Susan - Your new schedule looks good. If you leave Cambria at 8am, you should make it to Laguna Beach by 4pm.
That gives you 8 eight hours to make the drive and since it is around 285 miles according to my map, you should be able to do it in about 5 hours.

This of course is all contingent on traffic in Los Angeles. If you leave Cambria by 8am, you should hit Santa Monica in 3.5-4 hours which would put you there around lunch time. A word of advice, I wouldn't really stop for lunch but try to get through Los Angeles as quickly as possible. You should be able to get from Santa Monica to Laguna in a couple of hours at the most if you do it between noon and 2. If it's after 2 pm, you will start getting rush hour traffic. Yes, it starts that early in the afternoon! I am a sales rep and drive all over So. Calif. It used to be that if you made it on the freeway by 3pm you were OK. The other day I left Santa Monica headed south around 3pm and the 405 was gridlock all the way to Orange County. If you want to stop for lunch then I would leave a little earlier in the morning. On my recent trip, I had two grumpy teenagers with me, they just got up and went back to sleep in the car!

Thanks Paula, that's the kind of advice I can work with. (BTW I'm Vanessa not Susan...'S' disappeared after the original post)
We'll eat lunch in the car to avoid getting stuck in too much traffic. Unfortunately grouchy teenager has a 7yrold sister so sleeping in the backseat generally isn't an option but as this part of the trip doesn't sound exactly scenic we'll let them watch a DVD.

Thanks to everyone and I've doubled my original optimistic drivetime to 14hrs.
I'll post a report at the end of Feb.

Sorry Vanessa-didn't realize the poster had changed after the first questions. Just to add one thing, the beginning of the drive is actually very scenic. When you leave Cambria, you take the Route 1 to SLO. It goes past Morro Bay and it was beautiful the other morning seeing the rock sticking out of the bay. Then around Santa Barbara you drive along the coast, again very beautiful. Once you get past Santa Barbara then you begin to go inland and start hitting the cities. So even if your teenager wants to sleep (which sounds like that will be hard to do!), there are some nice views until you get closer to LA.

Thanks again Paula!

We'll hold onto the DVD until we get past Santa Barbara.
I'm looking forward to the trip especially the coastal views and I'm pretty sure the weather will be better than icy Massachusetts!

One more question... I'm tempted to visit either Pfeiffer Big Sur Park or Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (to see Redwoods and the waterfall respectively).
This would break up the journey a little more and stretch our legs.

Does anyone have a preference or suggestion for either of these 2 parks. (Ultimately weather may dictate our decision)
Thanks in advance,
V

If the sun is shining, suggest a stopover at Point Lobos State Reserve, which is 2 miles south of Carmel. It has wonderful easy hikes and gorgeous views.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns will offer you the only waterfall to spill into the Pacific Ocean. Very easy hike for 1/2 hour. Very much worth it.

Pfeiffer Big Sur has some easy trails where you can spend 1/2 to an hour just straining your neck looking upward at the redwoods. Easy in and out.

Would recommend all three as they offer three different views and aspects.

Enjoy California!

Thanks easytraveler!

Can't resist and hope to visit all 3 suggestions.

Is Point Lobos State Reserve the place to view seals?

One thing I have not seen discussed on this thread is the coast north of San Francisco. Some of the most spectacular views in the world can be seen in Point Reyes, Jenner, Marshall, Gualala, and Mendocino. The water is cold so you cannot swim but the views are spectacular. I ride my bicycle on the coast all the time. Have a great trip.

When you get near LA turn you radio dial to AM 1070 KNX radio and start listening for traffic reports.Since there are a couple of ways of traversing through the LA basin you might be able to aviod some of the worst traffic bottlenecks.Just make sure your navigator has a good map of Southern California to plot alternate routes.

Just a quick thankyou to everyone for your advice. We had a great time in SF, Cambria, Laguna Beach and San Diego.

Highlights in San Francisco included Alcatraz (on a beautiful sunny morning) and great views from Coit Tower. The Chinese New Year parade was very
colorful ,surprisingly noisy..those firecrackers are LOUD!..and a little damp at times!
Luckily the sun shone for our drive along the Cabrillo highway which was very picturesque and photogenic! We pulled in several times to photograph the stunning views only to go around the next bend and find more awesome scenery!
We stopped at Julia Pffeifer State Park and walked to the waterfall and had a late lunch at Ragged Point.
We left SF at 8am and arrived in Cambria before 4pm so had time to soak in the Fogcatcher's hot tub before dinner at Brambles.
We left The Fogcatcher at 8am after a quick breakfast and a brief walk on the beach. The rain had just stopped and started again just as we reached Lake Cachuma so this was a very brief stop and we ate our picnic lunch in the car!

We arrived at the Marriott in Dana Point before 3pm and had plenty of time to swim in the beautiful warm outdoor pool overlooking the coast before dinner at Javiers (Mexican at Laguna Beach). We loved both the hotel and the restaurant and were almost sorry to leave for San Diego after 2 nights.

San Diego was warm and sunny and we finally escaped the showers! Sea World was great fun and we went back for a second day. My kids loved the Atlantis ride and looped around several times until they were thoroughly soaked.

We stayed at the Marriott on Coronado Is. for 1 night but didn't like it so we transfered to the new Marriott in the Gaslamp District and loved this hotel.

A couple of restaurants in the gas amp area that we enjoyed were Monsoon (INDIAN) and The Royal Thai.

Oops I forgot to mention the wildlife! We saw the sealions at Fishermans Wharf and reckoned that since they've been there since just after the 1989 earthquake that maybe they'll act as an early warning system for the next one?! ...or not?!!

We also saw the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blanchos (?)..not the world's most glamorous animals but my daughter was charmed for a short while and then feeding the dolphins at Sea World kept everyone entertained.

Our 3rd trip to California and now we want to go back for more...we LOVED it and are looking forward to seeing Yosemite next time.

Thanks again!
Vanessa

We make the drive on Highway 1 between Santa Monica and San Francisco at least once a year.

There are some nice towns between LA and San Diego, but the coast scenery is not as spectacular.

highflier - Sounds like you had a really great time.

Yes, thankyou J Correa we had an absolutely lovely time. We met up with some old friends in Laguna Beach and they apologised for the Californian weather but, hey we got wetter at Sea World on a sunny day than the rest of the trip put together!
Oh and on Monday night another 8" of snow fell here in Massachusetts!