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We are heading to California for our honeymoon this October. Most likely flying in and out of San Fran. We are planning of driving round over about 2 and a half weeks doing a bit of a loop.
We will be going to Yosemite national park and we are seeing some friends just north of LA for a couple of days. Have started thumbing the guide books but can anyone recommmend any must see places or hidden treasures that I can impress the future wife with?
Also is there anywhere we can head to for a day or more's riding that has something she can do too, i.e. bike hire with easy to find trails etc? (bad experience on our previous attempt at her mtbing)
Cheers,
Some useful stuff here http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/if-there-are-any-usa-mtbers-on-here
I passing through can recomend the padre hotel downtown on a weeknight
Really nice but individual hotel a good change from holiday ins
Santa cruz is nice - stayed in a v nice art deco style
Hotel overlooking the beach (booked through expedia), nice place for part of a honeymoon
Julia Pfeiffer beach in Big Sur.
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EDIT: When in October?, are you there for halloween? The San Francisco Street party has to be seen to be believed!!!
McWay Falls on Highway 1
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Edit: beaten to it
Eurika is apparently the dope growing capital of California! 😯
Napa valley is worth a visit.
If you are lucky you may be able to book a room at the Alwanhee hotel in yosemite well worth it, probably the best place i have ever stayed.
they eat early there - getting a meal after 9 pm is very difficult.
My wife and I did this exact trip two years ago. In and out of San Fran, driving around and visiting Yosemite, over two weeks.
Re: that beach above, you can't get onto Julia Pfeiffer beach - it is a park or reserve or something, so you can wonder along the cliff path and take a picture but that's it. However the Big Sur drive is an absolute highlight and I would say a must do. That beach is just one of the stops along the way.
The way we did it was as follows – spent a day driving back from Yosemite to the coast at Monterey - really nice town. Day there and then left the next morning took in the Monterey peninsular en route to Big Sur (the peninsular is ace). If you are a golfer it’s really good as you can get into Pebble Beach and have a good nose around (it is a public course and there is no dress code for visitors). You can even play if you’ve got the readies (it was $500 a round when I asked! I didn’t play…)
We drove the Big Sur in both directions, which I think is worth it as you get both aspects of it. One day it was cloudy/foggy and we didn't see that much, then on the way back it was glorious. It's worth doing in both directions to get a contingency day as the weather/visibility is changeable to say the least.
There is a beach south of the Big Sur, once it all gets a bit flat, with elephant seals – really cool.
Car Hire:
- Don't get your hire car until the day you leave San Fran. The parking costs are mental and the public transport is excellent - you won't need the car until you leave town.
- GPS – is a god send. The road signage is garbage and who wants to faff with maps? We took our own Garmin and bought the north America maps as it was better value than renting one.
Other highlights:
In San Fran…
- Alcatraz, obviously.
- Breakfast at Dotties True Blue Café – worth the queue. Too cool for school locals will probably say it is too touristy now, and that may be but it was awesome. The area it is in is v close to the centre but quite run down, lots of homeless people hanging about.
- San Fran cable cars – great fun.
- Pub at the fishermans wharf with something like 80 draft beers. (need I say more?)
- Cycle the Golden Gate to Sausalito. It's an easy ride and you can get the ferry back. You can extend the ride further or ride back if you are both good cyclists. Good fun.
- Clam Chowder – not a euphemism (though you are on honeymoon…)
- Yosemite is SPECTACULAR. We loved it.
Make sure you get full on 100% Deet insect repellent - in the early evening there are lots of mossies. Fine during the day (we were there in late June, this advice may vary by time of year).
You have to book early if you want to stay in or near the park. We stayed in a nearby town and had an hour drive into the park in the morning. It was fine but may be better to stay closer.
