northern ca

[yankeefromny]

I am new to this sight and after reviewing all the old postings I still haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. My husband and I are trying to plan a trip to California this summer. We plan to stay for about a week. We will fly in and out of San Francisco and hope to include some of the following in our itinerary:
San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Ghiardelli Square, ...)
Napa/Sonoma (wineries)
Redwood Forest
Hot Springs
Avenue of the Giants (read about this one on RTA)
Reno or Tahoe
As I said before we have to return to San Fran for our flight home
I appreciate any and all suggestions.

[Mark Sedenquist]

I am new to this sight

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum. Sorry, I couldn't resist poking fun at your user name. Now, a "Yankee from Georgia" would be funnier than a "Yankee from NY" [but I digress...]

and after reviewing all the old postings I still haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. My husband and I are trying to plan a trip to California this summer. We plan to stay for about a week.

Make sure you bring your winter coat for your time in San Francisco! Summer in San Francisco is a cool, brisk, foggy time -- it will be plenty hot in the wine country and inland -- but don't expect to do much sun-bathing in THE CITY on your trip.

We will fly in and out of San Francisco and hope to include some of the following in our itinerary:

All of those places are possible within a week's time but it will require a significant amount of time driving , but I am not sure what kind of advice/suggestions you are seeking. Glad you liked my field report about the Avenue of the Giants. Look at the bottom of this page for some similar routing ideas and use the search function (in the green navigation bar) for reading other threads about these locations.

Mark

[PNW Judy]

I'm sure I speak for many of us that we'd love to help you but we need to know what information you're seeking. Are you looking for advice on places to go? Things to do? Restaurants? Hotels? What kinds of things do you like to do? Are you interested in history or shopping? Or culture or hiking? Once we have a better handle on what you need from us, I'm sure we'll all be glad to oblige.

Just a suggestion....I really think you will find plenty to do and see without gonig all the way to the Reno/Tahoe area. Just the Bay area, Wine Country, the rugged northern California coast, and the redwoods will easily fill a week.

[yankeefromny]

Thanks for your offers to help. As far as details: we would like to do some outdoorsey stuff (rockclimbing, hiking, rafting) we're young and in decent shape but inexperienced. I read somewhere about the Devil's Playground and thought that sounded interesting but am not sure where it is. Also heard that CA has some good level 2-3 white water rafting.
In San Francisco I hoped to just see the sights and find some good local eateries. I'm looking to stay in a high end hotel in SF
After SF thought we'd chech out wineries in Napa/Sonoma. I don't have a clue about driving distances and don't know if there is anything to see in between. I would love some dining and lodging suggestions here as well, again we prefer more upscale lodgings. I read that there are hot springs in the are and would love to chech that out.
Then we plan to go north to see the redwoods. Is Yosemite near there? Here is where I figured we'd be doing some hiking and exploring.
I figured we'd go see Reno while we're there but if we can't fit it all into a week we'll just have to make a separate trip.
And of course we have to turn around and head back to SF and possibly stay somewhere in between if there is anything that we missed on the way up.
I hope I was more clear this time and am looking forward to your input.
GO YANKEES!

[Mark Sedenquist]

I read somewhere about the Devil's Playground and thought that sounded interesting but am not sure where it is.

There are scores of places called "Devil's Playground" in the west. Three that I can recall off the top of my head are in Colorado (near Pike's Peak) in Death Valley National Park and near the cinder cone field in Mojave National Park, but none of these are near San Francisco -- what do you remember about the one you read about?

Also heard that CA has some good level 2-3 white water rafting.

Yes, it does -- there are also some 5+ runs, but all of are dependent the quality and quantity of the spring run-off. Since you mentioned high-end experiences -- I don't know if you will have time to drive to Forks of the Salmon -- but the Otter Bar Lodge is where I learned to kayak and it remains one of the key white-water experiences of my life. Staff, lodging and food is wonderful and the Cal-Salmon has to be paddled to believe.

Then we plan to go north to see the redwoods.

Um... there are redwood forests immediately north of San Francisco. Do you mean that you are planning on driving all the way to Redwood National Park up by Redwood City or???

Is Yosemite near there?

