Help me plan a vacation to CA

[firstbaby]

Thanks to Covid and other factors, we haven’t done a family vacation for 4 years. We are on the east coast and the kids have voted for CA. Some questions:

What are must see / must do for a family of 5 with 2 of them being older teens?
How many days would you plan for each stop?
Is mid June a good time of year for this kind of trip?

This is assuming things are manageable with Covid and no other big unpleasant surprises. I know we won’t be able to do it all and don’t want to feel like every second of our trip is super planned. In a perfect world, I’d love to do Hollywood, Disney, Santa Monica Pier, etc AND Lake Tahoe or something in nature. I think we will have 9-10 days max for the trip. If it was just DH and I, it would be touring all the national parks in CA but not what the kids want to do the whole time.

[AnnieW625]

You can do Tahoe, and Los Angeles areas in 10 days but it is an 8-9 hour drive from one area to another. You would fly into one location and out of the other. Reno is closest to Tahoe, but you might find a better deal flying out of Sacramento, which is about 2 hours from Tahoe (north or south side….both have different advantages/things to do). June isn’t awful in California and it is probably better than July or August temperature wise. I am a California native and still haven’t seen everything the state has to offer: Sequoia National Forrest, Death Valley (although I wouldn’t go in June), Redwood Forest (this is a good 5 hours north of San Francisco…..it looks so much closer on a map), Mt. Lassen, Lake Shasta (great for house boating, but about 2-3 hours north of Sacramento) are just a few things that come to mind. This state is just so big.

I really think you need to narrow down your list of what you want tp do. If you want to do Los Angeles tourist related stuff then maybe do Santa Barbara or San Diego. There are just so many options.


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[pinay]

With that amount of time, I would probably focus on staying in So Cal since that seems to be where the majority of your spots are. For a more "nature" type excursion, you could go up to Lake Arrowhead for a few days- it's gorgeous up there, lots of hiking trails, you can do activities at Lake Gregory if you don't stay at a place that doesn't have access to Lake Arrowhead. It's probably a 2 hour drive from LA area.

[AnnieW625]

With that amount of time, I would probably focus on staying in So Cal since that seems to be where the majority of your spots are. For a more "nature" type excursion, you could go up to Lake Arrowhead for a few days- it's gorgeous up there, lots of hiking trails, you can do activities at Lake Gregory if you don't stay at a place that doesn't have access to Lake Arrowhead. It's probably a 2 hour drive from LA area.

Yes Lake Arrowhead is great! It is about 90 minutes to 2 hours from Los Angeles. There are air b n b or local rental companies that rent places lakefront houses or condos. (please pm for more details….I am very familiar with the lake area). The only bad thing about Lake Arrowhead is that it is a private lake so all boats except for the one or two tours companies are privately owned and you need to have an operators license to operate a private boat and the boat has to be registered to a property owner. Big Bear is a little further way (and a pita to get to imho), but there might be more water activities to do. It isn’t nearly as big as Tahoe but it has a similar vibe.

There are plenty of things to do in NorCal too. You can do Tahoe and San Francisco in one trip. You can easily fly in and out of San Francisco or Oakland airports (although it will be about 3/1/2 hour drive from Tahoe and I would suggest leaving Tahoe on a weekend morning to get back to SF). Sacramento is also an option to fly in and out of. It is about 90 minutes from SF (w/no traffic) and about 2 hours to Tahoe. If you do want to drive into San Francisco and stay at a hotel please research hotel parking costs and bridge tolls. You might be better off staying in the East Bay (Berkeley, Pleasanton, or Walnut Creek) or in the South Bay (Millbrae/San Mateo) and taking Bart or Cal Train into the city. Pleasanton and Walnut Creek will be about an hour into the city though, but potentially much cheaper than staying in the city. Berkeley, Millbrae/San Mateo will be a little closer. The Fairfield Inn and Suites in Millbrae is a 5 minute walk to the BART/Cal Train station.


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[georgiegirl]

Would the kids be interested in a surfing lesson? My DD did one last summer and loved it. My family is all in so cal, and we generally visit 2x a year.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We try to do a 3-way trip if we can insert family in there...so family-big city-National Park. We've done 3-3-3 or 5-4 if no family is nearby. We loved staying IN San Francisco, walking/cable-car/boating/BART for transportation. Loved doing San Diego then driving to Grand Canyon and Capitol Reef. We have family members moving to Long Beach soon, so also looking at that area for the summer. Your plan sounds awesome. Just might have to copy it!

