Seattle to DL road trip

[PRomano]

We are in the very early phases of planning a road trip from Seattle to Disneyland for next year. We would fly into Seattle, rent a car to drive down the coast. We have been to DL before.
Is 7 days a reasonable ride time to be able to stop and see things along the way? Do you have suggestions for stops? Just fyi, we live on the east coast.

 

[RickNJane]

We live in the Seattle area, but have never taken that drive. Several of our friends have, but mostly did it in a couple of days. That said we have taken many trips down the Oregon coast. This is a stunning and beautiful drive. basically I-5 to Olympia and turn right and head for Long Beach. In Oregon You can stop and stay at several places such as Newport or Cannon Beach. We always make a trip to the Sea Lion Caves in Oregon. I'm sure that continuing south through Northern California would be equally beautiful. Have a great trip. I would be interested in hearing about how it goes

 

[citruscurtis]

Are you a movie buff
What about US history
Are you a photographer
As a east Coast resident are you afraid of cliffs/heights..tight road curves
Food choices
Once in a lifetime sights

From Astoria to willets the internary can be overwhelming

 

[PRomano]

Thank you RicknJane. We will make lots of stops along the way. We are just starting to think about where and how long we will take.

Citruscurtis, good things to think about. We definitely enjoy nature, we are okay with driving. Not so much the movies, but definitely history and nature. Yes I would love to take pictures along the way. We are pretty flexible with food choices. Decent, clean hotels are a must.

 

[bcla]

I would have suggested national parks broken up with cities. I haven't been down the Oregon coast, but have heard a lot about it. I'm assuming this is not going to be during winter, since there might be snow along the way.

From Seattle to Southern California here's obviously Mt Rainier, Olympic, Crater Lake, Redwood, Lassen, Yosemite, Sequoia/Kings Canyon. I'd throw in Mt St Helen's although it's not a national park. Not sure about this year as there's some real chaos going on with seasonal hiring for NPS and USDA. I heard that all seasonal hires with the National Park Service were rescinded, which includes visitor services, law enforcement, fire, maintenance, etc. Apparently some have been restored although many found jobs after the initial rescission. Not sure how it might be next year. But this year news reservations apparently can't be made at several national parks because of concerns that they won't be able to handle visitation.

Lake Tahoe might be worth a visit.

 

[PRomano]

I would have suggested national parks broken up with cities. I haven't been down the Oregon coast, but have heard a lot about it. I'm assuming this is not going to be during winter, since there might be snow along the way.

From Seattle to Southern California here's obviously Mt Rainier, Olympic, Crater Lake, Redwood, Lassen, Yosemite, Sequoia/Kings Canyon. I'd throw in Mt St Helen's although it's not a national park. Not sure about this year as there's some real chaos going on with seasonal hiring for NPS and USDA. I heard that all seasonal hires with the National Park Service were rescinded, which includes visitor services, law enforcement, fire, maintenance, etc. Apparently some have been restored although many found jobs after the initial rescission. Not sure how it might be next year. But this year news reservations apparently can't be made at several national parks because of concerns that they won't be able to handle visitation.

Lake Tahoe might be worth a visit.

We are hoping to hit the parks. I am very worried about the shutdowns. We are thinking mid May. Thanks for the list.

 

[bcla]

We are hoping to hit the parks. I am very worried about the shutdowns. We are thinking mid May. Thanks for the list.

The news is that campground reservations for Yosemite were suspended. Yesteday would have been the huge rush where a month-long block of reservations would have opened.

I don't think there's much risk any shutdowns per se. I heard there was an emergency order to exempt seasonal law enforcement with the National Park Service. But I don't think that included seasonal interpretive park rangers and maintenance staff. Maintenance will be doing things like maintaining/repairing restrooms and taking out garbage.

Not sure what's going to happen next year.

 

[irlandaise]

We are hoping to hit the parks. I am very worried about the shutdowns. We are thinking mid May. Thanks for the list.

Note that some roads in Yosemite may not be open by mid-May. You'll be fine visiting Yosemite Valley, and probably the Glacier Point Road will be open, but the Tioga Road is more iffy. NPS tries to get it open by Memorial Day, but they can't always do that.

I just saw a posting from the National Weather Service that after last week's storm, snow levels in the Sierra Nevada are about 76% of average for this time of the year, so if that percentage holds, the roads will be open sooner rather than later.

Here's a page about past opening and closing dates:

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/seasonal.htm

And here's the page where they'll post plowing updates once they start that process for the year (usually mid-April):

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm

May is a wonderful time to visit Yosemite Valley because the waterfalls will be going strong.

