driving Washington to California, insane?

So we're thinking of heading to California in for a week February, partially
to visit friends in Santa Barbara and hopefully also in LA. We don't
particularly like flying so we're wondering about driving, we'd be starting
in Bellevue, about 20mins from the I-5. What's that road like through
southern Washington and Oregon?

joni...

Interstate 5 is one of the best as far as road conditions, rest stops,
directions, etc but also one of the most boring drives because its
pretty straight with not much scenary. It extends from the US/Canada
border in Washington down south to San Diego and the border of Mexico
at Tijuiana. At various times in my life, with two kids and without or
with current spouse we have travelled from one end to the other. In
fact we just got back about a month ago from driving from Northern CA
(where we live now) to Anaheim CA (went to see Mickey) and then down to
San Diego (Shamu at Sea World). Easy drive. Uncomplicated, but took us
two days easy driving (about 16 hrs) with an overnight stop in Lost
Hills CA (of all weird sounding places! Lol!) to get to LA area.

We'd hopefully do it in 2 days, so one overnight stop somewhere in north
california. Our children are reasonable travellers, but we haven't done a
particularly long car journey to test it either (so any tips for keeping
them as happy as possible are welcome!)

Chookie...

I looked up the distance and it is apparently 2500 miles, or 4023 km.
Assuming 6 2-hour driving stints each day with a 30-min rest stop after each
one (*), you would have to travel at an average speed of 168 km/h or 104 mph.
I *know* that's not legal in Australia! (Do they have autobahns in the US?)

(*) When you factor in meals, play and toilet breaks, the 30 minute stops
every two hours are not only safe, but necessary for sanity.

Cathy Weeks...

Hi Anne,
I don't know how flexible your options are, but is there any way to do
it in June instead? My husband and I drove from our home in
mid-Missouri to SoCal, then up the pacific coast highway (highway
1/101) to Vancouver, then home again.

The reason I ask is that there is TONS to do along that route. Crater
Lake, in Oregon (we were there in May, and you couldn't go down to the
water, because there was still too much snow). The redwood forests in
Northern California. Muir Woods National Forest in the Bay area.
Monterray Bay Aquarium (this can be done any time of year). I know
I've left out LOTS of stuff. Gorgeous beaches to play on.

Anne Rogers...

hmm, I don't know what you can have done wrong, but both DH and I looked up
the distance last night and it's a little less than half that, maybe the
initial number you got was kilometres, but even that is about 300mile more
than the exact distance. The I-5 is an interstate, the speed limit on it
near here is 60, but some interstates have speedlimits of 70.

Chookie...

Got the info from:

Did I misunderstand, and you are actually talking about the *state*? That

Anne Rogers...

yup, everyone seems to call the capital either DC, or Washington DC, quite
different to what you get on the British news, where x is reporting from
Washington, you don't get that on the news here, it's always either the
location within DC, or DC, or Washington DC.

Chookie...

I think I assumed it had to be DC because in my part of the world, we specify
Town A to Town B, not State A to Town B. My state is about 1000 km north to
south, so saying "NSW to Melbourne, insane?" wouldn't garner useful answers!

cjra...

Then you would have assumed Washington state, since she said State A to
State B. California isn't a town :)

DC, OTOH, is a city.

Cathy Weeks...

Not to be nit-picky, but she *didn't* do that. She specified State A to
State B - Washington to California. And in the original post, she
specified cities - Bellview to Santa Barbara.

Cathy Weeks

Anne Rogers...

but I specified state A to state B in the title, then the actual towns in
the first paragraph, I didn't put an awful lot of thought into it, but it
seems the title would be clearer, that it was a west coast drive than if I'd
put the specific towns, Bellevue, WA to Santa Barbara, CA, which might have
required a lot more thought! I guessed people might have useful general
information, even if they weren't familiar with the exact locations.

I'm verging on it being too long, driving to SF would be reasonable I think,
but Santa Barbara and LA is too far. So far I haven't had much luck on
flights, a lot either change in Portland, OR, or SF and when you add in a
flight change it doesn't look easy either!

