California trip

We will be visiting our daughter in Canada in May 2007 and arrive in Los Angeles 21st April,we are going straight to Disneyland for two days then picking up hire car and driving to Las Vegas for 2 days .

After this we want to take 7 or 8 days and drive back towards San Francisco then finish drive in Seattle .

Can someone please advise best route and places of interest along the way.

California trip

While in Las Vegas, you can book a day tour of Grand Canyon (search on Google/Yahoo for ';Las Vegas Grand Canyon Tour'; you can probably arrange the tour at your hotel in LV. From Las Vegas, you probably should at least see Yosemite (caution: you need to make advance reservations now to stay in Yosemite Valley, see www.yosemitepark.com) on the way to San Francisco. North of San Francisco, take highway 101 over the Golden Gate Bridge, driving north through Sonoma County wine country...nicest wine country town on your way up would be Healdsburg. Further north, you will see the tall redwoods, take the alternate, Avenue of the Giants, and stop at Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Since you have limited time, I am recommending you continue on to Oregon and Washington State and ask at their forums for suggestions.

California trip

I like the plan from Del but it is worth noting that driving up hwy 395 (on the east side of Yosemite ) the only road into the park is at an elevation that will keep it closed through the winter months, and may require you to go into the park from the west side. I am hardly an expert of the park but I would check on when the east entrance is typically open- it would be a marvellous drive up 395 past Mount McKinley. I like the Hoover Dam myself, but it is hardly the Grand Canyon. It is probably too far out of the way to try to swing back out up the California coast and Monterey/ Hearst castle but thats a beautiful drive. You gotta see the Golden Gate, and I haven%26#39;t seen the Redwoods other than friends photos but Wow! Someday...

If you drive the Central Valley beware of fog- the southern end can get really thick but it can be worse near the river delta areas. You don%26#39;t want to have to drive it at night at 70mph to make a destination.

Yosemite%26#39;s east entrance (Tioga Pass) will almost certainly still be closed in late April. It typically doesn%26#39;t open until mid-May at the earlies, and in the last couple of years, not until mid-June. It has opened in April only three or four times since 1933. When Tioga Pass is closed you need to go either through Mojave and Bakersfield then up Hwy 99 to Hwy 41 to get to Yosemite (easier and faster, but not very scenic), or up 395 past Yosemite to the Lake Tahoe area, then over the Sierra on one of the trans-Sierra highways that stays open in winter, 88, 50 or 80. Then head back south to Hwy 120 to get into Yosemite.

Also, it is Mount Whitney, not Mount McKinley, that you drive past on 395.

thankyou to all who gave information re our trip.Apologies for time taken to post thanks.Have been unwell.

Thanks again.Cheers Andrew