It's 1200 miles between Seattle and Los Angeles driving along the coast and you easily could spend 2 weeks for it. Many things to do and explore. I reckon you will be visiting in summer and great beaches on your way but oceanwater won't be warm. I also would recommend to start LA and finish in Seattle driving with the sun behind you. Are you sure your kids would not like to visit Disneyland and other amusenmentparks, or the great aquarium in Monterey? Wished I had kids like that doing the parents stuff all the time. Some places between LA and Seattle are: Santa Barbara, the Danish village of Solvang, Morro Bay and it's marina, San simeon and Hearst Castle, lovely Cambria's Moonstone beach, hw 1 between Cambria and Monterey, Big Sur, Point Lobos SR, Carmel, Bay aquarium in Monterey, Santa Cruz and its boardwalk, San Francisco (stay at least 2 full days), Lost Coast and Humboldt Redwoods SP, Redwood NP, the gorgeous Oregon coast, Portland and Columbia River Gorge and in Washinton Mnt. St. Helens NVM, Mnt Rainier NP, Olympic NP and Seattle of course, and many more places. As said, 2 weeks will be short and you often have to relocate to see those places.

Tet

thank you,

no my kids won't like the aquarium, they saw them in Spain and France already! I'd rather skip Disneyland, really. Thank you for your info. We'll be there in April, not in the summer. If we can't do Seattle, San Fran and LA which would be less of a shame to miss? Thanks again.

If you go to Monterey, they may enjoy kayaking out on the bay, you can rent double kayaks, they rent for about $39/day. Old Fisherman's Wharf is fun in Monterey, there are whale watching trips that leave from there if that sort of thing interests you. Have fun! :)

All three cities are unique in their own right - the Seattle area is a very green, lush area with lots of lakes and inlets, very nice architecture, a lot of fishing, aviation, and trade (its a huge port), Pikes Place market, the Space Needle etc. San Francisco is another great city - street trolley cars, lots of hills, China town, the huge bay area, the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, and again, a huge port. And in LA you get a lot of everything - Hollywood, the beaches, diverse ethnic neighborhoods, tons of museums, etc. But since it sounds like you want to hit Seattle for sure, if you skip any of the three it should probably be LA - I say that only because it wouldn't make a lot of sense to drive from LA to Seattle (or vice-versa) without stopping in San Francisco as its right on the route in between them.

Since this is the LA board, I'll try to offer a bit of advice for LA if you decide to come here. Depending on your hotel budget, I'd try to stay in Santa Monica as this is the best area of the city for tourists who want to be close to the beach - there are other parts of the city close to beaches but they have fewer hotels and tend to be less touristy.

As for things to do, besides the amusement parks (Disney, Universal Studios, Magic Mountain, etc. which it sounds like you aren't interestd in)... There are tons of art museums - The Getty Center in Brentwood (spectacular art, architecture, and views), the Getty Villa in Malibu (great art housed in a replica of a Roman villa), The LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) in the mid-city area which has a very extensive collection, the La Brea Tar Pits (a unique 'living' natural history exhibit) that is colocated with LACMA, and the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena which has a very nice collection, especially of eastern art.

Southern California is the virtual home of car culture in the United States and so appropriately enough we have two museums dedicated to that - the Peterson Automobile Museum located next to LACMA, and the Nethercutt Collection located in Sylmar.

And of course no visitor wants to miss Hollywood - there is the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign (which can be seen from many areas of the city), and several working TV/Movie studios with tours (Warner Brothers and Paramount especially).

There's also Griffith Park, home of the Western Heritage Museum (think cowboys!) and the Griffith Observatory (notable among other reasons for its inclusion in the James Dean movie Rebel Without a Cause).

And no trip to LA would be complete without a stopover in Beverly Hills, which features tons of high end (Rodeo Drive and surrounding areas) shopping, some not-so-high-end but still upscale shopping (the Beverly Center), magnificent homes, famous hotels, etc.

And of course we have all sorts of ethnic areas - Little Tokyo, Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, etc.

Downtown and in the surrounding areas, there's tons of great architecture like the Disney Concert Hall, a stunning Frank Ghery designed building, and Olvera Street, the location of the first Spanish settlement in the LA area. And even more museums, like MOCA (LA Museum of Contemporary Art), the California Museum of Scince and Industry, and the Natural History Museum.

Up the coast, towards San Francisco, are a number of nice beach areas - highlights would include Malibu (home to tons of celebrities just like Beverly Hills), and Santa Barbara, about 90 minutes north of LA. Also between San Francisco and LA are some very scenic areas, such as Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, etc.

I'm sure I didn't even touch on 10% of what you might find interesting in LA, but hopefully that's a good overview of some of the highlights. Good luck planning your trip!

With only two weeks for your trip, I'd say fly to Seattle, spend a few days, fly to San Francisco, rent a car as you leave and drive down the coast to LA, visit LA, then fly home. The reverse itinerary would also work.

If you drive between Seattle & San Francisco, you can spend 800+ miles and 1 1/2 days driving straight through or several days on the coastal route. The central California coast would probably be more pleasant in April, but check with the folks on the individual forums for more info.

Your itinerary in Seattle will determine whether or not you need a car.

April info: many public school have spring break in the week before or the week after Easter (April 12, 2009.) Some destinations may be more crowded with visitors. If you want more time in the sun, spend more time in California and less time in Washington.

As far as skipping cities is concerned, Seattle is, by far, the smallest of the three. Therefore, I'd skip Seattle. One option would be to meet your Seattle friend in San Francisco (internal flights between Seattle and San Francisco (both SFO and OAK airports) are inexpensive via southwest.com or alaskaairlines.com). You can share your hotel room with your friend so it would be a holiday for both of you.

BTW, travel time from Seattle to SF by air is about 2 hours.

Oh dear, you'll be needing to make choices here, as there is not enough time to see and do it all :-(

Most important point to me is your statement that you would like to "spend time enjoying the sun". If you were visiting in summer, that would not be a problem. However, the northwest (Oregon, Washington) gets a lot of rain, and whilst April will have gorgeous flowers and greenery everywhere, it will still be raining.

The Oregon coast and northern CA coasts are one of the most beautiful areas in the US. But it rains about 80" a year on the OR coast -- over two thousand millimeters. Northern CA gets less rain, and southern CA very little rain at all. Seattle receives about half or less of the OR coast rain, but they have many days that are grey and drizzly.

So, much as I think you'd enjoy a coastal Oregon experience, you won't find much sun here at that time of year.

Perhaps, if you don't mind cool temps for a few days, drive from Seattle south through Oregon via the inland route (much quicker), then cross over to the northern CA coast (redwoods are incredible!) and drive south to SF, then to LA? You might also want to think about San Diego rather than LA?

Here is a website about the redwoods, if you are not familiar with them:

shannontech.com/ParkVision/…Redwood.html

If you want to find warm sun in CA in April, then you should go to the Palm Springs area after a stay in Los Angeles. Lots of motels and hotels with great pools,and waterslides out there.

The drive to the desert cities (PS, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, etc.) from LA is about 2 hours. Driving through the desert you will see see windmills. Enclosed website so you can see photos.

http://www.windmilltours.com/

Families love Knotts Soak City. They open for the season in March.

http://www.knotts.com/SOAKCITY/PS/index.shtml