West Coast Road Trip

[toonmaster]

So I am planning a west coast road trip for May. I plan on heading to Seattle, Portland, then west to Lincoln City & Highway 101 down the coast.

Planned destinations on the 101 are the Oregon Dunes & Redwood National Park.

Then at Legettt, I plan to take Highway 1 through San Francisco to Santa Cruz. Is it worth it to continue south to Santa Barbara, Santa Monica & Huntington Beach?

After this, I am heading east to Vegas, check out Hoover Dam, then to Flagstaff & the Grand Canyon.

From here should I continue east to Albuquerque then north to Denver?
Or head north to Salt Lake City?

Anyone ever done a similar trip? Anything significant I am missing out on? Best places to cross the border?

[MelBridgeman]

I have nothing to offer other than that is a heck of a trip, have fun!

[Clever_Iggy]

That's a killer trip. I did something very similar over a few months last year.

Couple thoughts. The 101 is beautiful and it's relatively close to the 5 so if you need to skip a large section of the 101, it's easily accessible.

Hoover Dam is pretty cool. Lots of construction going on to create the super overpass that will keep cars off of the top of the dam (for terrorist threat concerns) and also speed up flow. The pillars they are putting up for support are incredible and it's worth getting out to take a look around.

Oregon is amazing. So green it might have been my favorite part of the trip, and I stayed on the 5 most of the time.

I would do Albuquerque and up to Denver rather than Salt Lake City. Although if you want to head up the 15, definitely check out Zion National Park in southern Utah(I personally prefer it over the Grand Canyon - but try to see both!). If youre really adventurous, check out Colorado City, AZ... crazy place with books written about it.

Denver is really cool - I love the downtown there because it is so accessible to all the sports arena's/stadiums and has a pretty good vibe. The area around Coors Field used to be the dumps (much like it was in San Francisco) but theyve concentrated on renewing that area of town with bars and such.

I spent a few years in Phoenix and Tucson, and Tucson is an okay place. Mexican culture (only ~50 miles from the border) but pretty run down in a lot of areas. BUT, incredible golf and IIRC, cheaper than Phoenix that way.

I would recommend going through San Francisco just because Im a bit of a homer for the city and the area, but the 101 will take you close to Napa (head east from Petaluma) and if you keep rocking south you can pass over the Golden Gate Bridge, which although touristy, is really cool to stop and check out on a sunny day. If you decide to stay in SF, I could exceed the word limit in a post for recommendations... PM me if you want.

Redwood National Park - gorgeous.

Las Vegas - does not need any additional hyping.

Awesome trip. I'll be moving my girlfriend to SF in a few months so I get to do parts again.

Cheers.

[Phanuthier]

I did a similar trip when I was a kid, the most memorable had to be the Redwood forest. Take your time and enjoy that.

Zion national park, spend an extra little time there too.

[Freeway]

I'm planning a similar trip for August, except cutting over to Reno instead of Las Vegas.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Freeway

I'm planning a similar trip for August, except cutting over to Reno instead of Las Vegas.

I was in Reno about 15 years ago, its a little sleezier then Las Vegas. Not that LV is class all the way (it does look that way) but its much nicer.

My opinion anyways

[toonmaster]

I am not planning on staying in Vegas, been there twice already. I am more interested in the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon & this Zion National Park by the sounds of it

[604flames]

If you get a chance, try hitting up Grand Teton and Yellowstone on your way back up too.

As for SLC vs. Denver, I've only been to the former, and even though I'm not a Mormon, the Temple and all the history attached to it is pretty cool. Floating in Great Salt Lake is also an experience, although try not to put your shirt on right afterwards. If you're into minor league (AAA) baseball, the park in Salt Lake has a gorgeous view, I watched a Buzz/Cannons series there oh about 10 years ago.

[OilersBaby]

Originally Posted by toonmaster

Is it worth it to continue south to Santa Barbara, Santa Monica & Huntington Beach?

YES, definitely continue south to LA County and Orange County. BUT, for the middle of california (between monterey and santa barbara, you don't have to take the 101..you can, because it's BEAUTIFUL but its slightly longer than taking the 5. So if you want to spend an extra hour or two going down the coast you can because you'll drive alongside the ocean, but if you just want to get to your destination, take the 5, and switch over to the 101 once you get to somewhere after Santa Barbara...........going through monterey is beautiful though.

And SF is GORGEOUS. I live in San Jose and SF is only an hour from me...Ive lived in this area for 7 years now and I STILL enjoy the things SF has to offer

[toonmaster]

thanks all for the tips, sat down and came up with a pretty solid plan

and yes, a night in vegas was included, how could i resist?

[Delthefunky]

I rode my motorbike to Seattle last summer. I would recommend taking the Crowsnest (#3) to Osoyoos and then crossing the border there. Then, take the North Cascades highway to Seattle, it's a stunning ride.... atleast in a motorbike

[Torture]

Hoover Dam is pretty cool. Lots of construction going on to create the super overpass that will keep cars off of the top of the dam (for terrorist threat concerns) and also speed up flow. The pillars they are putting up for support are incredible and it's worth getting out to take a look around.

