Seattle to Yosemite via redwood forests

[ProfessorLayton1]

We are planning to fly to Seattle ( see friends) and have two weeks to do road trip.
Thinking of Yosemite national park and redwood but no idea if this is possible
Haven't been on a long haul holiday for a long time and it is our only holiday this year as we need to save up for this trip.
Also what is the cheapest way to get to Seattle ?
Spent the entire evening researching this but not any wiser ..,

Hmm..
It was my husband wanting to visit Portland and has realised that it is too far after showing the posts above, well he will be driving mostly!
So,
LV, Yosemite and SF for 14 days
How is the best way to do it?

You want www.alcatrazcruises.com for Alcatraz trips. Tickets get released three months in advance so October tickets won't be released yet. We had four nights and three days in SF - arriving late from the airport on the first day and heading off to Monterey very early after the last night. That was good for us and we packed loads in but I think if you were short of time two days (but probably three nights) would work.

I went to SF, Yosemite and Sequoia in 2015. San Francisco was fabulous, wear good walking shoes. We did Alcatraz, booked about a month in advance, a wine tasting tour which took in Muir Woods and the Golden Gate bridge. Then picked up a hire car and drove to Yosemite, really easy drive, stayed at a big hotel (can't remember the name, began with a T) in Yosemite for 2 nights, did some walks and generally looked at mind blowing scenery, drove to Sequoia, stayed in one of the few hotels there and did some walks again, saw the General Sherman tree and stood in awe at the height and age of the trees then drove to Carmel and relaxed. Wonderful trip, Yosemite and SF were the absolute highlights, well worth it.

There are some great nat. parks in the North West, like Lassen. If you wanted to avoid CA altogether.

LV is by far the cheapest place to spend a day getting over jetlag. Find a hotel with outdoors pool & go people watching.

Sorry if I caused any offence with "Big Budget'. I reckon your budget must about 5x mine, though. There are at least 3 of us MNers planning to be in Yosemite this October: me, OP (ProfLayton) & @Belindabelle. The price of BBelle's hotel in Yosemite made my eyes water, but at least she found a hotel (I haven't found anything for my folks, yet, but me & 9yo DS will be camping $26 a night!.. and we'll get to see and hear-- the bears up close & personal, for better or worse). I don't know if I'll really like Yosemite, can't remember when I went there before, but it's the sort of place I should like.

I am curious how you guys are going to negotiate with schools about unauthorised leave.

Hi just came on to say about Alcatraz. The tickets are not realised so you are fine.

Yes our Yosemite hotel is expensive but we are very lucky to be able to use Hilton and Marriot points for some of our other accommodation so that off sets it.

I now wish I was flying into LV as I could fly direct from Glasgow. LV was not in our original plan and I might still drop it.

I would spend 2-3 nights chilling by the pool in Vegas and visit Hoover Dam and maybe Grand Canyon. Drive to Death Valley spend 1 night. Then up to Yosemite via Tioga if going at the right time. 3 nights in Yosemite. Then if I could fly back from San Fran I would go to Monterey area for 2-3 nights then up to San Fran return the car then spend the rest of my time. If you have to fly back from Vegas I would do San Fran then Monterey but you will pay a fortune to park the car in San Fran.

Its really difficult trying to do what you think is best but I think we will all have a great holiday.

DS will miss one week of school. It will go down as unauthorised but we do not get fined in Scotland. I have never done this before and I don't do it lightly but DH cannot get 2 weeks off during the summer. I would never take DS1 out of school even when his grandparents wanted to take him and his cousins away and we had different school holidays to them. Grandfather is now dead and grandmother is very ill and I really regret being such a stickler for the rules.

Dds school tag their inset days (3 days)with October half term so need to ask 2 days leave to make it to a week. So it is not an issue. Dd would be applying to university the next year so this year is our best chance.
Haven't been on holiday for the last two years - booked a long weekend in June costing 200pounds so have saved for some time. Would have liked to go down the coastal route but can't have everything as all the previous posters have said!
So have to make a compromise..

Llijkk- you did not offend me at all. We love travelling but are very aware that either travelling two weeks every two years on budget or a week luxury holiday every year is reality for us. The girls are very used to roughing it out a bit and are largely uncomplaining!
Although DH does not want to camp in Yosemite due to bears ..,

It is cheap to fly to Seattle and fly back from San Francisco.
Really appreciate your opinions on this and I am aware that I have changed it so many times.. at least have time to think through this before I book.
It is a long way to do go just for GC and there is a possibility that the Tiago pass may be shut at that time of the year.
Fly to Seattle- stay in a hotel for 3 days , get over the jet lag and see places around Seattle at a leisurely pace. Need to look in to what to do. Having searched the old threads it appears that it is a good place to stay and explore. Pros- avoid unnecessary internal flights
Cons- not sure of the weather and what to do, sure you guys will help me out.
3/4 th day - drive to Portland actually the place we would be visiting would be 1.30hours south of Portland so a good drive with time to go into Portland.
5-6 - stay with family
7th night - stay at Florence
8 th night- stay somewhere between Florence and Avenue of the giants
9th day - drive to Yosemite
10/11- stay in Yosemite
12/13/14 - SF and fly out of SF.
Happy to take away a nights stay away from the journey between Portland and Yosemite is necessary
Your opinions please?
Need to finalise it soon as I could see there are places available Inside Yosemite.

Hi Professor just wondered how your planning is coming on?

Took advice from Lijjk
Flying to SF and staying for three days
Yosemite for 3 days ( Yosemite valley lodge booked)
Fly to LV from Fresno
Have 7days to spend there..
So far think 2 days in Grand Canyon (accommodation inside the park booked) but not sure what to do with the rest of the days
May be 2 days in lake powell
One day in Bryce Canyon
2vdays in Zion - would like to see monument valley as well..

Ooh, how exciting. Well done you. I hope it's a great adventure (in all the positive ways!).

We did a CA road trip a few years back flying in and out of LAX so some bits won't be so relevant to you OP, but we drove through Death Valley from south to north along a very quiet road (not the usual route from LV) and it was honestly one of the true highlights of our trip. We stayed overnight in DV (Furnace Creek) and appreciated the really clear starry skies. Everything was expensive though; gas, lodging, food as they know you are a captive audience. Don't underestimate the time taken to travel to and in Yosemite. We stayed 25 miles outside the park and it took us over an hour to travel because we could only go 20mph because the roads were so twisty-turney.

Just came back to the thank you all( especially lijkk) .. we had a fabulous holiday! Happy to answer any questions.. DH really wants to go back again 😉