You might find it helpful to get a map of California and begin to put this trip into perspective. Here are our personal recommendation for maps. Yosemite is almost southeast of San Francisco and is a day trip (there are no redwood forest there).

If you do decide to go north and you are seeking a wonderful place to stay -- one of my favorite inns in the world is in Mendocino (about a 4-5 hours north of San Francisco) -- The Stanford Inn. One of the very cool things about the Stanford is the Big River. You can rent canoes and paddle upstream on the tidal surge (about 3-4 miles) and then then turn around and paddle back to the sea. I have seen deer and all sorts of wildlife up there.

Happy Planning!

Mark

[vermilye]

If you plan to travel off the interstates, check out Burney Falls, McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial Park. Great campsites, some hiking trails, and one of the prettiest waterfalls I've seen. The park is off CA89 a little north of the CA299 junction. More photos on our 2004 Trip Journal.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Great campsites, some hiking trails, and one of the prettiest waterfalls I've seen.

Thanks for sharing that image with us!

Mark

[cool]

I am new to this sight and after reviewing all the old postings I still haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. My husband and I are trying to plan a trip to California this summer. We plan to stay for about a week. We will fly in and out of San Francisco and hope to include some of the following in our itinerary:
San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Ghiardelli Square, ...)
Napa/Sonoma (wineries)
Redwood Forest
Hot Springs
Avenue of the Giants (read about this one on RTA)
Reno or Tahoe
As I said before we have to return to San Fran for our flight home
I appreciate any and all suggestions.

If you have decided to go north to the Redwoods,you may conside using Hwy 1 one way. Coastal drive along Mendocino is considered one of the best in CA.

I've tried rafting along American river a lil north of Sacramento. Quite famous among bay area people.

Maybe you could even try skydiving when you are around :-)

If you are finding time to drive east to Yosemite(around 4 hrs continuous drive from San Francisco), I am sure you will enjoy all that you enjoy doing. If you are looking for some serious hike, head up half dome or the panoramic trail from Glacier Point. The nps website should be helpful. Summer should have Tioga road open as well. So also the road to Mariposa grove.

Welcome to CA and am sure u will have so much fun!

[roadie]

If you're interested in rock climbing and river rafting, then
Yosemite is a great destination.

Yosemite has world class rock climbing. If you're inexperienced, you can take a class through the Yosemite Mountaineering School:
http://www.yosemitepark.com/activity...=80&PageID=237

As far as river rafting goes, there are a bunch of rafting companies that offer guided river trips. In the Yosemite area, there are a number of rivers that can be rafted, Merced River, Kings River and Tuolumne River. Trips are offered through the summer, but rafting is more exciting during the months of April, May and June. Do an Internet search for "californa river rafting merced".

Yosemite is a popular destination so plan ahead for lodging.

Just north of San Francisco is Muir Woods National Monument. Muir Woods has old growth redwoods.

Muir Woods is in the North Bay portion of the SF Bay Area. There are many things to see in the area.

The Marin Headlands has some of the best views of the Golden Gate Bridge. There are also old WWII military bunkers to explore and even a Nike missle site.

Also in the North Bay is Mt. Tamalpais, the Panoramic Highway is just beautiful.

Sausalito is a neat town to visit, though parking can be a problem sometimes.

Point Reyes National Seashore is well worth a visit. You can do sea kayaking in Tomales Bay. You'll need to research some companies that offer rentals and instruction.

If you're going to Napa, along with the wineries, there are hot springs in the town of Calistoga.

Summer can get foggy along the coast though.

[pashnit]

San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Ghiardelli Square, ...)

If you stay in the Pier 39 area, lots of good restaurants, especially bread.



Also might consider checking out Alcatraz if you have the time. Just adjacent to that is Angel Island which is an oft skipped place to hike around with intense views of San Francisco in all directions.



Coit Tower too is just up the way, along with Lombard Street which is on the opposite hill.



If you like checking out historic stuff, there's Civil War era Fort Point under the Golden Gate, a liberty ship, the Thayer (pictured here), and even the USS Pampanito, a WWII submarine you can tour. All that within walking distance. The SF Maritime museum is there too.



Don't forget the chocolate. ;)