Going to San Francisco

Tim

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Staff member
So it looks like we're going to do a family trip to SF, spend a few days there and then drive to LA with stops along the way. Maybe hit Yosemite first, and then back to the coast and south to Santa Monica, then fly back to Toronto.

Planning early July. Anybody with suggestions on places / things to see let me know.


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Check out SeeMonterey.com. Home of Laguna Seca and other cool stuff to do on the Monterey Peninsula only about 90-120 minutes south of San Fran. Plus I live there and can meet up.


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I lived in SF and LA. Sadly, not when I had anything approaching a family-friendly mindset. But if you want to pick up a really nice pair of gloves, stop at Helimot's on your way to Monterey.
 
I don't know how soon you're going, but if it's soon skip Yosemite, there is only about 40' feet of snow in the passes. If it's later in the year, it's quite spectacular. To me S.F. is just another big city, but if family is there, ya gotta go. The 1 is pretty incredible, Pacific Grove/Monterey is a blast, Point Lobos is a great (and easy) place to hike. Hearse Castle is always amazing, Stop to see the Sea Elephants in San Simeon, onto Cambria is a great little city, get some Ollolie Berry pie at Linn's and Main Street grill has good B.B.Q. stay on 1 and hit Morro Bay for decent chowder, head through San Louis Obispo 101 and get back on the 1 at Pismo, take that to 135 to the 101 to 154, Stop in Los Olivos and head the back way into Solvang for Abel Skivers and Sausage. Back to 154 to Santa Barbara, hit the piers, back to the 101 south to Oxnard, pick up the 1 again all the way to S.M. I know this sounds scattered, but it's easy and scenic. If you end up going to the Sierra's I'll give you more stuff to see. By the way, there is a GREAT little motorcycle museum in Solvang, and a tiny one in Pacific Grove... I forgot, between Cambria and Morro Bay is a tiny town < if you blink you'll miss it. Harmony Pop. 14 has a great and reasonably priced winery. If you decide you could stay in Cambria a day or so and take a wine tour, many of the bigs are just up the hill and there are many tours daily...
 
Thanks for the tips - we plan on driving the PCH down to LA (my daughter wants to go to the Santa Monica Pier, so that's the destination). Is there a particular stretch of it that is better than other parts?

I ask because we may head to Yosemite from San Francisco, and then back to the coast for the drive down.

The drive from SF to Yosemite is only 165 miles / 3.5 hours. The 'fast' route from Yosemite to say Monterey is 4 hours to get back to the coast but we miss all the coastline between SF and Monterey where there seems to be a few places to pull over, explore a beach etc. Of course it looks like there's tons of that south of Monterey as well, with Big Sur etc. along the way to LA.

So perhaps:

Day 1-4 San Fran for 3 full days (arrive day 1, explore 2,3,4, depart day 5)
Day 5 Drive to Yosemite early morning, explore the park, spend the night somewhere close
Day 6 Perhaps the morning in Yosemite / area - drive to Monterey and spend the night
Day 7 Explore Monterey - looks like a nice place :) - spend another night
Day 8 Early morning drive south to Big Sur - continue driving to Arroyo Grande or somewhere along there and spend the night
Day 9 Explore a bit and hit the road to Santa Monica
Day 10-11 Santa Monica / LA area for a couple of days - my daughter will want to see the Hollywood sign etc along with the Pier
Day 12 Early morning - head inland - need to see some 'desert' Maybe Joshua Tree National Park?
Day 13 Spend the night somewhere out there
Day 14 morning drive back to LA and fly home

Something along those lines - might strip a day or two out of the trip.

Where do I go to see the giant redwoods?
 
Posted before reading your post Bill - will map those locales out and see where it takes me.

I want to 'surprise' my wife with some desert.

I spent a few months living in Arizona on the Navajo nation in Window Rock, back when we first started dating (25 years ago this coming summer). She's always wanted to visit the area, and while we will do a proper trip to Santa Fe, Pheonix, Sedona, Window Rock etc. one day it's going to be a while. So if I can get her out into the wide expanse of the desert on this trip she'll be thrilled.
 
Here's something people don't realize, yes you can make it to Yosemite in a few hours, but it's huge, can take as long as 7 hours to drive through and that's not even seeing cool stuff like Bodie or Mammoth. The Sierra's is vast and bigger than some states. We usually stay in Mammoth or June and take day trips to Yosemite or Bodie. It's frickin huge!!!
 
