shootingsilver

hey everyone,

Somehow I got stuck planning the family road trip this summer...anyway. The parentals, my 13 year old brother and I (17/female) will be flying from the East Coast to Phoenix and then meandering our way to San Francisco. I've got the itinerary mostly planned out (see end of post) but I'm just curious about the awesome little places that aren't as famous as, say, the Grand Canyon. The main focus of the trip is the outdoorsy stuff - I'll be spending a week backpacking in Sequoia while the rest of my family will be on a trip up by Lake Tahoe (both trips organized by the Sierra Club). That said, we'll be finishing in San Fran and I'm totally open to hearing any suggestions about cool museums/various cultural activities along the way. The trip is from Aug 4th - Aug 26th.

Also, we'll probably be camping for most of the nights and I'm already working on reservations for those but I think it would be fun to surprise my parents with a night in a cool hotel, something pretty nice but keeping price in mind. Since we're already splurging on the Sierra Club trips and just by doing a roadtrip in general (first family vacation not to my grandparents house...ever), it would be great if the hotel could be $150 or under.
Thanks in advance!

Itinerary:

Aug 4th - Fly into Phoenix; spend night in Phoenix (any good suggestions?)

Aug 5th - Drive Phoenix to Grand Canyon (was thinking of stopping by Walnut Canyon and/or Sunset Crater on the way?)

Aug 6th/7th - at Grand Canyon (possibly spending the second day at the North Rim?)

Aug 8th - Drive Grand Canyon to Las Vegas (via Zion National Park); spend night in Vegas

Aug 9th - Las Vegas to Mammoth Lakes (or somewhere around there) via Death Valley

Aug 10th - explore Yosemite
Aug 11th - explore Yosemite

**Aug 12th - My parents have to be at Tahoe by 3pm and I have to be at Lodgepole around the same time so I was thinking of doing something like driving the Taiga Road to Mercer, where my parents would drop me off at the Amtrak station and continue driving north. I would take Amtrak (bus, right?) to Visalia where I could catch a shuttle bus to Lodgepole.
Sierra Club trips: Aug 12-18/19th

Aug 18th - The Tahoe trip finishes a day earlier than my backpacking trip, so family will drive from Tahoe to Sequoia Natl. Park so that we can meet up the next day.

Aug 19th - Depart Sequoia Natl. Park in the early afternoon

Aug 20 - 26 - ??? <-- I know that we want to drive Highway 1 up to San Francisco and visit Big Sur. I would also like to do some more hiking. The beach might also be fun - would Santa Cruz be a good place to stay? These days are more open - we just have to be in San Fran. on the 26th to get to the airport. I know San Francisco is a city with tons to explore so would you recommend going there even if it would just be for a day and a night? or should we leave it for a another time entirely and just focus on getting the most out of the coast?

Thanks!

sf7307

My primary comment - yes, it's worth going to San Francisco, for a couple of days if possible, but one day would be better than none. Also, Monterey/ Carmel. You have plenty of time doing outdoorsy stuff, so I'd add those for variety. Your last days could be something like Sequoia to Big Sur, then Monterey - stay in Monterey two nights (do Hwy 1 south of Carmel, Monterey, Carmel, Santa Cruz, Capitola), then drive up to San Francisco and spend two or three nights - do the city sights, even a day trip to Napa or Sonoma wine country (and quaint small towns) if that interests you.

shootingsilver

I think my mom would love to go to Napa. I'm happy anywhere I can meander through pretty landscape. Do you think that just driving Hwy 1 will do Big Sur justice, or is it something that we should really get out of the car and hike around?

tomfuller

There is no Amtrak bus service at Mercer. There is an Amtrak bus from Visalia to connect with the San Joaquin trains at Hanford. Once you are on the San Joaquin route, you can ride the train to Martinez or Sacramento.
How is the logistics of buying or carrying camping gear going to work out if you are ending your trip at San Francisco?