The hike to the top of the yosemite falls is only a short distance but basically straight up! It's pretty tough but we thought worth it. We were woefully underprepared with inappropriate footwear, not enough water and only moderate fitness (the Mrs is especially unfit), but made it up and down OK and enjoyed it. Make sure you set off early enough as you wouldn't want to be caught up there as it gets dark.
The giant sequoia grove is still in the park but quite a long drive, it is probably half a day’s worth of activity so there and back in a day is fine.
- Napa Valley – if you like wine I would strongly recommend a day doing a wine tour. We used Platypus tours and they were pricey but excellent. Top (but pricey) restaurants available in Napa city centre with obligatory amazing wine lists, to continue the pickling well into the evening.
Things that were a bit meh:
- Santa Cruz. Big vagrancy and drug problem there. The town is very “different”, quite old fashioned. Was ok for a day I suppose hanging out on the beach and in the amusement park. Remember the Lost Boys, the town is just like that (I don't know if it was filmed there or not)
- San Jose – only visited cos an old friend lives there, it’s just a normal town without much going on.
- Crescent Bay (or something like that) – we only went to get away from aforementioned old friend (who has turned into a knob since moving stateside), and wanted to see some Californian surfers doing their thing. It was OK.
- the Ol' Faithful Geezer in Napa Valley.
Stuff I would have liked to have done but didn’t:
- Attend a sporting event. Was outside of football season and the Giants baseball team were on a road trip. ?
- Las Vegas – the drive was too far, it would have eaten up too much of our two weeks, will have to go back.
- Grand Canyon, as above.
- Mountain biking in Marin County – the Mrs isn’t a MTB’er.
- Head up the northern coast, above San Fran. We just didn’t have the time.
- San Diego – too far.
Wow, thanks for the replies. Very helpful indeed... Going to go and have a bit more of a look at this stuff now I know what to put on my list.
If you're heading down to LA Joshua Tree may be worth a visit
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Yosemite, best view of half dome imo is from Glacier point, and the drive up to Tuolumne is great, both better than the valley itself.
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Point Lobos state reserve is another nice place to stop on Highway 1
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You have to spend a night here, [url= http://www.madonnainn.com/ ]Madonna Inn, [/url]proper whacky Americana.
Also, try to do a drive up or down the coast road, Rout 1 I think, lovely views.
Hearst Castle, the crazy residence of WR Hearst, the mad old-school billionaire Mr Burns from the Simpsons is based on.
Have a great time.
APF
if you are doing an alcatraz trip from san francisco its worth your while avoiding the crowds at the main ferry tour places. if you head into the harbour you'll find independent tours (guys with boats and beer) who will take you to the island, round the bridge etc.
probably cheaper, no need to queue and a wee bit more honeymoonish than the cattle truck/boat tours.
venice beach is good for a look, as mentioned before, quite a lot of vagrants though. huntingdon beach is also nice. vegas is a tacky tip, obviously this is only my opinion.
hope you have a good trip.
In addition to Madonna Inn tip (a must for tacky Americana), you can also see how the yanks can do it properly. Go to Deetjens Big Sur Inn. Not cheap, but wonderful. Can't recommend highly enough.
We did 2.5 weeks for honeymoon. Flew to SF, 4 days there. Then headed north to Sonoma valley (another wine valley but we were told nicer than Napa. It was lovely - stopped to see Old Faithful geyser and fainting goats).
Headed up over the course of 3 days to Lake Tahoe, and then planned to go through Yosemite to Death Valley but woke up in Tahoe to 18" of snow.
Managed to get out but Yosemite / Tioga was then impassable so we went through the towns of the Silver rush - some real ghost towns, around the bottom of the mountains and then over to Vegas. 4 days there including a helicopter ride INTO the Grand Canyon and then down the strip, and then drove back (about 4 hours) to Carmel and Monterrey. Lastly drove back up HW1, visited Hearst castel and back to SF for the return home.
