albaelena

We are planning a 2 week trip with our preteen kids (10 and 13) next June and wonder if it is NUTS...can you comment?

1. We fly to San Francisco and rent a car. We plan to spend 3 or 4 days exploring the city, going to Napa Valley, Oakland and Berkely (how many days do we need?)

2. Day 5 we drive to Yosemite (already have reservations in Curry Village). We spend 3 nights there, do water rafting, hiking, horse back riding (is that too many days?...any tips on activities?)

3. Day 8 we drive to Las Vegas and spend 2 nights there...mainly because we will drive close to 9 hours from Yosemite to vegas

4. Day 10 we drive to the Grand Canyon (already have reservation in Maswik Lodge) and spend one night in the Canyon...try to see it at different times of the day

5. Day 11 we drive to Phoenix and stay 4 days in a Marriot Spa

6. Day 15 we fly back home

Any tips, suggestions etc are more than welcome as I am planning this with only having glanced at a couple of travel books...you guys are the TRUE experts

Alba

lovingheart

I think a better plan would be to drive down Highway 1 at least as far as Santa Barbara and then across to Las Vegas. If you follow your planned itineray, check out Death Valley on your way to Las Vegas. Day 8 sounds like a nightmare and four days in Phoenix may be too many.

J_Correa

1. I would hold off on the rental car until you are ready to leave SF. In SF you wont need one and driving and parking can be a pain. Oakland and Berekely are a relatively short trip on BART from SF, so you don't need a car for that. You can easily spend 3-4 days in SF or 2 days in SF, 1 day in the east bay, and 1 day in Napa.

2. Two days in Yosemite is definitely not too much. There is so much to see just in the valley itself. There is a really good tram tour of the valley that I really recommend. It is narated by a park ranger and you get a lot of good information about the area.

Michael

I recommend the Oakland Museum as having a mix of everything California--fine arts and natural history. I also happen to like its architecture.

In Yosemite, take the bus to Glacier Point and walk back down to the valley.

If in an air-conditioned car, you might want to go through Death Valley on your way to Las Vegas.

utahtea

With all the activities you want to do in Yosemite, two full days is hardly enought time.

You said your trip was in June. Depending on how much snow they get this winter, there could be a slim chance that Hwy 120 (Tioga Pass) though Yosemite might not be opened. It has opened as early as mid-May and as late as July 1st! The July first was a really bad year and if you are going to be crossing in late June, you probably won't have to worry. As the time gets near keep an eye on this website to see when it has opened.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/trip/tioga.htm

lovingheart mentioned driving down the coast, but that would have you driving 4 hours west to get to the coast and then more hours to go back east. You would definitely have to take days from somewhere else to do that.

Utahtea

adamhornets

Rather than go from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix in a day, divert from Prescott down 89A past Slide Rock State Park in Oak Creek Canyon to the beautiful Red Rocks of Sedona - even a cynical 10 year old couldn't help but be impressed.
Then stay the night and go to Jerome and Prescott before hitting Phoenix. Jerome is an old mining twon on the side of a hill and Prescott has a fine living history museum.

Also if you time in California, divert to the real ghost town of Bodie, near Lee Vining.

Dreamer2

Did you loose your other post with the same question? You had a lot of responses to it!

CalgirlSusan

You started this post with "and wonder if it is NUTS".
Here's a simple answer to your question. YES.