14 Day Honeymoon Trip from LA-Seattle and Back

[ChicagoSean]

Hi all, I wanted to know if anyone has any advice about this trip. For our honeymoon my fiance and I are going to drive from LA to Seattle and back to LA at the end of October 2007. I am going to post the route we have planned, please let us know if we are crazy, or if you have any tips or insights on what to see and do. Thanks in advance.

Land in LA on Sunday the 21nd
Spend Monday in LA
LA to SF on Tuesday on PCH and through Big Sur
Spend Wed. in SF
SF to Crescent City area on Thurs.
Crescent City Area to Tillamook Bay Fri.
Tillamook to Seattle on Sat.
Spend Sun. in Seattle
Settle to Oregon City via Mt. Rainier (and maybe St. Helens) on Mon.
Check out Oregon City and Portland on Tues.
Portland to Mt. Shasta Wed.
Mt. Shasta to Napa on Thurs.
Napa to Yosemite on Fri.
Yosemite to LA on Sat.
Leave LA on Sun.

We are going to hug the coast (Rt.1 and 101) from LA to Seattle. On the way back our route will be determined by the sights we want to see. Any thoughts?

[Mark Sedenquist]

Hi all, I wanted to know if anyone has any advice about this trip.

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum and congratulations on your pending marriage!

For our honeymoon my fiance and I are going to drive from LA to Seattle and back to LA at the end of October 2007.

Without a doubt the best month of the year for a honeymoon roadtrip. The thing I never understand about similar posts, is why on your honeymoon are you trying to do and see so much? I don't know about you, but on my honeymoon, (which was also a roadtrip) there was ample time for sleeping in, walking on a beach, sitting on a deck and RELAXING. Fourteen days for a honeymoon sounds heavenly, but I would cut the mileage in half and look forward to a calmer, more relaxed pace.

The schedule is doable, but most days you will be on the road 8-10 hours. Such a pace is hard for me to recommend. But many of our roadtrippers do it all of the time -- this Forum is chock-full of ideas of places to stop and explore along this route. Be sure to look at the bottom of this page for more ideas.

Happy Planning!

Mark

[PNW Judy]

I think you're cramming a bit too much in. It is do-able but I'm thinking you will be exhausted by the time you get home and need a vacation from your vacation. The travel time each day is only half of the issue. If you're wedding goes like mine and just about every wedding I've ever been around, you are going to be running ragged right up until the time you get on the plane. Last minute stuff, nerves/jitters/excitement, all the details to iron out, etc. just plain add up to not being well-rested by the time your big day gets here. So, now, after all of that, you're going to do a marathon roadtrip? Hmmmm.....something to consider, I think.

Just some comments on the segments that I see the most problems with.

LA to SF on Tuesday on PCH and through Big Sur: Almost 500 miles. Plan for a 10-hour day of driving. This won't leave you any time to enjoy the beautiful places you're going by.

SF to Crescent City area on Thurs.: Almost 400 miles. A beautiful drive. A beautiful, twisty, turny, hilly drive. This is a drive to be done leisurely to time to inhale the views. There is also the potential for slower traffic to slow you down (passing is quite limited here). I wouldn't be surprised if this day took you a good 10 hours to drive as well, or close to it.

Crescent City Area to Tillamook Bay Fri.: About 300 miles. Could be done in about 6 hours but you still have the following issues: potential slowdowns behind RVs and other slow vehicles, and the fact that this leaves little-to-no time to explore the Oregon Dunes, all the lighthouses, the interesting things in the various towns especially Bandon, Newport, Depoe Bay, Lincoln City, etc., and other fun things to see and do.

Portland to Mt. Shasta: 360 miles. Very do-able as this is all highway driving and it can be quick but there are many cool things to see along the way (Oregon Gardens, Oregon Vortex, Wildlife Safari, and more). You won't have much time to see many of these and other things worth seeing.

Again, there's nothing wrong with whistle-stop tours if that's what you want to do and you know what you're getting into. But if you're hoping for a leisurely drive with time to see and do lots of different things, you're just not gonna have the time for that with this itinerary.

[W. Larrison]

I'll chime in here as well -- This is your honeymoon, dude. You and your partner are going to be stressed out to the max by the time you hit the road. You might want to consider kicking back a little and enjoying each other's company rather than being a road warrior for 2 weeks.

The route looks fine -- I'd do it slightly differently, but everyone's taste is different. As a totally uncalled for suggestion, I'd do something like

LA to Cambria/ San Simeon with a long lunch stop in Santa Barbara. (Get out and walk around!!) There are some very romantic places in Cambria and I've stayed overnight on a hotel on the beach in San Simeon. For that matter, about a hour south of there is the Sycamore Oaks hot springs and resort -- very romantic.

2nd day -- Hearst castle tour , leisurely drive up through Big Sur to Monterey. You can make it into SF that evening.

3rd day -- all day in SF. Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, etc.

4th day -- Napa Valley. Some very nice romantic places to stay here, and some very good restaurants.

5th day -- out the north end of Napa valley and over to the coast, up 101 to Crescent City. I'm somewhat concerned this might be a push day of driving, particularly if you want to do sightseeing at the Redwoods.

6th day -- Tilamook and the Oregon Coast.

7th Day -- continue up the coast. Rather than heading straight for Seattle, I'd continue on around the Olympic Pennisula, stopping at Hoh Rain Forest and ending up at one of several romantic hotels short of Port Angeles. I'm partial to the Lake Crescent Lodge, but there are several others in the Olympic Pennsiula area as well.

8th day -- Hurrican Ridge, ferry to Seattle. Sightseeing in Seattle.

9th day -- Seattle to Oregon.

10th day -- Oregon sightseeing (portland/ Oregon city area)

11th day -- Portland to Mt Shasta, or beyond.

12th day -- Yosemite

13th day -- Yosemite sightseeing

14th day -- return to LA area

[ChicagoSean]

Thanks for the advice. After looking much closer at all of the things we want to do and see we are drastically changing our route. We are not going to be going to Oregon and Washington at all.

We are going to spend two days in LA with friends and then spend three days travelling route 1 to San Francisco seeing many of the wonderful sights between.

We will then head over to Napa and spend a full day there. After that we plan on driving up the coast to the Avenue of The Giants, any ideas on how many days we should leave for that and any advice on the best sights to see along the way?

We will then head across the state and south to Yosemite and Bodie where we will spend a couple of days. Any ideas on the best route from Avenue to Yosemite and time.

Last we will travel back to LA at a leisurely pace. Thanks for the input

[W. Larrison]

About a year ago I did a trip through the Redwoods. We spent 2 nights, with a full day spent in the Redwoods. You might consider going a bit further north up towards Crescent City, since some of the best groves and places to visit are up there.

Places we liked included
- Lady Bird grove, and walked the 1 mile loop trail.
- Gold beach, including the 7 mile dirt road to get in. Saw lots of Roosevelt Elk along the road.
- Fern Gully (near Gold Beach).
- Scenic Drive through Elk Prairie State park.
- Patricks Point State Park.

After 2 nights in the area, we drove out from just south of Crescent City via the Howland Hill Road through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park up to 199 to head east to Grants Pass in Oregon. This is a little hard to find, since its a 2 land dirt road (in very good shape, I'll note) through the redwoods for about a dozen to twenty miles. Of all the places this was one of the most interesting, since it's a backwoods through the redwood forests. I think we saw one other car on the road..

We headed east towards Grants Pass, but detoured a bit to go to Oregon Caves (had a picnic lunch there), and then picked up I-5 south at Grants Pass, spending the night at Redding back in California's Central Valley, after driving past Mount Shasta.