pinkpanther

We're driving down from Vancouver to LA at the end of August and haven't done the route before. We will be heading off on a Saturday and we hope to be in LA by Tuesday, travelling with 4 kids (yes we are brave or nuts!). Was wondering if anyone could recommend how to split the trip up/visit interesting places along the way.

Thanks

AmerLisa

Make sure you have a dvd player (seeing that you have 4 kids - might want to have a couple of them) Don't know when exactly you're starting, you say you want to be there by Tuesday? How many days are you allowing for the trip? We've driven from Seattle to LA in 2 days - but that was without any stops (with exception the usual potty breaks, eating, children bored, parents having meltdowns - you know) If you've got extra time, take the scenic route (Hwy 101) its quite twisty, but more things to look at. The Oregon coast is beautiful and if you travel the 101 you'll be able to see all of it. Of course you'll want to see the Redwoods and then the California coast. I suggest looking at a map and decide how much time you want to spend driving down there.

pinkpanther

Thanks, I put down that we were leaving on a Saturday and wanted to be there by Tuesday. I have had a quick look at the map but really nothing stands out apart from San Francisco as I don't know the area between Seattle and San Fran.

AmerLisa

Well as I said the Oregon coast is very lovely. But it makes the drive longer and its a bit twisty (don't know if anyone in your family suffers from motion sickness) There's not a lot between here and San Francisco if you drive Interstate 5. It does provide a quicker route to your destination. If you go that way once you hit Sacramento (well right before Sacramento) in California you could veer off on Interstate 80 and hit Reno, Lake Tahoe, etc. You can still get to Southern California that way and its not a bad drive (although pretty warm) but certainly better than a twisty road and driving the I 5 all the way down.

tonrob

We just got back from hols on the west coast, spending 2 days in Portland and then another 5 driving down the coast to San Fran. The Oregon coast is really scenic, and we saw seals, sea-lions and whales from the coast road along the way. The Columbia Rover Gorge just outside Portland is fab too.

I think it's safe to say that there's potentially weeks worth of stuff to see and do along your route. You need to research what you want to see and then do some prioritizing. I'd recommend Lonely Planet's website for some reading up.

Good luck!

Adnams

?? Rough Guide?

tonrob

No. Lonely Planet.

Rough Guide is poo.

AdobePinon

You should give yourself more time, otherwise you'll be straight-shooting I-5 which is boring as hell for the most part. All the fun stuff is to the west (along the coast), or to the east (mountains).

So much that you could see and do..... Seattle, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Hood River, Portland, Mt. Hood (Timberline lodge with damned good food, summer skiing), Bend, OR coast, Crater Lake, CA coast, redwoods, Sierra Nevada......

Only two of them - Seattle and Portland... are on I-5.

vegas

1275 miles is a long drive. We drove from Tampa to Dallas in 2 days 750 miles on day 1 and 450 miles on day 2 we were absolutely wrecked. I would say that you should plan to drive it over 3 days if you want to feel at least human after it.

Cape Blue

What he/she said.

Plus Santa Cruz, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, Hearst Castle, Santa Barbara, Yosemite, Napa valley, Mendocino (assuming you will visit SF regardless).

Sat to Tue is way too short - you could spend Sat till Tue just moseying around SF, take a week and enjoy it.

pinkpanther

Thanks for the replies. We've decided it is too short a time to drive down there so we're going to save it for another time and fly directly to LA as we have an onward flight to catch

So my next question is, does anyone have any recommendations for places to visit in the LA area? We will be there 5/6 days now so what are the 'must do' places?

Cheers

AmerLisa

Forgot about Mt. St. Helens.......that in itself is worth driving the I 5 for. You can do that and then switch over to the 101 later. Mt. St. Helens is about 50 odd miles from the I 5 - but well worth the trip to go to it. You really need to allow a whole afternoon or morning to see this. We've went twice and always agreed we could have stayed longer. If you go there you could come back and perhaps stay the night in Portland. Anyway, well worth the trip.

AmerLisa

We always fly now - usually try to get to LA a few times a year for family reasons (we live near Seattle.) Anyway, the usual Disneyland, Universal Studios thing (if you want to do amusement parks with the kids) We just spent a week in Southern California and spent a few days in San Diego. Love the weather and atmosphere there. I'm not an aficionado of LA, so perhaps someone else can come up with something to do there if you want to hang around LA.

pinkpanther

We often visit Seattle AmerLisa and like it lots. My son would love to work for Microsoft when he is older!

I searched around the site and found that there is a travel section. Only been a member for 5 years here and never seen that - duh! I've posted in there for a kid friendly itinerary of LA and I'll see what replies I get but thanks for yours and everyone elses. If you can recommend hotels in that area it would be great. We struggle as there are 6 of us and we usually go for Embassy suites, Marriott or Doubletree as they are the only ones that will accommodate a family of our size.

Thanks!

AmerLisa

I know exactly what you mean about hotels. When we're all together (sons live in Southern California) we struggle about hotels, if we go somewhere, as we did to San Diego. Can I recommend TripAdvisor, I found it extremely helpful in narrowing down my research. I'm not the kind of person that can walk blindly into just any hotel and hope for the best. The site really does give helpful information and then we booked our hotel on Priceline (well bid for it really and got our hotels for really good prices.)

On the flip side. My MIL is coming across in a few weeks time and while we've been to Vancouver before, we are contemplating another trip up. We've done a few things over there Stanley Park, Capillano Suspension Bridge, but we want to stay in Vancouver and perhaps go over to Victoria.....heard it was a bit cheaper to do it that way.......any suggestions?