CaribbeanChick

Good morning!

I am currently 4 months pregnant and will be about 5.5-6 when we go on this trip. We'd like to head out April 26th... for about 2 weeks...Currently feeling fine... don't think that will be a problem...

We looked at driving all the way from San Fran-Yosemite-LAS-Zion Natl-Bryce Natl-Salt Lake-Grand Teton-Yellowstone- Rapid City(Mt. Rushmore)-back to Atlanta.... the longest stretch is Yellowstone to Rapid City is 10 hours... We can also FLY to come of these.. like fly into Salt Lake and do Bryce and maybe Moab maybe skipping Zion.. I think the drive from San Fran to Rapid City might be way too long.....

Any help would be appreciated! We don't like to linger around too long... we'd had planned a day at each destination after we get there... Wouldn't mind flying from nearby Yosemite rather than driving 8.5 hours to Las Vegas.. plus we've been to Vegas before.. so if that can be taken out is ok too.. At one point we also mentioned Sedona, and the Grand Canyon, even though not important my husband already saw those last year, and I saw part of the Canyon... In San Francisco we're interested in the MUIR Woods, and Yosemite Glacier Point and the Mariposa Grove... hope these are open then...

This has become very stressful.. I understand also some places might not be open, with regards to roads due to snow...

Also, how long would you allot per PARK?? We were thinking a day each... maybe trying to pinpoint some places to fly out of...

Thank you in advance for your help!

emalloy

I understand your wanting to see it all, but you need to consider the weather conditions. It will still be snowy in Yellowstone in April and it is a looooong way from there to the other parks. Yosemite valley will be open (and probably busy) but the upper areas may not, although the waterfalls should be very nice. Bryce will probably have snow on the trails, but the road will be fine.

How long to stay in the parks depends on what you like to do. If you like to hike, then you could spend many days in each park, if you don't then a day to drive around and do a look shoud suffice.

If you want to spend a few days in California, from San Francisco you could see Muir Woods, then head over and see Yosemite including Mariposa. Then fly to Vegas, drive the 3 hrs up to Zion for a day, drive to Bryce for a day and maybe go to Moab for a couple of days and fly out of Grand Junction. This would involve some stiff drop off charges for car rental, but you could do it.

Note this totally eliminates the northern parks and does not allow for long stays in any of them.

Do visit www.nps.gov to get some information on each area and the likely weather conditions, closures, etc. and do get a park pass at the first one you go to, it gets you and everyone in your car into all national parks for a year.

CaribbeanChick

Thank you. We won't be hiking at all, maybe get out to walk a little take pics and stretch, but no major hiking.

I added Yellowstone last minute in case we drove.. we do want to see Mt. Rushmore...We would be in Yellowstone around May 11th if we start on the West Coast... from what I read it could or could not be feasible for Yellowstone for example..

Where would you fly out of after Yosemite?

So far many car rentals did not have extra fees for drop off.. even though I believe IF we do CA-SD they will.. but staying to the mayor cities didn't cost extra with regards to the rental car...

emalloy

I think most folks use Sacramento for flights after Yosemite, but you might consider driving to Vegas after that, doing the Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, Page, GC loop back to Vegas and then flying to Yellowstone. You could go through Grand Teton and fly out of Jackson Hole or You also could go to Billings.

CaribbeanChick

I have updated my itinerary...

Fly into San Fran-Yosemite-Las Vegas-Zion-Bryce-Moab/Arches-Salt Lake City... FLY from SLC to Rapid City, SD... See Mt. Rushmore, then fly to Atlanta... that's 15 nights...By the time you drive to Sacramento from Yosemite it's about 5 hours.. so for 3.5 you are in Vegas...

They are charging $1300 for 2 weeks for the car to be picked up at SFO dropped off at SLC.. so I might see if we pick a car at LAS for example it might be cheaper... will have to play around with that some more...

janisj

"By the time you drive to Sacramento from Yosemite it's about 5 hours.. so for 3.5 you are in Vegas..."

Not quite sure what that means. But you won't be anywhere near Las Vegas 3.5 hours after leaving Yosemite -- you are traveling in April and you will need to drive hundreds of miles the long way around to get to LV.

CaribbeanChick

Janis I meant that in 5 hours I would get to Sacramento.. by the time we get checked in, etc. we might as well drive the additional 3.5 hours and get to Vegas in 8.5 hours...

I am looking for other options today... Rental Car is $1300... trying to maybe skip Vegas and fly from CA to SLC directly....

janisj

To clarify --- I'd use Sacramento to fly TO Yosemite at the beginning. I'd never drive back to Sacramento from Yosemite to fly to Las Vegas. Did I miss it somewhere that someone suggested that?

Sacramento (or San Jose) makes more sense for your arrival airport (over SFO) -- IF the schedules/fares make sense. If it is cheaper to fly to SFO, that would work.

CaribbeanChick

Thanks! We want to see SFO... I think we decided to just drive back to SFO to drop off the rental.. they were charging me a lot more to drop off in another city...