Hi there
can someone help me out there?

I have never been to the USA and now plan to for just under 3 week visit, really I'm not sure where to go but would like to rent a car and hit the road

Was thinking about driving from Los Angeles to Washington and seeing the sights along the way, but is that to far to travel?

whould it be better Los Angeles-San Francisco and do many side trips

any recommenation would be much apprecated

stephen

There is TONS to see in just L.A. and SF alone. Add San Diego onto that and you could easily fill up 3 weeks.

With that said, America is a very diverse country so seeing just this one little portion won't give you much of an appreciation for the country as a whole.

I'm not much of one to rush-rush-rush (like 13 European countries in 9 days). So these ideas that some have of traveling around the entire country in 4 - 6 weeks seems absolutely nuts. Just my opinion!

In my lifetime I've seen most of the U.S. If I were in your shoes I would:
- Spend 3 to 4 days in L.A.
- Rent a car and drive up the coast to SF
- Spend a week in & around SF
- Find a cheap flight to either fly out of there or zoom back to L.A. on I-5 and fly out of there and to to Chicago

Most people will tell you to visit New York City. I'd leave that for another trip and tie it in with visiting Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

As for Chicago, it's actually my favourite city in the entire U.S. and has a very distinctive "can do" and "No B.S." attitude that I love. The people are super friendly and not artificial like you might find ... errr, let's just say "elsewhere" on your trip.

For flights, check out http://OneTime.com and also http://SouthWest.com

Whatever you end up doing, I hope you have fun & safe travels,

Robert

The drive from L.A. up to Seattle or beyond is a beautiful one. You could easily fill up 3 weeks on that sort of trip, and you'd see quite a lot. As said above, save the East Coast for another journey. I'd spend at least 5 days in the L.A. area.. even a trip down to San Diego. Then up through Santa Barbara, stop off to see the Hearst Castle near Pismo Beach. A few days in the Big Sur, Monterey/Carmel area (it's beautiful!) and then up to SF for at least 3 or 4 more. The Oregon coast is very pretty but not a place to linger too long. Seattle is a great city and the areas outside it very beautiful and worth seeing. If you have time, the San Juan Islands are gorgeous and relaxing... end up in Vancouver (only 3 hour drive from Seattle), another fantastic city.

I'm not sure if your final destination is Washington state or DC. If it's the state then 3 weeks is certainly doable at a leisurely pace but if it's DC then that would be a different story -- for sure, 3 weeks would be far too short.

I have driven from Seattle to San Francisco, and San Francisco down to San Diego on 2 separate trips so that's practically the entire length of Interstate 5. I did rent a car on those trips (when the price of gas was not as painful as today) on a drop-off basis. As mentioned by the previous poster, there's a lot to see in LA alone. Just the theme parks there could consume a whole week. Then San Francisco and its environs would take another week. So the remaining days of your 3rd week can be allocated for interstate travel, setting aside 2-3 days for Seattle.

Have fun!

You could spend the whole three weeks in California and have a great time, especially if you like the outdoors. California has the highest and lowest points in the contiguous 48 states, has some magnioficent national parks (Yosemite, Sequoia-Kings Canyon), LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Monterey/Carmel, Mendocino, Lake Tahoe, Napa Valley - I could picture a wonderful 3 week trip combining these interesting places.

1. Los Angeles, CA
2. San Diego, CA
3. Las Vegas, NV
4. Grand Canyon, AZ
5. Zion National Park, UT and Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
6. Yosemite National Park, CA
7. San Francisco, CA
8. Pacific Coast Highway (take a couple days)
9. Los Angeles, CA

I'd stay...

3 nights in Los Angeles
2 nights in San Diego
3 nights in Las Vegas
1 night in Grand Canyon
2 nights in Zion National Park
2 nights in Bryce Canyon National Park
2 nights in Yosemite National Park
4 nights in San Francisco
2 nights along Pacific Coast Highway (Monterery and Cambria or Pismo Beach)

The suggestion to drive north to Seattle would also be a good trip. I've done both and really enjoyed them. It will involve a lot more driving, but at least you will get to see our country even better.

1. Los Angeles, CA
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Ashland, OR
4. Portland, OR
5. Seattle, WA
6. Spokane, WA
7. Yellowstone National Park
8. Grand Teton National Park
9. Park City, UT
10. Bryce Canyon National Park
11. Zion National Park
12. Las Vegas, NV
13. Los Angeles, CA

I would stick to California alone. As mentioned just the LA area alone would take up over a week. Here are some things to do any of which could fill a day:

LA - Disneyland, KNotts Berry Farm, Hollywood/Melrose, Venice Beach, Catalina, Santa Monica, the beach. LAs Vegas is also only 3-4 hrs away. Can stay a couple of days.
Day trips from LA - Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley
En-route to SF - Santa Barbara, Hearst Castle, MOnterey, Santa Cruz, Morrow Bay, Paso Robles
SF - SF itself (Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Golden Gate bridge, GG Park, Embarcadero), Berkeley.
N of SF - Yosemite, Napa Valley, Red Woods National Forest, Tahoe/Reno.

Have a great time!!