California Trip Ideas

[FarminCy]

Every August we plan a family vacation as a last hurrah of summer before the wife and kids head back to school. The last couple of years we have let the kids pick the destination since they are somewhat old enough to make a reasonable request. This year they requested a trip to California. No specifics or locations, just California.

Looking to spend at least a week on the trip. Sun Country and Delta out of MSP has really cheap flights to LAX and SFO. We will be in Minnesota anyways ahead of time so will most likely fly out of the twin cities.

I need help from the collective brain trust on here with some ideas as to what to do. I've been to San Diego, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree NP, and San Fransisco/Silicon Valley but never with kids. I'd love to take them to Joshua Tree if that fits but it's not necessary due to it's location. I'm assuming one day we may try to hit DisneyLand so that could also check off the need to ever do a damn Disney trip in the future. My kids are 12, 9, and 6. Not overly into touristy stuff, they enjoy hiking, beach, rides, bikes, etc. Plans are to most likely rent a car for the week so we can be mobile as well. Would rather not stay in one place the whole time either.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

And before anyone mentions Wally World I already brought that up!!

 

[JayV]

I really enjoyed Las Angeles. The Peterson Automotive Museum, the La Brea Tar Pits, tours of film studios, tickets to Conan or some other show, etc.

 

[Colorado]

Are you flying into LAX and out of SFO? Or, are you trying to decide which to do? Given the choice, I would pick the SF area every time. But, if you're doing Disney, that means LA. If you're thinking of doing both, I would spend two days in LA and then make your way to SF.

 

[FarminCy]

Are you flying into LAX and out of SFO? Or, are you trying to decide which to do? Given the choice, I would pick the SF area every time. But, if you're doing Disney, that means LA. If you're thinking of doing both, I would spend two days in LA and then make your way to SF.

I'm open to anything. We will be flying in on a Monday it appears so my thoughts are if we fly into LAX tha do DisneyLand right away on Tuesday just to free us up from any specific area after that. And DisneyLand is by no means a necessary stop.

Yes I was looking at flying into LAX and work our way up to SF area and fly back from SFO if possible. Obviously flight prices will have some role due to one way vs round trip costs.

 

[NWICY]

Never been there but would love to see the Redwood forests, I would think that would fit into your hiking, biking portion.

 

[Colorado]

Spend the first couple of days in LA (grab In n Out burger and Disney) and then meander up to SF. Two choices - either PCH or head inland and hit some of the National Parks (Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite).

If you do PCH, lots of towns and beaches to see along the way. Stop often and maybe stay the night in Monterey. Plenty to do in Monterey in a day before heading to SF. Once in SF, tons to see and do. It's a very compact city compared to LA. I would also venture north into Sonoma and Napa. Muir Woods is amazing. Several places to view redwoods too.

My personal choice (not taking into consideration wife and daughter) would be to hit the three National Parks and then spend a couple of days in SF.

 

[KnappShack]

Really hard to beat Mammoth. Horseback riding on the John Muir trail is like being in an Ansel Adams photo. That was an amazing experience

Idyllwild - Pine Cove has some pretty cool hiking. If you want to see the desert it is just down the mountain (and the casino). This would be little more laid back. There's also Bass Lake and Lake Arrowhead. Big Bear too.

There was an awesome place called the Hicksville Trailer Palace out by Joshua Tree. Super super cool camping in retro converted campers, but I hear it might be more marijuana tourism at this point. But the Integratron is out there if you want to meet some UFO and earth energy people. Really friendly.

Yosemite is a given. Camping can be found in the park or worth a trip in. Amazing part of the world. Bodie Ghost town. Mono Lake. All in the same general area.

Lassen Volcanic National Park has every type of volcano known to man. Doesn't smell great but interesting.

Kick up the coast on PCH and hit Hearst's Castle. Discover the coastal communities along the way.

I miss California. If the Pilgrim's landed on the west coast, the east coast would still be wilderness.

