Help! Need a good road trip idea from SF for Thanksgiving
 

Hey all,

My wife and I are looking to get out of the city for Thanksgiving. We live in San Francisco and just moved out to the west coast.

What are your thoughts of driving North vs. South for the long weekend? If North, I saw we could do Mendocino, and South we could do Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur? Any other ideas? We're trying to figure out which direction to head. We'll be leaving next Wednesday midday and coming back Sunday evening.

Thanks for the help!

Dan

Or is Lake Tahoe worth it this time of year, or out of season?

Winter isn't "out of season" at Tahoe, it's ski season:
http://www.fodors.com/world/north-am...ia/lake-tahoe/

Another possibility to the east, I love, and now live in, Gold Country along Hwy 49 in the Sierra Foothills. Here's an index to my blogs about the area around Grass Valley & Nevada City:
http://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/port...try-california

I really love the drive to Mendocino, with a stop in Booneville (in fact, I prefer to stay in Booneville). The Anderson Valley has a ton of good wineries, and loads of natural beauty--the Mendonoma coast is unbelievable. The town of Mendocino is a tad twee for me, but it's undeniably lovely. I think that whole area makes a terrific long weekend destination.

OTOH, the Monterey Peninsula has a lot to recommend it: food, nature, parks, towns to stroll. We used to live there, and there's no end of things to do. Point Lobos is a must see. The town of Carmel is lovely. Wineries nearby, too.

You don't mention Sonoma--perhaps you're not into wine? That's OK, but if you are, Healdsburg makes a great base for exploring the area.

Enjoy, wherever you go!

You will be in the mess of traffic coming and going. Try to leave Tuesday or Thanksgiving morning. Return Saturday or very early, before 10 am, on Sunday.

That also occurred to me, MichelleY, but one may have had to experience it to fully appreciate the enormity of the possibility. I was once stuck in what seemed to be a parking lot on a holiday weekend, on 80 from San Francisco almost to Sacramento. I'm sure north and south are much the same. But it's hard to explain when trying to advise those who've made plans.

All of these places, Tahoe, Mendocino, Carmel and Gold Country/Sierra foothills are popular Thanksgiving weekend retreats for numerous Bay Area residents. So whatever you decide, you should quickly try to make some reservations, because I suspect that you may not have many prime choices.

Mme- I-5 is terrible also. Bumper to Bumper with everyone going 80. You have to go with the flow of speed demons heading from the Bay Area back to LA.

Do try to heed Michelle's advice about timing your departure and return. The traffic on all highways can be horrendous.

My DD and her friend left a 11 am on the Sunday after Thanksgiving to go from Sacramento to San Luis Obispo. A 5 hour trip took 8 hours.

wow thanks for all the advice! appreciate it!

While the highways out of the Bay Area will be swamped, if you choose to take secondary and scenic routes, for instance Hwy 1 south from SF down the coast to more northerly areas along Monterey Bay, (Capitola comes to mind), it might be a less congested, but equally nice option.