 

[irlandaise]

Thank you RicknJane. We will make lots of stops along the way. We are just starting to think about where and how long we will take.

One of your biggest decisions will be what route to take in California. Going at least partway on I-5 will make it easy to swing over to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and Sequoia/Kings Canyon. But it would also be great to do some of the coastal route along CA-1 or US-101.

Note that there have been increasing landslide problems on Highway 1 in Central California in recent years. Even though they usually happen during the rainy season, the resulting road closure can last for months. By no means do I want to discourage you from planning that beautiful drive! Just keep a close eye on news from CalTrans about closures.

 

[PRomano]

Thank you! We are hoping for some of the coastal route. I will bookmark the sites you linked. We are really just starting to plan so any and all advice is welcome!

 

[sjmac42]

Bit rushed for my taste as you’ll need at least 2n in Yosemite, 1n in Monterey, 2n if Hwy 1 is closed so you can do a return day trip to the road closure and at least 1n in Santa Barbara. That’s pretty rushed in itself and leaves you with only 2 or 3 nights to get from Seattle to Yosemite so doesn’t leave a lot of time for stops, it’s 22-25 hours driving, wheels turning, via the Coastal route from Seattle to Yosemite. Taking the interstate would be about 16-18 hours but what’s the point of that?
Have you considered flying into SFO instead so you can take a more relaxed trip?

 

[Psymonds]

Grew up in Seattle and Live in NorCal, I've biked much of this trip and driven it multiple times as well.

7 days should be a great trip, you will need to choose some things over others. you could spend 3 weeks and not see "everything"

North to south:

• Rainier NP is worth a spur out to Paradise lodge, but don't sleep on Mt St Helens, it's probalby a more unique experience.
• Portland is fun for a few hours and you have a choice of the Oregon Coast (cannon Beach and Tillamook on down) or the interstate or going inland to bend and Crater Lake
• From Crater Lake you can stop and see Shasta on the way down I-5 or you can head out to the coast through grant's pass and head all the way to either Fort Bragg, (try the skunk train?) Mendocino and cut inland on 128 (through wine country) or on down 1 to Bodega Bay or further. This stretch of the coast is similar to Big Sur and is open all the way, they're not identical but you can get a sense of the rugged coast.
• there are boatloads of touristy things to do in the Bay Area, I've lived here 25 years and we still find new things to do with the kids. Disney Family Museum is in SF.
• Yosemite is the quintessential unique NP experience, worth at least a day, and is a solid 2 hours from anything else each way, however you're probably deciding between this and Monterey, because they're directly opposite each other.
• from Yosemite and Monterey you have a good 4-5 hour drive south to something else, either Santa Barbara or something else in SoCal. You might want to see King's Canyon or Sequoia if you went to Yosemite, you might stop in San Luis Obispo or Pismo Beach if you're coming south from Monterey.

If you get more specifics, there's a lot of cool things, it's just a matter of what motivates you all.

 

[PRomano]

Bit rushed for my taste as you’ll need at least 2n in Yosemite, 1n in Monterey, 2n if Hwy 1 is closed so you can do a return day trip to the road closure and at least 1n in Santa Barbara. That’s pretty rushed in itself and leaves you with only 2 or 3 nights to get from Seattle to Yosemite so doesn’t leave a lot of time for stops, it’s 22-25 hours driving, wheels turning, via the Coastal route from Seattle to Yosemite. Taking the interstate would be about 16-18 hours but what’s the point of that?
Have you considered flying into SFO instead so you can take a more relaxed trip?

I will look into that. Thank you. I will work on our schedule. I will look to add another night in Yosemite. The road trip is the trip, DL is a bonus add on.

 

[PRomano]

Grew up in Seattle and Live in NorCal, I've biked much of this trip and driven it multiple times as well.