Day 1-4 San Fran for 3 full days (arrive day 1, explore 2,3,4, depart day 5) I would cut this short as possible, but that just me..
Day 5 Drive to Yosemite early morning, explore the park, spend the night somewhere close. Yosemite is huge, you won't see it and Monterey in the same day
Day 6 Perhaps the morning in Yosemite / area - drive to Monterey and spend the night. Try to stay in Pacific Grove, it's really walking distance to Monterey and a BEAUTIFUL little town with a lot of turn of the century homes. When I took my kids, I had them read Cannery Row, because a lot of it is still there and really historical.
Day 7 Explore Monterey - looks like a nice place - spend another night. I was born In California and spent as much time as I could there
Day 8 Early morning drive south to Big Sur - continue driving to Arroyo Grande or somewhere along there and spend the night. Arroya Grande is just a very busy little city on the freeway. If you want funky, stay in Pismo or go the extra miles and stay in Solvang and hike to Nojoki Fall (easy walk)
Day 9 Explore a bit and hit the road to Santa Monica. Santa Monica is a shit show. You have the pier with the carnival, but the freaks are on the walk, which goes for miles. You'll see lots of beautiful people and also the scum of the earth, pay attention, it can get weird.
Day 10-11 Santa Monica / LA area for a couple of days - my daughter will want to see the Hollywood sign etc along with the Pier. Hollywood sign is ten seconds, If you can get them to go Petersen Car Museum is spectacular and is close to several cool Museum's and La Brea tar pits. Now for a very cool side trip go on the internet and look up the Nuthercut Museum. You have to reserve tickets (free) and will see an amazing car collection. antiques and pipe organs. Make sure the tickets are for the "Collection", they also have a building across the street full of cool stuff, but the "Collection" is amazing!
Day 12 Early morning - head inland - need to see some 'desert' Maybe Joshua Tree National Park? Take a look at Wrightwood. A great drive through the mountains, but comes out about 6,000 ft. above the Mojave desert, pretty crazy being able to see that far.
Day 13 Spend the night somewhere out there
Day 14 morning drive back to LA and fly home

I live in N.M. now, but was born and raised in California and know a lot of little tricks. As your trip get closer I can give you some great places to hang, such as the Board walk in Santa Cruz. And point Lobos the right time of year you can hike while whales breach, or watching 8,000lb. Sea Elephants fight in San Simeon....
 
Ply318ci said:
Check out SeeMonterey.com. Home of Laguna Seca and other cool stuff to do on the Monterey Peninsula only about 90-120 minutes south of San Fran. Plus I live there and can meet up.


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You are a lucky man. I worked my whole life to retire there, I just couldn't keep up with the cost of living there. Last time I was there a 700 sq. ft home was 800k. I am drawn there physical and mentally. I read a lot of Steinbeck as a kid and just feel I belong there. I rent a home there several times a year (although after moving to N.M. I don't know when the next trip will be) and having doing it for so many years, I meet up with the same group of guys fishing "the wall" and they always have breakfast and a pole waiting for me. They're all retired from the prison and an interesting bunch. As usual when I get on the subject of that area, I just blabber away...
 
We're going to cut a day out of SF and fly out of Vegas so we can spend more time in the desert and not double back to LA.

I expect to spend at least 1 night near Yosemite possibly 2. I'm not sure where in Yosemite we need to go to see some key sights and do a little light hiking.

Will we see giant redwoods in Yosemite or should we head into Sequoia for that?
 
They are in Yosemite and Big Sur and various other places, you won't miss them. Also, driving to Vegas, is about five hours from L.A. but keep in mind, summer temps. average well over 100 degrees. If you want to see some neat desert, Death Valley is pretty grand..
 
Hi Tim,
What Aprilia Bill said re: Monterey and Pacific Grove.
I was down there a couple of times (almost 10 years ago now, where do the years go LOL), a combination of work, training - and play when I could fit it in.
The whole area was magical - I could have stayed twice as long and not seen everything I wished to. While I was there, bought a new copy of Cannery Row at the Steinbeck Store and was lucky enough to find an old copy of Sweet Thursday at a used book store - still keep it beside my desk in the office.
Definitely on my bucket list to go back again, but OMG the prices for real estate and rental units!
Have a great trip.
Pat
 
Tim said:
I expect to spend at least 1 night near Yosemite possibly 2. I'm not sure where in Yosemite we need to go to see some key sights and do a little light hiking.

