At the end of November, my family and I (husband, 3 year old daughter, and I) will be driving to Tacoma, Washington from Las Vegas, NV for a family reunion. Reason for drving instead of flying: My husband does not like to fly.
The directions given by Mapquest says it will take 18 hours to do this drive and it suggested taking I-15 to Salt Lake, Utah, I-84 through Boise, Idaho, then I-82 and I-90 to Seattle. Has anyone taking this route? Would it be very snowy and diffcult in drving this way...mountain passes, etc.. Do you need chains as we have a 4 wheel drive SUV? We are from Hawaii originally, so only a have limited experience of driving in the snow.. (Yes...it does snow in Hawaii, up on the mountains)
I looked at driving through Reno, NV, but that way adds 4 hours to the trip time. And the road from Vegas to Reno is not very good. So that way is out of the picture.
Would driving to Bakersfield, Calif to the I-5 and then north, be the better choice? I heard of there is thick fog during that time of year in the Central Valley and spooky to drive in.
Any suggestions on hotels, places to eat or places to we must see? We plan to take 2 to 3 days to drive up there. We have never been through Utah, Idaho, Oregon , or Washington? We have driven to San Francisco via PCH1, but never north of there.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, A. S.
I just want thank everyone for their great advice on my recent journey. We ended up taking the I-15 from Las Vegas to Barstow, across to Bakersfield then across to the I-5. the 1st night we stayed just north of Sacremento, CA. The 2nd day we encounter fog until about Redding. The 2nd night we stayed near Eugene, OR and hit our destination of Tacoma WA on the 3rd day.
The return journey also took 3 days due to the 1st snow of the season in the Pacific Northwest. We fotunately only saw a little bit of it in Shasta, CA. and did not need the chains. Lots of snowplows on the I-5.
It definetley would have been less expensive to fly as hotel rooms, food, and gas was costly. It was great adventure though and we saw some beautiful landscapes in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington.
For my daughter the DVD player was very handy. Stopping at McDonald's and buying Happy Meals were the 2nd best thing to seeing her cousins (1st) about the trip for her. She has nearly collected all of the IZ toys.
Again, thank you, With Aloha, A. S in Las Vegas
I live near Boise, ID and the Idaho section of this drive should be problem free. Most of the time the end of November is pretty clear for driving I-84. Not a whole lot to see through Idaho that time of year that I can think of.
Hi A.!! I live in Boise. I know that it is definately faster to go through Salt Lake than it is to go through Reno. I also know that Baker City to Pendleton (about 100 miles into Oregon) gets really bad in the winter and they close that section of the freeway often. However, it shouldn't be bad at the end of November, it mostly get's bad in December. But, weather is unpredictable. :) I have never driven the I-5 stretch in the winter so I don't have much advice there. I know that there is a good chance that much of Utah will have snow, but if you are in a 4 wheel drive and take it slow, you will be OK through that part. I would recommend carrying chains, just in case for the Baker City part of your trip. I would also suggest adding about 4 hours onto your total trip time to allow for bad weather. The nice thing about the route that you are taking is that it is all freeway, thus all well maintained, especially in the winter. As for things to stop and look at~~ If you love zoos, Portland has an awesome one. Also, Mutnomah falls which is about 50 or so miles east of Portland is beautiful any time of year.
Happy travelling!! Good luck with the 3 year old! :)
K.
Mommy to Jack and Ani
Last winter we moved from Michigan to Utah...about a 28 hour drive with 2 kids. I stressed about the weather too. My advise would be don't push it. Make sure you have extra days in case the weather is bad. If it's getting bad, it's not worth it - just stop and find a place to stay. We had to do that 2 times on our trip, once before we even got out of the state of Michigan! We had packed an emergency kit, had extra blankets, and a tow rope in the car. Thankfully, we didn't have to use any of it, we just took our time. Good luck. Oh, a must have is a portable DVD player for your 3 year old!!
K.
You are one brave family! I live in Reno Area and drive to Monterey Bay every year. Thats only a 6 hour drive and I am so ready for it to be over when we get there. I can tell you from experince that the Mountainous areas get snow in November. I dont think there was one Nov in the last 7 years that I have made the drive that 80 didnt have somekind of snow. If you can take a route with minimul snow do so. Also have chains JUST IN CASE! Its better to be safe then sorry. Its a smart Idea to take a few days. You will need it with a 3 yr old in a car for that long.
As for the Fog yes it can get pretty foggy but its mainly in the early mornings and evening onto the night. We have had to deal with that sometimes too. We have dealt with snow more then fog though. We go EVERY thanksgiving and around christmas time. Snow has been our main problem.
Have you looked into Amtrak? Thats a nice relaxing ride. I did it last year and really enjoyed being able to watch the scenery and not worry about driving. I would do it again in a heart beat.
Good Luck and have a fun safe trip!
