Road Trip CA seeing Redwoods

[dogmom]

Maybe just concentrate on Nor Cal, esp if you have no need for Disney. SD is lovely (I used to live there), but its a long way to go, just to go there. What in So Cal do you want to see? There is plenty to do up north, esp if you include Sequoia, Yosemite, SF and Central Coast.

My DH really wants to drive down the Pacific coast road. I don't want to hit Yosemite in the summer months. I realize it's not the same, but my family isn't that outdoorsy and if we want to do hiking, etc. there are plenty of places in New England. So I have no desire to fly across country to flog them to spend days in a crowded park. I've been to San Francisco, but never southern CA. So I'm looking at the drive down as part of the vacation. Day or two here or there on the way. It looks completely doable in our time frame. We often go someplace and stay a week, so this would be different for us, but fun.

[AnnieW625]

The Redwood Forest Highway starts about 6 hours north of San Francisco in Humboldt County, and highway 101 is very twisty. (It never looks that faraway on a map!)

https://www.myscenicdrives.com/drive...edwood-highway

There are flights from San Francisco to Eureka but they are expensive. The nearest airport that would be closer than San Francisco drive wise is Sacramento, but that is still about a 5 hour drive. You could also see how far it is from Medford in southern Oregon. In all it is about a 20 hour drive on 101 from Eureka to San Diego (my roommate in college was from Eureka and told me it took less time to drive to Seattle). There is lots to do in between, but you will spend a lot of time in a car.






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[smiles33]

My DH really wants to drive down the Pacific coast road. I don't want to hit Yosemite in the summer months. I realize it's not the same, but my family isn't that outdoorsy and if we want to do hiking, etc. there are plenty of places in New England. So I have no desire to fly across country to flog them to spend days in a crowded park. I've been to San Francisco, but never southern CA. So I'm looking at the drive down as part of the vacation. Day or two here or there on the way. It looks completely doable in our time frame. We often go someplace and stay a week, so this would be different for us, but fun.

If you take the Redwoods out of the plan, then you can totally do this and have a leisurely vacation. We did a 4 day PCH trip about 5-8 years ago from the Bay Area to Monterey/Carmel (stopping to see the Aquarium and enjoy great restaurants in Pacific Grove), then Pismo Beach (see my earlier post in this same thread about the beach and charming small town), and then Santa Barbara (the butterflies were stopping there on their way to Mexico!). We are not big hikers, so we focused on finding 1 activity in each area (going to the beach counted!), browsing the local sights (meaning driving/walking through on our way to delicious restaurants), and relaxing (e.g., movie marathons in the hotel room, enjoying ocean views, reading good books).

[marinkitty]

If you are okay with coastal redwoods, why not plan some time in and around Big Sur?

If I was doing SF to SD, I'd spend 2-3 nights in SF (and include Muir Woods in that portion of the trip) and then stop in Monterrey/Big Sur (you could see your redwoods at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park), Santa Barbara/Ojai, Laguna Beach area and then 2-3 nights in the San Diego area. And then pick other spots to break up your drives between stays.

[Tenasparkl]

If you are okay with coastal redwoods, why not plan some time in and around Big Sur?

I second this. Big Sur is gorgeous! We stayed in a yurt at a place called Treebones that I'd recommend.

[dogmom]

If you are okay with coastal redwoods, why not plan some time in and around Big Sur?

If I was doing SF to SD, I'd spend 2-3 nights in SF (and include Muir Woods in that portion of the trip) and then stop in Monterrey/Big Sur (you could see your redwoods at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park), Santa Barbara/Ojai, Laguna Beach area and then 2-3 nights in the San Diego area. And then pick other spots to break up your drives between stays.

Yes, I think that’s exactly what would work for our family! My plan is also to stay in cheaper places to start and get nicer at the end.