Couple from Europe traveling from SF to Phoenix (10 days, beginning of May)

[Tomas]

Hello,
My name is Tomas and I am from Slovakia. My wife asked me that she would like to see America - as gift for her birthday. So I decided to plan a surprise roadtrip for her. As we did not have any honeymoon 5 years ago, lets call it honeymoon roadtrip.
When I was searching for information about possible destinations, I found this amazing webpage and read a lot of great tips from experienced travelers. But I still miss the experiences to prepare the right schedule, so I would like to ask you to help me to plan this roadtrip correctly.
Here are some basic data:
We will land in NYC on 2nd of May. We will spend 2-3 days there and want to buy some ticket to SF. I expect we will be in SF on 5th.
We are leaving from Phoenix on 15th morning. So we should pack the whole trip between this 2 dates and cities.
I expect to spend at least one day in SF and see the most interesting within the city (we will probably walk or use public transport).
After that we would like to rent a car and leave SF. Here is my first dilema. I first thougt that we will drive down the costal road (direction LA). But when I found your web I realized that there many other interesting places around e.g. Yosemite NP. Because of the tight schedule we probably won't be able to fit in costal driving and Yosemite, so I decided to prefer Yosemite (but also like to read your opinion about that).
I prepared the list of places we would love to see: SF, Yosemite, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon. Do you think we can fit it within our tight schedule? Do you have some interesting tips along the way? Would you please recomend the best roads to follow to see everything and best places to sleep?
I would appreciate any feedback because I would like to prepare amazing roadtrip for my wife:)
And sorry for my English, I am not native speaker.
Thank you,
Tomas

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

I would recommend a couple of days in San Fran, it is a wonderful City and you have the added bonus of the option to visit Alcatraz Island. It would be best to be in Phoenix on the evening of the 14th at the latest, if you are flying out on the morning of the 15th, giving you about 7 days on the road. This would make your trip doable.

There is a high possibility that the Tioga Pass, [CA120] which crosses the Sierra Nevada and is the popular route choice from Yosemite to Death valley, will be closed due to winter snow accumulation. If this is the case, you will have to go around the southern end of the mountains via Lake Isabella/Bakersfield. National park lodgings get booked out really quick and if you wanted to stay inside the park you would need to look into availability asap. Nearby Towns like Groveland, Mariposa and El Portal have options. I would spend a couple of nights around Yosemite to get a full day there, possibly heading to Oakhurst or the Fresno area for night 2 if the pass is closed, or Lee Vining if it is open. Having to go south would make Sequoia NP an option to visit, but that will depend on the pace you want to travel at and how long you might want to spend where.

Next day you can continue to Death Valley, where the nearest lodgings are at Panamint Springs, Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Next up would be Vegas for a night or 2 before heading to the South rim of the Grand canyon. In between you could stop at Hoover Dam and take part of original route 66 from Kingman through Seligman. You could stay in the National park or the nearest town to the park is Tusayan, with Williams and Flagstaff as cheaper options a little further away. Flagstaff would be a good option before heading to Phoenix. You could go via Sedona and Oak Creek.

[Tomas]

Thank you Southwest Dave for your great info. I think I have the basic outline of our trip. Now I should prepare day-by-day plan and put it here as soon as ready.
It looks like the trip plan will depend on the Tioga Pass opening. According to expectations, there is some possiblility it will open before our trip, but I will probably plan both options.
What will be the easiest way to find out if it is already open? We will be in SF with limited access to Internet so I would like to find the easiest way to check this before we leave.
Once again, thank you for the info.

[glc]

What will be the easiest way to find out if it is already open?

1-209-372-0200

[Tomas]

Thank you glc.