7 Days in Northern California with Tweens

[Anonymous]

OP again, thanks for all the great recommendations!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Santa Cruz! Boardwalk, beach, tide pools. Henry Cowell park up the road has nice redwoods or go to Mt Hermon and do the ropes course in the redwoods, Mystery Spot was always a hit with my kids. You can stay in Santa Cruz, Capitola or Aptos.

You can drive down to Monterey, aquarium is great. You can kayak in the marshlands around Elkhourn.

If the road is open drive south to Big Sur.

I’m the pp whose kids like nature. If you end up near Elkhourn slough, we did a ecology boat ride out of there that was great - birds, sea lions, otters…

I’ve also done an amazing kayak based whale watching outing from Moss Landing (same area) but (a) that was all day and (b) it was in the fall - I’m not sure if there are whales in June. If there are, a motorized boat would be faster / easier

[Anonymous]

Monterey and surrounds as noted and SF/Marin, including Pt. Reyes.

[Anonymous]

Marin County is beautiful and right across the Golden Gate Bridge. Mill Valley is a cute town and near Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods. Drive to Stinson Beach—spectacular drive. Sausalito is cool too and lots of nice places to stay. I would focus on SF city and Marin rather than driving to Monterrey and Carmel. There can be lots of traffic. If you do go, the Aquarium is very good and the nearby town of Pacific Grove is cute. Carmel Valley area is a beautiful drive as well as the coast.

Used to live in Oakland and there are many lovely areas. It’s also sunnier without being too hot. Oakland Airport is nice, easy to navigate and much easier than SFO.

Being a sweater!

[Anonymous]

Definitely Muir Woods. Our teens also liked Santa Cruz and Sausalito. We spent a few days in Tahoe like PPs have said, and our teens enjoyed it, especially the float-boat trip and paddle boarding on the lake.

[Anonymous]

If you want to visit Muir Woods or Alcatraz, make reservations now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Careful of Oakland rental cars.
We were charged for a cracked windshield (that was already cracked!) take tons of pics on the day you get your rental!

Rent bikes from fishermen’s wharf and bike to Sausalito, take the ferry back, fortune cookie factory in China town, Alcatraz is a must (Buy tickets way in advance), coit tower, little Italy, Muir Woods, baker beach! Have a blast!

That's pretty common for rental car companies, has nothing to do with Oakland. I had minor damage on a car in France, if I didn't have pictures I took at the time of pickup (they checked the date on my phone camera!), they would have charged me. Same thing happened on a local DC rental once also- but I had the form where I noted the damage, sent that back, no issue.

Also love the comments like "don't stop even at 7/11 in Oakland". Certainly there are some rough parts of Oakland, but there are also some really nice parts as well. Doesn't mean you have to see/do anything there, but the idea that you have to run from Oakland as fast as possible is funny. We have had really nice trips to the Bay Area where we stayed in Oakland- Rockridge and Diamond. As you go up the hills there are beautiful parks and hikes and views. And Lake Merritt is great in the summer, with an amazing Saturday farmers market right next to it at Grand Lake. And Bakesale Betty in Temescal is a must.

Cops report that people trail rental cars. This happened to our friends flying to SFO last spring. Stopped at Safeway for groceries for AirBNB, back to the car with windows bashed in and all suitcases, backpacks gone. When you have luggage in your car, drive directly to your hotel. Sorry, I stand by it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the recommendations so far. We are just flying into Oakland, we are not planning to stay there.

Would you recommend Tahoe over going to Monterey?

I’d definitely go to Monterey just for the aquarium alone. But Pointe Lobos park is also absolutely stunning and a must do if you are in Monterey. We stayed in Carmel by the Sea for two days which was enough time to hit the highlights, whales, sea lions, beautiful vistas, aquarium, parks and hiking. Carmel itself was beautiful.

We were doing a road trip across the west, so passed through Tahoe, but didn’t stay overnight. It was beautiful though but a long trip and kind of stressful going through Donner Pass. A straight drive is probably 6 hours from Monterey and 4 from San Fran.

There is so much to see and do closer to San Fran I’d probably save Tahoe for another trip, and I usually cover a lot of ground when I go out west. But Cali is just so big and lots of cars in the road so it takes forever to get anywhere. And northern cali really is just so visually stunning you really want to take your time and take it all in.

If you go to Muir woods make sure to make reservations ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the recommendations so far. We are just flying into Oakland, we are not planning to stay there.

Would you recommend Tahoe over going to Monterey?

I’d definitely go to Monterey just for the aquarium alone. But Pointe Lobos park is also absolutely stunning and a must do if you are in Monterey. We stayed in Carmel by the Sea for two days which was enough time to hit the highlights, whales, sea lions, beautiful vistas, aquarium, parks and hiking. Carmel itself was beautiful.

We were doing a road trip across the west, so passed through Tahoe, but didn’t stay overnight. It was beautiful though but a long trip and kind of stressful going through Donner Pass. A straight drive is probably 6 hours from Monterey and 4 from San Fran.

There is so much to see and do closer to San Fran I’d probably save Tahoe for another trip, and I usually cover a lot of ground when I go out west. But Cali is just so big and lots of cars in the road so it takes forever to get anywhere. And northern cali really is just so visually stunning you really want to take your time and take it all in.

If you go to Muir woods make sure to make reservations ahead of time.

Please stop calling it Cali and San Fran. It's like nails on a chalkboard. When typing you can use CA and SF. And you are not so busy you don't have time to say California or SF (or even San Francisco). Please. I am begging you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the recommendations so far. We are just flying into Oakland, we are not planning to stay there.

Would you recommend Tahoe over going to Monterey?

I’d definitely go to Monterey just for the aquarium alone. But Pointe Lobos park is also absolutely stunning and a must do if you are in Monterey. We stayed in Carmel by the Sea for two days which was enough time to hit the highlights, whales, sea lions, beautiful vistas, aquarium, parks and hiking. Carmel itself was beautiful.

We were doing a road trip across the west, so passed through Tahoe, but didn’t stay overnight. It was beautiful though but a long trip and kind of stressful going through Donner Pass. A straight drive is probably 6 hours from Monterey and 4 from San Fran.

There is so much to see and do closer to San Fran I’d probably save Tahoe for another trip, and I usually cover a lot of ground when I go out west. But Cali is just so big and lots of cars in the road so it takes forever to get anywhere. And northern cali really is just so visually stunning you really want to take your time and take it all in.

If you go to Muir woods make sure to make reservations ahead of time.

Please stop calling it Cali and San Fran. It's like nails on a chalkboard. When typing you can use CA and SF. And you are not so busy you don't have time to say California or SF (or even San Francisco). Please. I am begging you.

NP. Don't be so sensitive. They can call it whatever, it's how new names and words get coined. Let it be.

[Anonymous]

I'm going back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali, I'm going back to Cali

[Anonymous]

Go kayaking with them in Elkhart slough north of Monterey. It’s amazing. You’ll see otters and seals.

[Anonymous]

Elkhorn slough. Sorry. Typing on phone is tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali, I'm going back to Cali

This is the only acceptable way to say Cali. LL Cool J is a king.

[Anonymous]

Go see the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo on way back from Santa Cruz:
https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=29375