Oh, this sounds like what we want to do. We are thinking 4 nights SanFran, 4 nights Vegas, 6 nights LA (split between Anaheim and somewhere near Hollywood) and then a night or two Yesomite. What order did you visit in - our original plan was SanFran - LA - Vegas, but now we need to fit Yesomite in and i have no idea where it actually is!
We flew into LAX, did 3 nights in the Sportsmans Lodge (Visited Hollywood / Rodeo Drive / Beverley Hills / Venice Beach / Universal / Griffiths / Hollywood sign).
Drove North to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. This was a long drive but the trees are amazing and there is a great but slightly scary hike up to Munroe Point (great views)
However we then had a another couple of hours to get to Fresnao for the night. I just underestimated how winding and climbing the roads were. If you have the time and are going to Yosemite anyway then it may be worth it but we left Universal City about 9am and did not get to the trees till mid afternoon. if we drove straight to Fresno we would have saved quite a few hours. We did not see anything in Fresno we just used it as a stop over.
Next day we drove to Yosemite and stayed 2 nights in the valley at the Yosemite Lodge. It is basic but a fantastic location. If you like a bit more luxury stay at the Ahwahnee. You need to book these early.
Yosemite is fantastic, could easily have stayed for longer. Apparently the best time is spring/early summer as the waterfalls are flowing but we still though it was great.
We then drove to SF and stayed 4 nights at the Argonaut. It is a really nice hotel in a great location. You have 2 basic choices; Downtown or the Fishermans Wharf area. This hotel is right on Fishermans Wharf. You have to pay for parking but you don't really need a car in SF. We should probably saved some money by returning our car and picking it up again at the end of our SF stay. There is a parking garage right behind the hotel, and you can hire bikes, get the trolley, get the boats to Alcatraz etc, all right outside. We visited/Alcatraz / Little Italy / Chinatown / took trollies to Union Square / hired bikes and cycled across the Golden Gate bridge to Sacramento (lovely little town good restaurants/cafes and got the ferry back across with the bikes - great fun. If you go to Union Square have a dessert at the Cheescake factory on top of Macy's
We then drove to Monterey for two nights and stayed at the La Quinta Monterey - basic but ok and close to stuff. Did not really think that much of Monterey but we used it a base to do a fantastic whale watching trip (saw Orcas and Humpbacks / Dolphins / Otters) we also visited Carmel where Clint Eastwood was mayor, very nice and very affluent, saw more dolphins playing in the surf by the beach and took a look at Peeble Beach Golf course.
Then we drove South and did some of the PCH Pacific Coast Highway - beautiful scenery, you could spend a couple of days just driving back to LA if you stopped at Hearst Castle etc, but we did not have the time. We moved inland and stopped for the night at Santa Barbara (Inn by the Harbour) which was a nice town with a pier and nice beachfront.
We then drove to Anahiem and stayed at the Paradise Pier for 4 nights. This was a smart move as we finished the holiday on a guarenteed high. The rest of the holiday was fantastic but with these road trips there is always the chance that something will not be as good as expected or the weather will be poor etc. We would have liked to visit Santa Diego but did not have the time. You have watch your driving time, it is easy to drive thousands of miles on these trips. We will definitely go back. Next time we will probably do Vegas / Zion / G.Canyon North Rim / L.A and San Diego. Hope this helps, have fun and let me know if you need any more info.
Paul
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My tip - don't ride X2 first thing in the morning when you've not eaten or had a drink!
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