Not to mention if you sneak in you might be able to find Megatron and the Cube

[SebC]

Chiming in a bit late here, so apologies for not getting this in before you sat down and did your planning. I've done two similar trips. First one was when I was younger... we went down to San Fran and back up through Reno and onto the I-15. On that trip we took 5 days on the way down, two of which were days trips to Mount Saint Helens and the Oregon Caves National Monument. We also stopped at the Sea Lion Caves, which despite their "tourist trap" vibe were actually fairly impressive. Don't have much other advice from that one because I was pretty young and my memories have gotten a bit foggy.

Did a similar trip this summer, but only one way (flew into Seattle, rented a car, drove it down to LA and actually flew out to London from LA). Dunno if you're camping or staying at Motels/Hotels, as that can factor in to what you want to do. I was camping. Went Seattle -> Seaside OR -> Florence OR -> Trinidad CA -> San Francisco -> just past Monterrey -> Yosemite National Park -> Lone Pine CA -> Vegas (via Death Valley) -> Grand Canyon (via Hoover Dam) -> San Diego -> Los Angeles

You won't miss much if you skip the area around Seaside to hit up Portland instead. Florence was a good spot to stop for the Dunes. We stayed at a campsite in a state park just past Florence and you could walk to the dunes from your tent. Be sure to go quadding on the dunes while you're there! Trinidad is a quaint little town with a very scenic harbor, which made for a nice place to stop in the vicinity of the redwoods.

At Leggett we switched to the 101 to keep up our schedule, so I can't say much about the 1, except for the end. It's a great drive as your approaching San Francisco, if you're not afraid of heights and your passengers don't get carsick. Be sure to take the last turn of before the Golden Gate bridge too, as it's a great spot to stop for pictures.

Santa Cruz is a laid back beach town, but there's not much real interest there. Good place to stop and chill out on the beach though on the way down to Monterrey. I'd definitely include this portion in your trip because of what lies South of Monterrey. Spend a couple nights in the area, and be sure to explore Point Lobos State Reserve and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. These are two lesser known gems. Point Lobos has great wildlife - tons of birds, and a few seals and sea lions as well. China Cove there has a gorgeous white beach tucked away between the rocks, as well as some caves to explore if you're feeling adventures, so don't miss it. Julia Pfeiffer Burns has a waterfall that lands right on the beach.

Unless you don't mind doubling back, it sounds like if you keep going down the coast you're going to miss out on Yosemite. That's too bad, as it's a great drive and one of the best parts of California. It's a pretty good route... go from Monterrey to Yosemite, through Yosemite to Lone Pine (neat place to stop as it's where most of the Westerns were shot and has some really funky rock formations - and if you do stop there The Pizza Factory is pretty good stuff) and then through Death Valley to Vegas. Going through Yosemite you'll probably see snow (at least I did, in May), and Lone Pine is right in front of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the Continental US. Then within a few hours you're under sea level and it's 100 degrees out.

Don't really have to tell you about LA, as there's lots that you can do there and what you do will depend on your taste. If you're going to visit Santa Monica though, make sure you're close enough to bike/walk/jog/rollerskate to Venice. There's a huge character change as you go from one town to the other, simply because Venice rents out its sidewalk to street vendors. And while you're there, you can check out the Venice Beach Gym.

San Diego's also worth checking out. Great place to go surfing, as it gets a warm current that heats up the water. Nicer city than LA overall as well. We stayed at a campsite next to the beach at a town called Carlsbad, and there were pelicans sailing past all day. On the way up to LA, we stopped at Laguna Beach (just because) and there were dolphins jumping up out of the ocean.

Not much to say about Vegas, Hoover Dam or the Grand Canyon, as you pretty much know what you're going to get.

My recommendation: if you have time, go from Monterrey through Yosemite and Death Valley to Vegas, head down to LA from there. To keep things interesting, you can go back up via San Diego -> Phoenix -> Grand Canyon.

[4X4]

Another vote for the Redwood Forest. Stunning.

[MacDougalbry]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Another vote for the Redwood Forest. Stunning.

Just one question: Are you allowed to pet the Ewoks?

[Sainters7]

I did a similar trip four or five years ago in the summer, only we came the opposite direction. We went east from Calgary all the way to Montreal, spent a few days going down the Eastern Seaboard(including 3 nights in New York), went south all the way to New Orleans, then West through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, then North and spent a few nights in Vegas, before finally going West to the Coast and spent some nights in LA and San Fran, before finally taking the PCH highway all the way up through Portland, Seattle and to Vancouver, and then back East to Calgary. Altogether it took 34 days and 15,000km's. Best time of my whole life.

We saw the Hoover Dam, but only in passing(we were going from Phoenix to Vegas and were hung over from a Cards/Packers game the night before, so we just drove through), but it looked like a pretty cool place to take a few hours out of your day and explore. The same buddies did a trip to Vegas a year earlier when they went through Salt Lake City and they didn't have many good things to say about it. Never went through Denver or Albequerque, but I hear Albequerque's very picturesque, and I've always wanted to go to Denver. I'd suggest that over Salt Lake City. I'd love to do that trip again, have fun!