Family holiday

Well, I'm pleased that you've decided not to drive right across the country as a holiday. Like driving from Perth to Sydney, once you've seen 50 km of it, you've basically seen all of it - with intermittent highlights.

A few comments:

• the age-range of the kids isn't making this any easier for you
• how many theme parks are you looking at in LA?
• a combination of flying and camping makes life difficult
• are you planning on taking any gear at all from here
• or will you buy gear once you reach LA?

You have to fly to New Orleans (3-4 nights), and fly to Orlando (how many parks, renting a car?), and then fly from there to NYC or DC. Buy airfares in advance ... use expedia and/or kayak, but definitely look also at Southwest Airlines - they are cheap but don't list on the broker websites.

I would rent a campervan (escape, or similar) and use it for LA > Anaheim > Las Vegas > Grand Canyon NP > Death Valley NP > Yosemite NP > San Francisco > Big Sur Coast > back to LA. At least two weeks, not counting theme-park time in Anaheim, and Universal Studios.

Here is a mud-map.

Renting a van has downsides of course - but the advantages can be good too. Need to research how close you could stay to San Francisco with one ... for example.

I guess you stay in motels in New Orleans and Orlando (both of which will be hot and humid, with potentially unstable weather - not as tough as Broome or Darwin, but still sticky). You will need to rent a car for Orlando / Cape Canaveral, and one isn't bad for New Orleans either.

The cabin outside Washington DC sounds nice - just don't under-estimate how big & busy the US is, compared to much of Australia ... traffic can be tough, and public transport not so good. But a bus or train from DC to NYC is fine.

Finding affordable accommodation (for four) in New York will be a challenge - look in New Jersey and Brooklyn as well as Manhattan - transport into the city centre is good.

Perhaps start an Excel spreadsheet, and fill in where you will spend your 42 nights give or take ... your holiday then starts to take a shape, and get lots of buy-in from the kids - particularly the 15yo.

You're going to be in LA, why bother with Orlando for different variations on the theme parks you could see in LA. Yes, they're bigger in orlando, but only 1 of you're kids will really care and those places are expensive versions of product placement. There are other places to get the space program, including the two air & space museums in DC.

The only places likely to have a campground and cabin "near" DC are probably over an hour away and a painful drive--DC traffic is horrible during the week. Find a motel near the end the Metro---you'll have better luck in Virginia---near Tysons Corner or in Arlingtob/Alexandria. You'll have to pay for parking at many places. Sept/Oct is prime business season, so you will do better in DC and most cities on the weekend during the week and places in central cities may be heavily booked during the week.

Still not clear what interests you beyond naming common attractions, esp. given the wide age range of the children. Also, how late in the fall are you staying? And what would be novel for you? Mountains? Leaves changing color? Any particular kind of wildlife? There are lots of outdoor places near the major cities you've listed, they're just not marketed to foreigners.

During Sept/Oct there often are small town festivals near large cities on weekends--wlocal food crafts, music of variour sorts. If that sort of thing interests you, you'll need to allow time and be willing to look for it.

What about Seattle? Your trying to cover about every corner of the US including Hawaii in 42 days, too much IMO.
You can do all the theme park stuff in LA, Orlando is out of the way.

Maybe fly into LA and do a couple theme parks, 4- 5 days. Then fly to the north east for 10-12 days, use local transport. Then fly to New Orleans for a couple days and then fly back to Las Vegas and do a road trip with some camping.

Basically get to LA, relax and get over jet lag, do the theme park thing. Then fly east, NY and then NOLA and work your way back to the west.

4 Nights - LA
12 N - NY-Philly-DC
3 N - NOLA
18 N- LV, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, back to Vegas and back to LA 18
5 N - Hawaii
42 nights

For the west coast road trip. Fly into LV and rent a vehicle, large one and buy camp gear or rent a campervan who will provide most the camp gear you'll need. https://www.escapecampervans.com/

1 Night - Las Vegas flying in from NOLA
2 N - Grand Canyon
1 N - Bryce Canyon via Hwy.89A and Jacob Lake
2 N - Zion
1 N - Las Vegas
1 N - Lone Pine- Independence or Bishop via a drive through of Death Valley
3 N - Yosemite
3 N - San Francisco
2 N -Monterey/Carmel or Big Sur and camp in Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground.
1 N - Morro Bay
1 N - LA , next day fly to Hawaii

18 N- LV, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, back to Vegas and back to LA

I left out Zion NP and Bryce Canyon NP Joe - thinking there not quite as suitable for kids under seven - the OP's call I guess ... they know their kids.