When we lived in Seattle, we did this drive 3 years in a row (twice each year) and we always did it in a day. But if you are planning on taking a few days to get there, there are good places to stay in Salt Lake that are easy access off of the freeway. Boise, ID also has some nice places right off the freeway to. There's a small town in Oregon called La Grande. (this is my hometown) and there are some motels there for reasonable prices that are right off the freeway. La Grande is about the 6 hour mark from Seattle. The 1-15 through Salt Lake is the best route in the winter months. They do a better job keeping the roads cleared of snow and ice. We always drive our front wheel drive car and carry chains. You can get chains at Les Schwab for about $60.00 and if you end up not using them, you can take them back and get your money back. Any way that you go this time of year you will probably hit a lot of fog so you just have to take it slow. If you have fog lights, they are a wonderful invention :) I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, contact me on here and I'll get back to you. Enjoy your trip!
Hi A.,
I think you'd be best to follow up with a Thomas Guide against your mapquest directional just to be safe. You never know about road changes and that, mapquest is not the best at keeping that updated. But, in regards to the highways, I feel that I-90 coming into Seattle and dropping down to Tacoma is your best bet. If you were to come over any passes that one is the best. It does begin to snow around that time, but we've also had an unusually warm winter so far, and not the amount of rain we are usually getting at this time. I think personally you'll be fine coming over that pass. You also can access online the updates on construction, or congestion as well and I think that is everywhere not just here. That would be through the department of transportation website. I hope that helps some.. Have a safe trip and enjoy seeing the family! =)
I have done that drive a few times. We were stationed at Fort Huachuca AZ - by Tucson and at Fort Lewis in WA. The route you got on mapquest I believe is the fastest. So far the roads are clear in Utah - I'm currently in Layton. Usually the worst part of that drive is through Idaho because they don't keep their roads up very well so try to hit Idaho during the daytime would be my suggestion. The other thing I didn't like through Oregon and Washington is the fog so I would suggest trying to hit that in daylight as well. I can't think of anything great to see in Utah or Idaho for that matter but on the drive through Oregon keep your eyes on the mountains and you should see lots of waterfalls - it was gorgeous the last time we drove it. Good luck - hopefully this helped a little.
T.
Hi A.,
If it is a normal Fall...ha-ha...there should not be that much snow at that time. Bring some emergency items just in case though. And chains are smart. I'm in boise. If you need a pit stop, I can recommend some places. Have a nice trip!
Hi there! I am actualyl from Tacoma area, but now live in Portland and wouldn't you know it, I drove (well rode) from portland to Reno and back last November. Here's the skinny on some road conditions. So far we are having great weather, but you never know what it will be like then. I am going to have to say that your best bet would be to cut over to LA and head up I-5. The only pass you may encounter problems on would be the one just north of LA (can't think of the name off the top of my head) or Sisquiox which is on the border of CA and OR. When we went to Reno, we went south to Eugene and cut over to Hwy 97 and went south out of Oregon through there and then took a bunch of smaller highways the rest of the way. COming back, we ran into snow and the smaller roads don't get the snowplow attnetio they need. Also, if you stick to larger highways, there are more cities and towns and more places to pull over if you need to. We were going for MILES in between civilization! With a child, I know you need to be able to pull over! Also, there is a pass on I-84 just west of the Idaho/Oregon border and that pass gets scary! The whole I-84 through Oregon is called the Columbia River Gorge and we get NASTY winds through there and sometimes terrible ice storms. They will occur there and no where else!
As for places to see, I would recommend checking out downtown Portland! It's great and not that big, so you don't get lost as easy! Or maybe Crater Lake! Another thing you can do is if you belong to AAA or know someone who does, you can order a TripTik for free. You just tell them the route you're taking and they send you a map (kind of like a bound flip map) of your route and interesting facts and things to do along the way! HTH! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi A.-
I am originally from Richland, WA which is right on the mapquest path for this trip. I know live in SLC and have done this drive so many times it makes me a little sick. Most of my drives have been in the spring/summer, but I have made a handful of drives in the fall/winter.
You really shouldn't have to worry about snow in late November in most parts of utah. The further North you go (Snowville, Treemonton) the more likely it is you could run into snow. The part you really have to look for snow is when you get into Oregon. From Ontario to Pendelton can be brutal. It really just depends on the year. I've had trips in December where the road was bone dry and others where the snow never seemed to stop. November is usually a little safer, but I did have one trip the week of Thanksgiving about 5 years ago that was really dicey regarding snow/weather.
Chances are if you have to chain up, it will be Oregon. Even having four wheel drive, you should have chains with you and be ready to use them. One trip in December I saw atleast 20 SUV's on the side of the roads/ditches that were driving too fast/without chains.
There is one mountain pass that is right outside of La Grande OR. It is over the blue mountains at about 4500 feet. I know that that doesn't sound that high, but there is always a good chance snow will be here. Get your chains ahead of time because La Grande is not the biggest town and if the weather is bad, good luck finding chains.
As to your question on I5, I haven't driven it through California, only from Oregon to Washington. I still think your best route would be the one that mapquest showed you. Just be safe, drive slow and constantly be checking the weather. If you have 3 days to do the trip, you should be fine. Anymore questions, feel free to ask.
j. mitchell
You know last year my husband and I with our three kids drove to Detroit Michagan it was cheaper that way but we took I-84. The weather was not that bad we did get stuck in a little town because of an accident that was up the road but that is the way we took and that seemed to be fine. Try looking at that route.
