Driving from Washington

[jordansmomma]

Ok so for Christmas I am taking my kids to Disneyland. I am driving from Eastern Washington. I am wonder what route, stops or whatever do you do? I will be leaving early on 12/21 so I wonder where do you stop for lunch (towns) do you drive straight through or stop for the night? I will be packing a cooler with drinks, snacks, bagels for breakfast, poptarts, water, maybe sandwich stuff for lunch the first day, unless we really need an hour to stretch and get out of the car.

 

[Barbday62]

When I lived in Washington I drove it many times from Western Washington (Everett Area)
It was about 20 hours drive and we did straight through except rest area and one meal break. We almost always leave at night after work when we drove it. Usually close to 5PM or 7PM. This got us into LA midday with less traffic to deal with. We always drove interstate 5 the entire way. ALso when we had kids at home they slept while we drove a lot of it. Our one meal break was usually super early in the morning and we made it a sit down meal in the North half of California. Sometimes it was as simple as a truck stop but we always needed the time to get out of the car and stretch and wash our faces. We took turns driving and sleeping in the passenger side too.

I think the only time we did go off interstate 5 was Portland.
They have a 205 I think it was called? It vered off around the city.

 

[bumbershoot]

Since you live in Eastern, you are likely a much better snow driver than I am. But if you've never done that drive, I will warn you that the Siskyous can be QUITE nasty to drive in over xmastime. Fast truckers, twisty highway. I HOPE they are finally done with the construction that they've been doing for something like 20 years, but since just a few years ago there was STILL construction, I wouldnt' count on it. And unless Oregon changed (oh I hope they did), whenever I've driven through, there are triple trailers driving on the roads, which is just plain old scary.

Because of the Siskyous mountains alone, I fly nowadays.

That said...depending on where in Eastern you are, I'd probably get west and south over to 205, get into Portland that way, deal with the Portland mess (we had our wedding out there and it took an entire YEAR to figure out the highways that go around the city!), and get going south on 5 for the rest of the way.

Since you're planning on snacks, just in case you don't know, do NOT try to take fruit into California. In fact I'd make sure you had no produce at all in the car, and I think, though I'm not sure (longtime vegetarian), even meat isn't allowed in. I mean, I wouldn't worry about deli meats, but if for some reason you're carrying steaks, well, I wouldn't. They are very careful about bringing pests into CA! So be careful you aren't carrying those foods into CA.

When in college, driving straight through, I could do Tacoma, WA to Santa Cruz, CA in 13 hours. I *think* it's about 7 hours from San Jose, CA to Anaheim. You're going to want to stop for the night, IMO, somewhere in there. If you can make it all the way to SJ (SJ is north of Santa Cruz, in case my order was confusing), it's a huge city with lots of hotel options. But I *think* you'd come off of 5 to get there, so maybe just ignore what I just said. (I grew up in SJ, but left at 17 for college and my mom moved to Miami, so I didn't spend much driving time there)

Do you belong to AAA? If so, use their TripTik service! Get some maps! Or maybe a friend belongs and would be willing to get those things for you? I *think* that AAA pays attention to current road construction for their TripTiks, so that would be really helpful for your trip (more helpful for construction updates than asking here in June, I'd say!)


Good luck with this trip!

 

[jordansmomma]

Thanks,
I keep hoping for somewhat of a good deal through SW, DING or something so we dont have to drive. I mostly want the car for our day trip to Seaworld.

 

[bumbershoot]

I keep seeing Spokane pop up on my Dings, so I imagine there will be something soon. And today for travel thru August 30 I saw a 64 dollar deal from Portland to Los Angeles... there's hope! We just gotta wait. I'm waiting for mid-September, though early December is also a hopeful plan for a day-trip to Disney (main trip to San Diego).

Ooh, did you know there's a $10/adult Amtrak train that takes you from a few miles from Disneyland to closeby to Seaworld? I ahven't yet taken the Surfliner train, but I'm GOING to. Some day. And there's a AAA discount with Amtrak, too. I hear it's gorgeous for quite a bit of the (short) trip, and you don't have to deal with that nasty traffic! (our two trips to Disneyland have been true day-trips from San Diego; my brother drove us and he's used to the traffic, but I was biting my nails and closing my eyes the whole way there and back, both times)

 

[jordansmomma]

Do i go to the amtrack website to find that? That would sure beat driving!!

 

[blackjackdelta]

Not to detract from the train or plane, we drive from the Tri-Cities. go down 97 then reconnect with I-5. The fastest way(saves 20 minutes if there are no problems in Portland), the shortest way is down 97(132 miles less) with the gas the way it is................
The grapevine can have problems with snow along with the Shasta route. I carry chains no matter what and a GPS for weather alerts. It is a matter of having the SUV with us so we do not have to rent and two of the kids will not get on plane.

Jack

 

[bumbershoot]

Do i go to the amtrack website to find that? That would sure beat driving!!

Here is the link to the Surfliner's page. From memory, I remember that it has several departures per day. I've read that the SeaWorld stop is fairly close to SeaWorld, but I see that there are THREE San Diego stops, and I don't know which one it is.

If you have AAA, be sure to let the reservation person, or the online form, know it, b/c there are things to click for "AAA Adult" and "AAA Child", the latter meaning the child of a member of AAA. Can reduce your rate if booking ahead of time.

 

[pixiestarr]

Hi Jordansmomma, where in Washington are you from? I am in the Snohomish area. We are going to Disneyland in October, we are too excited!

 

[limace]

Are you driving by yourself or will you have another adult driver? Cause man, that's a long drive if it's only you driving, with two kids. I'm in Oregon, with a much shorter distance, and I don't know if I could face it If you can get a killer air fare, I bet you could find a cheap car rental deal once you're down there so you can get to Seaworld and avoid paying shuttle fees, too.

 

[RangerPooh]

We spend the school year out in Pullman (eastern Wa) and get to HWY 5 (Portland area) via goin down through the Tri Cities and then head along the Columbia River (don't know the HWY). From there we take 5. HWY will take you straighyt into LA. As a PP said, the Sisqiu... Mtns are not fun in the winter. DH and I crossed them a few years back when we were moving from Ca Bay Area to Wa and it was a very scary ride. The frozen snow/ice not being plowed, fast big rigs, and non-cautious drivers. And we ahve some experience driving in snow and still found it to be hairy.

When we make the drive from Wa to SF Bay Area to see family (and are traveling with tots) we stop in Medord Or for one night and the do the rest the next day. That way we go over the Mtns in daylight. However, if you leave early enough and have enough light you can probably get over the Mns before it's too dark and stay in Ukiah (sp) or try to get down to Redding. The drive down HWY 5 is 70mph most of the way.

Places to stop...In and Out!!!! The first one is in Redding. I miss them, the burgers are fries are oh-so delicious. If you likie split pea soup there's always Anderson's in Santa Nella, Ca. You drive right past it. Other than that most things are your typical fast food fair.