[cornishfrogboy]

I would be looking long and hard at the trip reports of others and as a family deciding what are 'must do's', might do's and 'Don't do's. From that you can formulate a cunning plan and build on it.

We did our first trip last Easter and were confined to 14 nights due to the School Hols. We all agreed that it was the best of our 9 US visits to date.. and by a country mile. We did not do LV as it did not interest us and did not do Yosemite due to possible remaining snow and also the 14 day time constraint.

Absolute highlights for us were...

SFO,
1. Alcatraz.
2. Dylans ultimate cycling tour that covered theseafront, cycling the bridge, Sausolito and also Muir Woods.
3. Seeing Lombard St
4. Riding a cable car.

Monterey
Madonna Inn at San luis Obispo
Reagan Library in the Simi Valley
6 Flags
Oceanside
A night on the Queen Mary
A Hollywood tour...

And no1 of all... Dan Diego, a city that I knew little about before commencing planning, but fell in love with.

My trip report is 'California N to South at Easter' and I am suggesting that it will help because the whole trip is unusually on the one thread, rather than a thread per day. It may give you a 'start point' from which to build and that was my intention in compiling it that way. I would suggest that you then look at the numerous other threads that go deeper into particular locations that may interest you. Some of those are excellent.

We were initially wary of going outside our Florida comfort zone, but it was the best thing that we ever did, a fantastic vacation. DIY works just fine!