Quote Originally Posted by travelron
We are in the beginning stages of planning a road trip from the Seattle area, down the Oregon Coast (spending a couple of days in Seaside, OR) then going into California with the final leg of our trip spent in San Francisco for a couple of days... Can you tell me another city or area in northern California that would be good alternative to San Francisco?
San Francisco is pretty darn fun. There is so much to do and I would urge you to relax and spend your time there. However, since you asked for an alternative -- Santa Cruz would give you a similar bay-area experience and you could go to the Monterery Bay Aquarium, take the 17-mile driving tour of Carmel and kick-back. Places to stay -- my favorite Santa Cruz spot is actually in Aptos -- it is located on the bluff overlooking Seacliff State Beach and it is an easy walk down to the beach.

San Francisco -- a good place to decompress is the wave organ and be sure to take the drive up into the Marin Headlands. Take the road just north of the view point on the south-bound US-101 (before it crosses the bridge) awesome, awesome views of San Francisco!

Mark