shootingsilver

We're going to have to check bags I guess. I've never actually checked anything before. I think our camping will basically just be sleeping, so we won't be carrying food or cooking equipment, just tents/sleeping bags. My sleeping bag can fit in my carry-on, but I don't think the same is true for my mother/father/brother. And my bad, I mistyped. I meant Merced, not Mercer. I meant that I'd be taking the San Joaquin train from Merced to Hanford (which the Amtrak website said I could do?) and then take that bus from Hanford to Visalia

tomfuller

The YARTS bus will take you from Yosemite to the Amtrak station in Merced. There is also a YARTS bus stop at the foot of the driveway of the "BUG" HI Hostel near Midpines if that interests you. Good luck on getting reservations at the places you want to go.

tovarich

In Phoenix we stayed at a nice Motel 6 on Camelback road Scottsdale.Phoenix-G.Can. is a lot of driving.Along the way you have Montezuma castle en Sedona worthwhile.You will need two days for the South rim.You will spend a lot of time in the car with not enough time to explore Bryce can. -Zion- Death valley-Mono lake....Dont forget to visit Muir woods when in S.Francisco.Paul

tomfuller

Did you check on or consider a flight to Flagstaff? It is somewhat closer to GC if you have no great plans for Phoenix.
Agree that you should see Muir Woods north of SF. To avoid drop off fees on cars, I rent and return to where I rented and then take a train to my next destination and rent again.
If you can't afford a nice hotel in SF consider the HI hostel in Sacramento. It is the second oldest Victorian mansion in the city (corner of 10th & H across from city hall).
This is my favorite hostel and I have stayed at many.

easytraveler

I would emphasize again tomfuller's warning about the drop-off fees if you pick up a car in one city and drop it off in another, particularly across state lines. You could incur hundreds of dollars in drop-off fees.

Try doing a loop trip, so that you pick up and drop off at the same location.

You're going to be doing a lot of driving in desert-like country. I'd suggest that you get a cooler on arrival, bring sunscreen, a hat, plenty of water, and make sure that the tires on your rental car are in super-duper shape.

There are plenty of "suite"-motels, epsecially in out of the way places where four can sleep - a queen bed/two twin beds and a pull-out couch with small kitchen facilities. You may be able to get a rollaway bed in, so that your parents can have the "bedroom" and you and your brother can fight over the couch/rollaway (nah! no fighting! just kidding you! )

shootingsilver

Muir Woods are on the list As for the drop-off fees, I know about them but I can't really figure out a way to avoid them. I thought we could fly into Vegas, but then if we want to see the Grand Canyon, it really doesn't make sense. It also doesn't make sense if we want to see Big Sur. I'll look at flights into Flagstaff though. I just assumed Phoenix would be cheaper because it's such a major airport (flying from Dulles/Reagan/BWI). Back to rental car fees - I've heard that it's cheaper to get the car outside of the airport so I was planning that we would take the light rail to the B&B I found in Phoenix and then pick up the car that evening. Any suggestions on which dealership is generally cheapest? We don't need a big SUV - for the better part of my childhood, we had a 1990 Volvo so something around that size would probably be good. I miss that Volvo..it was so old I got to draw on the ceiling

NoCaliGal

At age 17, you are on your way to becoming a super travel planner. I salute
You! If you dont have your camp site or other lodging arranged already, get going. This is high season. If there are no spots in the Valley, try the Tuolumne Meadows campsites. Much colder at night, but it would suit you well.

tomfuller

See if you can get an Allegiant flight from Las Vegas to Oakland after your visit to GC. The flights may be less than the drop off fee. Allgiant recently started flying to Oakland.

janisj

Flying makes no sense. It is almost certain the car drop off fee will be less than four tickets. Plus Allegiant adds charges/fees for EVERYTHING (seat selection, checking in, checked bags, carry-ons, soft drinks, etc)

shootingsilver

We wouldn't want to fly to Oakland anyway, since a major part of the trip is what's in between I've booked campsites and made other reservations for the first two weeks; now I'm just planning the last week! I think it's the hardest yet because there's an incredible variety of stuff to do!! Right now I'm considering something like this:

