LA, SF, Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley, Las Vegas, LA loop. Sanity check!!

[weimaranermerlin]

Hey Guys,

We're planning a 12 night, 13 day trip, flying in and out of LA. Have mined all the useful info from the forum, outlined a plan and need you to sanity check it. Would welcome any suggestions, recommendations of places to stay, short stop-overs, detours, etc. There'll be 5 adults, ranging from 38 to 70 and an 8 year-old boy. We've rented a decent-sized minivan. We hope to stay in motels and small hotels. The route seems to work but still not set on which direction to take. So! Here goes...

Setting off from Santa Monica on Monday July 30th. If we go clockwise, next over-night stop would probably be in the Pismo Beach area. Not sure about the next night, but looking to stay at Pigeon Point Lighthouse, South of SF on the Wednesday ( August 1st ). Next morning, bright and early, off to SF. A day's sightseeing and a stay either in SF or on the way towards Yosemite. 3 nights in Yosemite area and then heading South, towards Las Vegas, taking in Sequoia National Park and Death Valley, via Olancha. We have room for a couple of nights between Yosemite and LV. Any thoughts? Two nights in Las Vegas and then setting off on Friday 10th towards LA with maybe a night somewhere on the way.

Questions:

Does this route make sense?

Any must-see attractions on the way? Ideally not too much of a strenuous walk from the car. We thought about Ubehebe crater and Racetrack Playa but these seem to be too far off our route.

Suggestions for places to over-night?

Roads to avoid??

Any local festivals or high-days we should know about?

We're open to any ideas, don't really want to spend more than 5 hours driving each day unless it's necessary. Would very much welcome your help.

Many thanks in advance.

Andy, Sandra, Josh and the in-laws.

[Lifemagician]

Hi, and Welcome to the The Great American RoadTrip Forum.

Would you consider doing this trip anti-clockwise? Then when you are coming down the Pacific Coast Highway, you will be driving on the ocean side of the road. It will also be easier to pull into / out off all the view point and scenic overlooks.

Lifey

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Hitting all 3 of Yosemite, Sequoia, and Death Valley is a bit tricky, in that you either have to do some backtracking or miss something - its just one of the big problems with how the landscape lays out.

Your current plan of going to Sequoia after yosemite means you'll need to go south around the end of the Sierras to get to Death Valley. However, that means as part of your visit to Yosemite, you'll likely be skipping out on Tioga Pass which is a pretty interesting part of the park. The other options would be to skip Sequoia NP, and instead view the small grove of sequoia trees within Yosemite, and continue over Tioga towards DV. Or you could visit Sequoia first, and then backtrack to Yosemite, heading to DV from there via Tioga.

Of course, if you decide to follow Lifey's suggestion, just reverse everything.

I suppose it should be noted since you'll be in the area that the Grand Canyon is a possibility. It does add perhap more miles than you're willing to add, but you should at least give it some thought.