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Old 13 Sep 20, 10:22 AM  
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#1
eaglesrest
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West Coast Adventure - opinions welcomed

Hey folks

We are planning a West coast adventure next August and I'm struggling to work some stuff out. Really appreciate some help

By way of background we've done the west coast half a dozen times including the national park loop (bryce, zion, monument, arches, etc) but not since 2006, never done PCH, and this will be the first time with kids.

We are a party of 7 with 3 girls (10, 12 and 13)

This is the draft plan:
Day 1 PM (18:15) LHR -SFO VA
Day 1-2 SFO Hotel Pickup hire car SFO
(Thinking jet lag is going to be rough, and never enjoy san fran when jet lagged so just crash, pickup the car early next day and hit Yosemite)

Day 2 San Fran to Yosemite valley 3.5hrs
Day 2 -Day 6 Yosemite
(if we can get a permit, we are hiking half dome with cables, so jet lag should help with the early start. Not sure where to stay. We have previously stayed in el portal YVL but think a cabin somewhere would work better for our larger group this time)

Day 6 YV LV 7hrs
Day 6 - Day 8 LV
Might do an overnight in Furnace Creek to break the drive and explore DV

Day 8 LV GC 4hrs via hoover dam
Day 8 - Day 11 GC
(probably stay in Tusayan)

Day 11 GC Phoenix 3.5hrs
Day 11 -Day 13 Phoenix
(Chill-out at Squaw Peak resort, doesnt have good reviews but we've stayed 3 times and loved it unless something has changed)

Day 13 Phoenix LA 5.5hrs via JTNP
Day 13 - Day 16 Universal studios, Hollywood sign, Griffith observatory, Santa Monica, Malibu etc
(no idea where to stay yet)

Day 16 - Day 19 LA - Disney Grand Californian
(DVC bookings)

Day 19 LA - Santa Barbara (1.5hrs) OR Monterey (5.25hrs)
Day 19 - Day 21 Santa Barbara/Monterey
(this is the bit I'm really struggling with, not sure what to do on PCH or where to stay)

Day 21 Santa Barbara (5hrs)/Monterey (1.75hrs)- SFO
Day 21 - Day 23 San Francisco

Day 23 SFO - LHR

Thanks

Edited at 10:24 AM.
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Old 13 Sep 20, 12:48 PM  
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enjibenji
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I prefer San Fran to LA on pch1 as your be driving on the nearest side to coast . We loved DV and will do again hopefully next year, we stayed at Furnace creek but I honestly couldn't do it in August 🥵. We done it in October and was 100f, so god knows what august is like. I love all of US but that side has some stunning scenery. Sometimes we do stopovers for 1 nights as we like the travelling side of the road trip but everyone is different. We have literally pulled up to Grand Canyon on 23rd dec last year with 1 minute to sundown and we were the only ones there. Took some pics and checked into Yavapai lodge (which is quite cheap). Then in the morning drove out towards Sedona and stopped at various places. If you haven't been to Sedona I would highly recommend, we also stop at Palm springs as we love it there. I would like to go back to Yosemite sometime as that was a quick whirlwind stop, so would like to explore a bit more there. We try and limit our driving to about 5.5 or 6 hrs a day max. You will get lots of recommendations on here. I find the planning part is exciting as well. Good luck 😊
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Old 13 Sep 20, 02:01 PM  
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400ixl
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For your first night as you are not doing SF at that point I would just use an airport hotel and then get your car from there. Will have more choice and likely be cheaper.

What I will say is your drive times are on the low side, especially when you will want to be stopping to see the sights. Anaheim to Monterey for example will be 12-15 hours with stops to just see the minimum. Most people stop in the Pismo area and then in Monterey as each leg has a days worth of sights. Monterey itself also has a days worth to see so many 2 night there.

You are fitting a lot into 3 weeks and it is going to be full on. Personally I would be looking to spend more time seeing places than driving through them and do some on another trip.

Edited at 02:07 PM.
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Old 13 Sep 20, 08:21 PM  
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lindasarahlou
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For a cabin in Yosemite look at Yosemite West. It is about half hr drive from the valley floor but it is still within the park so no queuing every day to get in. It's also a good point for an early morning trip to Glacier Point. The one we had was nothing fancy but clean, tidy and we loved it. Fully equipped kitchen, 2 bathrooms, lounge area, balcony. Very peaceful. You do need to think about buying food to take with you as there aren't any shops!
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Old 14 Sep 20, 07:59 AM  
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eaglesrest
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Originally Posted by enjibenji View Post
we stayed at Furnace creek but I honestly couldn't do it in August 🥵. We done it in October and was 100f, so god knows what august is like.
If you haven't been to Sedona I would highly recommend, we also stop at Palm springs as we love it there.
Thanks!

