Help please on planning a trip to Hawaii & Western USA

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Yes, the live Volcano is on the Big Island. It is several hours away from the Kona area where most timeshares are. Most people spend an overnight near the volcano to make it an easier trip, and there is a great stop at Akaka Falls on your way to/from (we did it on the way back). And your right about wounds, you have to be careful snorkeling around all the lava

We also did a fantastic night snorkel with the Manta Rays there...

I changed "wounds" back to "sounds" as it should be.

Pat, we love nature and seeing beautiful places. Civilisation is interesting too, that's the category the Disney part of our travel will fall under. Yosemite is one place I will add onto the list. Would love to spend 2 months in US. Is Yosemite ok to visit in Winter or are we asking for trouble? Is July a better time to go?

8hrs is not too long for Sedona. We'd be willing to do that and look at hotels for part of our trip instead of all timeshare. Maybe a week in Sedona would be nice in a timeshare or just a few days. I'm really very open to suggestions of places to see. Will also read up on Tripadvisor.
Thanks!

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

I love Sea World and the San Diego zoo. Haven't been there in years and years, but the San Diego zoo used to do wonderful animal shows, where the zookeepers talk about the different animals, their habits, and sometimes the animals even do tricks! (Or just normal behaviors with funny commentary by the zookeepers.) And at Sea World we all loved the seal and otter show. I could watch otters all day long!

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Wacky, I'll put Seaworld on the list. The zoo sounds great but we have an amazing zoo in Sydney and if we're short of time, I might have to cut out the San Diego Zoo.

OK, so I've put in a request with DAE. I'm checking out HTSE and Trading Places. I'm thinking ideally now, we'll have two wks in Hawaii, one on Kauai and one on the Big Island or Maui. Whatever comes through is fine. Beggers can't be choosers. Then two weeks on the mainland. Maybe one in SoCal or at Disney ad one travelling around looking at nature - Sedona, Lake Tahoe or Yosemite, etc.

How does this sounds?

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

How does this sounds?

I think you need to move here for a couple of months to see it all.

Personally I wouldn't do Sedona during the summer as I think it can get too hot. And Yosemite during the winter can be "iffy" with several of the roads closing down. However, it is breath-taking when there is snow on the ground.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Wacky, I'll put Seaworld on the list. The zoo osunds greta but we an amazing zoo in Sydney and if we're short of time, I might have to cut out the Sandiego Zoo.

OK, so I've put in a request with DAE. I'm checking out HTSE and Trading Places. I'm thinking ideally now, we'll have two wks in Hawaii, one on Kauai and one on the Big Island or Maui. Whatever comes through is fine. Beggars can't be choosers. Then two weeks on the mainland. Maybe one in SoCal or at Disney ad one travelling around looking at nature - Sedona, Lake Tahoe or Yosemite, etc.

How does this sounds?

ooh ooh, Syd, you could do a few days in San Francisco and then some time in Tahoe -- Tahoe in the summer would be great!

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

I think you need to move here for a couple of months to see it all.

Personally I wouldn't do Sedona during the summer as I think it can get too hot. And Yosemite during the winter can be "iffy" with several of the roads closing down. However, it is breath-taking when there is snow on the ground.

I agree with you. I'm thinking we'll need 2 mths not only just to make the airfares worth it but also there's just so much to see!

ooh ooh, Syd, you could do a few days in San Francisco and then some time in Tahoe -- Tahoe in the summer would be great!

OK, we could fly out of San Fran maybe and spend a few nts there before flying home. Tahoe, that's another place that TS4Ms members suggested would be a good place for a get-together.

There's like zilch chance of getting to Hawaii through DAE Oz but I really didn't expect there to be. So maybe we'll have to be happy with just one week in Kauai. We'll see as I may join one of the independents to get the 2nd week or [:gasp horror:] extend with RCI.

I would love to drive around the U.S. for a few months. Should I try and do this in Dec/Jan when we'll have more time but the weather is awful? We'd leave out Hawaii altogether in Dec/Jan and just fly straight into San Fran or LAX. Is Hawaii too good to miss? What's another beach right?

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

December/January can be really iffy weather-wise, especially if you're planning on driving. You would be "safe" in southern California and parts of the desert (like part of Arizona), but in any of the higher elevations you'll have a good chance of snow, and in the lower elevations.....rain.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

OK, thanks Luanne, good point.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I agree with you. I'm thinking we'll need 2 mths not only just to make the airfares worth it but also there's just so much to see!

OK, we could fly out of San Fran maybe and spend a few nts there before flying home. Tahoe, that's another place that TS4Ms members suggested would be a good place for a get-together.

There's like zilch chance of getting to Hawaii through DAE Oz but I really didn't expect there to be. So maybe we'll have to be happy with just one week in Kauai. We'll see as I may join one of the independents to get the 2nd week or [:gasp horror:] extend with RCI.