Try the Carnellian Rooms in SF at the top of the bank of america building, go for sun set over the bay and a lemon sour. If you like buying music go to Ameoba Records in Haight Ashbury, it's an old bowling alley and is massive, almost too much to look at..
Alcatraz is worth a visit, go for the last tour of the day and see the city all lit ip on your way back.
Yosemite and Lake Tahoe are possibly my 2 favourite places that I have EVER been. I recommend to see both. Both are 4-5hrs drive from San Fran so easily doable.
Vegas is a days drive from either of the above (a long day), but driving through Death Valley is another amazing place.
Are you planning to go to the US/California again? If not, while it's another days drive from Vegas, the Grand Canyon has to be seen to be believed, as pictures don't show the scale of the place!
I work out of San Fran[b]cisco[/b] (the locals will chuckle every time you call it San Fran!) a lot.
It's an amazing city, one of the most civilised in the US 😉
One major recommendation......eat at [url= http://www.garydanko.com/ ]Gary Danko[/url]. Book it now.
You will struggle to find better food on the west coast and the wine list is truly outstanding. I've eaten there heaps of times and every time i take someone who hasn't been it instantly wins a place in their top 3 restaurants.
Lots has already been said, but we also went to a ghost town (Bodie) which was several miles off the main road, but well worth it - an amazing place that looks like people just upped and left overnight 100 years ago. No museum feel at all - you can just wander around, although the buildings are all locked up.
Vertigo - good to see im not the only one that thought that about venice beach !
I went last year and am going again this year in Sept, mainly MTB'ing to be honest (and we hired an RV) but I can let you have some info on any of the areas/places on a loop that we did (In order below) - just mail me if you want more info:
San Francisco - already said really, one of my favorite citys in the world. Fishermans Wharf & Alcatraz is a MUST, as is China Town if you can get there.
Marin County - The Repack is there (The place the first offical DH race took place).
Downieville and area - Traditional 'Gold Rush' area, GREAT MTB (You can hire here) and maybe a bit of panning for gold.
Lake Tahoe - Amazing Views, walks and of course MTB (You can hire here).
Take Highway 395 from Tahoe - it gives the MOST AMAZING VIEWS!!!!
Yosemite National Park - IT JUST HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED!!
Mammoth Mountain - Ski Resort in Winter/ MTB in Summer, loved it! Gondola Up and hammer down! (You can hire here).
Then we went to Las Vegas and drove through Death Valley. Like someone before said it is an EXCELLENT experience and don't forget to stop at the Museum in Furness Creek.
Instead of Vegas you can keep heading South on the 395 to get down to the LA Area - we did MTB'ing in Laguna Niguel here (San Juan this year), but we also went to Universal Studios & Knotts Berry Farm (MASSIVE Rollercoaster Park).
Then we went up Highway 1 (STUNNING DRIVE!) and like others have said, to Big Sur.
Final Stop was Santa Cruz and the MTB'ing is great, but nothing else to speak of really (we did pop into the Santa Cruz factory on spec and got the whole tour as well as a beer in the wheel building room 😀 )
Then we headed back to San Francisco and home 🙁
SF
Golden Gate Park and the Academy of Science is worth a visit (living roof)
A lot of the museums were free on a Tuesday.. Legion of Honour is impressive
Its a place though where every street there is something to see or a view
Bit further east but I would suggest Goblin Valley and Bryce Canyon. 2 favourites of a whistle stop tour of SF/LA/Vegas I did several years ago.
Both really nice areas to walk and if you are prepared to walk more than 1/2 a mile you get away from all the crowds and it's great.
They are both in Utah so why not head overf to Moab and hire a bike (Slickrock may be bit much for your OH but lots of other trails)
Goblin Valley
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Bryce Canyon
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We'd have loved to have done Yosemite / Tioga but we got the first winter snows. We were married on Oct 21st so at a guess would have been about 27th when we were there. We did ask when the Tioga pass would reopen....... April we were told!
Still gives us an excuse to go back