Cathy Weeks...

LOL - I made the same mistake when I first read Anne's note, too (I'm

bizby40...

Not that it really matters, but I live near DC, and while we call it
DC a lot, "Washington" around here generally means DC unless
"Washington State" is specified. And while it's true that DC is a
city, since it is not *in* a state, I didn't see any discrepancy in
saying Washington to California. In addition, driving across country
would truly *be* insane, so the title made sense. So my first
inclination from just the title was to think you meant DC.

Rosalie B....

My parents and my sister and I once did St. Louis (Missouri - in the
midwest) to Baltimore MD (slightly north of DC) in 24 hours. One
parent drove with one child to keep him/her awake while the other
parent and child slept or tried to. It was about 1000 miles IIRC
(although I have not looked it up). This was before Interstates BTW -
it was in 1948 and about the only limited access highway was the
Pennsylvania Turnpike.

For us now, 400 to 500 miles in a day is a lot, and requires traveling
more than just 6 hours.

When we were driving across the country with dd1 and dd2 (they were 5
and 3 at the time), we would have breakfast and get on the road about
7, stop at 10 for gas etc, have lunch in the car, stop for gas etc at
2, and then stop for the evening about 4 or 5.

Going from California (Monterey) to Key West Florida (PCS orders), we
stopped in Barstow, at the Grand Canyon, at Mesa Verde, and at the
Sand Dunes, and also visit relatives in Colorado and Kansas. From
there we drove as fast as possible to Miami, and then down the Keys to
Key West.

Anne Rogers...

clearly you've a lot more experience than me, in the UK most people don't
even know there is a Washington state and we had to state the city, not the
state we were moving too and then if they asked what state it was, there
were often very confused looks! And if you were to say "DC", most people
wouldn't have a clue what you meant! Of course living in Washington state
puts a skew on it too because I don't think anyone here would say Washington
and mean DC! It's a bit like New York, city and state in the UK if someone
says they are from New York, people will assume they are from the city, I
have a friend from the state, but I'm not sure what someone from the city
would say, do they say NYC, or do they just say New York?

bizby40...

It seems like most people I meet just start of saying New York, and
then when you ask, they either say, "the city" or "upstate" which
seems to mean anywhere else in the state.

I agree that having a state with the same name as our capital is
confusing, and it doesn't surprise me at all that on the east coast we
think of "Washington" as the city, while on the west you think of it
as the state. I wonder what people from Colorado think?

cjra...

Well, I'm from California, but have lived on the east coast, midwest,
and now in Texas, and have friends in DC, so am not sure I count...

If you say "Washington" I think State (and it was ages before I
realized the Washington Redskins were from DC), and I refer to DC as DC
(as do my friends who live there). I confess when I hear/say "New York"
I usually think NYC, and always use the qualifier "Upstate NY" when
referring to upstate (I will say Long Island specifically)..used to
live in CT not far from NYC, and my sister lived in Syracuse, NY (ie
upstate).

Anne Rogers...

ahh, but I lived on the border of Putnam and Westchester counties for a
short time, it was definitly not just outside the city, the commute was just
about doable, but the trains were getting emptier by that point, so clearly
not as common, the people I met certainly didn't feel like they lived in the
city, but upstate would be a completely false description, so it always
tends to be a bit of a discussion as to where that is, you say New York,
people say city?, you say no, they say upstate?, you say no, etc.

cjra...

Ah, we used to say that Southern CT was a suburb of NYC and northern CT
was a suburb of Boston ;-)
(the native CT'ers didn't like that)

Rosalie B....

There's a town here in our county called California, and right next to
it is one called Hollywood. There's also a town in NC which everyone
calls "Little Washington". I looked for Little Washington on the map
and couldn't find it. That's because the name of it is "Washington".
It's only called Little Washington to distinguish it from D.C.