 

[CtownCyclone]

Oh you're getting a damn Wally World suggestion!!!

 

[FarminCy]

Spend the first couple of days in LA (grab In n Out burger and Disney) and then meander up to SF. Two choices - either PCH or head inland and hit some of the National Parks (Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite).

If you do PCH, lots of towns and beaches to see along the way. Stop often and maybe stay the night in Monterey. Plenty to do in Monterey in a day before heading to SF. Once in SF, tons to see and do. It's a very compact city compared to LA. I would also venture north into Sonoma and Napa. Muir Woods is amazing. Several places to view redwoods too.

My personal choice (not taking into consideration wife and daughter) would be to hit the three National Parks and then spend a couple of days in SF.

Thanks for the info. I'm torn on inland vs PCH. I really want to see both but think my kids might enjoy the PCH at this stage more. The beaches and little spots along the way are things they really enjoy. Never thought of doing Muir Woods which I will put down as an option.

 

[CtownCyclone]

Yes I was looking at flying into LAX and work our way up to SF area and fly back from SFO if possible. Obviously flight prices will have some role due to one way vs round trip costs.

I think that would be cool, and may hold kid's interests longer.

Only time I was there, it was pre-children. We stayed in LA for a long weekend while my wife was giving a talk (the weekend we beat UNC in the tournament) and stayed in Hermosa Beach. Kind of a hippy place, and you probably wouldn't find much touristy to do there (unless you're into watching beach volleyballers play). We did the Hollywood thing, saw the wax museum, the walk of fame, etc. That was fun to do, maybe less so with a 6 year old.


My takeaway was that it was such a pain to drive places in LA, you better have it all planned out (we Uber'd).

 

[FarminCy]

Really hard to beat Mammoth. Horseback riding on the John Muir trail is like being in an Ansel Adams photo. That was an amazing experience

Idyllwild - Pine Cove has some pretty cool hiking. If you want to see the desert it is just down the mountain (and the casino). This would be little more laid back. There's also Bass Lake and Lake Arrowhead. Big Bear too.

There was an awesome place called the Hicksville Trailer Palace out by Joshua Tree. Super super cool camping in retro converted campers, but I hear it might be more marijuana tourism at this point. But the Integratron is out there if you want to meet some UFO and earth energy people. Really friendly.

Yosemite is a given. Camping can be found in the park or worth a trip in. Amazing part of the world. Bodie Ghost town. Mono Lake. All in the same general area.

Lassen Volcanic National Park has every type of volcano known to man. Doesn't smell great but interesting.

Kick up the coast on PCH and hit Hearst's Castle. Discover the coastal communities along the way.

I miss California. If the Pilgrim's landed on the west coast, the east coast would still be wilderness.

I've been to Idyllwild and thought it was great. I could see myself retiring there someday. The road from Palm Springs to Idyllwild was one of the craziest roads I've ever been on!!

Honestly the Trailer Palace sounds like the kind of place my kids would think is hilarious and awesome. I just don't think getting down to Joshua Tree is going to fit in this trip.

 

[KnappShack]

I've been to Idyllwild and thought it was great. I could see myself retiring there someday. The road from Palm Springs to Idyllwild was one of the craziest roads I've ever been on!!

Honestly the Trailer Palace sounds like the kind of place my kids would think is hilarious and awesome. I just don't think getting down to Joshua Tree is going to fit in this trip.

I might see you there. Been laying the groundwork with my wife for an Idyllwild retirement. We would go up there a few times a year and rent a cabin. My dog flipping loved the place too

I never want to take that road down when it's snowing or after a couple. That could get real exciting real quick.

The Muir really is amazing.

 

[FarminCy]

I might see you there. Been laying the groundwork with my wife for an Idyllwild retirement. We would go up there a few times a year and rent a cabin. My dog flipping loved the place too

I never want to take that road down when it's snowing or after a couple. That could get real exciting real quick.

The Muir really is amazing.

