Can I please have some help with my US plans?

[heidispidi]

Hi all. I am trying to work out my plan for our return trip in 2013 (although I am working on hubby to go next year!). This trip will include a lot more than our January trip, as I may never drag hubby back there again, so want to see everything on my 'list'.

I am having some problems with deciding the best mode of transport in several areas, and thought I might be able to use some of the experience you guys have had from previous trips, to help me make a decision.

Here goes, my oplans so far:

Fly into LA. Spend around 4 days there doing DL/Universal, get over jet lag.
Bus to San Diego, do the Zoo and Seaworld over a couple of days.
Fly(or bus?) from San Diego to Las Vegas. Stay a couple of nights.
Do a Grand Canyon bus tour while staying in Vegas.
Somehow(?) get from Vegas to Yellowstone. Stay there for 3 - 4 days, also exploring Grand Tetons NP, etc.
Somehow getting from Yellowstone to Seattle. Check out Mt St Helens (I've always found it fascinating), visit a friend who lives there.
Then I would love to drive down to San Francisco (seeing it without the fog hopefully!) from Seattle, taking in various sites along the way, including Yosemite NP.
Then come home!

Hubby is extremely reluctant to drive over there (he has actually said no, but I will work on him). Is it difficult? Because I'll do it myself if I have to - but not in LA.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have.

 

[jacs1234]

Add two weeks in Florida and that is my perfect 40th birthday trip in 2014. Maybe not Seattle for me though. I'll be watching this thread.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Hi,
We will be going to alot of the same places in California and surrounds as well in 2013.
I won't drive over there, but my husband does and enjoys it.
We will be driving everywhere. Our rough plan is:
Fly in to LAX, pick up hire car (National or Alamo is our preferred choice)
Drive to Flagstaff
Visit Grand Canyon ( there is a small owner operator that drives a van in, will go with him if he is still operating in 2013)
Drive to Las Vegas, Hoover dam along the way.
Drive to San Francisco, Yosemite along the way.
Also visit Sacramento, for museums etc
Drive back down the Pacific Coast Highway from San Fran to LA (including 17 mile drive, Monterey, Carmel, Hearst Castle, Pismo Beach etc)
Stay a couple of nights near Universal Studios, then the rest of the time ( a week or so in Anaheim).
Might try and squeeze ina few days in San Diego as well.
We will be away for 4 weeks. We are repeating some of the places we went this year in the trip, but there will be lots of new experiences as well such as the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Yosemite and Sacramento.
You can be so flexible having a car, easy to eat out, go shopping, sightseeing on a whim etc.
2013 seems along way away but I need to have something to plan for and look forward to, gets me through the boring days at work!

 

[Caroline NZ]

Oh, and Florida would be awesome as well, but that will have to wait for a couple of years after that - I have a rough idea of our holiday (wishes) for the next 5 years or so!

 

[Feej]

Driving is pretty easy over there. Only takes about an hour or so to get used to being on the other side of the road. We drove LA - Vegas in 2007 and being able to drive made it a fun day. Being able to stop if you see something interesting and on your own timetable is the best part.

I'd highly recommend it.

 

[hjd0411]

I agree with the driving - I do all the driving over there and have no problem at all. Love it in fact..!!! But I won't drive in LA either!!
I would suggest maybe staying in Grand Canyon for at least one night. I did that a few years ago and loved it! Drove in from Las Vegas and stayed 2 or 3 nights there. Did some very inexpensive tours of the Canyon (done by park rangers) and a flight. I think the day trip from Las Vegas would be loooong, for not long at Grand Canyon. Just a thought..!!

Have fun planning - my trip for next year has been planned for at least a year so far, and has changed a few times already!!!

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I agree with the driving we drove over 8000 miles this trip and it great being able to stop whenever you like. The only thing that really feels different is when you turn right but it does not take long to get used to

 

[PrincessInOz]

Depending on how long you are planning to go for, I would drive. Driving LA isn't that bad. The hardest bit is getting out of the car park when you pick up the car.

