HELP! California road trip advice needed

pelirocco

I have just returned from a California road trip , we only drove as far as morrow bay , then went over to Sequoia and Yosemite , didnt do SF as weve been before

My advice is dont under estimate the amount of time it will take you to get to each stop , as you will /should be driving slow/taking the scenic route / stopping to admire the views

Thats quite a distance you are covering , have another night in Monteray you can go whale watching , cut down your time in LA .

I would say that's at least 2 holidays worth of travelling to get the most out of the distance you will be travelling we did a lot less mileage and stayed over in places for 2 , 3 and 4 nights and still it felt as tho we were travelling too long

pelirocco

Kel wrote: »

Thats so much for all the replies, going to have a proper read in a minute but had a quick look over and there are some great suggestions!

Our flights are all booked and some of you will be pleased to hear that we changed our minds at the last minute and have scrapped Vegas (due to how hot it would be, I've been to vegas before and wouldn't have a problem taking my kids there otherwise) so have 3 nights to us up elsewhere.

We would love to do Yosemite, but the accomodation is coming in soooo exensive for 5 of us Any ideas for saving a bit of money?

we rented a house in Mid Pines , about a 25 mile drive , we rented a few houses on our trip , you can rent them for just a few nights , well worth it if you have kids

graham73

jackieblack wrote: »

Per post 26 kel's skipping LV this trip now

Yeah, I did read that just after I posted

Murphy_The_Cat

John259 wrote: »

Very true - but what an interesting list. Thanks for posting.

cheers John, I find them interesting people as well :beer:.

They are also keen on 'hands on museums' and if you do visit State Parks, enjoy completing the tasks to make them honorary Park Rangers.

gracie10

jackieblack wrote: »

I which case, SD need not be your last stop, as you've got to drive back to LA anyway you could, if you prefer, do LA/SD/Anaheim.
LAX is not far from Santa Monica IIRC

We drove from San Fran to Yosemite and then to Monterey, stayed 2 nights at Pismo Beach then to Ventura (for 6 flags) then that was the year the volcano erupted in Iceland and we got an unexpected extra 8 bonus days in Anaheim/Long Beach before flying home


We had done LA and San Diego the previous year on a separate trip. SD is on my list of places to go back to (once I've visited the other 29 states I have got to yet )



The USS Midway (in SD) is worth a visit (http://www.midway.org/ )
We also had lunch at the Kansas City BBQ restaurant nearby where several scenes in Top Gun were filmed (but maybe you need to be of a certain age to appreciate this )

Will have to visit the Kansas City BBQ next year when we are back. I haven't heard of it. Love a bit of Top Gun!

John259

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

if you do visit State Parks, enjoy completing the tasks to make them honorary Park Rangers.

Also Junior Rangers in the national parks, presumably?

Link for anyone who is interested but not familiar with the Junior Ranger program:
http://www.nps.gov/kids/jrRangers.cfm

Murphy_The_Cat

John259 wrote: »

Also Junior Rangers in the national parks, presumably?

Link for anyone who is interested but not familiar with the Junior Ranger program:
http://www.nps.gov/kids/jrRangers.cfm

John - yes, thats the one.Its National Parks, not State Parks that run the initiative. Although we've enjoyed plenty of State/Regional Parks in our time as well

OP, if you can ever ttrack down a play area like this, or this to break a jorney, they always go down well with my children. Cost wise, they are negligible, or even free

jackieblack

Oh yes, the Junior Ranger Program!
My DD loved doing that

John259

So how does a grown adult obtain a Junior Ranger badge? Our car broke down in Mesa Verde, the park's head of security spent half a day on three phones sorting out a repair, the next day after the repair we took him a fancy cake as a thank-you, and he gave us the badges as a keepsake. Memories are made of events like that!

John259

And one of those folding concertina cardboard windscreen shades is essential if you want to be able touch the steering wheel after the car's been parked in the sun for more than a few minutes.
Photo:
http://retrothing.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452989a69e2013484cc03e0970c-800wi