Help - do it or wait?!

[NoMoreBrownSofas]

We are looking at a big holiday in the West Coast of the US next summer. About 3.5 weeks. It's a lot of money.Kids will be almost 6 and almost 8. Would include two days at Disney.

Part of me feels they are too young, the other part of me feels our eldest is so into wildlife and he will love Yellowstone and our youngest is plucky and up for adventure.

Do it? Or wait?

We will have a good look. My gut says it's fine, we did Scotland to the SE and back in 4 days and did a long travel in SA but I will have a good read up. Your help has been invaluable.

The Yellowstone leg is Yellowstone and Grand Teton, so two in one. And the first day will be up at stupid o’clock and heading for bed at 6pm - if you last that long - so there won’t be a massive amount of sightseeing done that day.

That said, I agree about the time in each park. There’s hiking and looking at views, really, in a National Park. They are fabulous, and I have an annual pass because we visit so many on each trip it’s worth it - but it’s just me and DH and we are enthusiastic hikers.

I think 4 nights at Groveland is possibly warranted. One day in the Yosemite valley, one at Tuolumne Grove to see the redwoods/Tioga pass to maybe see bears, and one day to return to whichever was most fun.

Oh interesting. If we did 3 is there anywhere worth adding a day to?

When you said time in each park - would you say he was right with 9 nights including 3 in JH?

Sorry, I was agreeing with a PP about the national parks not having much specifically for children, so 7-10 days being a long time. But on reflection, 3 nights in JH then 3 nights in West Yellowstone (which is two full days in each joined by a travel day) sounds reasonable.

We prefer to have several self-catering bases of at least 3 nights, preferably 5, from which to do day trips. I don’t like the restriction of hotels, and would be reluctant to be under canvas (with no option of air con) in the summer months, but everyone is different.

Oh, and driving is (IMO) easy in the US, except around cities, which can be really horrible with their 5 lanes plus carpool and crazy drivers! The steep and windy roads in the mountains are generally fully two way with centre markings, occasional climber lanes and pull-outs.

We did 3 week US road trips when our daughter was 9m old, just turned 7 and just turned 9.
She was great, fine on the flight and in the car and really enjoyed the trips.

Yes I totally agree re SC bases I think that would be easier given we aren't doing cities and considerably cheaper with eating. I don't want every day to feel like a rush.

Honestly I'm so grateful for all your advice. I'm feeling much more knowledgeable to make decisions now!

I can’t comment on your plans, but just wanted to add that when I was 5 (and my brother was 2) we took a long summer holiday from our house in Massachusetts to Vancouver Island where one of my aunts lives. My father wouldn’t fly so we drove to Toronto and took the train across Canada, had a few days in Vancouver then ferry to Vancouver Island. Had a few weeks there and then repeated the journey in reverse.

Despite only being 5, I remember good chunks of it and it was a fabulous holiday! We didn’t do much- a lot of swimming in the local pond (with a resident vicious mink who would chase us in the water!) and walks. I loved that holiday so much and still regularly think about it. I really wouldn’t worry about the ages of your children.

Memories differ. I have vivid memories of great family holiday at 5.

I’d do it now. Life is short and uncertain. Seize the day.

Looking at your itinerary personally I wouldn’t stay in San fran but try more salubrious places further up the coast - Carmel and Santa Barbara much nicer and less likelihood your children being scared of and seeing drug addicts openly shooting up on main thoroughfares.

Grab a map and decide your must do locations and your start and end point for the flights and ask Chat GTP to plan the route.
From there book your own flights, car hire and hotels.
so much cheaper and much more fun as you can choose everything that suits instead of the expensive hotels that suit the tour companies as they get a bonus on them.
question whether you need big hotels with separate rooms over a motel if you are only sleeping there for one night.
we’ve done this loads and have saved so much over the years.
you can use Pinterest and TiK Tok for inspiration as well.

@NoMoreBrownSofas What do you expect to see in Yellowstone? We went in June and it was rammed. Cannot imagine a young child liking it. At that age, ours did like Kenya! Much closer to the animals. Yellowstone has main routes - and that’s it! You get lucky or you don’t - there’s hardly any off road tracks. Bears are at a distance and there can be 100 cars jostling for position. We were surprised it was that bad in June. The geothermal areas are astounding though.

California at a leisurely pace is much more of a holiday in my view. Or Kenya.

I asked chatGPT to plan a trip for me and it managed to add an extra day into the itinerary. It’s really not as intelligent as people think it is.

Im back with more questions
Yosemite - stay in groveland? Would that mean that the sequoia national park is too far?

Yes, it’s probably about 3.5 hours just to the visitor centre. If you want to do Yosemite and Sequoia you’ll be best off staying a night or two near Sequoia/Kings Canyon.

if you just want to see enormous sequoia, you can do that at Tuolumne Grove which is easily accessible from Groveland.

I’m only suggesting Groveland because it provides good access and probably still has good availability. Staying in the valley floor would be best, but you’re probably too late to book for next summer.

Somewhere mid way between Yosemite and Sequioia would be an option but that commits you to long driving distances to get to each of the parks. There may be long queues to get through the pay stations so you’d also need to factor that in.

Got it. There's a lot still here available - legit?!

www.nationalparkreservations.com/booking/step2.php

I think we've decided to heed advice and do just california.

Yes that is the legit site. The cancellation terms are good too (at least they were when I last used it) so there’s no risk in grabbing it now.

Excellent

Right.our plan after three hours or discussion last night is coming to fruition.
Fly into SF. One night there so we aren't driving straight away

Monterey - 4 nights. See big Sur, get over jetlag

Out to yosemite. 4 nights

Sequoias - 3 nights

Pismo - 3

Anaheim - 4

Thoughts welcome!

Looks good to me. You’ve dropped from 24 to 19 nights? Have you costed it and is it cheaper than your original quotation?

@NoMoreBrownSofas Why don’t you take a look at itineraries used by holiday companies? Travel finders, Audley etc, chat ….. honestly?!! Just use resources like Lonely Planet. An older California edition will give you itineraries which are useable.

Yes, significantly!!

The length is pretty flexible we just went with what we felt was appropriate at each stop.

Not quite sure what the 'honestly?!?!' is for, yes we have, there are a million, so it's been very helpful to talk to actual people.

You will get a much better idea of what works from reputable travel companies. I meant Trailfinders earlier. Your first idea of Yellowstone and California was a bit odd and you would have seen few would suggest this. So I’m just being honest with you about what works!

Hi OP. Just dropping in to recommend the California dreamers Facebook group. Loads of itineraries, hotels, flights, car hire etc tips. We went couple of years ago. Kids much older so I can’t give much relevant advice but they will have lots of ideas. Enjoy!!

Thanks - that itinerary came from one such company though!