Anne Rogers...

it all gets very confusing, there is a Washington in the north of England
too, but it's small enough such that many English people are not familiar
with it. Here in WA, we have Vancouver, WA at the south end of the state and
Vancouver, BC, just over the boundary. A lot of names round here are
American Indian (apparently!), so there is much less overlap with British or
European place names than in other states, though Bellevue, where we now
live is a region of both the town I was born in, and the town I lived most
of my life in, spelt the same way too. No idea if they have the same origin
or not, same with the various Washingtons.

When names come from a particular origin, you often get them cropping up in
multiple places, Hyde, comes from "hide" a term for a 120 acres, so the name
crops up everywhere, either alone or as part of a name, though I suspect
outside of the UK they are named because of the Hydes and Hyde Parks in the
UK. The most famous is probably Hyde Park, in London, but the first school I
went to was called "Hyde Park First School", and it wasn't in London, I then
moved to a town called Hyde, changed schools and the answer to the question
which school did you go to was very confusing, because of course we had a
Hyde Park and there were no schools named after it!

emilymoberg...

They would probably either just say "The City" (as if there were no
other cities in NY), or "New York" (as if there's not anything in the
state besides NYC worth mentioning. ;) (so says a born-and-bred
upstater -- and not from Westchester County, either!! :P ) (so we've
got a bit of an inferiority complex. gotta problem with it???)

:) Em
mama to Micah, 11/14/04

Of course, reading the post cleared it up right away.

not familiar with Bellview). Driving from Washington DC to LA would be
a very hard 4-day drive (and you are right about the distances and
speeds). However, she's talking about driving down the west coast,
from the Seattle, Washington (state) area to LA. MUCH shorter. :-)

Cathy Weeks

appears to be a good deal closer! But still in the order of 1500 km? To me,
that still sounds too far to travel safely (let alone sanely) in two days,
unless you are very used to driving long distances. Long distance driving is
very fatiguing unless you are experienced. I personally find 400km a day
(with a second driver) comfortable, but we did the 1000km trip to Melbourne in
less than two days (600 on the first day and 400 on the second). The problem
is that on the second day, nobody really wants to get back into the car, even
though we were taking good breaks (DS1 was 17mo IIRC, and they need to move!).
It's tiring to drive and everyone else gets very stiff sitting still. Driving
the same route as a tourist, now... that would be enjoyable.

It's also a long, long, long drive. 1200 miles in only 2 days is an
awfully long trip for young children. As a general rule, you can
calculate 2 hours per 100 miles average FOR LONG DRIVES (that's an
important caveat). That accounts for stops for meals and bathrooms,
and gasoline. With adults bent on a quick drive, it can be done
considerably faster of course, with careful planning for the stops, but
most people don't drive that way, and 2 hrs per 100 miles is pretty
accurate for a very long drive. Young children might slow things down
even a bit further (though of course, it can be done faster with kids,
too, but it's not much fun). The drive from my house to my parents
house is 465 miles, and it takes about 8.5 hours without the kids, and
10 hours with them. And all but about 50 miles of that is interstate
highway driving.

Anyway, I think that doing that drive in only 2 days is awfully long
for 2 little ones, AND you miss out on all the beautiful stuff to see
in between.

Cathy Weeks

mbwagner...

Are you starting in Seattle? If so, it looks like a 1200 mile trip to
Santa Barbara. We did an 800 mile trip this past summer
with a 5 and 2 year old (Georgia to WIsconsin). We did it in
2 days the way up and actually one day the way down. It was
do-able but pretty hard on the kids. Thankfully, mine love to watch
movies, so we had the DVD player hooked up and they were
pretty happy to do that. By the end of the trip on the way home,
the 2 year old was pretty miserable. Things that helped were
movies (and ones they hadn't seen before), stopping at rest
stops to stretch legs (we kicked around a soccer ball), letting
them pick their own snacks when we stopped for gas, stopping
for meals at fast food places with indoor playgrounds so they
weren't expected to sit still in a restaurant.

With a 1200 mile trip, unless you are going to stop and see
all the really neat things in California, I'd probably fly.

JennP....