And for CarolineNZ - if you are driving from San Diego towards Flagstaff, I highly recommend that you consider heading towards Phoenix (towards Palm Springs/Joshua Tree National Park) and then going up towards Sedona on your way to the Grand Canyon. Alternatively, see if you can fit in Sedona from Flagstaff.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Thanks for the recommendations PrincessinOZ. I used your prior trip report as the basis for driving from SFO to LAX back in May, there was some great info in it
How hot would Palm Springs be in mid Sep?.

 

[Lulu83]

Your plans are very similar to the first part of our trip to the US late last year. I also agree with PPs that driving isn't as scary as we expected, and I think it would definitely be the easiest way to get around. I wouldn't want to drive on the East Coast, but we had no problems on the west. This was our itinerary, and it worked well for us:

* Flew into LAX and picked up our hire car
* Drove to San Diego (quite a short drive, less than 3 hours)
* Explored San Diego (I highly recommend the Wild Animal Park!) and stayed for a night
* Drove to Phoenix (this basically took a whole day with stops) and spent the night there
* Explored Phoenix a little and then attempted to drive to the Grand Canyon where we would have spent a full day and a night - except we were snowed in and diverted to Sedona instead (which is beautiful and probably worth stopping off at if you get a chance anyway!)
* Drove from Sedona (should have been Grand Canyon!) to Las Vegas where we spent a few nights. We then would have driven to Yosemite if it hadn't been winter (the roads are often snowed in) but headed back to LA instead, where we explored a bit more and stayed a night.
* Drove from LA to San Francisco along the Pacific Coast Highway. This took two days and we slept at San Luis Obispo along the way. This is a gorgeous and very scenic drive that I would highly recommend. There are some great stops along the way too e.g. Hearst Castle, Santa Barbara, Monterey and Carmel.
* We dropped our rental car off in San Francisco and flew to Seattle where we spent several nights. Then we caught the train to Vancouver (about a 2-3 hour ride from memory) which was really easy to do. We pretty much used the train or internal transport in the cities (e.g. subway) for the remainder of our trip.

Hope that helps and enjoy your planning!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for the recommendations PrincessinOZ. I used your prior trip report as the basis for driving from SFO to LAX back in May, there was some great info in it
How hot would Palm Springs be in mid Sep?.

It depends. It is in the middle of a desert and Sept can be really hot or starting to cool down.

 

[GrazingGoat1966]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2549219

Heidi I'm sure that you commented on my TR from Sep last year, but we did a very similar route to what you propose to do on our 16 parks in 16 days roadtrip. Drove the whole way and would not hesitate to do it again. Even if you pay a one-way dropoff fee for the vehicle, you'll be financially miles in front driving by firstly saving on your airfares. Even taking into account the accom costs whilst you're on the road, IMO you are streets in front.

 

[becpee]

Another one all for driving here

We did Anaheim to LA and back, then onto San Diego, to Vegas and back to Anaheim.
Would not hesitate to do it again!

I drove, DH drove, we both drove into LA, not alot different from driving on The Monash in Melbourne.
I found the traffic in the city to be busy but it moved, considering the population in LA and comparing it to Melbourne's, they have pretty good roads there

 

[Mum from oz]

I'm no expert but your plans sound good to me. Driving over there is pretty easy and doesn't take too long to get used to. I will be keeping an eye on your trip as we plan to do a lot of the west coast of the USA in late 2013.

 

[Sugarglider]

I've always driven on my trips to the US and it has been very easy. My only warning - falling asleep. Esp in Arizona - long straight stretches of nothing and I was on my own and had to stop a couple of times. The same with the freeway from San Diego to LA - had to invent dancing in the drivers to keep me awake.

I'm a vote for stay at least 1 night at the Grand Canyon - I stayed at the main centre at South Rim and was able to see sunset and sunrise, no crowds, nice dinner, wander to my content.

Also Sedona is FANTASTIC! absolutely beautiful, plenty to do, FAB mexican restaurants - and they have a plethora of jeep tours that take you out among the rocks and mine told all the amazing geology and history of the place. LOVED Sedona!

Although he did try to pass off some story about some rocky mountain being the inspiration for BTMR. I am not so undiplomatic to have corrected him in front of the other people!! Perhaps soon he can change his story to Cars Land!