Summer Family Trip

[HotRodZilla]

Cool guys. Thank you. We're trying to line out exactly what we're going to do. Wife kind of wants to take the kids to the Torunament of Kings at the Excalibur. Stay the night there and then break for the PCH and Hearst Castle.

There's some good suggestions here and we're going to play with some maps and times to see what works out best. 8m hoping the National Parks will be a little less crowded during the week, but we'll see. We're probably gping to run all the way north because she would really like to see the 'Avenue of Giants.' I haven't seen them either, so that'll be cool.

Either way, it'll be fun. Believe it or not, my kids travel pretty well. They read and watch movies, and the Expedition is big enough that they can't touch each other...much. Haha...Besides, on trips like this, the Radar Detector earns its keep.

 

[Roy Epperson]

Cool guys. Thank you. We're trying to line out exactly what we're going to do. Wife kind of wants to take the kids to the Torunament iof Kings at the Excalibur. Stay the night there and then break for the PCH and Hearst Castle.

Unless you have a great desire to see LA, Ventura, or Santa Barbara, I suggest you go from 'lost wages' to Cambria, Ca directly - https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Cambria,+CA/Las+Vegas,+NV/@35.2337939,-120.4809039,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x80ecd77a7b67481f:0xc4fd49cb873a8956!2m2!1d-121.0807468!2d35.5641381!1m5!1m1!1s0x80beb782a4f57dd1:0x3accd5e6d5b379a3!2m2!1d-115.1398296!2d36.1699412

California desert most of the way. Cambria is a tourist trap. Would recommend staying Paso Robles or going 1/2 hour South to San Luis Obispo and getting a good nights rest before heading up the PCH. The PCH between LA and San Luis Obispo is "just a coastal highway". With limited time, Cambria North is were you wanta be.

Limited motels in San Simon. Nothing North of there until you get to Monterey.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Yeah, if I NEVER have to drive through LA again, that will be too soon. We'll break north ASAP. My wife has family that live in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard...What a Hellhole!!

 

[FJRay]

Yeah, if I NEVER have to drive through LA again, that will be too soon. We'll break north ASAP. My wife has family that live in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard...What a Hellhole!!

I used to run a brake and front end shop in Thousand Oaks and left in 77 cause it was screwed up then. I hate to see it now.

 

[exskibum]

Yeah, if I NEVER have to drive through LA again, that will be too soon. We'll break north ASAP. My wife has family that live in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard...What a Hellhole!!

I used to run a brake and front end shop in Thousand Oaks and left in 77 cause it was screwed up then. I hate to see it now.

Another in the vicinity at the same time for us, Ray. January 1977, with drought snowless conditions in Steamboat Springs, CO making earning a living there difficult, my first ex and I moved back to SoCal - spent a couple weeks in Oxnard and then moved to Woodland Hills when I got a job at the Rocketdyne Test Labs up in the Santa Suzanna hills. Bought my '75 Kwak Z1 in February, got married in June, moved out for the last time and back to Steamboat in August. Hell hole is right. I'll never forget the hot humid Saturday morning driving west on Roscoe in Canoga Park when I decided to call my boss in Steamboat and see if I could get my old job back.

 

[puppychow]

Take them to Sequoia National Park from Flagstaff, or you can skip that park (I suggest you do not) and just head into Yosemite - you can hit the Mariposa grove of Giant Sequoias on the way to Yosemite Valley. That's one suggestion.

Sequoia National Park General Sherman Tree:

Mariposa Grove Sequoias - not as big as Sequoia Nat'l park. That's my dad being a tree hugger.

Of course Yosemite is Yosemite!! You got to!!!! Although, it might be a bit crowded in the valley, the park as a whole is a pretty big place - but the valley is where you will hit the bottlenecks and maddening crowds.

This waterfall will be dry in July. Yosemite Falls.

So will this one. Bridalveil Falls.

These will be going year-long, just diminished. From Glacier Point. More fun to hike to those, but if you are pressed for time...

If you want to make a bee-line for SF from AZ, and just want to catch some Redwoods near SF, then the Muir Woods National Monument might hit the spot. Although, it will be insanely crowded. Personally I would go further to see the Redwoods.

Muir Woods:
https://gocalifornia.about.com/od/caplaceslist/ss/Redwood-Forests-in-California_5.htm

Big Basin near Santa Cruz (100 times better than Muir Woods IMO, but that's because I hate crowds in a smaller space).
https://gocalifornia.about.com/od/caplaceslist/ss/Redwood-Forests-in-California_8.htm

I have more suggestions if you want them... feel free to ask for research on CA.

 

[SacramentoMike]

Getting back to places you might actually WANT to visit . . . It's great that your options seem pretty wide open, AJ. You can take a very long time getting up the coast to S.F., and there's a lot of sameness on the way. It's beautiful, for sure, but lots of miles of it. You could cut over toward the coast from I-5 and save a lot of time but still see places like Monterey, Santa Cruz, etc., as an alternative idea.

Sam/Nightshine is right about Muir Woods, too. Very pretty and just outside S.F. EVERY grove of redwoods is beautiful and gives you the full redwood experience, IMO, and there are a lot of different ones, as has been said. You don't need to see the biggest grove (yep, that would probably be the Ave. of the Giants way up north), and you don't need to see the biggest redwood tree. They're ALL big! All you and the girls need to do is get into any of the named redwood groves and look UP!

