California itinerary - thoughts and suggestions welcome!

[ajandjjmum]

Arranging a trip to California for the four of us, including DS 20 and DD 19. Intending to travel for two weeks in mid September.

My initial thoughts are
Fly to San Fransisco for 4 nights (or is this too long?)
Fly to Las Vegas for 3 nights (kids want to visit!), using one of the complete days there to visit the Grand Canyon.
Drive from Las Vegas to Santa Monica - possibly staying overnight somewhere.
Stay in Santa Monica for 5 nights to get a beach/chill part of the holiday. We can also use this as a base to travel along the coast and into the centre of LA. Love the look of Shutters or Casa de Mar, but suspect they'll be out of our price range!

My last (and only) visit to California was when I was 21 (about a million years ago!), so I'd be really grateful of any ideas/experiences.

I'm getting bored of looking at Trip Advisor now, so I thought I'd pick the collective brains of MN!! Thanks.

Queen Mary has been moored at Long Beach CA for many years now.

I know - it's been over 30 years since I was there!!

We go to the west coast of the USA most Septembers - last year we flew into LA, drove up the coast about sixty miles and spent a couple of days there before driving down the PCH - I was in seventh heaven. The views are amazing and we saw dolphins and pelicans just out from the beach. A few years ago we drove from LA to San Francisco up the PCH, past Big Sur; another amazing experience. I wasn't terribly impressed with La Jolla (sp?), although we really liked the San Diego area and did a great boat trip round the bay. We are going back again this year and staying in Escondido in the mountains.

We have been to Las Vegas several times - do try to take in a show. We saw "Love" last time by Cirque du Soleil - the memory will stay with me for ever. Neither of us gamble but Vegas has a particular energy which I have never felt elsewhere; the place scintilates.

We have stayed in Santa Monica for a couple of nights - the pier is nice and we loved the boardwalks. Santa Monica has a great feeling, but it is busy.

Enjoy your trip!

We booked our flights last night!!!!! YAY!!
Plan is to fly to San Francisco, drive straight to Yosemite for 2 nights (hiking/rafting), then to Mammoth (friends are loaning us their condo for 2/3 nights) to do some horse-riding and cycling downhill (of course! Gondola up, bikes down). Then will drive to coast (Carmel??) and travel down the Pacific Coast Highway to LA. Same friends live there so will chill a bit and do the touristy bits and then fly back to SF (courtesy of AA award points) to do 2-3 days there before coming home.

Any recommendations of where to stay on the PCH going south. Like the look of Julia Pfeiffer Burns Park, (although not to stay in as think you'd have to camp????)? Santa Monica? Fancy fresh fish and board walks and beach experience, although if I remember rightly, Northern California is chillier than south by quite some margin. I know you can't swim off some beaches, so may have to wait til LA/Malibu for the Baywatch bit.

Santa Cruz is a really cool, surfer town.

And Napa Valley wine estates are worth seeing as well.