Aug 19th - drive from Visalia to San Luis Obispo; spend night
20th - drive to Monterey (or Santa Cruz)
**This is where I'm having the most trouble - I don't know how long we will want to spend in/around Pfeiffer State Park or any of other parks around there so I'm trying to figure out whether it would be reasonable to do this part of Big Sur + the Monterey Aquarium in the same day or whether I should try to break it up by camping in one of the state parks**
Aug 20 - drive from Monterey or campsite to Montara (hostel) OR Santa Cruz
Again, I'm not sure what a reasonable amount of time to be spending in Santa Cruz is. I actually have a good friend there that I'd like to spend the day with but I also don't wanna miss out on anything.
Aug 21 - Drive from Montera/Santa Cruz to Point Reyes
Aug 22nd - Day in Point Reyes; stay at Marin Headlands hostel
Aug 23rd/24th/25th - San Francisco

^^ I want to try to spread out the first section of the week (San Luis Obispo to Montara) a little bit more because although San Francisco is a fabulous city, I don't want to rush through the coast. I was thinking a day and half would be enough for the stuff I've plotted out for San Fran (+ doing the Alcatraz tour at night. Is it worth it?)
So yeah, thoughts on Santa Cruz and/or Big Sur?
Thanks guys!

easytraveler

here are my suggestions:

Is there a reason to go to San Luis Obispo? If not, then when you leave Visalia and get on Highway 41, then take Highway 46 where it crosses 41 and go up to Paso Robles, go through Paso on 46 and head directly for the coast at Cambria.

North of Cambria is Hearst Castle. Not to take anything away from San Luis Obispo, but i think you'll find Hearst Castle more interesting.

http://www.hearstcastle.org/

If you are interested in Hearst Castle, it'll be best to book a tour ahead of time.

The beach to the west of Hearst Castle (which is located way up on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean) is Pietras Blancas Beach. Here you will find the elephant seal colonies

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/piedras.html

If you're a few miles north of the town of San Simeon and see cars parked along the roadway, just park yourself. Then walk down to the beach. There are no big signs, you just have to look out for the many cars that are parked along the road.

The next attraction up Highway 1 is Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where you will see McWay Falls, the only falls in California that descend into the Pacific Ocean.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=578

The entrance to Julia Pfeiffer Burns will be to your right. Once inside, the first parking area will be to your left. Park there. Then walk across the road and you'll see some steps. Go down the steps and turn to your right. This is a very easy path that leads to the ocean and the view of the falls.

The next stop is Nepenthe, which will be on your left. I suggest that you plot the distances between the different stops as some of these places are easy to miss and zoom by and turning around may not be possible for quite a distance further.

http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/

The view from nepenthe, on a clear day, is fabulous.

The next stop is Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, which is just a couple or three miles up the road from Nepenthe. The entrance will be on your right.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=570

here's where you can hike among the redwoods for several hours. There are several trails through the redwoods, you can ask at the ranger station which one will suit you best.

I believe there are camp grounds in each of the state parks along this route, but you should make a reservation soon.

Here's a good website for information on Big Sur. The map is especially useful.

http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/map.html

After Pfeiffer Big Sur, the best is yet to come: Point Lobos State Reserve.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=571

You can miss anything else, but don't miss Point Lobos - not on a clear day. There are several trails, each one is beautiful.

Next Carmel and Monterey.

I hope this helps with your further planning.

As for going further north, it all depends on how much time you are allotting for Big Sur and Monterey.

Although Montara has a special place in my heart, I would suggest not stopping between Monterey and San Francisco. You really don't have the time. There's a great HI hostel in San Francisco, the one at "Fisherman's Wharf" which is really at Fort Mason. It's quiet and has free parking, which is very important for San Francisco where parking is expensive.

also skip Point Reyes and use all that time in San Francisco.

OK, bedtime for me!