Advice for driving from Portland to Calistoga in 2.5 days

[Doletis]

I need advice for driving from Portland to Calistoga starting on a Thursday morning in July and ending up in Calistoga at around noon 2.5 days later. I would like to do some sightseeing, possibly near the coast and also hit the Redwoods on Northern California. I am having trouble deciding how far to expect I can reasonably drive that time of the year while making stops to sightsee. Does anyone have recommendations on the route and most likely places to overnight? Also any great sightseeing spots?

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Two and a half days you've got more than twice the amount of time you need to get from Portland to Calistoga, and so you will indeed have time to wander a bit. Now there are certainly a ton of state parks along the Oregon coast and you could use up a lot of your time seeing a few of those and driving the summer-traffic-clogged Pacific Coast Highway. So you might want to consider another choice - inland for the first part of this trip, heading up the Columbia River Gorge to The Dalles then south on US-197 through White River Falls State Park to Axford, a possible side trip to the Clarno section of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and US-97 south. You could then use OR-138 west to enter Crater Lake National Park from the north and exit on OR-62 southwest to Medford, I-5 north to US-199 south and the PCH at Crescent City setting you up for visiting Redwoods national and state parks around Orick. You'v4e then got a chance to see some coast by taking CA-1 a bit farther south through Westport and Mendocino with CA-128 providing your best route inland to Calistoga.

On such a route, overnight stops might be in or near Crater Lake NP and then around Leggett CA after seeing the Redwoods, or a little farther south depending on how much time you wanted to spend on the coast the next day. The downside of such a route is that it will take just under two full eight hour driving days. All stops - food/fuel/sightseeing - are extra. Still, that would leave two to four hours each day for hiking.

AZBuck