2.Re: Yosemite to LA - best place for a stop over?
13 years ago
There's no place interesting to stop, really. If you are leaving the park late, and only want to drive 2 hours, stay Fresno. If you leave a bit earlier, and only want to drive 3 hours, stay Visalia or Tulare. If you want to drive 4 hours, stay Bakersfield. If 5 hours, then stay Santa Clarita/Magic Mountain area. The first four places are pretty much the same, Fresno and Bakersfield will have more choices, they will be chain hotels, the usual roadside fare. There's absolutely nothing more scenic about any one of these places over the others, in my view.
Santa Clarita/Magic Mountain is more suburban, there's more compact shopping, there are big restaurants because of the theme park. You'll be right at the northern edge of Los Angeles, all set to hit morning rush hour traffic on the way into Hollywood, which will take you longer between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. than if you wait until 9 a.m. to leave.
If it were me, I'd leave at a time that put me at Santa Clarita around 6 pm and then just go the extra hour to Hollywood and avoid rush hour.
Your six hour journey, if you stop in either Bakersfield or Santa Clarita, will be extended by as much as an hour (or more if there's an accident) by choosing to drive the next morning.
Believe it or not, there's a healthy contigent of people who live in Bakersfield and work in the San Fernando Valley who will be joining you on your journey if you leave the San Joaquin Valley early the next morning (and a whole bunch of truckers, as they often overnight near Bakersfield, which is the fulfillment center capital of California and has more storage facilities for WalMart/Costco than anyplace else I know).
But, if you're really tired after 5 hours, stay in the Saugus/Newhall/Santa Clarita/Stephenson Ranch area (it's all the same place).
Again, you'll be one hour from your Hollywood destination (approximate) in off-peak driving times.
I'd just get out and stretch my legs a couple of ties and get the drive over.
