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Summer road trip [Western U.S.]

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JodyFKerr

JodyFKerr

Jedi Knight
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Hey folks,

The wife and I are discussing dragging the children out for their first serious road trip. basically, the idea is to drive from Phoenix to Seattle taking the Coastal route on the way north and driving home through Utah. This is the last real part of the country I've never seen. I know there's a lot of BCF folks in this part of the country.

So, if we were to do this in a roughly 2 week span in the summer what would you all recommend in terms of must see locations along the route? Keep in mind the kids are 11 and 2.5. Car related items are of great interest but I have to balance that this non car specific items. We also may pop up to Vancouver just so that the kids get another county to Mark on the map as visited.

Many thanks on advance!
Jody
 
My advice, take 3 weeks. It's a slow drive up the coast
 
If you go to Vancouver go to Victoria - it's still like Britain
 
Any of the Utah national parks are worth seeing if you haven't been before.
 
Jody,

Give me a call (if you don't have my number - PM me)& I can tell
you a lot of places in our area.When are you planning on doing this?

- Doug
 
Don, I wish I could wrangle 3 weeks! With my work schedule I may have trouble finding two!

John, I'll look into Victoria and see if we could wrangle the time.

Drew, I figured the Utah bit would likely be the easier part. Lots of nothing interspersed with towns and national parks, a lot like Arizona.

Doug, I'll hit you up with a PM.

As to travel times, it's likely to be in the June/July timescale because of school, work, etc. Outside of that we've not hashed out more details.

Thanks!
Jody
 
JodyFKerr said:
Lots of nothing interspersed with towns and national parks, a lot like Arizona.
Click to expand...
I've never seen Utah described so correctly and succinctly.
grin.gif


PM me if you want any details or particular routes down through the state.
 
And, I can tell you how, once you drop over the Cascades from Seattle, to find (and take) the old 2-lane US 10 (one section is before Sonoqualmie Pass, the old Pass Road to the top at Hyak) cut off at Cle Elum, 10 through Cle Elum, gota know where it is, but the upper canyon road to Ellensburg, drop down the old Canyon road to Yakima, once you cross into Oregon near Hermiston, the old US30 from there through Pendleton, up over the old grade, down the gorge alsmost to La Grande, back on US 30 to the other side of Baker City (and a good side trip is south out of Baker City to Sumpter, to see the Sumpter Valley Railroad and dredge), and there is even a section of old highway after Boise that drops into Utah. Go all the way south on 89, next to the National Parks (good side trip), cross Powell Dam, Page, long drive to Flagstaff.

Personally, I prefer the road less traveled.
 
Id try to hit it later in July. Our summer doesn't start until about the 8th of July if we are lucky enough even to have one.

Have Doug as your tour guide when your in his area. I bet that would be a bonus
 
Oh boy, way too much to type out in a single response. I've traveled quite a bit in classic cars throughout the Western US. There are limitless sights to see, from nature to culture. If you visit the LA area, there are dozens of car-related sights and activities. Petersen Sutomotive Museum, Nethercutt Collection, Mullin Collection, Automobile Driving Museum all come to mind. Also other city sights such as Hollywood, Mulholland Drive, Santa Monica / Malibu, and lots of scenic roads where you can park on weekends and watch endless lines of exotic supercars and classics drive by. Cars & Coffee is the most impressive parking lot show you will ever see, held on each Saturday morning in Irvine.

Depending on which way you head north, there is Death Valley, Yosemite Natinoal Park, Sequoia National Park, the mighty Sierra Nevada Mountains, Gold Country and more on the inland route. Along the coast you have numerous seaside towns with their own attractions. Hearst Castle, Redwood Forest, Monterey (Cannery Row, aquarium, Laguna Seca, etc), San Francisco, gosh the list just goes on!

Utah will take a lot of time if you want to see everything. The two "must see" parks in my opinion are Zion and Bryce Canyon. Zion can get very crowded in tourist season but it's still worth a visit, even just for the day. Arches is neat also but requires a bit of hiking to see the best stuff.
 
What Steve Said :driving: You will need your passport to enter and return from the Great White North. The California Sierra parks are a good 31/2 hour drive from the coast so you will have to plan accordingly. With kids your age (mine is 11) So. Cal beaches, Disney, Hearst Castle, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield (free and a good two hour time) would be on my list.

Paul
 
Bring lots of Advil and Tylenol for the driver and co-pilot
 
Well, I can't offer any advice but it sounds like a fabulous trip. Would love to do the same someday.
 
Best thing in the world to do. Unfortunately the younger one won't remember later in life
 
DNK said:
Bring lots of Advil and Tylenol for the driver and co-pilot
Click to expand...
...and Alka Seltzer, while remembering all the while...

IMAG0098.jpg


just kidding of course because seriously, some of my best memories were of those road trips with the family (both as a kid and a parent).
 
1950 Ford wagon.
How?
49-50 hubcaps (only) pushbutton door handles (1950 NOT 1949)
 
So, SWMBO made some executive decisions. Looks like it's to be the last week in June, first week in July. Additionally, she has decided that we are to shoot straight to San Francisco the first night so that we can take 1.5 days there and visit Alcatraz (gotta go order the tickets).

While she wasn't looking I found this site: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/. I have managed to plan out from San Fran to the Oregon border. We're going to go up the 101/1 and see giant pairs of scissors, drive through trees, get photographs with Paul Bunyan and the like. There's *tons* of neat/silly stops along the way!

So, Doug, it looks like we'll end up in Eureka for one night.

Next is to plan out the Oregon leg of the trip.
 
Ok, we finally mapped things out and figured out dates. Here's the routes we're going to take:

Northward:phoenix, AZ -> Victoria, British Columbia by way of the coast highway.
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=200629092149833862256.0004a5c30e5c84aa7eb18

Doug, This means we'll be in Eureka on Monday, June 27th in the afternoon/evening. Hotel Recommendations would be appreciated.

And here's the Southward route: Index, Wa -> Phoenix, AZ by way of Idaho & Utah.
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=200629092149833862256.0004a5c377dbc95bced54

We've been using https://www.roadsideamerica.com to pick wacky stops along the way. :smile:

Jody
 
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