Plus it provides more time for California and woods / coastal camping (or camper-vanning).

And I think they want to get to Cape Canaveral as well as Orlando - and not a huge detour if you're flying to New Orleans (NOLA) in any case, and then on to NYC/DC.

The theme parks you mentioned, Disneyland and Universal Studios can be found in both California and Florida. Even though I live in the Orlando area, I'll tell you to skip Florida and see the theme parks while you are in California. The Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral is interesting, but that interesting. Since you re set on seeing Las Vegas then by all means go to the Grand Canyon. The South Rim is the most popular, but the north Rim is also spectacular and less crowded. Do not be fooled by the so called "West Rim", which just is a very expensive tourist trap located in an isolated area of the Canyon.

"I found what seems to be a wonderful camp ground just outside of [insert city here] which looks good which we could hire a car drive too and stay in a cabin."
Truly, there are so many. It is really difficult to pin down a specific itinerary. I would suggest using public transportation in Los Angeles based on a hotel near Disneyland. You can get to Universal Studios via train and bus. You could see the California coast, missions, Hearst Castle, Solvang, wineries on a drive to SF. In the Pacific NW there is the ferry, Olympic National Park, Seattle; head west to Yellowstone, rodeos, hotsprings, dinosaur museums, fish fossil quarry; the Green River for rafting, Lake Powell houseboat for 3 days, then into Anasazi ruins, canyon country, National Parks - too many destinations to list them all. I would suggest some of the smaller attractions - no less interesting. Indigenous culture at Acoma Reservation; Petrified Forest NP, Chaco Canyon. Possibly a football game in Denver; baseball in Phoenix. Fly out of Phoenix to New Orleans - 3 days there; fly to Miami and drive the Keys Highway - stay at one of the keys - drive back, fly to Washington DC and do the Smithsonian. Further north for leaf peeping in small towns. Fly out to Hawaii.

Those are all great suggestions wilderone (except for Seattle and Olympic NP - both of which we found underwhelming) - but I guess it depends on what sort of holiday they REALLY want for a first trip to the US.

It's almost the case that they have to choose between really nice "second tier" attractions - and from the point of view of USA marketing in Australia, places like Yellowstone, Zion, and Yosemite are basically in that "minor" category - or they stick to the headline famous places.

It might be the case that San Francisco, LA, Anaheim, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, New Orleans, Orlando, DC, and NYC are what they believe they should see on a first trip ... and it's hard to blame anyone for that approach - that is how the US is sold overseas ... and has been for decades.

But perhaps reading this thread might turn some heads a bit, or hopefully, with six weeks and a desire to see some bushy America, maybe they'll come up with a a good mix of both!

There's no place like Yellowstone , with the bison herds and walking by literally at arm's reach, the occasional bear, the seismic geologic pools, geyser - much more interesting than Zion IMO. And coming through Jackson Hole with their roller coaster, stay in a town with night rodeos - some of classic old west - or what's left of it. Just driving through and observing USA and not actually getting into boat, kayak or raft, sitting in a hotspring, riding a bike through a forest (So. Lake Tahoe has a lot going on for a family, and include Lassen NP, gold panning, limestone caves, Virginia City, hotsprings - all in 5-days), or taking a gondola and riding a bike down 3,000 ft. (Mammoth) is really missing out. They don't mention San Diego with its exceptional zoo, SeaWorld, boogie boarding at the beach, sportfishing, maritime museum - much better than Orlando. An Alaska ferry ride from Bellingham to Ketchikan is a first rate experience - then fly out to [?]. Cabins, yurts, glamping tents, tee-pees, vintage trailers are all alternatives to motel rooms as well. I always find off the beaten path to be very rewarding, and that's what the TT forum is trying to impart.

I agree with skipping Orlando, you can visit the original Disneyland and Universal Hollywood here in the LA area (and maybe take a look at Knott's Berry Farm near Disneyland as well, one of our first theme parks), Florida will be hot and very humid but California has a fairly temperate climate. You might enjoy driving Highway 1 between LA and SF (please, not "San Fran") with a couple of overnight stops although I would get an SUV or minivan and camp in campsites rather than a campervan (actually I would stay in motels myself). If you are traveling this year, you need to get working on reservations in the park like yesterday as many places book up a year in advance for Yosemite.