Seattle to San Francisco
 

Hello... thank you in advance for any advice! We are looking to fly into Seattle (family of 5-3 kids ages 12,10,7) and drive to San Francisco. This trip will be at the end of March with 7 days to complete the drive. I am looking for any suggestions of things to see along the way plus routes to take. We definitely want to see the redwoods, obviously the coast, and have time to explore San Francisco. Other than that, we do not have any definite plans. Thanks again for any advice!

Pretty rainy time of year, but you've got the priorities right - redwoods, coast. I do wonder, however, if you shouldn't consider an all-California trip instead - maybe SF, the Monterey Peninsula, Big Sur and Highway 1, etc. There's beautiful coast, redwoods, and so much more, and all of it - probably - in better weather than WA and OR.

I agree w/ Gardyloo. 7 days is not long for that drive - especially w/ kids - there is so much to see/do.

Were you going to spend any time in Seattle and/or San Francisco? I'd definitely consider limiting the trip to SF/the North Coast/Redwoods and maybe Monterey/Big Sur (though that would also be pretty ambitious for a week)

At least consider flying into Portland instead of Seattle; that will give you more time to drive the coast and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Although I live in Washington I do not consider the drive down I-5 to Portland to be scenic at all (unless you take time for Mount St. Helens) and the southwest Washington coast does not offer enough to pull me in that direction.

How much of the Oregon coast do you want to see? It may be rainy in late March and early April.
My plan to avoid a drop off fee would be to fly to SFO (or Oakland or Sacramento) and rent a car downtown away from the airport. Head north on I-5 through Medford to the south end of Crater Lake NP. There will be snow there but it is still a beautiful place for all to see. I snowshoed in the park in March when the lodge was shuttered.
Get back to I-5 and take it north to Albany and get on US 20 West to Newport. Spend a night in Newport and then go to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium just south of town.
Continue south on US 101 and spend a night in the Bandon area.
From Bandon it is an easy drive into the Redwood NP area.
The "Trees of Mystery" is a bit of a tourist trap but they do have a gondola ride up through the Coast Redwoods where you might see the ocean from the top if it is not foggy or rainy.
From there head back to turn in the car from the place that you rented it and head into SF without a car.

Do you mean the Oregon coast or the California coast? You can head out to Crescent City from Grants Pass, Oregon (About 6-7 hours from Seatac...less, obviously, from Portland.) At Crescent City you will enter the coastal redwoods, and you can then follow the California coast through Fort Bragg, Mendocino and Point Reyes all the way into SF.

It is likely to be wet in March, but this is a trip you can easily make in seven days. Seattle is 800 miles from San Francisco on I-5 and 950-1000 going the long way down the coast on highways 101 and 1.

Some of my favorite highlights are the Columbia River Gorge, Ecola State Park (north of Cannon Beach), whale watching out of Depoe Bay, the water front in Newport, the town of Yachats, Cape Perpetua, the sea lion caves north of Florence, various light houses and spectacular ocean views.

In northern California your children will be mesmerized by the giant redwoods and I believe they will be entranced by the little town of Mendocino (where some of "East of Eden" was filmed). Fort Ross National Historic Park and Point Reyes National Seashore are among the other places they will likely enjoy.

There is a lot to see. It would be wise to purchase a California guidebook.

HTtY

If it's 7 days total you need to spend several days in SF and spend less time on the drive

Thank you all for your responses. Initially I thought about flying into Portland and driving down to SF. We do quite a bit a traveling in our car (a 13 hour drive in one day for us to go see grandparents is not uncommon), but when I saw how close Seattle was to Portland I thought we might as well start there. I've been awarded 5 flight vouchers and want to make the most of them. It's not very likely we will be all be able to fly somewhere again for a loooong time. But, with that being said, I don't want to spend the entire time driving and not actually seeing. I'm not familiar with a drop-off fee for car rental so I better look into that.

I've read mixed opinions about Crater Lake. Is it worth the drive?

Thanks again!

Sounds like you will be fine with the drive between Seattle and SF:) Since your trip is in March, I would say to skip Crater Lake. CL is fantastic, but at that time of year only the southern entrance is open and the rim drive is not, so you would take a lot of time just getting there and not being able to do anything. Come back in the summer and it is a whole different story though:)