laureljm

My husband and I (both 28 and reasonably adventurous) are in the very early stages of planning a road trip from Portland, OR to San Diego, CA. Besides what Google Maps is telling me, I have no concept of how much time to leave for this trip, what our $ budget should be, and what amount of driving can be realistically accomplished in a day.

At minimum, our tentative plans include:
- Fly into Portland as early as possible. That day + next day (two nights) in Portland with family
- Leisurely drive down the Oregon coast with ample time for hiking/sightseeing
- Two days (one night) in wine country (should we do two nights?)
- Two days (one night) in San Francisco/Muir Woods area with family
- Two days (one night) in LA area
- Two full days (two nights) in San Diego area with friends; fly out of San Diego on the 3rd day.

We've been to San Francisco and I've been to LA before, but we're pretty new to Portland, wine country, San Diego, and the rest of the drive in between.

We enjoy good wine, beer, food, and scenery, so we certainly don't want to rush this trip, but we'd like to be as efficient as possible with our vacation time.

Is there anything great we're forgetting? Thanks for any help!

bbqboy

by wine county you mean Napa/Sonoma?

laureljm

Yes -- we'll do research to figure out which specific wineries we'd like to visit when we know how long we've budgeted to spend there.

tomfuller

Oregon has some nice wine country as well.
The Oregon coast is nice but you could cut east to see Crater Lake NP. Cut east at Reedsport on 38 and see the Dean Creek Elk viewing area. Continue east on 38 to Elkton and take 138 which will bring you out on I-5. Take 138 east out of Roseburg up the Umpqua River past Diamond Lake to get to the north entrance of Crater Lake. When leaving the south entrance, you can choose to go west on 62 to get to Medford or east to get to US 97 which takes you back to I-5 at Weed CA.
Take a look at more of Oregon than just the coast.

Orcas

Not sure how much time you have, particularly for your trip down the Oregon coast. What's your situation?

laureljm

We could take up to two weeks, but I didn't want to take off work more days than necessary. Planning for the last two weeks or so in October.

laureljm

@tomfuller you're right -- I do like Oregon wine but just forgot about it when faced w/ Napa and Sonoma. And your thoughts about traveling through Oregon sound great.

Orcas

Two weeks is great! I like your plan, especially the leisurely trip down the Oregon Coast. You will love that. We loved the Oregon Caves. There's a National Park Lodge you can stay in there. I'm not too wild about Crater Lake, though everyone else seems to be. Hope you are planning on taking route 1 down the California Coast, esp between SF and LA. How can you go wrong with that itinerary?

jamie99

How are you getting from SF to LA? I would take at least 2 days (3 is better) and stay in either Monterey or Carmel for one night, another night in Cambria or Pismo Beach and a third night in Santa Barbara. There are some lovely (and less expensive tasting fees) both in the Paso Robles area (just inland from Cambria a short distance) and the Santa Ynez Vally (north and inland from Santa Barbara).

laureljm

Fantastic recommendations. Thanks! Keep 'em coming!