Los Angeles to San Francisco and on to Portland suggestions please

Hi

We are two sixty year old brits with a 14 year old grandson doing a six month grand tour of your great country.  Been doing some planning and have a couple of threads going already asking for suggestions on stages of our route.

Cities are pretty easy - always lots to do and easy to find things to see but when travelling from A to B it's great to get suggestions on places to see and stay.

You can see what we have planned already here... http://www.annie-and-chris.com/north-american-road-trip/stage-four-los-angeles-to-san-francisco/ and also here... http://www.annie-and-chris.com/north-american-road-trip/stage-five-san-francisco-to-portland/

All suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Chris

Sooo, you doing big cities and missing all the great stuff in between?
OK, from LA head north on 101.  There is just too much to see.  From san Fran continue on 101 or 1 until you can go east around Clear Lake.  I5 north to Mt Shasta, at Wed take 97 north.
Portland is nothing special any more, IMHO avoid it like the plague.

ceejayt said:

Hi

We are two sixty year old brits with a 14 year old grandson doing a six month grand tour of your great country.  Been doing some planning and have a couple of threads going already asking for suggestions on stages of our route.

Cities are pretty easy - always lots to do and easy to find things to see but when travelling from A to B it's great to get suggestions on places to see and stay.

You can see what we have planned already here... http://www.annie-and-chris.com/north-american-road-trip/stage-four-los-angeles-to-san-francisco/ and also here... http://www.annie-and-chris.com/north-american-road-trip/stage-five-san-francisco-to-portland/

All suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Chris

Click to expand...

I would suggest you add the size and type of RV you have to your profile in the signature area.  It really helps us when suggesting what route to take.

I did check your website and see you have a fairly small Class A MH. 

From SF I would suggest you follow US-101 and SR-1 along the coast to the Oregon border. Lots of beautiful coastline and Redwood trees in CA.

In Oregon plan on spending about 4-5 days along the southern Oregon coast from Brookings to Bandon.  Great scenery and not alot of crowds.  There are some very nice hikes down to secluded beaches in the 20-30 miles of coastline just north of Bookings. 

North of Bandon the coast line gets more touristy with lots more people. 

Thanks

Hi Chris,
We live in Southern CA and frequently make the trip up the coast. Here are my suggestions,

Pick up your RV in LA and drive through LA and continue to Hwy. 101.
Here are some stops along the way:

1. Stop in Pismo Beach. You might want to stay in Pismo Coast Village RV Resort.
2. Head up to Monterey via Hwy 101. Plan on a few days in Monterey and Carmel area. Your grandson would probably like the Aquarium in Monterey. While staying in Monterey you can always rent a car and drive down to Big Sur on Hwy 1 or even further for a day trip. It's a beautiful drive right along the coast. I wouldn't suggest taking your MH down HWY 1 lots of twists. Unless you are renting a small MH.
3. Next stop: San Francisco. While in SF you can visit Muir Woods National Monument and all the other attractions SF has to offer.
4. I would continue up 101 and stop at Redwoods National Park.
4. The Oregon coast is one of our favorite places. We always try to stay at the state parks. But you need to make your reservations now for next year.

I agree - head up US 101 instead of taking I-5 through the Sacramento Valley.  101 is a scenic highway that takes you directly to the Oregon Coast, while I-5 is a long, flat, boring drive through farmland until you get north of Redding.

Santa Rosa has the Charles M. Schulz museum, all about the man behind the Peanuts comic strip.  Next door is the Redwood Empire Ice Arena built by Mr. Schulz and the Warm Puppy Cafe where he used to have his lunch.

South of Hopland you'll go by the Solar Living Center.  It's a fun stop, started by the guy who sold the first retail solar panel in the United States to the hippies migrating back to the land from San Francisco in 1978. 

http://www.calbizjournal.com/solarlivingcenter-realgoods/

Willits has the Skunk Train, an old logging railroad that runs over to the Mendocino Coast.  A much better ride than the Yreka one you chose.

You'll pass through Richardson Grove State Park, it has a nice campground in a Redwood grove if your RV is less than 30 ft. long.

North of there is Garberville and the start of the 31 mile Avenue of the Giants scenic drive.  It's the old road along the river that passes through the Redwood Forest.

Scotia is a former lumber camp company town, they have a nice museum depicting the history of the area.

South of Eureka is the town of Fernwood, it's Victorian architecture has been used as the location of several movies.

West of Eureka is the Samoa Cookhouse, a restaurant in a former lumber camp cookhouse that still serves meals family style, like they did in the lumber camp days.