It was apparently 54 degrees celsius this August, and there was some debate that it was the hottest temp ever officially recorded on the planet! We've done it September before but it was only 45. Part of me is curious how hot 50+ actually feels , and it would be kind of 'cool' to experienc it, albeit very very briefly before getting back into the aircon.

We've never done Sedona, will take a look where it could sit on our route, thanks
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Old 14 Sep 20, 08:14 AM  
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eaglesrest
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Originally Posted by 400ixl View Post
For your first night as you are not doing SF at that point I would just use an airport hotel and then get your car from there. Will have more choice and likely be cheaper.

What I will say is your drive times are on the low side, especially when you will want to be stopping to see the sights. Anaheim to Monterey for example will be 12-15 hours with stops to just see the minimum. Most people stop in the Pismo area and then in Monterey as each leg has a days worth of sights. Monterey itself also has a days worth to see so many 2 night there.

You are fitting a lot into 3 weeks and it is going to be full on. Personally I would be looking to spend more time seeing places than driving through them and do some on another trip.
Thanks

100% on the SFO hotel and car hire. Ideally we'd get off the plane and walk to the hotel, then same next morning - shuttle to the car hire parking and off we go! Not sure if there are any hotels we can walk or short uber to at SFO, its on the list to check.

The drive times are just driving alone and don't factor any stops or other delays, so yes the minimum transfer time.

I'm concerned about how much we are doing in the 3 weeks, but not sure how we can tweak it.
Some of the stops are purely because we have to go that way to get to a priority destination. We were planning on stopping at LAX and not doing PCH, but we had a few days spare and wanted to give it a go.

The priorities are Yosemite, Grand Canyon, LA (Disney, Universal and some sight seeing), SFO, and then PCH.

We have to finalise the inbound flight in the next couple of weeks which will be LAX or SFO so need to be sure by then what we are doing.

As we will be doing Malibu and maybe some other beach areas around LA, would you recommend skipping Santa Barbara and doing a couple of nights in Monterey instead? Alternatively do both and find some extra days elsewhere?
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Old 14 Sep 20, 09:09 AM  
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400ixl
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Given your priorities I would plan a route doing San Fran first, then Yosemite. Then over to Monterey for a couple of nights and down the pch with a stop on the way to LA.

Few days in North LA which could be staying on the coast. Then down to Anaheim for Disney.

Then drive up to the west entrance to Death Valley with a stop and onto Vegas the next day, or even over to the grand canyon south rim. From there back to LV for a few days to fly back.

Would give you more time to spend in places and still hit all your priorities
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Old 14 Sep 20, 09:16 AM  
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eaglesrest
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Originally Posted by 400ixl View Post
Given your priorities I would plan a route doing San Fran first, then Yosemite. Then over to Monterey for a couple of nights and down the pch with a stop on the way to LA.

Few days in North LA which could be staying on the coast. Then down to Anaheim for Disney.

Then drive up to the west entrance to Death Valley with a stop and onto Vegas the next day, or even over to the grand canyon south rim. From there back to LV for a few days to fly back.

Would give you more time to spend in places and still hit all your priorities
Hmm interesting. We make a final decision this weekend so I'll float the route and see what they think.

We'd probably go LA-Phoenix, GC then LV. We will split stay Anaheim/LA as we are staying at the Grand California on DVC and it's a waste of points/money to stay there when not visiting Disney.

The other thing we need to check is the rewards flights for our dates back from LAS. It's pretty much nailed on for SFO/LAX but LAS might be a tad trickier. They fly back to the same airport now at least.
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Old 14 Sep 20, 10:51 AM  
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enjibenji
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Our 1st trip was LA to Palm Springs to Scottsdale to GC to Las Vegas to DV to Yosemite to San Fran to San Simeon to Oxnard to LA. What we see of pch1 was stunning but didn't get to see it all as had bad fires and also was when alot of it collapsed. Hopefully we are doing it again next year so get to see all of it. We are still deciding on a route. Christmas we done LA to LV to GC to Sedona to Palm Springs to LA. We stayed on Santa Monica beach and loved it there
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Old 14 Sep 20, 01:36 PM  
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pinkandfluffy
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We stayed in a log cabin in wawona - just inside Yosemite National Park. It was such a lovely place, our cabin was called the birdhouse, would highly recommend Wawona.
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