Miss Mills

Hi there,
I've been trying to research this trip on my own and I'm getting completely overwhelmed. I could use some honest and discerning advice from all of the fodorites out there.

We're flying to Seattle then driving back down to LA. We'll leave for LA on either Monday Aug. 13 or Tuesday Aug. 14.

We've driven the coast before so we've seen many of the main attractions. On this trip, we know we want to stop in Newport and at Hearst Castle (which we somehow missed before). This makes for an awkward driving schedule since we don't have more than 3 or 4 nights for this trip.

Day 1: Drive to Newport area
Place to stay? Sylvia Beach Hotel?
Day 2: Aquarium in the morning then
Drive to Crater Lake? Is this insane? If not, should we try to book the lodge there this late into the summer? A good back-up?

Day 3: Crater Lake to San Fran/ Montecito area. Maybe stay at St. Orres in Gualala as a splurge?

Day 4: Drive to Hearst Castle area. Where to stay? Cambria seems touristy, but could be fun. But maybe better to stay someplace cheap and go to Robyn's for dinner?

Day 5: Make the Haul back to LA.

Is this a fool's itinerary?
All feedback and recommendations are very welcome! We love smaller, "undiscovered" places far more than luxury resorts loaded with amenities.

Thanks,
Miss Mills

John

Hiya,
First a question. The town of Montecito is next to Santa Barbara, around 2 hours drive time from LA. Did you mean Monterey instead?

Here are my biased suggestions on your trip.

1. Skip either Newport or Crater Lake (or...both?) With only 3 or 4 nights you will begrudge the time needed to include both at the expense of attractions farther south. Frankly, while I enjoy the central Oregon Coast and spent (or mis-spent) many a fine college day in Newport when I shoulda been..., well, you know, I really question whether it's worth the detour, especially since it basically adds one full day to your agenda if you're set on Crater Lake. You can get to Crater Lake in one long day's drive from Seattle, then spend a glorious hour or two there, ("Ooh, cool. Okay, let's go.") then head back to motel-land for the night (warning - cynicism alert!) From there, you can take US199 from Grants Pass to Crescent City, CA, and travel through the Redwoods on US101 from that point down to SF.

2. Otherwise, skip Crater Lake and keep on truckin' down the coast (also to the Redwoods) and points beyond. East-west travel across central-southern Oregon sucks (few roads, slow, trucky), the exception IMO being the road from Reedsport to Drain, and the distance and scenery from the coast/I-5 to Crater Lake is uninspiring.

3. It's either a 14-hour day or one overnight between Seattle and the Bay Area (using I-5, no detours) and another to the coast near San Simeon, then another half day to LA. That leaves a day or a day and a half for visiting the Hearst Castle, relaxing, having a bite at Nepenthe, or whatever. If you skip Newport, you could add the Monterey Aquarium back in - a better destination, and more on a "straight" line to the SR1 coast.

So it sounds to me like you need to do some serious setting of priorities if you don't want to arrive in LA feeling like a trucker.

Miss Mills

LOL! Thank you for the funny and honest post.
Yes, my mistake. Monterrey-- not Montecito.
My husband has his heart set on Newport. But your remarks on Crater Lake are well taken. It just doesn't sound worth the extra hours.
Now...should we stop between Newport and the San Simeon area? I haven't found hotels in either area that sound particularly appealing (for their prices). I thought we might stop somewhere nice between the two. Or maybe we should just clock it to San Simeon from Newport and then relax there for two nights before making the trek back to LA?
Thanks again!
Miss Mills

John

I don't think you can get from Newport to San Simeon in one day. The drive from Newport just to SF is a real long one. If it's convenient, you might take advantage of the long evenings and try to get farther down the coast from Newport (at least Bandon or maybe Gold Beach) if you want to get past the Bay Area the following day. If not, then the best intermediate stop would probably be either in SF or to the north, maybe around Santa Rosa or somewhere in Marin Co. if you don't want to stay in the city. From there it's still a full day to get to San Simeon via Monterey and Carmel. Most of the roads you'll be using are pretty full of cars, especially around the Bay Area during weekdays, so being slowed by traffic is also a big planning factor.
Happy planning!

Miss Mills

Thanks again for the advice, John.
I just did some investigating around Crater Lake and I've decided that you're absolutely right. That's getting crossed out of the itinerary.
I've been browsing old posts for recommendations on where to stay along the coast in Northern California. None of them have really grabbed me. I wish there were a way to investigate new or recently opened inns that haven't started bumping up their rates.
Best,
Miss Mills

Kay

Misc comments
Good decision--skip Crater Lake
==You can make better time if you go from Seattle, down I-5 and cross over to Newport at Corvallis, highway 20. (be sure to study map as lots of intersecting highways around Corvallis)
==Bandon to Eureka about 4 hrs-but of course you have to stopat the Redwoods unless already "done that"
==another 4-5 hrs to San Francisco
==you are going to use a lot of time if you try to go over to Gualala as it is on the coast-so you would have to cut over from 101 to "one'-Ukiah tocoast and down to
Gualala about 2hrs---then it will take about 21/2hrs to get to SF.(via Jenner and over to 101 again.)
==Monterey down to Big Sur and on to Hearst 'sCastle, while a slow drive, is beautiful and worth the time.
== After Hearst's Castle it is a short drive to Morro bay and over to San Luis Obispo on 101 and on to L.A. in about 3 hrs.
Hope this helps...

Kip

Man you sure must love driving. See the west coast through your windshield as you zoom by, huh? Well it takes all kinds but this sure isn't my type of trip you have planned. I'd rather see a place then drive through it in a rush.

Miss Mills

Kip,
We realize this isn't the ideal way to "see the coast." But...
-- We're picking up a car in Seattle which is why we're driving back.
--We need to be back in LA by Saturday morning at the latest.

If the trip were just for pleasure and we had the vacation time, we'd see the sites at a more leisurely pace. We've done just that when seeing Northern California and the Oregon Coast in the past.

But thanks for your helpful and kindly worded advice,
Miss Mills