We were in Idyllwild in early March so it was in the off season. We got snowed on while there and for the first 15 minutes back to Palm Springs until we dropped enough elevation. We left Palm Springs at 90 degrees wearing shorts, thank goodness we had sweatshirts. Spent the day exploring the area, got snowed on, and headed back to 90 degree Palm Springs. If I had my choice we would have just stayed in Idyllwild the rest of the trip.

 

[Colorado]

FYI - Muir Woods requires a reservation for all personal vehicles and shuttles.

 

[MeanDean]

A possible day trip while you're in LA is to Santa Catalina Island. We enjoyed it, albeit 30 years ago. Especially cool if the kids haven't already been on vacation to a sort of tropical island setting.

 

[1100011CS]

I think the kids would like Alcatraz. I sure did

 

[Buster28]

Never been there but would love to see the Redwood forests, I would think that would fit into your hiking, biking portion.

There are plenty of places to see redwoods up close and personal without having to drive ALL the way up the coast. They are scattered around the Bay Area - in SF and the campus at Cal in Berkeley. Plus, Muir Woods is a redwood preserve. Also, there is Armstrong woods in Sonoma County (Sun Country flies seasonally into Santa Rosa from MSP). The farther up the coast you go, the thicker the redwood groves become until nearly all the trees are redwoods. The giant sequoias are more inland around the Sierras.

A couple of years ago, Humboldt County made some commercials that aired during Giants games to promote tourism that played off the idea of Alice in Wonderland.

 

[norcalcy]

If it was me and I was traveling with three kids, I would choose either a Nor Cal or a So Cal trip. Doing both is pretty ambitious. Getting from LA to San Francisco by car kills at least a day, and as cool as the PCH might be, the boredom factor would set in pretty quickly for your young ones. Couple that with the traffic you would fight both at origin and at destination. The Bay Area is a b@#th to get around these days.

You could probably attach a Yosemite stop to either a northern or southern California trip, but be warned that place is really crowded in the Summer. If you're leaning towards LA / So Cal, the Universal Studios theme park would likely be a hit. Hard to beat a couple days on LA / San Diego beaches.

I would concur with Knapp, Lassen Park is an off the trail cool place in northern CA. Kind of like a mini Yellowstone. It's isolated and takes a while to get up there though.

Things usually start to slow down a little bit in Lake Tahoe in August since a lot of California schools start back up in early August.

 

[deadeyededric]

Can't go wrong in the Bay area. I'd really like to go up to Mt. Shasta sometime. I think I'd like to live in the Chico area someday maybe.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Every August we plan a family vacation as a last hurrah of summer before the wife and kids head back to school. The last couple of years we have let the kids pick the destination since they are somewhat old enough to make a reasonable request. This year they requested a trip to California. No specifics or locations, just California.

Looking to spend at least a week on the trip. Sun Country and Delta out of MSP has really cheap flights to LAX and SFO. We will be in Minnesota anyways ahead of time so will most likely fly out of the twin cities.

I need help from the collective brain trust on here with some ideas as to what to do. I've been to San Diego, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree NP, and San Fransisco/Silicon Valley but never with kids. I'd love to take them to Joshua Tree if that fits but it's not necessary due to it's location. I'm assuming one day we may try to hit DisneyLand so that could also check off the need to ever do a damn Disney trip in the future. My kids are 12, 9, and 6. Not overly into touristy stuff, they enjoy hiking, beach, rides, bikes, etc. Plans are to most likely rent a car for the week so we can be mobile as well. Would rather not stay in one place the whole time either.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

And before anyone mentions Wally World I already brought that up!!

If you aren't driving this probably won't work...but we drove down the coast highway in the summer of 2001, from SF to LA. It was just the two of us, but we're not "touristy" people. We were in no hurry, kept pulling into the overlooks & climbing around on rocks and playing in tide pools. We saw sea otters, a couple of whales, and a whole beach full of elephant seals. Very fun trip...
Unfortunately, I don't think the highway is intact any more due to mudslides in the intervening years.