California - too far for a fortnight??

[somewhereinsummertime]

My friend has just moved out and we want to go and visit and bring the children but only have 15 days - is it just too far?

No its not too far...we did from Singapore to LA for a 2 week holiday with a 3 and 5 yr old and was fantastic....

Thanks for the tips.

I have been to SF many moons ago and though I absolutely loved it, it would not be DC's idea of a holiday! If we were to drive between SF and LA (slowly), is there anywhere in between that is nice to stay for families. Or would we better flying from SF to LA and then going further down the coast.

I posted about one of our road trips along the coast here.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/longhaul/1422417-California-road-trip-itinerary-ideas-please?pg=2

how old are your kids?

We did the route with kids by car one way and flew the other. To be honest I wish we had flown both ways! Did not enjoy the drive, kids were somewhat bored and we were exhausted. Not to mention expensive to stay and eat en route. But my experience is probably not typical. Also, look out for landslides etc on that route - hair raising to say the least, I thought!!

I would say not too long either. We went to a South Pacific island and LA was our halfway stop off on both journeys, 2 x 11 hr flights. We went with dh's family and there were 5 children aged from 18mths to 11. None of us suffered terrible jet-lag, we had a good nights sleep the first night, but my girls (5 and 8 at the time) never made it past 7pm the whole holiday. All the children were brilliant travelling, even my youngest dd, who complains about an hour in the car!!

Go for it OP

Totally fine for 2 weeks. We did it with dds aged 3 and 6. As others have said, keep them up for as long as possible on the first night to reduce jet lag.

There was a thread not too long ago that gave a web site which gave good details of attractions/things to do. Can't for the life of me remember it but look at a few threads and I'm sure you'll find it.

m.mumsnet.com/Talk/longhaul/1445329-California-itinerary-thoughts-and-suggestions-welcome

We've done a week in SF, which we found very kid friendly, lots to do for them and the public transport was a great way to get around. Then we spent a week in Santa Cruz county which has been a lot more chilled out. The beaches are fantastic, even if the water is cold.

With such a long journey here we thought it better to keep the travel when we got here to a minimum.

We flew to Hawaii last year with DS1 14 and DS2 11.

We also did a flight in between to another island, albeit only 20 mins, but 6 planes in two weeks!

Oh and we also did the drive many many years ago between SF and LA (no kids then, but our friends that we were with had 18 month old twins and a 4 year old). It took us 8 hours and was not a problem at all.

I love California.

Gosh no, not too far for 2 weeks. I'm done longer flights for a week's holiday.

Am really excited now! Has anyone done Yosemite as part of a California trip?

yes, but we live in California and my kids are older

We did a whirlwind trip that included Lassen (liked it better than messy-mitty), yosemite, bay area and sequoia/kings canyon.

Yes to Yosemite. In 2 weeks we did SF, Yosemite, Monterey/ Carmel, Santa Barbara, LA - one way.

We've just booked to do 15 days. Fly to SF, go to Yosemite, then on to Mammoth Lakes (have friends with a condo there), back to Carmel/Monterey to take the Pacific Coast Highway down to LA (where same friends live). Flying back to SF courtesy of some AA advantage points for £6!

CANNOT WAIT! (kids are teens - both will have birthdays while we're in Yosemite, so we'll do white-water rafting as their birthday treat).