I'm traveling north on Hwy 101 with my husband and our 2 year old daughter in October to visit an old college friend who lives in the Trinity Mountains. It's about a 6-7 hour drive from our house in the East Bay so I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a stopover along the way that wouldn't take us too far off Hwy 101 but would allow us to get out & see something. I thought about Fort Bragg, but that would add an extra hour (round trip) or more to our drive. We don't want to extend our drive time too much seeing as 2 year olds don't tend to have that long of driving attention spans.

Right now, we're not planning to spend a night along the way, but it could be an option if there's something worth seeing. Maybe spending the night in Ft Bragg would be the solution?

Also, my husband is from Minnesota, so he's never seen this section of Northern CA. Another thought I had is the Avenue of the Giants. I think that would make a good stop toward the end of our drive, but we would still need something midway or toward the beginning.

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

Thanks,
Kara