driving experience, you are asking for trouble. Kids that age could care less about sight-seeing. If you are uncomfortable driving the roads, you are putting your whole family in danger. I also assume your parents will not be able to give you any help with the roads. It's not the time to be advneturous with your children and parents as brave as you may be.
GPS can help you with directions but not with speed, traffic and all the other drivers and what they may do.
You could go with a travel agency as the previous post suggested (my personal least favorite). That may be your easiest way out. Many of them are probably the drive throughs of sight-seeing. You may end up spending more time on the road and can be exhausting for the elderly and the young. But again, keep the kids at home. Kids at that age get sick easy and travelling exposes them to more risk. When they are older and their immune system better developed, it's another story.
San Francisco (inside the city) is a relatively pedestrian friendly city as you can get around easy with Metro bus. A rental car is actually a burden inside the metro city of San Francisco as parking often times costs more than the rental. To venture outside the city, you do need a car. LA is another story.
I do not recommend you drive in LA with your midwestern small town driving experience. As much as I have driven in many metropolitan areas large or small, I refuse to drive in LA, both because of the traffic and the roads. To this day, I take the cab everytime I visit LA.
GPS can help you with directions but not with speed, traffic and all the other drivers and what they may do.
You could go with a travel agency as the previous post suggested (my personal least favorite). That may be your easiest way out. Many of them are probably the drive throughs of sight-seeing. You may end up spending more time on the road and can be exhausting for the elderly and the young. But again, keep the kids at home. Kids at that age get sick easy and travelling exposes them to more risk. When they are older and their immune system better developed, it's another story.
San Francisco (inside the city) is a relatively pedestrian friendly city as you can get around easy with Metro bus. A rental car is actually a burden inside the metro city of San Francisco as parking often times costs more than the rental. To venture outside the city, you do need a car. LA is another story.
I do not recommend you drive in LA with your midwestern small town driving experience. As much as I have driven in many metropolitan areas large or small, I refuse to drive in LA, both because of the traffic and the roads. To this day, I take the cab everytime I visit LA.