Don’t overlook Muir Woods, just a tree’s throw from The City.
Okay, so you are developing your first outline of an actual detailed itinerary. Looks good so far.
Some personal suggestions to fill in some details:
What time of day do you expect to arrive at SFO? Early enough to do some sightseeing, or just enough time to dash up to Sonoma for the night?
Suggestion: If sufficient time and daylight, do the Highway 1 segment here. (See Post #14 by The Second Stone and feasible portions of Post #25 by me.) From Hwy 101 at Sausalito, over to Hwy 1; up Hwy 1 as far as Jenner at the mouth of the Russian River; then Hwy 116 through redwood forest, and through Guerneville, back to Hwy 101. This is NOT the carsick-making part of Hwy 1 that VOW discussed above. Lots of coastal scenery on Hwy 1 and redwoods on Hwy 116. If time permits, visit Armstrong Redwoods near Guerneville.
(If you don’t have sufficient time and daylight for this, rearrange your itinerary so you do. I think this would be one of the highlights of your trip, second only to your visit to the redwoods way up north.)
Spend the night in the city of Sonoma as you suggest, or Sebastopol or Santa Rosa or just about anywhere in Sonoma County.
If you think you can make it to Armstrong Redwoods near Guerneville, I’d suggest that instead of Muir Woods.
I think your time would be best spent if you stay in or around the Hwy 101 corridor. There’s more than enough to keep you busy all week. I think I’d pass on all the I-5 portions you suggest – unless you really want to see Sacramento.
There are zillions of wineries throughout Sonoma County as well as Napa area. I think they tend to have more activity of touristy interest on weekends instead of weekdays. There’s one in Napa County (no doubt someone will know which one) that hosts a big public picnic every weekend. (Is it Mondavi?) (At least all summer. Don’t know about late fall.) Could you arrange your Napa/Sonoma touring (including wineries) on the weekend and move S. F. visit to mid-week?
There are ferry boats to S. F. from several places in Marin County too. (Larkspur is one.) Consider staying there instead of Vallejo. I think generally all of Marin and Sonoma Counties would be prettier Vallejo. (Yes, it’s double-plus-hungus expensive.) And it’s still a rather short drive over to Vallejo to visit Six Flags, if your heart’s set on that.
There’s enough in S. F. alone to keep you busy for a week. Alcatraz is up there. Do you have a specific must-see in downtown? There’s also Golden Gate Park: Cal Academy of Sciences museum; art museums; fern tree forest and other gardens; huge botantical garden (Strybing Arboretum). That’s good for a whole day itself. Palace of Legion of Honor (art museum). EXPLORATORIUM!!! All stuff you could see on a mid-week day.
Think about whether you want to do a whirlwind trip (see as many places as possible, each just briefly) or a more focused trip where you spend more time at fewer places. Consider saving the Six Flags jaunt for another trip.
But there’s so much to do in Sacramento! But seriously, Eureka to Sacramento in one day is doable if you’re taking 299 to Redding or 36 to Red Bluff. If you’re still thinking of going via Grant’s Pass as discussed upthread, that’s gonna be a really long day.
Take it from someone who lives here - Vallejo to BART to San Francisco can be a mess, especially when you consider that you might have problems finding a parking spot at a BART station anywhere near San Francisco.
If you’re willing to drive from Vallejo to a BART station, you might as well go from San Rafael or Novato to the ferry in Larkspur (which takes slightly less than an hour to get to downtown, IIRC - the good news is, you get some halfway decent views; the bad news is, one of them is the yard at San Quentin Prison.)
Something else to note: US 101 north of Marin is notorious for becoming a bottleneck during rush hour. They keep saying that they’re going to add more lanes “real soon now”…
We have always enjoyed going through the Avenue of the Giants road at a fairly leisurely pace, I would be inclined to go from Sonoma to Garberville on the first day, then to Crescent City on the second day.
One other thing that has not been mentioned is
Mt. Shasta: I-5 goes right around the timberline, giving a pretty damn stunning view of the mountain.
Bear in mind that if you do this in November, you will be getting 9~10 hours of daylight, so plan your long drives well.
Timeframe this year would be more like September or October. The trip as I plotted out involves 299 rather than going through Grant’s Pass. Although I’d like to drive the entire Redwood highway and see the Nunan mansion (the model for the 7th Guest) I’m not sure all the extra time and driving are worth it.
We’ll probably take a flight that arrives in mid afternoon, and see the Golden Gate Bridge that day. As for San Francisco, my two things are Alcatraz and riding a cable car, my sister will probably want to eat at a cute but not too stuffy and expensive seafood place. either within walking distance of the ferry docks or a cable car line, I’m not sure how much else we’d have time for in a single day.
Weaverville does have the Bigfoot Museum – meh. 299 is a very, very winding road that feels like about a day short of forever from Arcata to Redding.
I get the sense that you’re trying to cover way too much geographical territory for the time you’ll be here. It seems like you’ll spend seriously much of your time in a car, just driving from one place to another, and have too little time to spend actually being in any of those places.
Of course, that is one perfectly valid way to do a vacation, if it suits your style. The scenery is beautiful and varied, and there’s lots of it from San Francisco on northward. (Actually, I claim that coastal California starts to get pretty at around Santa Barbara and gets steadily prettier the farther north you go. Anything south of Santa Barbara, basically, forget it.) So you can drive from morning to night every day, and have a good vacation just seeing the scenery passing by.
