Need help with my west coast road trip

[Sir. Bundy]

I would like your thoughts on the road trip I am planning - the road trip will take place in September 2009.

day 1. Arriving - San Francisco
day 2. San Francisco
day 3. San Francisco - Santa Maria
day 4. Santa Maria - Santa Barbara - L.A.
day 5. L.A.
day 6. L.A. - Laughlin
day 7. Laughlin - Grand Canyon
day 8. Grand Canyon - Bryce Canyon
day 9. Bryce Canyon - Zion national park - Las Vegas
day 10. Las Vegas - Death Valley
day 11. Death Valley - Yosemite
day 12. Yosemite - San Francisco
day 13. San Francisco - Departure

The way things are looking right now I will do the trip on my own.
These are the days I have avaliable.
Will there be too much driving or will I be able to cope with it? Am I missing something out?? - etc etc.

Amazing forum btw :)

Thanks
Steen (Denmark)

[Southwest Dave]

hello Sir Bundy, welcome to R.T.A

Will there be too much driving or will I be able to cope with it?

This will depend on the individual and how you want to balance the trip between driving and seeing a certain place. Your trip is certainly 'doable' and should give you a great overview of the area at a nice pace.

This a very popular area in the States and a trip taken by many and quite rightly so, the scenery and diversity is amazing and as such there is so much to see and do.

Heres a link to solo road trips which you might find useful.

And here's a couple more links to click on for info of the area.
HERE and HERE.

And this is "A report on my trip that covers a lot of the areas you have mentioned for a taste of what lays ahead. [not coastal].

If you intend on taking the Pacific coast highway [route 1] between San fran and L/A [a beautiful drive and recommended but more time consuming] you may want to consider evening out your stops along the way by stopping earlier than Santa Maria on your first night.

Have a look and get back to us and we should be able to fine tune your trip to get the best out of your adventure

[Sir. Bundy]

Thank u for the reply -
the links u have added very useful indeed - and the report on your own trip made me even more excited about making the trip.

Regarding the drive from San Francisco to L.A.: my plan is to take the Pacific coast highway, and I am aware of the fact that it will be far more timeconsuming than taking the express way. I still want to make Santa Maria my stop on the way to L.A. - so if I leave early in the morning dont u think I will be able to make it to Santa Maria in good time anyway?? Otherwise, u think it will be possible to follow the Pacific coast highway some of the way, and the express way the rest of the way in order to do it faster??

Thanks
Steen

[Mark Sedenquist]

I still want to make Santa Maria my stop on the way to L.A. - so if I leave early in the morning dont u think I will be able to make it to Santa Maria in good time anyway??

It's about 300 miles along the coast between San Francisco and Santa Maria. If you drove it, without too many stops, you can expect it to take about six hours. If you stop and enjoy some of the views, perhaps walk down to the beaches in a couple prime spots or even take a look at this waterfall:

photo by Roadie
You can expect to be on the road closer to 8 to 9 hours.

Mark

[Sir. Bundy]

The road trip I am planning will last around two weeks, and take place in the end of April 2009.
This is the plan as it looks right now:

day 1. San Francisco
day 2. San Francisco
day 3. San Francisco - Santa Maria (via Highway 1)
day 4. Santa Maria - Santa Barbara - L.A.
day 5. L.A.
day 6. L.A. - (in the afternoon) Palm Springs
day 7. Palm Springs - Sedona
day 8. Sedona
day 9. Sedona - Grand Canyon - Page
day 10. Page – Bryce Canyon – Zion National
day 11. Zion National Park – Las Vegas
day 12. Las Vegas - Death Valley - ?
day 13. ?
day 14. ? - San Francisco
day 15. Departing SF in the morning

As u can see I have some problems at the end of the plan - I just dont know who how to make it all come together.

Originally, I was planning on going to Yosemite, but I have later found out that the roads leading to Yosemite, coming from the east, are closed due to sow of whatever. The blank spot in the plan doesnt necessarily have to be around day 12 to 14, but as it looks right now I dont know how to get from Death Valley to SF in a day, and I cannot find any interesting places to visit on the shortest route between these two places.

I think I should be able to choose one more place to visit on this trip, but I have no clue what place to visit. I have thought about Monument Valley, but then decided not to course I think I will be seeing a lot rocks on my trip already. I also ruled out Santa Cruz.

I need a little help with these two problems :)
What do u guys think I should do?

Thanks - Steen (DK)

[Southwest Dave]

Hi, welcome back to R.T.A.

When you have crossed Death valley you can still come around the Southern end of the Sierra's and visit Yosemite valley from it's Southern entrance by way of the 41 from Fresno and through Oakhurst.
Personally I think driving from Sedona through G/C to Page is not doing it justice and would drive on from Sedona to G/C on day 8.

I think you are right not to try and cram anything else into this trip as it's going to be tough to squeeze it all in and have time to enjoy some of the most breathtaking scenery known to man ;-).

[glc]

Another option out of Death Valley is US-395 to Lake Tahoe, then back down US-50 and I-80 to SF. This would not allow you to see Yosemite though.