North of Eureka you'll pass through the Redwood National and State Parks.  Look wistfully as you pass between Freshwater Lagoon and the ocean and imagine being able to just pull over and park for a couple of days, to picnic and fish along the beach.  Generations of RVers from the hot Central Valley did just that until the National Park was created and prohibited camping there.

In Portland, don't miss OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

You do not want to follow the route on your map from LA to SF, it is extremely boring. All agriculture. My suggestion is to get onto Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway and follow it all the way. In Ventura I recommend camping at Emma Wood State Park. The waves will splash up on your windshield you will be so close to the ocean. Morro Bay is a fabulous little city with a great RV park, Morro Dunes. Further up the coast is a elephant seal reserve which is great to stop in for a visit. Then a bit further you come to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, one of the top aquariums in the country. At Santa Cruz there is a cool boardwalk your grandson might enjoy.

Super suggestions all, thank you.

Going to modify the route now.

Chris

Jeff and Anita said:

Hi Chris,
We live in Southern CA and frequently make the trip up the coast. Here are my suggestions,

Pick up your RV in LA and drive through LA and continue to Hwy. 101.
Here are some stops along the way:

1. Stop in Pismo Beach. You might want to stay in Pismo Coast Village RV Resort.
2. Head up to Monterey via Hwy 101. Plan on a few days in Monterey and Carmel area. Your grandson would probably like the Aquarium in Monterey. While staying in Monterey you can always rent a car and drive down to Big Sur on Hwy 1 or even further for a day trip. It's a beautiful drive right along the coast. I wouldn't suggest taking your MH down HWY 1 lots of twists. Unless you are renting a small MH.
3. Next stop: San Francisco. While in SF you can visit Muir Woods National Monument and all the other attractions SF has to offer.
4. I would continue up 101 and stop at Redwoods National Park.
4. The Oregon coast is one of our favorite places. We always try to stay at the state parks. But you need to make your reservations now for next year.

Click to expand...

Route changed to take in 101 and Pismo Beach, Monterey and Carmel added along with Monterey aquarium
Muir woods national monument added
Redwoods National Park added

Thanks again

Lou Schneider said:

I agree - head up US 101 instead of taking I-5 through the Sacramento Valley.  101 is a scenic highway that takes you directly to the Oregon Coast, while I-5 is a long, flat, boring drive through farmland until you get north of Redding.

Santa Rosa has the Charles M. Schulz museum, all about the man behind the Peanuts comic strip.  Next door is the Redwood Empire Ice Arena built by Mr. Schulz and the Warm Puppy Cafe where he used to have his lunch.

South of Hopland you'll go by the Solar Living Center.  It's a fun stop, started by the guy who sold the first retail solar panel in the United States to the hippies migrating back to the land from San Francisco in 1978. 

http://www.calbizjournal.com/solarlivingcenter-realgoods/

Willits has the Skunk Train, an old logging railroad that runs over to the Mendocino Coast.  A much better ride than the Yreka one you chose.

You'll pass through Richardson Grove State Park, it has a nice campground in a Redwood grove if your RV is less than 30 ft. long.

North of there is Garberville and the start of the 31 mile Avenue of the Giants scenic drive.  It's the old road along the river that passes through the Redwood Forest.

Scotia is a former lumber camp company town, they have a nice museum depicting the history of the area.

South of Eureka is the town of Fernwood, it's Victorian architecture has been used as the location of several movies.

West of Eureka is the Samoa Cookhouse, a restaurant in a former lumber camp cookhouse that still serves meals family style, like they did in the lumber camp days.

North of Eureka you'll pass through the Redwood National and State Parks.  Look wistfully as you pass between Freshwater Lagoon and the ocean and imagine being able to just pull over and park for a couple of days, to picnic and fish along the beach.  Generations of RVers from the hot Central Valley did just that until the National Park was created and prohibited camping there.

In Portland, don't miss OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

Click to expand...

Big quote but want you to know I am taking notice of your suggestions!

Route changed...
- Charles Schulz Museum added
- Solar Living Centre added
- Skunk Train added, Yreka deleted
- Richardson Grove added and will look to stop - we are exactly 30 feet
- Garberville, Eureka etc all added
- Oregon OMSI added

Thanks again!

Route from SF to Portland now much altered - wondering if there are some things we should now miss in order to alter the drive a little or are we good to go?

http://www.annie-and-chris.com/north-american-road-trip/stage-five-san-francisco-to-portland/

I'd get a better mapping program - the one you're using is missing a lot of roads.  maps.google.com is a good choice.

