#2 is incompatible with #s 5 and 6. If you're afraid to get off the interstate and limit yourself to nice hotels you're going to miss most of the good stuff. And there will be crowds and traffic. The national parks are overrun. Real peace and relaxation requires going more remote.

I'd say take a chance on the car and find some remote 2-lane, or even some dirt. Take a tent or be willing to chance some local dives. Make a rough plan for the area you'd like to see and just jump in the car and drive. Once you get to the area you want to visit, stay off the interstate. Sometimes just having a week or so with no real itinerary and the freedom to just do whatever you want in the moment is good for the soul.

I'll second all that's been suggested. We, family and some kids friends just took 17 day road trip from Denver to San Diego. Wanted to show kids some of the West and see some areas we haven't been in for twenty years now. Big road trip with a new stop just about every night. Definitely check on NP reservations some require for early entry or you'll have to wait until mid afternoon to enter. Estes Park was like this. Beautiful drive up the mountain and back. Lots of wildlife and views. Tetons are beautiful and you can see them without actually going into the park. Jackson Hole is beautiful. Like said if heights are good ride the tram and check out the views. Yellowstone is nice but Yosemite is nicer. Good time to go with summer over. We went at peak times and didn't have any issues though. Weather was good. West coast was over cast more than usual.

Do an annual park pass if you're going more than like 3 entries.

Flew into Denver and drove the rest. Love the West.

The YMCA was awesome to stay at in Eates Park. The Stanley Hotel is there also. Did the tour it was cool. Especially if you like haunted places. It's the hotel King was inspired by for the Shinning. Not the hotel it was filmed in.

Salt Lake was hot but dry. Bonneville Salt flats are neat to see but hot.

Pebble Beach, Carmel by the Sea, 17 mile drive are beautiful.

Hwy 1 is closed south of Pebble Beach from a landslide. Been closed for awhile now. LA and San Diego are nice if you know where to go. Seal Beach is great south of LA. Great little Beach town and not busy like Hunnington Beach are. La Jolla is beautiful also. I miss the West.

Plan well and have a great trip. More days the better. And book overnights in advance all the places out there get filled fast.

I'll second Sooma's advice and suggest hitting Crater Lake and north on 97. Detour off if you can to hit the Painted Hills. Continue North up to the Columbia. If you can get up near the Priest river, Sandpoint, Pend Oreille you will do nothing but smile.

Glacier is it's own week long adventure.

Cheers~

At least this trip, probably stay away from NPs, especially those that suggest reservations. Looking to avoid crowds, parking hassles, etc. Good to know that Yosemite is more interesting than Yellowstone - that's a good metric. Heights from a tram are no problem. Heights on a cliffside trail or road can be a problem.

I'm planning to do a Brookings to Tillamook trip - hopping along the coast for about a week or two. But first, I need to get to Klamath and apply for an OR permit. Until then, OR is keep out. But making notes of Painted Hills, Priest River, Sandpoint, Pend (never heard of those places before).

Konata we live in a really large country and from CA you will only be able to see neighboring states in a week or so. Maybe consider extending your trip. As has already been mentioned there are a lot of fabulous places but many of them are literally days away from Cali.

Let me know if you would like any info from Brookings to Tillamook. Happy to help with my .02c

Cheers~

Thanks, yes, understood. Have limited time and funds for this trip and trying to balance a destination trip with a driving / exploratory trip.

Still need to research many of the suggestions above but one possibility is to make a ID the destination and a driving trip inside it.

Go to Craters of the Moon, stay for a couple of days. Go to Livingston or Bozeman with a stop at Old Faithful on the way (is 191 or 89 a better route from OF?) - delete if still crowded / need reservations. CDA for a couple of days. Drive down 95 and stay in south ID for a day or two, completing a loop of ID. Then head back home. 10 days or so.

Then another trip each for OR, WY, MT, ND/SD.

I don't know - still trying to figure out how to approach this.

quote:

Originally posted by slyguy:
Let me know if you would like any info from Brookings to Tillamook. Happy to help with my .02c

Cheers~

Thanks! Could definitely use some local insights. Would like to do that trip next year if I can get my OR permit by then.