How old are your kids again? We drove from CT to southwestern FL last April
and I have to say it was a freaking nightmare and I would never do it again.
At least not with a child under the age of four. No way! Ds was fine, he was
5.5, but dd was 18 months old and absolutely horrible. There was *nothing*
we could do to make her happy despite trying everything and I was very
prepared between, toys, books, movies, special snacks, surprises, etc...She
just was so uncomfortable being in the car for so long. Your kids may be
different, but you asked.

Personally, I'd fly.

If we do do it, are there any particular days that are likely to be better
or worse, any particular hot spots that are bad at certain times?

joni...

Cascade Mtns (as I recall from the last time I drove up to Vancouver,
BC, Canada (where one of my daughters live). Considering the amount of
wonky weather the upper NorthWest has had from record rainfalls to snow
this year that might be dicey to chance driving in February. I would
check out the airlines option.

Dave {Reply Address In.sig}...

It'll be busy as you pass the Bay Area pretty much at any time, but very
much worse at some.

And when we get to the end, any ideas on where we might look to find
somewhere to stay? probably between Santa Barbara and LA itself (need to
know that even if we decide to fly).

joni...

If you drove, I think it would take more than two days, even with two
people driving nonstop and with kids, well you do need to stop often.
I-5 runs to Redding, CA or to Sacramento CA would be the best places to
stop in northern CA.

Dave {Reply Address In.sig}...

We did it in September a few years ago, flew into Seattle and home from
LAX. However, we also went down the coast road and took two weeks for
the trip. We just stopped at random motels as we got to the end of each day.

If we do fly, is LAX the best (or the only) option? Any hire care companies
particularly recommended, particularly ones that reliably supply car seats
that are well fitted etc.

joni...

When booking flights you also have the options of two other area
airports other than LAX there is one in Orange County and I think the
other airport is John Wayne. However this entirely depends on which
airline you fly with and the connections you may have to make. Usually
you can rent a car at the same time you book an airline trip so that it
will be waiting for you when you arrive. We did this one other time
that we had an extended trip to Southern CA and the car rental was part
of the package deal we got.

mbwagner...

LAX is the biggest, and may give you the best price. You can
also fly into Burbank (which would be closer to Santa Barbara).
Orange County (SNA, John Wayne) is a good 45 minutes south
of LAX. Ontario (ONT) is also an option but is out east a ways.
Long beach also has flights, Jet Blue flies in and out of there.
Be sure to check Southwest Airlines, they usually have good
prices but thier seating can be a pain (it's been awhile since
I've flown them, but used to fly them from Oakland to Burbank
alot).

You could also fly into the San Francisco Bay area and then
it's a 5-6 hour drive to Los Angeles. Lots to do in SF. You

dkhedmo...

San Francisco Zoo, a cable car ride through the city, a one hour ferry
ride around SF bay (goes around Alcatraz and under the GG Bidge and
back)from Fisherman's Wharf were all popular with my older one when we
lived out there

You

could fly into San Francisco (SFO), Oakland or San Jose.
Driving the coast from SanFran to Santa Barbara would
be nice, HWY 1 is gorgeous. You could stop in the

dkhedmo...

I agree on highway 1 - a truly gorgeous drive. But check weather
conditions that time of year, sometimes the road is washed out,
especially in the Carmel/big Sur area that time of year.

Natural Bridges beach or park (can't remember exactly) in Santa Cruz has
nice beach access and a monarch butterfly habitat that might have
butterflies that time of year

You could stop in the

Monterey bay area and see Carmel. Be sure to drive
17 mile drive, it's lovely. Also head down 1 through

dkhedmo...

I wouldn't bother going to Carmel (fancy boutiques, art galleries,
expensive little places to eat)or the 17 Mile-look
-at-all-the-houses-you'll-never-be-able-to-afford-Drive on the Pebble
Beach golf course with little kids. Go to the aquarium in Monterey,
which is now very kid friendly and interactive and just a very cool
place, or get out and go to the beach or hike a bit along the coast if
it the weather is not too treacherous. Point Lobos is in the Carmel area
and is fantastic. Earthbound Farms (major organic producer) is on Carmel
Valley Road and can be toured and has a nice little market with freshly
made food you can take out and eat on the grounds, where there is a
great children's garden to run through.

