San Diego to Reno/Lake Tahoe during thanksgiving

Hi,

We (my wife and me) are planning a road trip during thanksgiving holidays (4 days). Our first choice was Yellowstone. But it seems that all touristy places are closed during that time.

Now we have decided to go to Reno-Lake Tahoe (Northstar resort) as they will be open for skiing during thanksgiving. I am thinking of driving straight from San Diego to Reno.

Day 1: 3 AM to 2 PM - San Diego to Lake Tahoe or Reno
Day 4: 9 AM to 6 PM - Drive back from Reno to San Diego


Can you suggest if it is a good idea or I should split it so as to start on Day 0 night and take a stopover for sleep somewhere? What could be the budget place if that is so?

Can we include some other places on the route while we only have fixed 4 days ? We have been to Yosemite and San Francisco before. Any ideas to make this trip more enjoyable?

Thanks,

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

You are right that most touristy areas of Yellowstone are closed for the season at this point, and really, if you only have 4 days, I don't see how you would have had time for that anyway.

Personally, I'd much rather try to get a few hours on the road on a "day 0" rather than to try to wake up hours before I normally do. All that's going to do is set you up to be really tired when you arrive, where you'll either be spending the rest of your day resting (negating the point of leaving early) or you'll try to do too much and end up spending all of your trip being under-rested.

Depending upon what time you can leave in the evening and how bad traffic is because of the holiday, you might try getting as far as Ridgecrest (assuming you're taking US-395) and it shouldn't be too hard to find a motel for around $50 for a budget room.

I will say you've made a bit of a math error. You figured it would take 11 hours to drive there, which is probably about right, however, for your drive home, you've only figured 9 hours, which is just not going to happen.

My mapping software says the fastest way is 615 miles via I-5 to I-80, but any of us who is familiar with SoCal probably knows better. It's 565 miles via I-15 and US-395. This is right at the ragged edge of what we recommend for driving in one day. I have my doubts that you can do this in 11 hours, I'd plan on more, especially if traffic is heavy and/or the weather is bad.

If you want to leave on day 0, the traffic will be awful and it's 230 miles to Ridgecrest.
With no traffic, this would be 4 hours, but you should plan on 6. It's only 150 miles to Victorville, that might be a wiser choice. Both towns should have a choice of budget hotels.

Thanks for ur reply glc n michel I agree with ur suggestion.
I wanted to know what places can be visited near reno and lake tahoe if sacrimenton yosemite is already done before.
Also how to buy the economic tickets for rides n activities in north star resort in lake tahoe.
any suggestions appreciated.