route no 1; LA and Vegas help
 

I am helping a young couple with a year old baby plan their trip to California. They have 15 days from San Francisco to Las Vegas. We are planning driving down to LA...how many days? best places for overnight? probably 2 nights Hollywood area then 2 nights Anaheim and flying to Vegas for a few nights + Grand Canyon. Any suggestions will be greatly appeciated.

Without knowing your interests, it's hard to suggest what where. Do you like hiking? museum? food? theater? Visit a Hollywood studio? etc. etc.

Generally, I'd suggest the following:

San Francisco - 2 days (at least)

Monterey/Carmel - 1 night (Monterey Bay Aquarium)

Cambria - 1 night (Hearst castle)

Los Angeles & Anaheim - 2/3 nights

San Diego - 2 nights - lots for young couples with kids to do in San Diego

Las Vegas - not much there for little babies

Grand Canyon is still further along eastward in Arizona.

Good luck with your planning!

Interests are mainly nice scenic driving but not too long stretches because of the baby; main attractions in SFO and LAX; no museums but movie studios yes. Is 3 nights too long for SFO to LAX? For example stopping in Monterey first night, Cambria area second night and SAnta Barabra third night. The idea is to drive for a few hours (2-3) find a hotel and spend the afternoon in the area without long drives every day. How does that sound?

3 nights between SF and LA sounds great. That would give them time to stop and enjoy things. If they are travelling in the late spring to early fall, I would recommend making hotel reservations ahead of time. It is the high season, so without advanced reservations, they could end up spending a lot to stay far from where they had planned.

one thing to keep in mind - what days of the week are you heading down the coast? Many places (and most nice ones) in the Monterey/Cambria/Santa Barbara areas require a 2 night minimum on weekends.