Instead of returning all the way to the Bay Area, I'd continue up US 101 to Eureka.  If you really want to see Shasta Dam and take in the head shops, take CA 299 east and join I-5 in Redding.

Personally, I'd give those a miss and just continue north on US 101 along the Oregon Coast.  Or make a loop from Eureka to Redding, then go north through the Siskiyou Mountains to Grants Pass and double back on US 199 to 101 at Crescent City and continue north from there.

A bit south of Portland in McMinneville, OR is the Evergreen Aviation Museum, home of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, the world's largest wooden airplane.  And lots more.

Tillamook, OR is famous for their cheese and ice cream and you can tour the Tillamook Cheese Factory and get free samples.

Your route simply won't work. The roads are all mountainous and very slow driving. You are trying to cram too much stuff into this trip. Eliminate about 75% of the route. Go from SF straight up to Portland.

SeilerBird said:

Your route simply won't work. The roads are all mountainous and very slow driving. You are trying to cram too much stuff into this trip. Eliminate about 75% of the route. Go from SF straight up to Portland.

Click to expand...

Yes, since I did the original plan much has changed. I am going to eliminate some stuff based on suggestions above and also extend the time for this section.

Will post again when that is done

Thanks again for the suggestions - please see revised route...

http://www.annie-and-chris.com/north-american-road-trip/stage-five-san-francisco-to-portland/

Massively changed...

- extended time allowed to 21 days

- head off and do Yosemite first

- taking in the coast road - Charles Schulz museum through to Redowwd Monument taking in Eureka and surroundings

- ditched a large section and now through Springfield and definitely taking in the cheese factory (love cheese!) and the spruce goose aviation museum

Any further suggestions?

Thanks

Suggestions for the Oregon Coast in no particular order -

Definitely check out the state parks as there are several very good ones - be aware they don't all have dump stations. Cape Blanco looked really nice. We heard that Beverly Beach rv park is excellent, think it's a state park. Cape Lookout State Park was lovely too.  Canon Beach - http://cbrvresort.com, this looked great but was full when we tried.

We stayed at Gold Beach and did the long trip up the Rogue River on Jerry's Rogue River Jet Boats, your grandson would probably enjoy this it was one of the highlights for me on our 4 month trip. I suggest you book though. A few decent campgrounds in that area, we  stayed at Kimble Creek, but Four Seasons looked nice too. 

William Tugman State Park near Winchester Bay was good and they have a section for walk ins only. Winchester Bay itself has a lovely RV Park but you can save money by camping in the huge public area which has water and dump stations. Not sure if there were electric hook ups.

We went to a place south of Tugman just past Florence where we rented a Razor and went out onto the dunes just behind the rental facility, try stevesatvrentals.com, they also have a place in Winchester Bay, but I think the area further south has better dunes. There is also a place next door for renting which we used but there were only 2 of us, think Steve's has 4 seater option if the 3 of you wanted to go together.

The towns all the way up the coast are lovely. Depoe Bay has resident gray whales, although you can see whales offshore from most places. I suggest you have one good pair of binoculars with you.  Lots of lovely towns on the coast and the beaches are amazing all the way up the coast.

We also stayed near Tillamook at Netarts Bay Garden Resort, get a spot nearer the office if you stay there as these are nicest. We rented a boat from them and went crabbing, brilliant fun.

You see the cascades all the way up the coast too. Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier are fairly close together and both worth visiting. Note the roads up to St Helens are a bit uneven.

Lots to see and do in Oregon and very friendly people, we loved it.

21 days is still not enough time to see the things on this leg. 30 days at least and eliminate about half of the stops. It is very hard to see Yosemite in a week. You just are not ready for how beautiful Yosemite is.

SeilerBird said:

21 days is still not enough time to see the things on this leg. 30 days at least and eliminate about half of the stops. It is very hard to see Yosemite in a week. You just are not ready for how beautiful Yosemite is.

Click to expand...

Hmmm... 30 days might make it tight further down the track.I have been to Yosemite before many years ago.  Yellowstone is on our list which we have never been to.  One option would be to skip Yosemite altogether, or take a lump out of the previous stage e.g. skip las vegas

Will give it some thought and see if we can squeeze a few days more in.  Any suggestions?

I would skip Las Vegas. It is massively overrated.

jackiemac said:

Suggestions for the Oregon Coast in no particular order -

...

Lots to see and do in Oregon and very friendly people, we loved it.

Click to expand...

Thanks - added a note the trip of this post