Well, either place I'm sure the weather will be better than the weather in Boston in February!!

California and LV are totally different vacations. California is about beautiful scenery, coastal views, museums, history, outdoors, laid back culture. LV is pretty much about the casinos and the resorts.

Northern California gets rainy winters, so if you come to CA, be prepared for some rain. Our storms generally last a day or two and then clear out, so that chances of rain the entire week is pretty small. The temperatures are usually in the 50s and 60s. Sometimes we get some absolutely glorious weather in Feb - sun, warm temps.

With a week, flying into SF, I would probably split the time between SF and the Monterey area.

Thanks for the info! IS there any area in Cal. that would be warmer in Feb.? What about Vegas weather? Would it be warm enough to lay out by the pool?

It might be warm enough in Palm Springs to lay out by the pool, but very likely not. The weather is unpredictable, but February is the middle of Ca.'s rainy season.
I don't think Vegas will be warm enough either, and many hotel pools will be closed.
Too bad you can't go to Hawaii or Mexico !!

Southern California will be drier than northern California in February, but it isn't likely to be warm enough to lay out by the pool anywhere at that time. You might get lucky and be here during a heat wave, but usually the weather is too chilly for laying out that time of year.

February is still winter, and although it will be warmer in CA and NV than in Boston, it probably won't be balmy-- although exceptions can't be ruled out.

Vegas' weather will be "fine" in that it won't be dumping three feet of snow. It may rain, it may be sunny, but in all probability it won't claw out of the 60s, temperature-wise. Some resorts do have heated pools year-round, but it's not suntan weather. And I'd be hard-pressed to spend a week in Vegas.

You'd have plenty to fill a week in northern or southern CA. In the San Francisco area, you've gotten good ideas (beautiful and interesting places like Napa/Sonoma, Monterey, Carmel). In the southern half of the state, beautiful coastal areas like Santa Barbara, Malibu, Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, San Juan Capistrano, La Jolla, San Diego.... And the wildness of Los Angeles and its huge variety of neighborhoods and attractions.

beachgirl, regardless of what you finally decide on for a destination, I would suggest that make that choice as quickly as you can and book the free seats as soon as you possibly can. Depending on the cost of the paid fares, you may choice to wait on those if you're not turning up decent deals, since you have plenty of time. While there are no blackout dates on those bump vouchers, the tickets are "capacity controlled". That means that it can be difficult to find available seats. (They are in "W" class on Northwest, which is the same inventory that minimum level award tickets come from. You'll be competing with others in your school system who want to cash in during the same period.)

For February, my top picks would include San Diego and South Florida for weather, but San Francisco is still likely to be a considerable improvement over Boston weather at that time, so I certainly wouldn't rule it out. It's a great destination.

I love both cities and think you'd have a great time in either place. However, a week in Vegas is a long time. I love Vegas and only stay for 3-4 days max.

Thanks for the suggestions! Our choices are definitely limited, and it's too bad it won't be that warm in either place. Question about California: if we wanted to split the time time between Northern California and Southern California, how long of a drive is it between the two?

That depends on what you mean by south and north California.

The distance between San Diego ad Crescent City (most northern city on the coast) is about 850 miles.

The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is about 375 miles.

If you are talking LA to SF, it's about a 6 hour drive on I-5. This drive is fast, but not very scenic. In the wintertime, fog is a factor which may make driving difficult.

A more scenic, but still fairly fast alternative is Hwy 101 which follows the coast from LA north to about Santa Barbara and then cuts inland, goes back to the coast around Pismo Beach and then inland again until you get to SF. It's a nice route which will take you through rolling green hills with valley oaks.

The BEST route for scenery is Hwy 1 from San Luis Obispo up to Monterey - this goes through the spectacular Big Sur coast which is one of the most beautiful in the world. This route take significantly longer and should be broken up into 2 days. This route is 2 lanes and hugs the side of a cliff, so driving it during a storm is not advisable.

Thanks for the info. -- how long would driving the Big Sur coast take? And how long would the second route (Hwy 101) take?

Currently they are having a $40 one way ticket deal between Vegas and L.A., a deal that pops up every now and then, so you could actually see both states without spending too much $$ if you really wanted to.

Whenever I have guests in California in December, they get maybe one rainy day...and in February my guests always get 4 or 5 rainy days. Just a co-incidence, I know...but.

Most of the pools in Las Vegas are closed in winter..but you can still lay out in the sun if you like. Vegas can be very cold though in winter.

LA to SF on Hwy 101 should take 6 or 7 hours.

LA to SF on Hwy 1 should take about 10 hours. This route should be split into 2 days minimum, not only because of the driving time, but because there is so much to see along the way that if you hurry through it, you miss a lot, and the road through Big Sur, is narrow and curvey, so the driver has to really pay attention.

If you opt for Hwy 1, I would recommend staying either in the Cambria area or the Monterey area.