Driving from San Francisco to Portland

[madoka]

A relative is getting married in Portland, so 3-5 families are thinking about making a road trip out of it from LA to Portland.

I'm already very familiar with the LA to SF part, but I've never done the SF to Portland leg.

I suspect that we will stop every few hours to let the kids stretch their legs.

Are there any sights, local restaurants, tourist spots, or shopping opportunities along this route that you would recommend?

Also, what is there to do in Portland?

 

[BoomerD]

How much time do you want to spend on the drive? Fastest/easiest is straight up I-5.
(stop and let the kids see the dragon)

Otherwise, you'll be close to Crater Lake as you go through southern Oregon...

 

[skyking]

A detour over to Crater lake across 138 out of Roseburg is only an hour and a half each way. The coast and 101 is tempting but it drags on forever, more so with small kids.
I love 138 up past Diamond lake. Drive in and at least look at the lodge on the way through.
You could also come up 97 and back across 138.

 

[dainthomas]

A detour over to Crater lake across 138 out of Roseburg is only an hour and a half each way. The coast and 101 is tempting but it drags on forever, more so with small kids.
I love 138 up past Diamond lake. Drive in and at least look at the lodge on the way through.
You could also come up 97 and back across 138.

I would take the route that passes through 2 national parks. Cut over to 101 up to Redwoods. Then 199 (itself a pretty drive) up to Grants Pass and then over to Crater Lake. Then 97 up and just pick your route back over to I5. You will never ever regret it. I've been to Crater Lake a few times and it takes my breath away each time.

The worst possible route would be just taking I5 all the way up. So mind-numbingly boring. Might as well just plug your kids into the movie player because there is nothing to see.

As far as things to do in Portland, pretty much the same things there are to do in any city. I'm sure your relatives could direct you to the standard touristy things (Powells, rose garden, Multnomah Falls etc).

 

[Atomic Playboy]

What others have said; give yourself an extra day of travel time and stop at Crater Lake. It's not really "on the way," so you'll need to allot some time for it, but it's definitely worth it. Coming straight up I-5 is the fastest, but it's one of the dullest drives you'll ever do. The coast road is beautiful but it's slow and Portland is 90 miles inland anyway, so it doesn't even get you there. But if you can swing a weeklong trip out of it you could hit up some of the sights in NorCal (Lassen/Shasta area is beautiful, or Redwoods), swing by Crater Lake, cut over to the coast and come up through Florence (epic sand dunes) through Lincoln City and then turn inland to drive past a bunch of wineries in the Willamette Valley along route 99 into Portland. It'll take you eight times as long as I-5 but there's a ton of stuff to see along the way; mountains, lakes, caves, dunes, the ocean, wineries, etc. Better than 12 hours of mindless freeway driving past endless grass farms.

Something like this: Google map.

 

[Markbnj]

Last time I did it I went up 1/101 and it was absolutely gorgeous, especially around Eureka and of course the sequoias. I peeled off in Oregon and went through Grants Pass, but I came back south along the coast through Coos Bay, etc. Really the whole drive is just amazing. It has to be one of the most spectacular coastlines in the world. It definitely was not fast, though. I remember being glad of the views to the right and left, because right in front was usually a motorhome.

 

[ballmode]

I went opposite last fall. Went from San Fran, Monterrey, Highway 1 all the way till LA, then hopped on 405 to San Diego. Loved it.

 

[Printer Bandit]

Hopefully there is no snow, so you don't get stuck and die.