Quote Originally Posted by DariusK View Post
What are your thoughts?
There are a number of cases where you are really flying through places, and are going to struggle to see much at the pace you're setting, and could very well end up exhausted. For example, it would appear that you're planning to get from Portland to Washington, while seeing Boston, NY, and Philly, over the course of 4 days? Not impossible, but it also doesn't sound very rewarding. Sometimes visiting fewer places, but actually getting to enjoy them, is a far better option.

But even more importantly, the advantage of doing a loop trip is that you can avoid a lot of the zig-zagging north and south - and yet you've still got a plan that very much has you bouncing north and south, rather needlessly. The most notable example is how you're going from El Paso to Jackson over the course of 3 days, and then turning around and heading back south - going back to New Mexico!

1.What is the best way to get to Yellowstone, maybe there is more scenic route or it doesn't matter too much and would be great to hear just some general advice how to visit this park?
I would completely change where Yellowstone falls in your trip. It would make a lot more sense to me to visit it between Glacier and the Dakotas. Most of Yellowstone itself is layed out in a figure-8, so seeing the park itself is pretty simple. I would leave time to explore neighboring Grand Teton NP too. As far as getting to Yellowstone, going via the Beartooth Highway is a very scenic way to get in/out of the park, and would make perfect sense as a way to leave the park on the way towards the Dakotas.

I know we missed Grand Canon and we are thinking how to incorporate that in to our trip and also is it worth it?
The Grand Canyon is one of the great natural wonders of the world, so yeah, I'd say it's worth it. I would certainly put it at a higher priority than a lot of the other things that you are going quite a bit out of your way to see.

It would make sense to include it somewhere around Antelope Canyon - which you can only see via Guided Tour, so you don't really need 2 days there. You could visit the North Rim in between Antelope and Zion, but I could also very easily see you rework the Utah section of your trip, and finish up at the South Rim before heading onto California.

4. The biggest zig zag we have is from LA to Sequoia to Big Sur to Yosemite to San Francisco, any ideas who to see all these locations but in a better way?
I would go from Death Valley to Yosemite then down through Sequoia (and maybe Joshua Tree, or trim that stop out) on your way to San Diego, then head back up the coast. That will allow you to go over Tioga Pass and explore the high country of Yosemite.

As Donna mentioned, Google won't allow you to map CA-1 because of road closures, and there is a good chance that it won't route you over Tioga Pass right now either, as that is currently closed for winter. Just another reminder why you can't solely rely on electronic mapping programs in your planning.