Brits in California -need some local advice!

[Robbie]

Dear Forum Users,

She who must be obeyed and I are currently planning our first ever road trip in the States -so excited! Our itinerary so far is San Fran 3days>Yosemite 2days> and then we want to go to the Big Sur region before driving straight to LA but have nothing booked yet.

The questions I have are as follows:
-We're thinking of a two-day journey from Yosemite to Big Sur, where is worth seeing that is not too much of a detour?
-What's the best way of including Palm Springs in our itinerary or is this a bridge too far?
-Is it possible to get down to San Diego (with a bit of border hopping) given our timescales?

On the whole I want to leave a bit of leverage for the drive -as I plan on relaxing not driving like a maniac on another country's roads!

Cheers!

Robbie

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

You ask what is possible within your time scale but have forgotten to mention how long that actually is. From Yosemite, Monterey would make quite a good overnight stop and then next day take a relaxed pace around Big Sur and consider stopping the night around Cambria/Morro bay area before the run in to LA. You could head to Sequoia NP before the coast but there is not so much between the mountains and coast. San Diego will depend on how much time you actually have and how much you want of it in getting to and visiting LA. From SD you could head out to Palm springs and back to LA in a small loop. With the on going drug cartel wars and unease across the border, it's somewhere you might want to reconsider skipping or at least checking the latest situation.

[Robbie]

Doh!

Two weeks!

Advice is very sound and welcome -thanks so much.

Monterey sounds interesting...

[Southwest Dave]

Two weeks should do it without feeling too rushed. If you decide to go to Palm Springs then an option that would save you the need to go through the urban sprawl of LA more than once would be to head to Palm Springs from the Cambria area by cutting inland to I 5, East on CA 138 through Palmdale to I 15 /215 /10. From Palm Springs head to San Diego and then back to LA to finish your trip.

[Robbie]

That sounds a really good idea!

Thanks so much -it's nice to know our plans are do-able.

I will continue to read the forum to pick up ideas...

Cheers,

Robbie and Libby