Roadtrip California, Nevada, Arizona

[jasa]

Hi there,

First off hello to everyone. Its been great finding this forum, there is a lot of useful Information here.

Me and my Grandma are coming to California in the beginning of September. We will stay there for 17 days and are planning to rent a vehicle. I got a good deal with the flight, but I am sorry to have taken it now, since I can not do a round trip like most of the people posted here on the forum. The reason is, that I fly in to SF, but I fly out from LV.

I was hoping if you could please help me a little with my planning.
I was thinking staying 3 nights in SF, then doing Napa Valley the fourth morning, going to Sacramento and on to Lake Tahoe. There I would sleep and spend the next day in Yosemite park, and going back to Pacific Hwy.1 in the evening, where I would sleep.

Next couple of days I would be driving from SF to LA, sleep there, continue to San Diego, Palm Springs, sleep on the way. From Palm Springs via Joshua tree (sleep on the way)than on to Grand Canyon and sleep somewhere, Las Vegas. But then I don't know what to do, because most of the people go from LV back to SF via Yellowstone, but I fly from SF. So I was thinking going to Death Valley and maybe to Sequoia and return via I15 to LV. Or should I maybe spend more time in Arizona

What do you think, is that good, or would you change any of it. Please help, because I fly on Saturday and I don't really know what to do and where to go.

Thank you a lot for your help and time, greetings from Slovenia, Jasa

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to RTA !

A little confusion perhaps ?

because most of the people go from LV back to SF via Yellowstone, but I fly from SF.

I think you mean Yosemite and not Yellowstone, of which you would have visited after Tahoe anyway? I also read it as though you are flying out of Las Vegas, not SF ?

With the amount of time you have available, I don't think you need to look for things to do after Vegas, although a trip to Death valley is worthwhile. If you are spending 3 to 4 days in SF that gives you a couple of weeks on the road. You could easily apend a couple of days through Napa to Tahoe and a couple of days in Yosemite before heading back to the coast, Monterey perhaps. It will then take a couple of days to explore the coastal highway on route to LA plus a day there [or two] and another in San Diego. A trip to the GC with an overnight stop and an overnight near the canyon, leaving you 2 to 3 days to drive to, and enjoy Vegas.

Although you could speed things up, I think you might be under-estimating the drive times, or the time you could spend in each place, and possibly both ! An option would be to drive north from the Grand canyon into Southern Utah and the National parks of Bryce canyon and Zion before heading down to Vegas on I15, but things might become a little too rushed.