from Emeryville to Yosemite. But it is fine w/me to get off in SAC and drive from there.
TomF- don't think I want to take the train,would rather drive up the coast.
Another question for you all. What towns along the Cal coast are your favorites? Same for Or?
Dayle- no, flying back. Just thought SLC would be interesting to see.
What about Mt. Rainier, Olympia NP? Roads closed mid May?
Thank you all so much for your advice

janisj

There is an Enterprise in downtown Sacramento - not walking distance from the station but they will come get you.

There are many nice places along the coast where you can stop. Mendocino is especially nice but there are lots of others. Farther up Ferndale is sweet.

This place is near Mendocino but is off by itself in a magnificent situation.

http://www.littleriverinn.com

tomfuller

For coastal Oregon, I like Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach (Haystack Rock), Tillamook (cheese factory) and Newport. Just south of Newport is the Oregon Coast Aquarium which is worth the stop.

tonyL64

Thank you so much, just the info I was looking for about the coast. Two more question, how much time for Portland and Seattle each? Any favorite wineries along the coast? And again thank you so much,I knew you two would come through.

tomfuller

Are you sure that you are doing a one way car rental starting from Sacramento? I would save Salt Lake City for another trip where you went to see the great National Parks in southern Utah.
As for Portland and Seattle 24 to 32 hours in each should be enough. I would turn in the car in Portland when I arrived there and then take an Amtrak Cascades train from PDX to Seattle. There is a good light rail system from downtown Seattle out to the SeaTac airport.
If it came to a choice of only one city, I'd choose Portland.
The east end of the TriMet red line light rail is at the PDX airport. Outside Portland see the waterfalls and the Columbia Gorge before turning in the rental car.

Dayle

Hi tony,

Yes, I agree with tom that you should visit SLC on another trip dedicated to Utah. There is so much to do and see in our state, but I wouldn't make the drive just for SLC alone.

I've done 4 vacations to Oregon over the last few years. I think my favorites along the coast were some of the smaller towns than those tom mentioned. Just for scenery, loved Cannon Beach but not the town. Extremely touristy, but there are some nice art galleries.

Depot Bay, Manzanita, Yachats (SP?) and many of the state parks and coastal viewpoints are worth stopping. Really enjoyed the Aquarium. The southern OR coast seemed to be the most spectacular. Brookings and Bandon Beach just amazing.

Have fun!

tonyL64

Tomfuller and Dayle, I am going to leave SLC for another trip. I think you all are right to leave it so I can incorporate it with Wyoming and Colorado. Dayle thanks for the coastal towns tips, my wife and I are really looking forward to the Pacific Coast Highway.
Tom, we will probably keep the car till Seattle so that we can see the sights nearby to Seattle.
Thank you again for the great advice it is much appreciated.

tonyL64

My wife has now told me she wants to stop in Napa area after Yosemite. Any favorite inns, restaurants you have. She is thinking she wants to go to Michael Chiarello's Bottega Napa Valley. Any thoughts? Thanks.

janisj

>>She is thinking she wants to go to Michael Chiarello's Bottega Napa Valley.