Hello!
I´m a brazilian planning my first road trip in the USA for last week of september/first week of october. My husband and I are both in ours early 30s. I´ve read a bunch of threads so far, and have a couple questions:

*how far in advance should I book lodging inside the parks?
*Is this ittinerary ok? Does it make sense? Any suggestions?

day 1: arrive in SF after long flight
days 2 to 5: SF with my parents, who lived there for a while and want to show us around the city and Stanford, where they went to school
day 6: drive from SF to Sequoia NP
day 7: Explore Sequoia
day 8: drive from Sequoia NP to Yosemite NP
day 9: explore Yosemite
day 10: drive from Yosemite to Death Valley
day 11: explore Death Valley
day 12: drive from DV to Grand Canyon (South Rim)
day 13: explore the South Rim
day 14: drive from GC to Vegas
day 15: Explore Vegas
day 16: Fly Vegas-Orlando and meet my sister in law, nephew, etc... 6 whole days in Orlando.

What we thought was basically drive one day/explore one day, since my husband is doing all the driving...

The part that concerns me the most is SF-Sequoia-Yosemite. I really don´t know if that is the best route to go... would I be able to go through Tioga Pass?

Thank you in advance!

Lucia