San Francisco to Seattle in late December

[dawatt]

Hi.

We live in Australia and are planning to drive from San Francisco to Seattle in 3 and a bit days between Christmas and new year. I know this is a very short space of time as there is such a lot to see but that is all the time we have.

We would like do a combination of coast driving and driving through redwood forest and don't mind if we have up to 6 hrs driving per day ( we are used to long distance driving ).

Could someone please help with a suggested route, and overnight stops for a short first day ( we get off the plane in SFO at 9.30am ), plus 3 subsequent days driving to get to Seattle? Thank you

[letsgoamerica]

Well ..... you definitely could be hindered by rainy, bad, West Coast weather. Prepare for that.
I did SF to Eugene in the Spring via the route you are suggesting in one drive (except we threw in Point Reyes on our way North). DON'T do that.
It was crazy & I listened to my kids instead of my instinct to stay just one more place.
Eureka would be a great first stop. We stayed there the summer before.
You definitely don't want to be driving these roads in the dark. Many are narrow, winding & just plain scary if you are not used to them.
After Eureka you can head to Eugene. Then on to Seattle. This would give you about the same amount of driving each day with a little time to stop, eat, look around, etc. There is so much beauty along this route that you will not be disappointed.

[DonnaR57]

Give your body time to adjust by staying in SFO overnight instead of immediately renting a car and driving away. Your body will be screaming at you, otherwise. Use the time to rest, see a little of SFO, and get started on your trip the next morning.

SFO to SEA is about 800 miles by the most direct route, or 3 days of 250-300 miles per day. Bear in mind that, as mentioned above, the coastal route could indeed be very rainy and perhaps a closed Siskiyou Pass if you were using I-5. So you might want to plan two different ways to get up there, dependent on the weather.

Going up via US-101, you have the coastal redwoods State Parks and the Redwoods National Park, and the Oregon Caves National Monument. Then you could drop onto I-5 and see the Rogue River area (I love it, it's beautiful) with Valley of the Rogue State Park, and head up I-5 to Seattle.


Donna