Road Trip from LA to Seattle and back....

[fishbunre]

Hi Everyone;
We will be visiting west coast on August and planning a road trip.I have been researching for weeks, and decided that RTA has the richest database :) I have been reading tens of pages and threads re. Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco and found out that the trick is "the duration". Looks like you can easily spend 2 months on that road or ride through it in just 2 days and there are still interesting things to do.

Below are some facts and I hope that will help all of you to help me :

1.We are a party of 5. ( 3 adults, 1 teenager and a 4 yo)
2.Landing LAX on Aug 14th, need to be in Seattle btw Aug 21st and 25th and have to catch our plane from LAX on Aug 29th PM .
2.Not interested in LV. ( been there more than once)
3.One of the adults had a recent knee injury.

We love to eat :), of course we may need 1 or 2 attractions for the little one (that doesn't mean we won't enjoy).

Thank you all already !

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA! This is one of the best databases of places to see and things to do while roadtripping, as well as some of the best articles helping one plan a trip. So glad you found it! "The duration" is the key to anyone's trip. We all have different styles of road-tripping. Some of us just drive long distances between places we want to see, while others go a short distance here and stop, then another short distance there and stop, etc. Everyone is different in that way -- one of the biggest joys of the road trip, IMHO.

If this were me, I would get out that map (electronic or paper) and start flagging things that sounded interesting. A 4-year-old will probably enjoy the rocks and the twigs everywhere, but an occasional park, piece of grass to run in, or a zoo would be a big help. Are you interested in LA at all? Griffith Park has something for everyone in the family, and of course there is Hollywood if the teen and adults are interested.

Eating -- almost everyone loves to indulge in a Pink's Hot Dog in LA's Hollywood area. You can also ask locally for a restaurant recommendation. It's important how you ask someone -- ranging from "if you were going out to dinner with your family tonight, where would you go if you didn't want a chain", to, "we want a nice family place that has incredible food, what do you recommend", to "we're leaving the kids in the motel and want a romantic restaurant, what do you suggest?"


Donna

[fishbunre]

Thanks Donna ! A visit to the Zoo is a great idea. Let me chk Griffith Park and you bet we'll try Pink's !

[Southwest Dave]

The obvious choice would be to look at a different route in each direction. By taking an inland route north and a coastal one south you would have the Ocean on your side of the road. Some of the highlights going 'up' would be Yosemite NP, Lassen Volcanic park, Crater Lake, the Columbia River Gorge and Mt Ranier. Coming 'down', Redwoods NP, Humboltd Redwood State park, Golden Gate, San Fran and a drive around Big Sur, one of the worlds top coastal drives between Monterey and Cambria. You will have to pick and choose based on the pace you want to travel at and your interests.