Caledonia...

The trick is to let the person prone to car sickness drive.

Of course, it's tricky if that individual is, say, 5 yo.

Caledonia...

Another plug for flying *into Burbank* a primo Southwest airport --
although I'm inferring from Anne's message that she's thinking of
flying during the dreaded 'school vacation week' so I'd guess the
inexpensive flights are gone.

Also head down 1 through

Big Sur, it is spectacular.

dkhedmo...

Wholeheartedly agree. Lunch on the deck at Nepenthe. Here's pretty much
Big Sur Activities, Facilities, and Services

February is prime time to see the Elephant Seals at
Ano Nuevo:

That's alot of fun.

dkhedmo...

Yep.

Karen

Santa Barbara is really pretty, it's been ages since I've been
there. In LA, there is of course Disneyland although with the
little ones we usually go to Knott's Berry Farm, lots of rides
for little kids there. Long Beach has got a nice aquarium.
Um... we visit LA alot but to see family, so we usually don't
do much site seeing so I'm kind of at a loss. The beaches
are nice, but Feb. is kind of cold to swim.

For what it's worth, we usually try to stay at Embassy Suites
hotels. They have a very nice breakfast and the plenty of
room for the kids.

You'll have a great time! I'm now a little homesick for
the bay area.....

Mary W.

Dave {Reply Address In.sig}...

Orange County is an option, but it's further south than LAX. Failing
that, one of the Bay Area airports, but you've still got a long drive
ahead of you.

Basically any tips at all, including don't go in February, drive, but take
your time and have a two week holiday, basically anything! The reason we
originally picked this particular week in February is that there is a week's
holiday from preschool, but that's not really the biggest issue.

Anything we should see when we get there or on the way down? Neither of us
have been California before, DH has only been to within where we've driven
from Bellevue/Redmond and my other adventures have been east coast.

joni...

I would do some online research if I were you. On our last trip as I
mentioned part was to San Diego which I wasnt too familiar with having
been there some ten years ago. So I printed maps, did searches on
hotels, places to see, etc before we went.
Check out Yahoo travel, Expedia, and TripAdviser has lots of reviews

Hope this helps a bit and that you have a fun vacation!

Dave {Reply Address In.sig}...

Monterrey Bay Aquarium? If you've been to the Seattle one then it's
probably not as big an attraction.

Make sure you've purged your car of fruit if you drive, they ask
questions at the Californian border and you need to be able to account
for any fruit you've got in the car. Having said that, I don't think
there was a border patrol last time we drove down.

While we're at it, any recommendations for holidays within driving distance,
we may just have to accept that this ones going to involve flying, but we'd
definitely like some future options that don't!

If anyone ever wants any ideas about the UK or some parts of Europe, I'm
happy to oblige!

cjra...

FWIW - my family took road trips from California to Ohio all the time
when we were kids. We often did it in 48 hrs, driving straight through
one way (we'd take longer the other way). However, we drove in a
greyhound bus or a motorhome (there were 10 of us total), so stopping
wasn't an issue.

A few years ago I drove SF-->Seattle, and I've done the LA-SF stretch a
lot. Always sans kids though. It's not a huge deal, however, it depends
really *why* you want to do it. If it'sto save money - check flights,
and I agree with others, there are many airports in the LA area to go.
It may be cheaper to fly. If it's because you don't like flying, then
driving wouldn't be so bad. However, it's such a beautiful trip if you
take your time, the drive is a holiday in and of itself. I probably
wouldn't want to do Hwy 1 with kids.

Santa Barbara is a beautiful place - I spent 5 yrs there, back before
state water (ie, less development). It's just a wonderful place to hang
out. LA - there's a lot to see and do, but I'm not hugely fond of it. I
go to visit family (who are now quite far east of LA), but otherwise
would probably never bother.