Driving Vegas to Yellowstone, Seattle then down the coast
Hi there
I am new to this forum and have found a wealth of information. We are from Australia and in the early stages of planning a trip for SEp/Oct next year.
Ideally what we would like to do is start in Vegas, do GC, Lake Powell, Arches NP ??, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, across to Seattle and then back down the coast to LA. Possible sidetrips into Lake Tahoe and Yosemite??
We have 4, possibly 5wks to do this in and I feel perhaps I am trying to cram too much in. We dont want too many long driving days - 4-5hrs max would be great,but prepared to do a couple of longer days if necessary. As we are travelling so far, we really want to see as much as poss, would like to have 2-3nt stops in the important places.
So...do you think it can be done; if not what places would you cut out. Also how many days do you think we would need to drive back down the coast (allowing for 3nts in SFO). Dont need to worry about Disney in LA as we will cover that in Florida. We will have 2 kids with us, aged 7
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
TIA
LIsa
Pretty leisurely, actually!
Like AZBuck said, you could easily just travel 2-3 days per week and explore the rest of the days and cover this distance. Or drive just a short distance every other day. It's very do-able.
There are so many things to see that you'll never see it all, even if you had several years, but it's fun to plan, pick out the highlights, pick out some other options that you might do if you have time, and then also allow for serendipitous discoveries while you're on the road.
Since you have so much time before your trip, I would visit the tourism websites of the various states you're planning on traveling through (google "___name of state___ tourism" and you'll find them). You'll get a lot of good information off their websites and can also order free trip planning information that is easier for you to pour over as a family. Your kids are old enough to get involved and add their ideas.
Also, just search through these forums (using "search" in green bar above). There is a wealth of information here.
Also, check out the national parks website for some terrific information. And you will also have time to drive some of America's scenic byways.
Planning is part of the fun. We'll be glad to give you further advice, make suggestions, and help you tweak things as you plan.
Could be a little longer than the week
Salt Lake City wasnt included in my week, so I have 1 extra night in theory which I was thinking of spending at Bryce. Or, if Arches was really worth the trip we could have 2 nights there and skip Bryce altogether. It is just so hard to decide which parks to visit. We are flexible with timeframes. I have broken the trip up to 1wk Vegas, canyon area, 1wk Yellowstone, Tetons including travelling there and onto Seattle, 1 wk down the coast to California and then about 10days or so in California. These are approximate and we can steal days from other areas and we even probably add a few extra days if necessary.