Suggestions welcome - Southwest/CA

Thanks for both of your responses to our plan. I agree that the Zion/Bryce leg of the trip is too compact. Any suggestions as to how to revise it? We can add another day in there to ease up the rush. Where would you add it?

Also, how would you revise the Yosemite - Monterey - LA leg, also assuming we can add another overnight? I do want to be able to see all of the things there are to see on the drive along the coast. Where should the second stop be?

Thanks again for your suggestions as we revise the plan further.

What you could look at might be spending the night in Merced or Los Banos on your way out of Yosemite if you get out too late to make it to Monterey. Then I'd add a night in San Simeon, Cambria, Cayucos, Morro Bay, or San Luis Obispo.

If you can add a day between LV and the GC, you could spend the first night at Zion and the second night in Kanab, or the first night at Bryce and the second night in Page.

GLC,

Thanks for your response. I have taken into consideration your suggestions and we have put together a revised plan that I think will work out much better. Rather then driving from San Diego to LV, we decided instead, to save money on the car rental/gas, to drop the car off upon our arrival in LV, and hop on a flight to San Fran, where we can pick the car up on our way out of the city. This will save us 4-5 days worth of car rental money since we don't need a vehicle to get around in either of those cities (I don't think). So, we reversed the order, added 2 more days in the desert and along the CA Coast, and this is what we've come up with:

Day 1: Arrive Phoenix, drive to GCNP South Rim
Day 2: Explore GCNP, drive to Page, AZ
Day 3: Explore Antelope Canyon, drive to Bryce
Day 4: Explore Bryce Canyon, drive to Zion
Day 5: Explore Zion, drive to Las Vegas
Day 6-7: Las Vegas
Day 8: flight to San Fran in the morning, San Fran sites
Day 9: Alcatraz in the morning, drive to Yosemite in the afternoon
Day 10: Explore Yosemite, drive to Monterey
Day 11: Drive down the coast to somewhere in the middle - Cambria?
Day 12: Cambria to Los Angeles
Day 13-14: Los Angeles, drive to San Diego
Day 15-16: San Diego
Day 17: Fly home

I think this makes a bit more sense. Although we are adding on 2 days, we are ultimately saving money on not needing the car for so long. Please let me know if this makes more sense in terms of timing. As long as this plan makes sense, we can start setting up dates and making reservations.

Thanks!
Alyssa

You need to research car rental charges carefully - you may wind up paying two one-way dropoff fees that way.

The revisions look a lot more relaxed.

My brother-in-law is a manager at Enterprise in NJ. We are going to talk to him and see what he can do for us then go from there. Hopefully it will work because I'm really excited about this current itinerary!

Just a word of warning, that Enterprise is often among the worst when it comes to one way drop fees. It's just part of their business model - they often have some of the best rates for round trips. Certainly see if you can get a deal, but even your b-i-l may have difficulty getting a good deal based on how they typically do business.

I will say, however, you might look at starting in Vegas and just doing a loop rather than flying into Phx. Your travel time to the South Rim is not that much different.

You can usually find deals where the one way fee is waived for trips from SF to LA.

Hi all,

I had posted last week about a possible CA/Utah Canyons trip, but we have since decided that we can't do it all. So, we decided to skip the Canyons this time around and focus our trip to Cali! I have taken all of your advice and this is our revised trip. My boyfriend's mom has a ton of Marriott points, so that's why we focus on Marriott's for hotels in the major cities. Here's the plan:

Day 1 & 2: San Francisco
-See all the sights! Golden Gate, Alcatraz, the Piers, etc.
-Hotel: Marriott Fisherman's Wharf or Union Square - which one is more central??

Day 3 & 4: Yosemite
-the boy wants to do Half Dome, I'm unsure. Any experience there?
-Hotel: Cedar Lodge in El Portal unless there are openings in the park

Day 5: Monterrey
-Hotel: Monterrey Marriott

Day 6: Pismo Beach (just to break up the drive)
-Hotel: Sea Venture Hotel

Day 7 & 8: Los Angeles
-Walk of Fame, Studio Tour (which is best?), Muscle Beach
-Hotel: uncle's house

Day 9 & 10: San Diego
-San Diego Zoo, possibly Tijuana, etc.
-Hotel: cousin's house


Thanks for your feed back!! :)

Union square is located in the heart of downtown and it doesn't get much more central then there. However, if your main focus is on visiting Alcatraz, Pier 39 and Golden gate then Fisherman's Wharf is the place. It isn't difficult to get between the two places either way so take your pick of Hotel.

I haven't done the Hike up Half dome but would certainly like to. You can find all the info and get an idea of how strenuous it is [or isn't depending on fitness] at Yosemite nps.gov. It's meant to be very rewarding and worth the effort when [or if] you make it to the top, but with a couple of days in Yosemite [less with travel time] you won't be short of things to do and you will have to sacrifice some things for others.

Your trip looks pretty relaxed and you should have a great time, I'm not sure Tijuana would be on my itinerary though with the ongoing drug cartel wars and warnings for visitors. At least keep updated with the current situation when travelling.

I'll first start with asking that you stop creating new threads about your trip. This is the second time we've had to merge them. Even if you are making significant changes to your plans, knowing the complete story of how your trip has evolved will allow you to get better and more complete responses.

As far as your most recent plan goes, that seems like a very well paced trip. For lodging in SF, the Wharf is closer to the places you've listed, but I'm sure either would work just fine.

You cannot hike Half Dome without a permit, and it may not be open yet in May. You will need to apply for your permit at exactly 7am Pacific Standard Time on March 1.