That’s why I suggested, above, for you to give thought to the vacation style you want – Whirlwind tour, or more focused on a few places.
For You makes a good point that, it seems, nobody has noticed before: At that time of year, the days will be getting shorter.
The Ferry Building in SF houses some excellent restaurants, and definitely within walking distance (ie, you’re there already). None of them are stuffy. (Not necessarily inexpensive, though.)
I am going to second this. The 101/Hwy 1 corridor north from SF to Oregon is huge - it is a good 5.5 hour drive from SF to Eureka in ideal conditions with no stopping. You are likely to encounter delays with traffic, road construction, getting stuck behind a logging truck or RV, and making stops to enjoy the spectacular scenery (and bio breaks). 101, 299, 36, 1 - not at all like I-5 where you can put it on cruise and sail thru endless flat, straight miles - these roads are very curvey and will require your attention the whole time, which can be very tiring.
This is the part that will be almost all driving:
You might consider:
Monday - Stop at Eureka. No need to go any farther. As mentioned before, take time to enjoy the Avenue of the Giants.
Tuesday - Redwood NP is stretched along the coast between Eureka & Crescent City, and is intertwined with several state parks as well. You can spend they day making several stops in the parks, go as far as Brookings to say you’ve been to Oregon. You can be back in Eureka for dinner.
Wednesday - Everything they say about 299 is true. Do this if you really want to see the more rugged portions of the northern Coast Range. Or, you go back south on 101, take a left on 128 at Geyserville, and stay somewhere in the Napa Valley Wednesday night.
Thursday - If you really want to see Sacramento, it’s a perfectly reasonable day trip from Napa. Then you can resettle in Vallejo for Thursday night. Or better, stay where you are in Napa for Thurs and Friday nights, without any change in the rest of your plans.
Point taken about northern California being a hard place to drive, but we do have a history of covering a lot of ground on vacations- we’ve traveled over 1000 miles on trips to FL, to MA/VA/NC, and to NJ/NY/CT/RI/MA/VT. I’m generally more enthusiastic about seeing a lot then my sister. I figure airfare, a weeks rental car, etc are all sunk costs so the only additional cost to getting around it the opportunity cost of time spent driving and gasoline.
Suggestions of a Napa winery and vineyard to tour? looking for someplace friendly and non-snobbish as opposed to necessarily famous.
Well then, enjoy the drive!
Are there any friendly, non-snobbish wineries left in Napa? If you want small, friendly, family-owned wineries, go to Amador County. Presuming you want to go to Napa because it’s, well, Napa – no specific recommendations, but my impression is you’ll find the less snobby wineries on Silverado Trail rather than Hwy 29. One winery I think is worth a visit just for the geography is Sterling. The winery is on a hilltop toward the north end of the valley - they even have a tram to take you up the hill. Wonderful view back down the valley from their deck.
I know diddly-squat about wine, but my fiancee does, so we’ve done a lot of tasting rooms. I’ve never encountered snobbery. You walk up to the bar, they pour you a shot of whatever they’re pouring that day, you smile and nod and say “very nice”. You might encounter people who speak Wine Talk…just smile and nod. It’s all very relaxed and friendly. Don’t worry.
I did more checking on hotels, and it looks like we’ll be staying in Walnut Creek rather tan American Canyon / Vallejo since it’s a lot cheaper, and presumably taking BART into the city (we’ll still get to take a boat ride to Alcatraz, the HI Express is within walking distance of the BART station so we won’t have to worry about parking).
If we could go any time in September, October, or November which would be the best month to go.
Driving up 101, is there a nice beach someplace before Eureka? Thinking about doing that rather than Ave of Giants since we’ll be in the park the next day.
Good move! As someone who grew up in Vallejo, I can vouch for Walnut Creek being a much nicer area.
101 does not touch the coast anywhere between the Golden Gate Bridge and Eureka. If you’re OK with a side trip adding about an hour of drive time, turn left on 128 at Cloverdale, and take 1 through Mendocino and Fort Bragg. 1 will take you back to 101at Leggett. Several state parks along there with good beaches.
October is probably the most reliable month, weather-wise. September is sometimes subject to heat waves, and November can be pretty damp some years. But any time in there should be fine.
The beaches are nice, if you just want to stop and look, or go for a walk. The beach weather in that region tends to be breezy and chilly. The water is cold, so if you take a dip you may get eaten by polar bears.
With respect to Twoflower just above, VOW and I have already suggested a different opinion about which section of Highway 1 to drive. To be sure, it’s ALL gorgeous, and whatever portion you miss, you’ll miss. The portion from Sausalito to Jenner is relatively straight and won’t take too much longer of your time. The portion that Twoflower suggests might include some of that really twisty and time-consuming terrain that VOW warned of.
The in-between portion (from Jenner to the junction with Highway 128), is probably the worst, in terms of being winding and time consuming.
Pack a wide variety of clothing – you’ll probably see a 30 degree difference between Walnut Creek (or the Dub Crizzle as we like to call it) and SF on the same day.
Sausalito to Jenner is a good stretch of coast, too. If you do take 128 from Cloverdale, the first 15 miles or so of 128 is extremely windy, but from there on, and the stretch of 1 from Albion to Westport is not bad; and very scenic. Senegoid is quite right about the water temperature; ocean swimming is generally not done in northern California without a wet suit.
Somebody upthread suggested a visit to Point Reyes National Seashore, which I also seconded. That is on this stretch of Highway 1.