Yosemite Valley. I climbed there a lot. The day hike up Half Dome is maybe a little more than light, but it's a life experience for most people. You can just do the cables. There's enough to see and hike in the valley to keep you occupied for days. They have cabin tents you can rent there, too (you'd need sleeping bags). You have to exit into the larger park to see giant sequoias. Check the park service website.

Are you flying into SF? I'd highly recommend taking the train or Lyft into town, then walking and using public transport or Lyft in town and waiting to rent a car until you leave. A car is more a liability than an asset in SF. You'll save money, see and experience more, and be less stressed. If I'm wrong and you change your mind you can pick up a car downtown any time.

In SF you could do the Alcatraz tour. You'll get views of the bridge from Fisherman's Wharf, where the ferries to the island depart. The wharf is touristy but tourists love it. Sea lions, clam chowder, etc. From there it's an easy walk into North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Chinatown, Russian Hill, etc. SF is very walkable. There's a free cable car museum. I'd visit the Haight and the Mission. Take one of the old street cars from the Embarcadero into the Castro. Read up, some neighborhoods may seem a little edgy if you're not used to being in a large city.

The PCH between Santa Barbara and Topanga is magnificent on a nice day.

It's true there are all kinds of people on the beach in Santa Monica and Venice. It's safe and iconic, though, and your kids will love it. Renting cruisers or tandems and pedaling around is a good way to go.
 
ApriliaBill said:
You are a lucky man. I worked my whole life to retire there, I just couldn't keep up with the cost of living there. Last time I was there a 700 sq. ft home was 800k. I am drawn there physical and mentally. I read a lot of Steinbeck as a kid and just feel I belong there. I rent a home there several times a year (although after moving to N.M. I don't know when the next trip will be) and having doing it for so many years, I meet up with the same group of guys fishing "the wall" and they always have breakfast and a pole waiting for me. They're all retired from the prison and an interesting bunch. As usual when I get on the subject of that area, I just blabber away...


Yeah my wife and I are really lucky. We actually live in Pacific Grove and I am a teacher in the PG school district. Prices have gone down now you can get about twice the square footage for that price. . (It is still expensive but worth it sometimes)

And Tim if you swing by here during the summer try to do it during the Super Bike races tons of cool bikes but hotels are insane priced so maybe not. As for PCH I thing from San Fran all the way to Cambria is the best, amazingly beautiful and Big Sur is a great place to spend a whole day. There is so much to do in the Monterey area that is why I recommended that website, it would take a solid week so do it all and that is rushing through. If you make it my way let me know would love to meet the founder of this awesome forum.


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One of the tricks to Pacific Grove is rent a house. It costs about the same as a hotel, but most come with free passes to the Aquarium. I'm going to p.m. you a name of the home I use. It's basically a two bed room, one is kind of a little apartment but is connected, a little privacy without being separate. It's upstairs with amazing views and walking distance to pretty much everywhere. It's three houses from the beach and there is an old house across the street that has a family of dear that walk the streets. You can walk to Cannery row or Pacific grove in 10-15 minutes with beautiful old homes everywhere... You can walk to the bath house for early bird specials and with the fishing boats or you can canoe the bay and watch for whales. Ocean View is a spectacular walk especially at sunset. I have gone to That area 2-3 times a year for 50 years and still not seen everything in the area.
 
Hey Tim,

+1 on Death Valley. As said though, its gonna be hot. Yosemite is awesome, but can be a zoo in the valley. I'd try to spend some time in the higher elevations. Glacier Point is amazing at sunrise and sunset (anytime really).
 
When in SF you can go over the GG Bridge to Marin County though Mill Valley to Muir Woods which is a large redwood grove.

There is a lot to see - Enjoy
 
I live in SF. Email me a few weeks before your trip. I think I may be away when you are here, but if I am home and you have time, I can lend you a bike or a sidecar for a city tour. All the other advice here is great. In July, anything not near the coast will be hot. If you like to get out and ride, Alice's Restaurant in Woodside is surrounded by great roads and is full of interesting bikes on weekend mornings. For a more hardcore experience, show up at the Starbucks in Mill Valley at 7:30 and try to keep up with the Sunday Morning Ride, which has been blazing up Hwy 1 to Point Reyes weekly for over 50 years.
fun fun
Charlie
 
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