Ooh, me next! Troubleshoot my trip!

beansmom

Grumpy Grandma Extraordinaire
Joined
Feb 3, 2000
we are going to drive up the Coast from LA to SanFran and back in the fall. DH has done (many years ago) but I have never. We enjoy cities less than we like nature and we're going back to LA next spring for a few days so we are kind of saving that. Here's our proposed itinerary...any feedback greatly appreciated.

Sept 29- we arrive at LAX at 1pm..we'll check into our hotel near the airport
LA Opera-8pm (we may change hotels to be near the opera--any suggestions on that would be great.)

Sept 30-moving down to Long Beach area-staying on the Queen Mary
Oktoberfest at Old World German Restaurant for 'linner'.

Oct 1- DCA
Oct 2- Rogers Gardens early in day then a nap before
MHP at DLR
Oct 3-sleep in then head up to Solvang (not sure where we will sleep that night)
Oct 4-5 driving up- we need to be in Santa Cruz on the evening of the 5th and I want to stop and see the Hearst Castle on the way-no idea where we'll stay these nights, either. We want to stop in Big Sur, of course.
Oct 6-nothing during the day time; Roaring Railroad Moonlight Ride/Dinner that evening
Oct 7-hanging in Santa Cruz
Oct 8-Winchester House
Oct 9/Oct 10AM-San Francisco - Disney museum/HoHo bus are tentative plans. We're both kind of 'meh' on SF. If we don't do SF, then we'll just kick around the Santa Cruz/Monterrey area a few more days. Can we 'do' SF in one day...like drive up early, take the HoHo around town and drive back to Santa Cruz in the evening on the 9th?
Oct 10PM-drive to Oakhurst-4 hr drive from SF. We have rented a yurt there and will go to Yosemite.
Oct 13-drive back to LA (5hr drive) for our 10:40 pm red eye home.

any tips? 'oh, no, don't do that'? hidden treasures-things to do, places to eat?
 
In Monterey, there is a good restaurant called Rosines. Good food and huge dessert's. Good seafood restaurant's on the pier as well.
The aquarium is nice to visit.
Take the 17 mile drive tour through Pebble Beach.
 
I see you’re reserving a whole day for the Winchester Mystery House. The tour doesn’t last a long time. I think you could get there early and make it to SF at least by mid-afternoon and maybe walk around the city a little bit.

For the next day, I highly recommend the Walt Disney Family Museum. (More so than the Winchester. Not a big fan.) I assume if you’re on these boards you’re a Disney fan, so you wouldn’t be disappointed. And the setting in the Presidio is beautiful, and there are a lot of cool views and places to walk around near the museum. I think I’ve seen the hop-on buses stop there.
 


I concur with the above, you can easily do the Winchester Mystery House coming or going from SF. Be warned SF is not for people who know they don’t like cities! It’s very dirty and in sad shape. You could easily do the big sights like the Golden Gate Bridge, drive Lombard Street and Alcatraz in an afternoon and be done. The cities nearby are beautiful, like Sausalito, if you want to stay in a beautiful little town by the water. What are your plans in Santa Cruz? It has a lot of the same drawbacks as SF so if you want to stay in a more nature and scenic area you might want to reconsider. You could stay in Big Sur or Pacific Grove. You could see Santa Cruz as a day trip before Roaring Camp. It’s not that far of a drive between SF and Santa Cruz and depending on the time of day how much traffic. You can take 17 or look at the traffic on 101 and cut back over to Monterey. In Monterey I’d say eat in Pebble Beach. The views are amazing! Or at the Portola Plaza if you want to be closer to things and you can eat inside surrounded by trees with great food. Carmel is really cute too with lots of restaurants.
 
And I agree with the advice above about SF. The city’s homeless and crime have gotten way out of hand for a variety of reasons that I won’t get into here. If you decide to brave it, don’t leave anything visible in your parked car. Nothing. Break-ins have gone through the roof. In all honesty, the Disney Family Museum is the only place in SF that I willingly go to anymore. Still have to visit the mother-in-law there, though, lol.
 
I have not been to Rogers gardens but I am going to throw in a different garden idea. Please look at the website for the Huntington Library. Their gardens are AMAZING. In fact it's a must do for us every time we go to LA. Seriously. It is one of my favorite things to do in LA. The Hearst Castle is definitely worth the stop. I really enjoyed it when we went years ago. In fact it's on our itinerary for our August Family vacation. (We are nuts! Flying into Oakland, driving into Yosemite than back to the coast for a drive down to LA. Ending the trip at DCA and the beach.) Remember there is a section of Highway 1 that is closed due to a landslide. As for San Francisco if you want to avoid the "city" go north. One of the best things we did in San Francisco was to wake up early (beat the traffic) and cross the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped in Sausilito at a coffee shop for pastries and coffee. Had a beautiful morning view of the city from a park bench. Then we drove up and spent the morning in Muir Woods. (Amazing!) On our way back we drove through Golden Gate Vista Pointe, Battery Spence, the Presidio, Legion of Honor and Lands End pointe. It's a lot in one day but worth it. If you get the chance a visit to the Monterrey aquarium is worth it.
 


Oct 3-sleep in then head up to Solvang

Oct 7-hanging in Santa Cruz
I also like nature more than cities. I visited these areas last year and was disappointed with both of them.

Solvang was very small and was mostly for wine tasting, so if you like that, it's a good place for that. Most of the trinket shops had stuff made in China. If you still want to visit there and are headed north afterward, take the 101 up and maybe stay at the Madonna Inn or at least stop by for a meal. It's in San Luis Obispo. We were driving south from staying in Monterey area and had lunch at the Madonna Inn and then visited Solvang. I wish we just took the coast back and didn't go to Solvang at all.

Santa Cruz - well, I grew up in a beach town in San Diego and it just wasn't much different than any other beach town I've been to. We went to the boardwalk, walked around and couldn't find a good place to eat, so we left. Henry Cowell State Park is close to there and we enjoyed that.

What we did enjoy were all pretty much in the Carmel by the sea and Monterey areas. We did absolutely love the Winchester Mystery House. I've been a couple times before, but they had just added a new tour that went to other areas that were not closed off before. It was great.

Other things to consider: 17 mile drive, Tor House and Tower http://www.torhouse.org/ (you have to book your tour in advance), Moss Landing if you want to see lots of Sea Otters in the wild, the butterfly part of Pacific Grove (sounds like you will be there during butterfly season), Monterey Aquarium.

A couple places we enjoyed eating in the Monterey/Pacific Grove area: Beach House http://www.beachhousepg.com/, Hog's Breath Inn https://www.hogsbreathinn.net/ - that's Clint Eastwood's pub, Shadowbrook https://www.shadowbrook-capitola.com/ - we had been hiking at Henry Cowell State park and were not dressed for dinner, but we ate in the bar which has a full menu.
 
I agree with cruisehopeful on Solvang and Santa Cruz. I love Solvang, we go there every year for a run, go "glamping" and hit our favorite waffle restaurant in Solvang. But for a once-in-a-lifetime CA trip there are much cooler places to visit. Same with Santa Cruz, standard boardwalk with lots of shops selling drug paraphanalia. Carmel/Monterey area is prettier with more to do.

Also agree that Huntington Gardens are amazing, definitely go if you can!
 
When you're in Santa Cruz, go to Zachary's Restaurant. Located at 819 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060-4433. It's a breakfast and lunch place. They have sourdough pancakes that are really good. My DH's favorite was always a dish called "Mike's Mess." You won't go away hungry.

Winchester Mystery House - good for 2 hr probably. Not an all day thing.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top