Originally Posted by
Alex71
Fortunately, now there's Google Maps and it is much easier to estimate the driving times.
I feared this to be the case. I use Google maps extensively, but based on using it on a number of trips in the US and overseas, and having driven many of the roads on your route on several occasions (in some cases, literally dozens) I'll say that Google's time estimates are... I think the technical term is... cr@p. Way too optimistic most of the time.
Why bother with Zion and Bryce if you can't get out of the parking lots because of the time it took you to get there or the time you've planned for the next part of the drive? Covering the itinerary in LA that you've laid out for yourselves is basically impossible unless you're just pulling up to the Santa Monica pier or the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Blvd. and saying, "Been there done that" then moving back into the crawling traffic.
Believe me, no offense remotely intended, but a road trip with two kids in 2017 has no possible comparison to a trip you took 25 years ago as a college kid. American national parks are now using traffic calming and traffic exclusion policies that
weren't even contemplated in central London in the 1990s.
Like I said above, we don't know you or your family's preferences or habits. But maybe try out a couple of thought experiments:
1. Reduce your list of destinations by 1/3 and add those 10 nights in VRBO or AirBnB locations in places where you can take a couple of day trips, rather than breaking camp every night and moving to the next motel located 40 miles from nowhere.
2. Make this an all-California holiday (even if flying in and out of LV.) The sojourn into Arizona and Utah is going to be hot, crowded and far too hasty to mean much after three weeks of nonstop motoring. Why not find a nice VRBO or AirBnB someplace in southern California for a few days? Give yourselves and the kids some beach time, time to eat burritos or ride bikes along the Hermosa Strand, go to the movies at the Chinese or the Egyptian theaters, visit the La Brea tar pits or a Dodgers game, see the San Diego zoo or visit Olvera Street and the old LA pueblo, visit "Little Bal" - Balboa Island in Newport Bay...
Just sayin'.
A couple of other things.
Death Valley. Okay, if you can't miss DV (especially if you can be convinced to postpone the Utah/Arizona loop) then do this: transit Death Valley as early as possible. Staying in Pahrump is fine (surreal after a day flying from Germany) but if you're really wiped, just stay in LV and leave a little earlier.
Visit Zabriskie Point and Badwater, drive a ways up Artists Drive, but then bug out of the park long before noon, preferably by 10 or 11 AM. Get as far north as you can on US 395 - Bishop, Mammoth or Lee Vining.
The next day, cross the Sierras on CA Hwy 4, which will take you right past the Calaveras Big Trees and deposit you in the pretty little town of Murphys. Hwy 4 is quite slow going (twisty and steep in bits) but very scenic. Spend the night in Murphys, Angel's Camp, or Columbia. Spend the next day in the gold country - all along Hwy 49 plus some side roads to almost-ghost towns like Volcano. My bet is that you and your kids will love this area - scenic but with things to do, old buildings to explore, etc. Note this is an up-and-coming wine area, so maybe some adult time visiting a winery or two wouldn't be out of the question.
A side trip into Yosemite Valley and back out is possible; it's a good 5+ hour round trip from Murphys or vicinity, and there will be a hell of a lot of people there. You've got a lot of terrific scenery on this trip; maybe Yosemite could be postponed. From the gold country it's out to the coast for the southbound portion of the trip.
As for lodging around Monterey, the whole Monterey Bay area is easily accessible from one end to another. Monterey and Carmel are quite pricey; Santa Cruz, Seaside and Salinas are all probably cheaper places with reasonable access to the ocean and sights.