Driving the Coast from Los Angeles CA to Forks WA
 

My granddaughter and I are flying into LAX in June. We plan to travel the coastal HWY 1 and 101 to Forks WA. My granddaughter is a Twilight fan which is why we are including the LaPush and Forks WA area. We will be stopping off for a few days in Oregon to visit my daugther and her family.
Any ideas?
Right now I have my agenda as follows:
FRI 06/15 Flight from CRW to LAX - pick up rental car
Stay night in LA
SAT 06/16 See sights of LA
Drive toward Big Sur – Stay night on Hwy 1 Lighthouse tour
SUN 06/17 Drive to San Francisco
See San Fran bridge and CITY OF SAN FRAN – Stay night leaving San Fran
MON 06/18 Drive to Eureka
Spend night in Redwoods
TUE 06/19 Drive to Port Orford OR and see the point lighthouse CONTINUE ON TO LINCOLN CITY
Spend night in LINCOLN CITY
WED 06/20 Lincoln City, OR
Spend night in area
THU 06/21 MAYBE ANOTHER NIGHT IN LINCOLN CITY OR ANOTHER BEACH IN OR
FRI 06/22 to SUN 06/24 OREGON with family
MON 06/25 HEAD TO LONG BEACH
TUE 06/26 LA PUSH
WED 06/27 FORKS
THU 06/28 SEATTLE
FRI 06/29 FLIGHT HOME AT 11 PM

I only have 15 days. Any suggestions or tidbits of information that will make our trip more enjoyable.
Thanks,
Pat

Your trip is pretty close to a trip my wife and I will also be doing in June. We are not familiar with that areas but if you look under the topic we wrote West Coast Natl Parks road trip there are alot of great ideas people have shared with us. We hope you and your granddaughter have a wonderful trip.

Lincoln City would not be my first choice of places to stay on the Oregon Coast- I would prefer Newport or Yachats. In Yachats I like to stay at the Adobe or the Overleaf- the Adobe being the less expensive and has a restaurant with great views. In June you can expect cool weather still .

Do you know exactly what your drop off fee will be on the rental car?
Where are your relatives in Oregon? If you could extend your trip by 2 days or cut one of your destinations you could drive the rental back on I-5 to LAX and return without paying a big drop off fee.
If the hotel rate in San Francisco is too high, check Point Reyes. (link in jrnjill's thread).
Before you head to Long Beach Washington check out the Astoria Column and the waterfront of Astoria Oregon.

I agree with the Yachats or Newport suggestion instead of Lincoln City for the Oregon Coast.

I'm not sure how much you can "see" of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle with only 1 day in each place. While I love SF I might consider skipping it just to give you more time for your driving and coastal destinations.

tomfuller: I got a great deal thru orbitz on the car rental. It is an economy car but I am picking the car up at LAX on the 15th, dropping it off at SEA on the 29th and the total cost is $573.45.

Thanks all of you to your hotel suggestions, the reason I chose Lincoln City is that it is close to my daughter who lives in Newberg, but she can travel a little further to meet up with us at a better location. Keep the suggestions coming!
Thanks,
Pat

Dang - lost another post. Hate that when I go to retreive a web page and they get wiped sometimes.

Anyhow - I grew up in Oregon and would second staying at the Yachats area v. Lincoln City - as Lincoln City is busier and has a casino on the north side of town.

Now - having said that - I think you should take another day or two driving the Cal Coast and perhaps see Hearst Castle - by San Simeon - although you can stay in cute Cambria. http://www.hearstcastle.org/

Just north of the entrance to Hearst Castle, about 2 miles - is the Elephant Seal beach - which is a very interesting and ashort stop.

Then - the best area of all may be the Carmel/Monterrey/Pebble Beach area - with the great Acquarium, fabled Cannery Row (John Steinbeck's subject), and driving by the world renowned golf course, Pebble Beach, etc

http://www.monterey.com/mc7/maps.html

And as you come into Big Sur- a favorite stop for Coffee or a snack and taking in the incredible view is Nepenthene.

And here is the page for Nepenthene - and you can google around for more Big Sur info. http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/

And for rental cars - I always check www.carrentals.com, which has a number of the lesser known companies - and they have new cars - so I like them if they have the lowest rates. :)

BTW - Depot Bay south of Lincoln City also has some cute places to stay, good beaches, etc. http://www.depoebaychamber.org/

If you don't go to the aquarium in Monterey, plan on seeing the Oregon Coast Aquarium just south of Newport and then stay at Depot Bay instead of Lincoln City.
Make a stop at the Tillamook cheese factory just north of Tillamook. They make great ice cream too.

If you have never been to San Francisco before, I believe you may regret if you do not spend two nights there.

Our favorite places to stay on the Oregon coast are Bandon, Yachats, Newport, and Cannon Beach.

HTTY