Christmas Roadtrip from California

My husband and I have decided to forgo the traditional Family Christmas in favor of batching it on our own and taking a trip. We are starting out in California and have from Christmas Eve until January 4th (11 days total) to go...somewhere.

We really wanted to go to New York but the prices are so expensive, even to rent a car around the holiday season. We were considering going up the coast of California, into Oregon, Seattle and into Canada...but we were wondering whether that's a bad weather season to take that type of trip....we like the cold that is normally associated with winter and aren't completely against flying somewhere and renting a car, but we're on a tight budget of 2k and flights and car rentals take away from that.


Any suggestions?

Do you have a car of your own that's suitable for taking a road trip? Where in California are you?

Sorry! We are starting about 20 minutes North of San Francisco.

Car is questionable. We both have reliable cars, but they're both 10-11 years old. So we could probably take them if we had to, they're in good condition. I hadn't really thought about it...

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

While I certainly understand that you are looking for ideas, you really are so early in your planning process, that its really hard for anyone else to come up with much helpful advice at this point.

No one is going to know what you are interested in more than you, and with a slate so wide open that you could go almost anywhere its hard to find much of a place to start with. $2000 for an 11 day trip for two people really is a pretty sizeable amount of money (especially with some of the dirt-cheap airfare bargains out there right now), so really I think you could find a way to go almost anywhere.

The coast could be a good option, you shouldn't see many weather problems along the coast, but snow certainly is an issue when you are more inland and in the mountains.

Really though, I think you need to sit down, figure out what it is that you want to do most and how you'd best go about achieving that goal. Once you've got a better idea of what it is that you want, we'll be in a better position to point you in the direction to achieving those goals.

Just because a car is that old doesn't necessarily mean it's not roadworthy. Get a competent mechanic's opinion. I have a 7 year old pickup truck with 114k miles on it that I'd hop in today and drive cross country.