A few quick geography questions

[Queenie]

Hi all,

We're thinking of making our first trip to DL next October, however we'll be starting off in Las Vegas. My knowledge of American geography is somewhat lacking so I was hoping you guys could advise me.

I know it's possible to drive from Vegas to Anaheim in a day, I've been quoted 4 -5 hours, does that sound about right when you take traffic into account?

Some of our group have suggested we go via Yosemite, just driving through it, maybe stopping off for lunch there. Is this even feasible??? We'll have a full day to do this trip and two drivers experienced at driving in the US during the day and night. if it's possible, does anyone know roughly how long doing the drive this way would take?

Could someone please reccomend a reliable route plannning website?

Any info greatly received, thank you!
Queenie

 

[Katie0677]

Hi there, maybe I can help a little. The 4-5 hours sounds about right driving from Vegas to Anaheim. I'm not from Califonia, but I'm guessing if the traffic is really heavy, it could take a little longer .
Yosemite is further North than Anaheim, so if you wanted to drive from Vegas to Yosemite, then on to Anaheim, you could stay the nite somewhere. I would go to mapquest and look at their directions and maps. Good luck!!
Katie

 

[iceskatejen]

Yosemite is pretty out of the way. 4-5 hours from Vegas to Anaheim is about right, though it really depends on when you're making the drive (you don't want to be making it on a Sunday afternoon/evening for example--it will take a lot longer that 4-5 hours).

 

[Queenie]

We'll be leaving Vegas early, like 9am in the morning so we've got lots of time to take a big detour, both drivers could cope with 5 hours driving on the day with breaks so that gives us about 10 hours drive time available - woud Yosemite be a possibilty that way?

 

[Judy from Boise]

If you just want to see stunning scenery, and aren't stuck on Yosemite.......the Grand Canyon would make a lot more sense geography wise.

 

[jlmarr]

I just ran Las Vegas => Yosemite through http://www.mapquest.com and it routed me through Barstow, the trip taking 7+ hours. It might make more sense to go Vegas to Lee Vining, which is on the east side of Yosemite National Park, then traverse the park east to west, but Vegas to Lee Vining comes up as about 7 hours also. So I'd say it's not feasible to do Vegas => Yosemite => Anaheim in one day.

Similarly, Vegas to Grand Canyon, AZ is about 5 hours and then you'd be backtracking to get to Anaheim from there, 6+ hours from GC. For comparison, Las Vegas direct to Anaheim comes up as 4 hours. Either Yosemite or Grand Canyon would be a great side trip, but not in one day.

 

[mickeyfan2]

4-5 Hours is about right. Have a great vacaton.