My husband and I are just beginning to plan a July trip to the west coast. I think we will start in either Portland or San Fransisco (or another northern Ca town) and drive between the two areas. We will fly into one city and out of the other. We want to see the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. St. Helens, Bandon dunes area,(sounds like the best of the coast--and golf will be part of our vacation) and the best of Northern Ca, including the redwoods and maybe some wine tasting in Sonoma?. We have already been to SF so we would only spend a day or so there. Any suggestions on the order of our itinerary? It is better to go north to south or the reverse? Which parts of our drive should we drive the coast versus inland to save time. We don't love long drives, so we want to limit the slower driving to the most spectacular areas. We will spend 8- 9 days--should we skip Crater Lake? Many of the posts here seem to indicate that. Any advise would be much appreciated.

Since you've been to SF before and do not intend to stay there for any length of time, I would suggest that you organize an Oregon round trip from Portland with a dip down into California to see the redwoods. There are many wine areas in Oregon that are worth a visit. You could go down the coast and come back up via Crater Lake, go up the eastern side of the mountains toward Bend and north to Mt. St. Helens and then back down to Portland.

I think the OP wanted to dip down to Sonoma, then it may make sense to still include San Francisco or use the Oakland airport. You may get better deals in or out of OAK.

The OP indicated Sonoma for wine tasting. Oregon has good alternatives.

I would also recommend a round trip beginning and eniding in Portland. You can drive down the coast to 189 in far northern California, stop at Jedidiah Smith State Park to see the redwoods, and visit the wineries in the McMinnville area on the way to the coast from Portland or several wineries near I-5. It would be a shame to miss Crater Lake and this itinerary allows you to see it. You can leave Crater Lake, drive up 97 to the Columbia Gorge and turn left to see this magnificent site. This allows you to do everything you wished without traveling all the way to San Francisco. Better to travel south along the Oregon Coast, as you can more easily stop to view the ocean.

As renaissanceman suggests, the best direction for the coast would be north to south to avoid having to cross traffic at every scenic pullout.

Crater Lake would be out of the way unless you do the suggested loop. But, you could do as renaissanceman suggests and drive the coast to Crescent City, CA, then back NE into OR (199 instead of 189), up to Crater Lake, then south again on I-5 to CA wine country. Whether that or the suggested Oregon loop, it will be a tight fit into 8-9 days. You can't go to Bandon without playing both Bandon and Pacific Dunes (Bandon Trails isn't as dramatic), so that pretty much shoots two days.

Your choice may come down to Sonoma or Crater Lake. I haven't been to Sonoma in years; even then, it delivered more the wine country experience than anything in OR. But if an afternoon of tasting will work for you, OR has some great boutique wineries to choose from. As for whether or not Crater Lake is worth the stop.... Hard to say, but personally, it's in the same league as St. Helens and the Gorge. There's more to see in the Gorge, but I'd bet the image of Crater Lake would remain longer in your mind.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I never thought about just doing a loop in and out of POrtland. As for the wineries--an afternoon or so would be fine--so it doesnt make sense to go all the way to SF. What town, hotel should we stay in Calif. near the redwoods?