California - San Francisco and ???

[Aragog]

Looking for this summer. Me, DH and DD who will be 16y. Two weeks at the start of the summer holidays.

We are looking at flying into San Francisco, well possibly Oaklands as it is much cheaper at the moment. DD wants a day at Six Flags, and we would probably look at doing a national park too.

We like holidays where we have a few days somewhere and then move on - wouldn't want to be travelling every day but happy to do some travel days and stay in a place for a little whole before moving on. Can't decide whether to break the journey home and maybe fly over to NYC or Boston for a couple of nights, before heading home.

We have also been to LA and that area, so thinking of staying up higher.

This is just the start of our thoughts and planning so wondered if anyone on Mn had some suggestions, 'must dos' and advise.

We flew into SF for 3nts then 3nts in Yosemite, 3nts Carmel (Monterey is real close by and worth a look). 3nts Santa Barbara, 3 nts Laguna, 3nts Santa Monica/LA - then flew to NY for last 4 nts.

Had a great time.

Yosemite

Oh, yes, Yosemite is on the wishlist too.

bambambini - we stayed at Santa Monica for a week a couple of years ago. That year we did 3 nights Vegas, 7 nights Santa Monica, 3 nights at Disneyland and a final night in Vegas. We flew in and out of Vegas as it was so much cheaper than LA at the time.

Sacramento is a great visit - the old town is amazing... it's like the Wild West with saloons and proper historical style buildings full of taffy shops and eating posts etc. The capitol building is always worth a look too. They still refer to the governors office as "arnie's room"

Just to say, we flew into Oakland last summer because it was cheaper, and it was no trouble at all. We got the BART into the centre of San Fran although I'm sure you could get a cab as well if you wanted. The only slight annoyance was on the way back, when they only had one lane of security screenings (it's not a big airport!), so allow plenty of time for catching a return flight from there.

We did SF - Sonoma - Sacramento (just on the way through but it was a nice half day stop), Lake Tahoe (busy in summer but very lovely), Lassen National Park (amazing scenery and six feet of snow in August!), then across to the west coast and down Route 1 (sadly foggy all the way...). We would have liked to do Yosemite but left booking it too late and didn't want to stay in some of the less appealing looking accommodation that was still available. Still, even without Yosemite we had an incredible time! Let me know if you want any more info on any of those places

AlwaysaNortherner - thanks, good to know re airport.

Yank here. You've gotten great advice on your California options. As to the stop on the way back, New York is a must visit at least once option (I'm a New Yorker), but Boston is something of a neglected gem. It's just a lovely small city. It's often compared to San Francisco that way. And it's even richer in history and great architecture. There's fabulous seafood and other dining, great museums and lots of things the kids will like to do and see if you have any.

Feel free to ask me any questions.

Sorry, I missed in your top post that DD is 16 and thus wouldn't be interested in things more geared towards kids in Boston, like the Children's Science Museum.

We did 4 nights SF, 3 nights Yosemite, 3 days LA, flew to New Orleans for 3 nights and then flew to Miami Beach for 5 nights this year. Was amazing.

MissConductUS - we have visited both New York (3 times) and Boston (once) before. Loved them both.

So much to think about!

We did SF- yosemite, LV to Grand Canyon, Lake powell, Monument valley, Bryce Canyon and Zion - was just fabulous. It may be too hot in August though, we went in October

OP, how long was your trip to Boston? If it was just 2 or 3 days I’d suggest another visit. If you feel like you’ve done Boston I’d suggest Chicago or Philadelphia. Skip Baltimore.

Arnold near Calaveras : look it up and you'll see why
also take in Bodie
and my kids would gladly have stayed in Santa Cruz for ever

or Seattle : but not the centre of the city, somewhere like Redondo

then again I'm looking for an excuse to go to San Diego

MissConductUS - 3 or 4 nights; at the end of a visit to NYC (3 or 4 nights - can't remember which way round we dd it!) and a week in Cape Cod.

San Diego suffered a lot of damage in the recent fires I believe. OP what dates were you considering? I’d do Boston then a few days on Martha’s Vineyard up a trip up the Maine coast to the area around Bath.

We won't have time to do more than 2 or 3 days or so really on the East Coast. One day we will return to Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard though as we found the area lovely. This summer however, that part is just to break the journey IF we decided to. The main part of the holiday will be West Coast, specifically around San Francisco area.

Re dates - it is likely to be the start of the school holidays as we have a concert booked for 18 August. Likely to be a fortnight from weekend of 21st/22nd July, possibly weekend after if prices were a lot different.

Based around San Francisco I'd say

• a couple of days up in the hills : Yosemite, Calaveras, Bodie, Tahoe
• a day in the Valley (Of mice and men)
• a couple of days in the city itself
• a couple of days down around Monterey Bay
• a couple of days up into what is left of wine country
• a hop over to Nevada

and then home

Joining in as this is where DS (13) and I are planning to go in the summer too

Ta1kinPeace - sound good suggestions and I will look into more. One day will definitely be spent at Six Flags theme park, about 30/40 miles away from San Francisco. Me and dh would like to head into the wine regions. We also like the idea of going to Yosemite and will have a visit to Alcatraz.

We would probably do less places , and spend more time in places - dd in particular wouldn't want to be stuck in a car a lot on so many days. Would probably only look at about 4/5 bases max, with more time in each location I think as would suit dh and dd more to do that, and maybe the last one slightly longer if it was a more restful type of place.

For example, last summer we did 3 nights in Montreal, 3 nights in Toronto, 1 night at Niagara Falls, 2 nights near Busch Gardens in Tampa and then 5 nights at Fort Myers Beach.

San Diego suffered a lot of damage in the recent fires I believe.
No. No fires in San Diego
www.fire.ca.gov/general/firemaps

I don’t see the point in travelling around all over the USA when California is so fantastic. Do the East Coast destinations separately. California around July is likely to be foggy and further south and inland will be very hot. Personally Easter is a better time to go in a year when Easter is late. Although it’s before school exams of course.

There are lots of options going North from San Fran or south from San Fran. Ta1kin has suggested a good itinerary. We would never condider a theme park when the scenery is so wonderful. Whale watching from Monterey beats any theme park. Carmel has a great beach for relaxing and the giant redwoods are amazing. Big Sur (is it open yet?) is fantastic and LA deserves far more time than the theme parks. The Getty Centre is a beautiful building and well worth a visit and the Huntington Library at Pasadena is worth going to.

San Diego was one big disappointment. La Jolla is a good place to stay but we definitely preferred Santa Barbara.

Whale watching from Monterey beats any theme park.
With bells on.
We did a half day trip and it was just wonderful.

The boat stops and the birds start to dive into the water
then the sea lions arrive
and a few moments later the whales start to rise next to the boat

NO theme park is a touch on the wonder of watching that

Dd (16) and I did San Francisco this summer. Definitely do a day trip cycling across the bridge to Saucilito, it was one of the real highlights of our trip - then get the ferry back. Have a great time!