[SnuggleBuggles]

You are too late to get good accomodations in Yosemite unless you get really lucky. Reservations open 1 year in advance and sell out fast.
We had a great 14 day CA road trip one year. The kids were little but this is what we did:
-flew into Oakland and visited family plus toured SF
-drove to Yosemite for 2 overnights- we stayed in a cabin in the valley and it was perfect
-drove back to the Bay Area but to the southern area to visit more family
onto Monterey for the Aquarium (a must)
-Our timing was perfect for a drive south along the coast. We hit sunset just before we our hotel, Cavalier Oceanfront Resort. Our room had a fireplace and the hotel is perched overlooking the ocean with firepits lit all around. There are a ton of really neat hotels/motels around Cambria and San Simeon. It was really one of the places I want to go back to.
-On to Disneyland with a lunch stop in Santa Barbara. Hindsight I think I would have stayed overnight in SB and taken this part of the drive a bit slower. Well, at the very least, I wouldn't have been trying to cross LA at 4pm because that rush hour traffic was killer.
-Disneyland! It was open until midnight and we did it as one whirlwind day. Since then we have gone back to DL a few times as day trips but now stay overnight both nights. Lets us hit the parks early in the AM and not drive tired as it's always part of a road trip for us.
-Final stop was San Diego to visit more family (northern area). We did Legoland, Torrey Pines for a beach day and the Safari Park. We flew out of the Ontario airport.

We weren't interested in doing LA at all so we totally skipped it.

With 9-10 days, I would stay in Southern CA since your wish list is almost all southern. I do think you can do a whirlwind full state experience but you'll have to decide what travel style you want. I loved our CA road trip! I especially loved the cultural shifts we encountered in the vast state.

[mom2binsd]

Not sure of what other places you go on vacation, but is Disney a must (it's such a money grab but we are also not theme park/Disney people), maybe spend the day/money on other more unique California things?

If you decide to split between southern and northern, San Francisco is such a unique city, and a trip out the Alcatraz is pretty cool (esp for the teens) and the Redwoods are amazing. Monterey also a cool place to visit. The drive down the coast is fun, with fun little places to stop along the way.

Hollywood is always a hit with teens, and maybe do Universal/Santa Monica etc. Surf lessons are also a huge hit with most. Driving up to Malibu, eating at Neptune's Net (a bit divey but full of characters, don't be put off if you pull up and see 20 Harley's) along PCH and checking out the different beaches along the way/seeing surfers catching waves etc, can be a lot of fun and relaxing.

San Diego is also a smaller city and easier to navigate than LA so you could split between LA and SD (fly into one/out of the other) and maybe drive to Big Bear in between? Lots to see in SD, again surfing, Cabrillo Monument (you can spend a lot of time exploring the tide pools as well as learning the history of the city with the BEST views ever and it's cheap), the zoo or Safari/Wild Animal Park, Sea World if that's you thing, hanging out at the beach, esp at low tide, biking around Coronado Island, USS Midway tour - very cool,

Just an FYI, June in SoCal can still have cooler water temps etc, and June Gloom (grayish skies on the coast) can make it seem less "California". I didn't find the ocean warm to swim in until late July (and I'm Canadian and used to cold lakes). For surf lessons you can rent a wetsuit which is a must.

[essnce629]

For Los Angeles:

Hollywood is a touristy urine smelling place I try to avoid all costs! I'd skip it.

I'd skip Disneyland and do Universal Studios, especially with teens. You can do the entire park in a day easily.

For some nice walking outside I'd go to the Huntington Library which has the most beautiful botanical gardens.

The Getty Villa Museum is super nice and not crowded and afterwards you're right by the beach to grab lunch, etc.

If your teens are into anime at all then they'd probably really like Little Tokyo and all the shops there. Plus so many choices for good boba, ramen, etc. That's where my 28 year old sister was most excited about visiting when she was here for Thanksgiving.

Eat lots of food! Birria tacos, ramen, boba, Korean hot dogs (LOVE the all cheese ones), Voodoo Donuts at Universal, sushi burritos, etc.

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[AnnieW625]

We have never been but friends have been to this family camp and had a great time. Montecito Sequoia Family Camp

and we have family who has also stayed at this conglomerate of cabins in The Redwoods in Yosemite and been happy there.


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