First road trip out west help!
 

I am trying to plan a road trip from atlanta to California we are only going one way and then flying home to save time most likely. We have 3.5 weeks from may 25 onwards. There are four of us two teens (17,15) We will be staying in hotels and motels no camping! Also we are not big hikers. What route should we take? What should we see etc i have no clue how to start planning. We want to see as many things as possible! We will end up in Francisco or san deigo. Would it be better to do a round trip deal or rent a car drive one way and then fly home? We want to see as many of the best national parks, vistas, cool things etc. As you can see we need alot of help!
Thanks

Or maybe fly into a city out west and rent a car from there?

You will save by returning your car to the same place you pick it up. Thus, it would be a good idea to fly into and out of the same city. Los Angeles, for instance.

Some of the main attractions in California are San Diego, Los Angeles, the coast from Malibu to Monterey (Highway 1), San Francisco, the redwoods, Yosemite NP, Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP, and Death Valley NP.

Las Vegas is an important destination for many visitors and the Grand Canyon, Zion NP, Bryce NP, and Arches NP are among other scenic wonders.

HTTY

Congrats on your trip carrentals.com ATL SFO
Route Atlana smokies Nashville Memphis
parallel www.historic66.com route via Ozarks
Amarillo www.bigtexan.com fun I ate a FREE 72 oz
steak there in 55 minutes Santa Fe Taos visitsedona.com Grand Canyon Vegas Death Valley yosemite.com to carmelcalifornia.com
up the coast to SF.

Best way I have done it...

It might help to know what you are interested in? Want to see cities, amusement parks or National Parks?

Two and a half weeks isn't really a lot of time for all that is out here! You might consider flying to say Las Vegas because there are usually good fares and rent a car and do a round trip from there. This will also save you on any big one way drop off fees on the rental car. If you want to see the natural wonders then Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Bryce and Zion make for a good 10 days. You might consider going to Yosemite or if you want to see the coast, then Los Angeles or San Diego.

Utahtea

There's a heck of a lotta space between Atlanta and California and much of it is very tedious driving.

For the limited amount of time you have, best to fly to Las Vegas, rent a car, and drive a loop through the National Parks, fly to SF or LA and visit there.

It would certainly help to know what you are interested in doing. Or not doing.

California is a rather large state. Let us know which cities or National Park(s) you want to visit.
I like the idea of flying to Las Vegas and renting a car there and making a large loop and then flying home rather than paying a drop off fee.
If you had the extra time you could ride Amtrak going to or coming home from Los Angeles or San Francisco.
I really enjoyed my trip on the Crescent from New Orleans to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Washington DC.

Okay so I checked fares so it would be better and save more time to fly into Ca or vegas! So Maybe fly into San Diego spend a couple days there then go up highway one to (San Francisco, the redwoods, Yosemite NP, Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP, and Death Valley NP) Then maybe fly to Vegas($120 flight) rent car drive do grand canyon, zion and bryce Np and then head up to some national parks in utah??

I think you need to just fly to Denver, Salt Lake, Vegas, or somewhere in CA.
You could easily spend your time in just Colorado and Utah or just California.

With two teens involved, I think you should make the planning a family 'project' of a sort.

Randomly determine who gets to pick FIRST, and then, one by one, each pick a spot on the vast path between Atlanta and California (narrow that to "L.A.", or whichever)...

Once somebody picks, say, "New Orleans", then it shall be destined that the trip go through New Orleans. The next person must pick a spot either between Atl and N.O. OR a spot between N.O. and "California".

IF he/she picks "San Antonio", then the path will NOT likely go through Dallas, and NOT through Oklahoma...

Perhaps somebody will pick "The Grand Canyon", and that will further cement the random-ish route you'll take.

Driving isn't a bad idea, with all the time that you have - for how many of us get to remember having "driven across country with our families". Should be a great time of year to go as well... before most schools are out, and before the real heat of summer.

With 3 1/2 weeks, people in your vehicle are free to pick spots as far north as Denver (Yellowstone might be pushing-it, but who knows). (nobody says you couldn't fly home from San Fran. vs. L.A. - )


You just need to resign yourself that your 'vacation' will have you on-the-GO perhaps even more than does real life.

And while plotting the route across the country, don't forget that you'll be saving some time to actually see California once you get there.

I think your amount of time is plenty... but I would suggest packaging up souvenirs every 5 days or so, and mailing them to somebody back 'home' from various stops along your path. Don't want to get to California and have tons of stuff to pack and pay-for, on a plane.

Involve everybody in the mapping-out of your trip and then they can't blame you too much for how the path evolves in front of them.

Should be plenty of family bonding along the way...

You actually could do two loops from Vegas. One to Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands etc. and then one to LA, California coast SF, Yosemite, Sequoia, etc and if it is summer, a drive through Death Valley could be tagged onto either end of the California loop.

The loops could be done in either direction and in either order, depending on what makes sense in terms of accommodations etc. This would eliminate drop off fees for the car and generally Vegas is less expensive to rent cars in than other cities.

Have a great trip.

<i>Okay so I checked fares so it would be better and save more time to fly into Ca or vegas! So Maybe fly into San Diego spend a couple days there then go up highway one to (San Francisco, the redwoods, Yosemite NP, Sequoia NP, Kings Canyon NP, and Death Valley NP) Then maybe fly to Vegas($120 flight) rent car drive do grand canyon, zion and bryce Np and then head up to some national parks in utah??</i>

What time of the year are you coming? If it's summer, then you're not going to be able to do to much in Death Valley except drive though. If you've made it all the way to Death Valley you can keep on going and make the loop to Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon. With just 2 1/2 weeks (18 days) that's a lot of ground to cover (at least 2000 miles) and a lot of places to see. You won't have a lot of time at each place.

Not sure which Redwoods you are talking about, but if you're thinking Redwood National Park near the Oregon border, then it's to far north for your short period of time. You're looking at 350 miles N. of SF! There are redwoods in the SF Bay Area. Muir Woods comes to mind but it's been YEARS since I've been.

Utahtea