mikeB123

Hi everyone. My wife and I are planning a 2 week trip from Sept 30 to Oct 14 We are big into nature (especially beautiful scenery and taking pictures) and hiking and are trying to hit most of the key attractions. If anyone has any suggestions or tweaks to the timeline please comment.

Day 1- Fly to Portland
- See Washington park and walk through the Japanese Garden,
stay the night at Comfort Suites Portland Airport
-Any suggestions on good thai food/vegan options in a reasonable price range?
are the food trucks open for dinner?

Day 2:
-Drive to Crowne state park,Multnomah Falls To Wahkeena Falls Loop
-drive to Trillium Lake- hike
drive to Salem and spend the night at Phoenix Inns Suites

Day 3
- Drive to Silver Falls state park and hike the trial of ten falls loop
- Drive to Astoria and spend the night at the Astoria Crest Motel

Day 4
See the Astoria Column, walk the riverwalk, see the Astoria-Megler Bridge
-Drive to Cannon beach to see the Haystack Needle
-Drive to Pacific City to see Cape Kiwanda
-Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area
-Drive to Coos Bay and stay at either the Red Lion or Plainview Motel

Day 5
-Drive to Crater Bay, drive around Crater Lake Rim Scenic Drive, stop and hike Cleetwood Cove Trail Garfield Peak Trail
drive to Crescent City, CA and spend the night at the lighthouse inn

Day 6:
-Drive down the 101 to the Avenue of Giants
-travel to Medicino, CA to see glass beach, mediciino headlands state park, point calbrillo light station
-Drive to Point Reyes national Seashore for the Cypress Tree Trail
-Drive to SF and spend the night 2-3 days with friends

Day 7,8,9
- See the Golden Gate Bridge, Devil's Slide bike ride,Wander Land’s End and the Sutro Baths, China Town, Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf, Ride a trolley, Palace of fine arts, Jail and Sail Alcatraz tour and Bay twilight sail

Day 10
-Drive to Big Basin
- Natural Bridges state park
-Drive to Monteray
-Spend the night at one of (Pelican Inn, Howard Johnson Marinia, Pacific Inn, Moneterey Bay Travelodge)

Day 11:
See 17 mile drive, walk around Pebble Beach Golf Course- any recommended restraunts other things to see on 17 mile drive?
-Cannery Row
-Fisherman's Wharf
-Carmel by the sea
Drive down highway 1 to see: It appears that highway 1 is closed south of Carmel by the Sea- any route directions to see the following: I'm assuming you would take 101
• Pfeiffer Beach, McWay Falls, Point Sur State Historic Park, Ragged Point, Bixby bridge

Spend the night in Cambria- Creekside Inn

day 12:
See the elephant seal rockery, Moonstone beach
Drive to Moro bay and see moro rock
Drive to San Luis Obispo - hike to Bishop Peak
See Mission Santa
Drive through Malibu- see el matador state park, Point Dume
Spend the night at Hampton Inn and Suites Malibu

Day 13:
Drive to LA-
Griffith Observatory, Walk of fame, sunset boulevard, Santa monica Pier, Getty Center

Stay at Best Western plus garden near LAX

Thanks everyone in advance for your time and effort.

janisj

Quick comments:

Day 5 is impossible. Coos Bay to Crater Lake to Crescent City is about 8 hours of car time plus stops/hikes.

Day 6 is just about impossible too. Crescent City > Ave of the Giants > Mendocino > Pt Reyes > SF is more than a 9 hour drive plus stops/hikes.

Those are butts in seats times -- not really doable.

Some of your other days are just as bad.

MmePerdu

Do you really want to DO all those things, or are they lists to choose from? If the former, you may want to fly into San Francisco and save Oregon for another trip. SF to LA would be a full trip with all those activities.

tomfuller

Just so you know: The Phoenix Inn/Salem is next door to a big porn shop.
Find someplace else near Silver Falls or just go over to the coast on US 26 and stay in Cannon Beach (@Haystack Rock).
The bottom of the Cleetwood Trail in Crater Lake NP is the dock for the boat over to to Wizard Island. If you go, buy your tickets in advance.
I agree that day 5 is impossible if you hike down and back up the Cleetwood trail even if you don't ride the boat.
If you can't get lodging at the Crater Lake Lodge, try at the Diamond Lake Resort.
Are you aware of the missing bridge at Pfeiffer? (long detour).

janisj

tom: >>If you can't get lodging at the Crater Lake Lodge, try at the Diamond Lake Resort.

jlee

saving this for my future travels. thanks!

DebbieDoesDulles

I think you have one more day to fill if your last day/ return flight day is Oct 14?

San Luis Obispo to Malibu is a 3 hour drive and you're doing it late in the day so will hit traffic all through Santa Barbara & Ventura...plan on 4 hours.

There is no Hampton Inn in Malibu.

Patty

You're going to have to pare down your list on Day 11. Hwy 1 is closed 26 miles south of Carmel which means detouring on both ends. Bixby Bridge, Point Sur Lighthouse and Pfeiffer Beach are north of the closure. Point Sur Lighthouse can only be visited on a 3 hour guided tour which is only offered on certain days of the week. Otherwise you can see it from a distance from the highway. Pfeiffer Beach is currently closed and there's no ETA on reopening but it's possible it will be open by fall. The drive down to Pfeiffer Beach from Monterey is an hour without stops plus an hour to return to Monterey to take the inland route to Cambria which will take 2.5 hours. Ragged Point and McWay Falls are south of the closure. Driving north from Cambria it's probably about 2 hours to McWay Falls plus 2 hours back. And that doesn't include any of the non-Big Sur sights on your list. The most optimistic estimate by Caltrans has the bridge reopening this October but I don't think I'd count on that.

mikeB123

Thanks everyone for you comments. I think I may have overestimated how much we can do in the 2 weeks. I think I may take your suggestion of breaking it up into 2 seperate vacations and we may just fly into SF instead. I'll post an updated itinerary when I get a chance. Thanks again.

MmePerdu

Smart man (anyone who takes my advice).