7 days should be a great trip, you will need to choose some things over others. you could spend 3 weeks and not see "everything"

North to south:

• Rainier NP is worth a spur out to Paradise lodge, but don't sleep on Mt St Helens, it's probalby a more unique experience.
• Portland is fun for a few hours and you have a choice of the Oregon Coast (cannon Beach and Tillamook on down) or the interstate or going inland to bend and Crater Lake
• From Crater Lake you can stop and see Shasta on the way down I-5 or you can head out to the coast through grant's pass and head all the way to either Fort Bragg, (try the skunk train?) Mendocino and cut inland on 128 (through wine country) or on down 1 to Bodega Bay or further. This stretch of the coast is similar to Big Sur and is open all the way, they're not identical but you can get a sense of the rugged coast.
• there are boatloads of touristy things to do in the Bay Area, I've lived here 25 years and we still find new things to do with the kids. Disney Family Museum is in SF.
• Yosemite is the quintessential unique NP experience, worth at least a day, and is a solid 2 hours from anything else each way, however you're probably deciding between this and Monterey, because they're directly opposite each other.
• from Yosemite and Monterey you have a good 4-5 hour drive south to something else, either Santa Barbara or something else in SoCal. You might want to see King's Canyon or Sequoia if you went to Yosemite, you might stop in San Luis Obispo or Pismo Beach if you're coming south from Monterey.

If you get more specifics, there's a lot of cool things, it's just a matter of what motivates you all.

Thank you! I will add this to my notes. We are leaving our kids at home! Our kids are older. We can take longer than 7 days to drive. We know somethings will just have to be a drive by.

 

[Psymonds]

Thank you! I will add this to my notes. We are leaving our kids at home! Our kids are older. We can take longer than 7 days to drive. We know somethings will just have to be a drive by.

you might also take a day for wine tasting in Mendocino, napa, Sonoma or Santa Barbara Counties.

 

[PRomano]

I am adding wine to the list. Do you have a favorite place?

 

[Psymonds]

I am adding wine to the list. Do you have a favorite place?

I like going to Sonoma (the town) or Healdsburg and walking around the square, and then picking one or two local places. it really depends on your preferences in wine.

https://sonomawine.com/sonoma-county-wineries/

We like robust reds and for a while had a membership at Frank Family Vineyards in Napa.

Sonoma is more laid back (and less touristy) (Mendocino even more so, with Anderson Valley being sorta "out there" from the bay area.

If you like robust reds and haven't tried Zinfandels before (becaise of the reputation of white zinfandel) California Zins are a good value. They're more common in Lodi, but can be found around NorCal.

 

[PRomano]

Thank you. We aren’t huge wine drinkers, but would love to try a few.

 

[disneedee]

don't think you can do both coast and parks in the same trip. unless you did one going down and one going back up. i am from oregon and love the oregon coast. there isn't much coast to drive past in washington, seems to be hidden. taking i5 down to mt st helens and then cutting over to the coast would be my preference. the north and middle oregon coast in may can be wet and windy in May, but still beautiful. there are several historical bridges down the oregon, california coast. one year we did all the light houses on the oregon coast. we camped that time in state parks. the oregon coast is lacking in hotels chains on the ocean. most of the ones on the ocean are private ones. there are chain ones but not next to the ocean. we did the southern coast last summer with our grandkids. what a wonderful trip. Oregon Caves, California Redwoods, Gold Beach jet boats, West Coast Game Park Safari, Florence sand dune buggy. (More kid oriented but fun). the southern coast has beautiful weather, more like california, Amazing State Parks with lots of scenery, the towns are not too far apart but very small. the California coast has the red wood forest for the first third. i've not made that complete strip but believe there are spots where you can see the ocean. from san francisco down the coast is beautiful but isolated and seems to have road issues frequently. going that way there is the Hearst Castle to see also.

 

[PRomano]

don't think you can do both coast and parks in the same trip. unless you did one going down and one going back up. i am from oregon and love the oregon coast. there isn't much coast to drive past in washington, seems to be hidden. taking i5 down to mt st helens and then cutting over to the coast would be my preference. the north and middle oregon coast in may can be wet and windy in May, but still beautiful. there are several historical bridges down the oregon, california coast. one year we did all the light houses on the oregon coast. we camped that time in state parks. the oregon coast is lacking in hotels chains on the ocean. most of the ones on the ocean are private ones. there are chain ones but not next to the ocean. we did the southern coast last summer with our grandkids. what a wonderful trip. Oregon Caves, California Redwoods, Gold Beach jet boats, West Coast Game Park Safari, Florence sand dune buggy. (More kid oriented but fun). the southern coast has beautiful weather, more like california, Amazing State Parks with lots of scenery, the towns are not too far apart but very small. the California coast has the red wood forest for the first third. i've not made that complete strip but believe there are spots where you can see the ocean. from san francisco down the coast is beautiful but isolated and seems to have road issues frequently. going that way there is the Hearst Castle to see also.

Thank you for this. We have to sit and really think this out. I think we each need to pick our must do/see spots and work from there. We plan to fly home from Disneyland.