There are millions of things to see and do in and around San Francisco itself, too. You might want to spend more time there than you think. I've got lots of suggestions for that, and plenty here know the area better than I do.

Lake Tahoe is gorgeous, and the whole family would love it. Beautiful lake and beaches, lots of fun things to do. You can take a chair lift up to the top of Heavenly Valley, for example, and look down over the whole lake. And EVERYBODY should see Yosemite, crowded or not. Going on, once you've seen Zion, you could head down to the North Rim of the G.C. for the best view of the Canyon, also IMO, or you could continue on eastward through the other incredibly beautiful and unique National Parks lined up along southern Utah like a string of jewels--Bryce Canyon, Escalante Staircase, Capital Reef, and more. You could cut south through Page, AZ, from there and take the tour through the amazing slot canyons, too. All good stuff. Like I said, lots of options, no bad ones.

Hope you all have a GREAT vacation!

 

[wheatonFJR]

I think Wheaton, IL is very nice this time of year...plus you pass by hundreds of miles of can't miss wheat and corn fields. Plus they have A&W root beer.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Sam, THAT'S what I need. Thanks.

Mike, throw our what you got.

Mark, love ya buddy, but wrong side of the country. If we end up in Wheaton, that means I made a wrong turn somewhere. Haha...

 

[SacramentoMike]

On San Francisco: I just think the best thing to see there is the city itself. The way it's laid out, pretty much whatever part of the city you go to, you have the most incredible views of the rest of it. You almost can't get lost there, because you can always see some of the major landmarks from almost anywhere--the Bay, the bridges, Coit Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid, Twin Peaks. Fisherman's Wharf is great for a walking tour, the drive across the Golden Gate and the view back to the city from the Marin Headlands and the WWII-era gun emplacements. Sausalito, too, and Muir Woods is out that way as well. Tours of the Bay by boat can be fun (but always cold--dress warm). Bet you get more suggestions from other folks too.

SF and the GG Bridge from Marin Headlands

About my favorite view of the city is from Twin Peaks. Where Steve McQueen chased those bad guys.

Muir Woods. Who needs more redwoods than this?

And Cable Cars! If you like crowds, but fun.

 

[Geezer]

I much prefer the Sequoias to the Redwoods. And Yosemite is worth seeing even if all you do is drive through.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I much prefer the Sequoias to the Redwoods. And Yosemite is worth seeing even if all you do is drive through.

The Sequoias are HUGE! There is Tuolume Grove Trailhead on 120 that occurs west and north of Yosemite Valley. The trees are not too far from the parking lot there. I would recommend here, then driving thru Yosemite.

This was a tree near the trail...not the biggest by any means...



Then again, maybe it wasn't so big as my daughter can put her arms around it.

 

[LCB]

Riding the Cable Car in SF was fun - I was high-fiving folks on the passing cable cars. There is a stop right near the Cable Car Museum and you can see how the whole system works - very cool!

Fisherman's Wharf was neat too - watching the seals playing around and swimming in and out... SacramentoMike is correct - the views from almost anywhere are worth seeing.

 

[SacramentoMike]

Gotta take exception to what Mark said. If the trees were the only reason to go to Yosemite, any old grove of redwoods or sequoias in Cali is as good as another. But Yosemite Valley? Gotta see that.

 

[Allen_C]

Gotta take exception to what Mark said. If the trees were the only reason to go to Yosemite, any old grove of redwoods or sequoias in Cali is as good as another. But Yosemite Valley? Gotta see that.

I agree and this is why I recomm doing Yosemite and Tahoe.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I wasn't saying NOT to go to Yosemite...just saying that a good group of Sequoias are close to the entrance.

 

[puppychow]

Yosemite game plan:

Here is my sales pitch for Yosemite.

Unless your heart is set on coming up Hwy 395 and the East side of the Sierras (gorgeous views of the Sierra mountains - much more so than the west side). I say come up North from Vegas via West side of the Sierras and do the Mariposa Grove before you head into Yosemite valley.

You can hike the Mariposa grove, like me and my dad, who is 72 years old. If he can do it, almost anyone can, and you are not as old as some antiquated certifiable old farts on this forum. If you don't feel like hiking - take the tram tour through the grove, but you will be on the grumpy driver's schedule, not yours. So keep that in mind. The biggest Sequoias in the park are in Mariposa Grove.

Do Glacier point next:

Do Tunnel view next. Best in the afternoon. This picture was early in the morning with the sun in the lens - results in not so pretty a picture, but there is MadMike2 in this picture, so I still love it!

If there is any water left in Bridalveil Falls, go there next. It's a very short and super easy hike, but if there is no water - skip it.

Marvel at El Capitan next:

Take a gander at Yosemite Falls next, might be dry in July so....*shrugs*

Don't forget Half Dome..

Take one last look from Valley View before you head on out.

DO IT!!

 

[Niehart]

" If he can do it, almost anyone can, and you are not as old as some antiquated certifiable old farts on this forum."

Hey, I resemble that remark.

Awesome pictures Sam. Even with MadMike2 in them.

 

[puppychow]

" If he can do it, almost anyone can, and you are not as old as some antiquated certifiable old farts on this forum."
Hey, I resemble that remark.

Awesome pictures Sam. Even with MadMike2 in them.

I like the antiquated certifiable old farts on this forum. I have always liked antiques.