Two-week roadtrip starting in SF

[Lillelinn]

Hei!
We are planning a roadtrip in America this summer, and i'm here looking for some advice :p

We'll be in America for three weeks. We arrive in SF, and our plan is to have a two week long roadtrip (or 16 days), and spend the last week in SF.

We have been in SF before, but never been on roadtrip in America. We have many places we want to see and visit, but i don't know if we have enough time. I'v already shortened the driving route (a lot)!
We're willing to spend a couple of days just driving to get from A to B, (we will of course take breaks, stretch our legs, eat, sleep, along the way..) but we don't want to spend the hole vacation in the car..

First we're planning to drive to Las Vegas too see the city and spend one or two nights, before driving on to the Grand Canyon.
After Grand Canyon we want to drive through Utah (Some of our friends has been there and said it was beautiful?)

This is fair enough, but then we really would like too go to Seattle and spend a couple of days there! would it be possible to drive all the way up there, and then drive down the coast too SF within two weeks (16 days)? Or would this be too much driving? maybe it would be best to choose and only drive to Grand Canyon and then back to SF, or to Seattle and then back to SF?

Thanks in advance
Linn

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I think your thoughts that you should either do a loop out to the grand canyon or a loop to Seattle are probably your best bet.

Certainly, with 16 days, you could do a loop of all three places, but then you'd be looking at a trip that would mean more than 3000 miles of driving. That's about 6 days of driving, just on the freeway, and if you want to take slower routes like the coast highway, you'd be spending a good 10 of your days in the car.

A loop to the Grand Canyon is a very popular one for a 2 week trip - in fact its probably the most discussed route on this forum. For a loop, you could head down the coast, go across to the Grand Canyon, head up into Utah on your way to Vegas, and then head back to SF via Death Valley and Yosemite. Here's some of our favorite threads on this topic.

If you wanted to do the pacific northwest, that's certainly an option too, and again it makes for a nice loop - heading up through the mountains to places like Crater Lake, Mount St. Helens, and the Cascades, and then back down the coast. Here's some more threads that focus on those possibilities.

[Lillelinn]

As mentioned this is our first roadtrip in America, so we are open for any suggestions! If someone have any other suggestions/ideas on where we can go and what we can do for two weeks, we'll be grateful! :)
But we would like to experience american culture, visit some national parks, small towns, local diners ++ and not only the big cities..

[Yeehaw]

Yes, it's one of the most popular trips in the USA. Give you one example:
1. Arr SFO. Stay overnight near the a/p
2. Drive to Yosemite NP
3. Yosemite
4. Drive over Tioga Pass and via us395 to Lone Pine
5. Lone Pine via Death Valley NP to Las Vegas
6. Las Vegas
7. Las Vegas to Zion NP
8. Zion NP
9. Zion to Bryce
10. Bryce to Page
11. Page to Monument Valley
12. Monument Valley to GCNP.
13. GCNP to Kingman or Needles See some of R66 on the way.
14. Bite the bullet. All day drive between Kingman and Cambria
15. Cambria along hw1 to Carmel/Monterey
16. Monterey-SF via Santa Cruz.
You definitely need reservations that time of year.
Yeehaw

[Lillelinn]

Thanks! :)
Do u mean room reservations? So we'll need to plan everything (book accommodation) in advance? i was has hoping we could be a little spontaneous along the way :p

[Midwest Michael]

I don't think you ever said when exactly you were planning to do this trip, beyond "summer" so I don't think you can say that you'd certainly need reservations.

However, if you are hoping to stay within the National Parks, reservations would be a good idea. If your trip falls over a holiday, then that would also be a good time to make reservations. If there isn't a specific holiday or event, and are willing to stay outside the parks and drive in (which can mean an hour long each way, depending upon the park) then you should be able to get by without prebooking.

[Yeehaw]

With "summer" I guess you are coming july/august

[Lillelinn]

We are planning the roadtrip from june 24 to july 9:)

[Midwest Michael]

The biggest issue will be with the July 4 holiday. Since it falls on a Wednesday this year, you could see lots of other tourists from the weekend before all the way to the weekend after. You'll still be able to typically find a room in most major cities, but the areas around national parks could be quite busy, and reservations wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[Lillelinn]

Thanks for all the advice, tips and possible issues! Good to know a little bit more, so we can be prepared! =) Something else we need to know?
Other tips on trips, places to go?
If you were in SF and was planning a two week long roadtrip, where would u go and what would u do? ;p