Originally Posted by
Yellowjj
LOL! I know it's probably a small boring town, but it'll just be a place to sleep. It just seems central to everything.
Yosemite - 3:30
Death Valley - 4:00 (if we do it)
Vegas - 4:00
L.A (touristy sites) - 1:30 - 2:00
PCH - 2:00
Heck, even San Jose/San Fran is only 4 hours away.
While my solution is to hotel hop, everyone else hates it and insist I find a "base" so to speak this year. While I was originally planning on staying in L.A proper, the long drive to/from Yosemite plus the traffic made me think otherwise. 6+ hours is simply too long.
Those drive times seem incredibly optimistic to me.
I would suggest that your group get together with a couple large scale maps of California and study the geography. California is
big. If the group starts looking at the maps (not Google maps!) and calculating routes and realizing the actual distances, factoring in things like narrow, windy mountain roads,
traffic - the LA area has world class traffic jams almost 24/7, you will likely come to see that the "base" idea is not workable. Going to and from the "base" will mean driving the same less-than-exciting stretches of road repeatedly and spending time in an area with nothing to recommend it. Going point to point will allow you to spend more time at each point, no backtracking, less sitting in traffic, less time on nausea inducing mountain roads, etc. If you can book rooms in Yosemite Valley you'll be able to enjoy the simple pleasure of sitting in the magnificent valley and staring up at the stars over the valley, and maybe even see a bear stroll by.