I would love to drive around the U.S. for a few months. Should I try and do this in Dec/Jan when we'll have more time but the weather is awful? We'd leave out Hawaii altogether in Dec/Jan and just fly straight into San Fran or LAX. Is Hawaii too good to miss? What's another beach right?

Syd,

We Americans don't have anything that compares to Hawaii (imo), so it's worth the flight time, even for us from the East Coast. But if I lived as close to Bali as you do, I might feel differently... I've never been to Fiji as you have, but the pics look amazing...

Isn't Hawaii on your way?

As for your timing, would you still stay on the West Coast? If yes, you could manage Dec/Jan if you didn't go too far north, or don't mind dealing with a lot of snow (Tahoe gets a LOT of snow in the winter, but it is beautiful and the skiing is world class).

eta: if you want to, you can trade into Hawaii through TPI, or SFX, or HTSE -- forget DAE, and you should NOT need RCI

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Syd,

We Americans don't have anything that compares to Hawaii (imo), so it's worth the flight time, even for us from the East Coast. But if I lived as close to Bali as you do, I might feel differently... I've never been to Fiji as you have, but the pics look amazing...

Isn't Hawaii on your way?

As for your timing, would you still stay on the West Coast? If yes, you could manage Dec/Jan if you didn't go too far north, or don't mind dealing with a lot of snow (Tahoe gets a LOT of snow in the winter, but it is beautiful and the skiing is world class).

eta: if you want to, you can trade into Hawaii through TPI, or SFX, or HTSE -- forget DAE, and you should NOT need RCI

To be honest, we're not really beach people. We're a bit too spoilt here in Australia. We've actually camped on the beach that has the whitest sand in the world according to the Guiness Book of Records - Hyems Beach, in New South Wales, Australia. We have amazing beaches all along our coastline plus islands paradises in Northern Queensland. So if we really wanted to , we could go closer to home.

We've been to Tahiti in '06 and had 3 wks in Fiji in '07. I just remembered that while we were in Fiji, we were on a cruise that took us to the Blue Lagoon in that Brooke Shields movie and had a swim there. It wasn't really blue and no where near as pretty as in the movie. We also found out that they filmed Castaway with Tom Hanks in Fiji and the boat crew were telling us stories of all the work that was done in the movie like fake trees and rain etc.

So anyway, another beach destination is not our primary concern. We really just want to get together with these friends of ours with the Lawai timeshare. Although Hawaii is so much more than just beaches. The Volcano is pretty cool.

I'd forgotten about SFX. I could try them as they take WMSP(Worldmark South Pacific). Thanks!

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

If you decide to go north of California, beaches in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are decidedly different than southern California beaches.

Away from the coast the Northwest has some spectacular mountains and forests (the largest temperate rain forest in the world is the coastal Pacific northwest. There are very nice urban locations.

For a different volcano (i.e., other than a Hawaiian volcano) you could try to visit Yellowstone National Park. There are many other spectacular mountain parks throughout the western US and western Canada.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

If you decide to go north of California, beaches in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are decidedly different than southern California beaches.

Away from the coast the Northwest has some spectacular mountains and forests (the largest temperate rain forest in the world is the coastal Pacific northwest. There are very nice urban locations.

For a different volcano (i.e., other than a Hawaiian volcano) you could try to visit Yellowstone National Park. There are many other spectacular mountain parks throughout the western US and western Canada.

Great info. Thanks Steve. Have always wanted to go to Yellowstone and Yosemite. Really wish we could go longer and north of CA but kids only get 3wks off in July and we'll be taking an extra week as it is.

What I need to do is get a big map of the U.S. and highlight all the places mentioned on this thread and see which ones are feasible.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

I have lived in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and have traveled over just about every square inch of these 4 states as well as Nevada.

First, I definitely would not visit during December or January. The weather is too iffy during the winter months. I would visit in July - early October for California, and July-September for Oregon and Washington. To see everything in California alone would take at least a few weeks. I would do a loop from San Diego up the coast to San Francisco then back through Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, across the Tioga Pass to Hwy 395 and then back to Southern California. I would stop for a few days to a week in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, etc. to see the local sights and outlying areas. If time permitted then you could travel up to Oregon and Washington by extending the loop north past San Francisco. Based on your summer time limitation, I would just do the California loop that I mentioned.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

I have lived in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and have traveled over just about every square inch of these 4 states as well as Nevada.

First, I definitely would not visit during December or January. The weather is too iffy during the winter months. I would visit in July - early October for California, and July-September for Oregon and Washington. To see everything in California alone would take at least a few weeks. I would do a loop from San Diego up the coast to San Francisco then back through Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, across the Tioga Pass to Hwy 395 and then back to Southern California. I would stop for a few days to a week in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, etc. to see the local sights and outlying areas. If time permitted then you could travel up to Oregon and Washington by extending the loop north past San Francisco. Based on your summer time limitation, I would just do the California loop that I mentioned.

Thanks John for your suggestions. We'd give Oregon and Washington a miss. We'll probably fly in to SFO, then out of LAX or vice versa to fit as much in as possible.