Planning a road trip from Salem, Oregon to San Francisco, CA in December. Have several days in Oregon first, then 4 days/3 nights to get to San Fran (approx 10-12 hour drive straight), and 4 days/3 nights staying in San Fran city (including New Years Eve). <BR> <BR>Interested in stopping at sights along the way. Any suggestions on places to see (national parks, forests, waterfalls, coast line drives, snow)... <BR>- along the Oregon coast? <BR>- along the northern CA coast? <BR>- day trips out of San Fran? <BR> <BR>Additionally, suggestions of places to stay between central OR and San Fran would be great. <BR> <BR>Thanks

Kari, I'd recommend going down the coast..US 20 to Newport, then US 101 all the way to the junction with Cal. SR1, then SR1 until you cross the Golden Gate Bridge. Along the way, you'll see the beautiful Oregon coast, maybe in stormy conditions (wonderful), then the redwoods, and finally the northern Calif. coast, through Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Good stops IMO would be around Gold Beach on the Oregon coast, then a leisurely drive through the redwoods, overnighting somewhere around Eureka (hit the Samoa Cookhouse in Samoa, nearby), then finally in Mendocino on SR1. <BR>The weather may be wet and windy but better than foggy or snowy along I-5 in southern Oregon, the Siskyous, or the northern part of the Sacramento Valley.

There is a small town on the coast of Oregon called Yachats. Although there is not much to the town, there is a lodge there called Overleaf. The views are spectacular, and the lodge is beautiful. We spent a week there in the summer, but I would love to go back to watch the storms come in. Patsy

I have often stayed in Gold Beach but that's only because there are so many motel rooms and motels that it's cheap. It's not a scenic town at all and that area has quite flat and featureless beaches. Much nicer to the north or south of Gold Beach. And Eureka is depressing. A lumber town down in the dumps plus the weather is quite notorious bad there (overcast and rainy and foggy). We've stayed overnight there 5 times and every time the weather was bad even in the summer.

I second the Oregon Coast idea. Yachats is located near a rocky section of the coast where the waves can put on quite a show when driven by a strong wind into the rocks. <BR>South of Crescent City, you might want to consider driving along US 101 through <BR>Sequoia sempervirons groves. Some of the area is within a National Park; other groves, like the Humboldt Redwoods, are in state parks. A good map will show you where to find the trees. You can easily eat up the time you mention. <BR>One thing I might add: traffic across the Golden Gate Bridge can become very backed up upon occasion. I remember one Labor Day evening, we hit a total stoppage of traffic north of the bridge and were stuck in traffic for over 2 hours trying to cover 15 miles.

We liked Mendocino, when we travelled N Ca a couple of years ago. We stayed at the Stanford Inn, which has a great view of the ocean (although it's about a half a mile away, and across the road from the beach.) I will warn you: Stanford is a "grow-their-own-food-kinda-place" and they don't do meat. But the rooms are great and spacious - very elegant. Mendocino is a funky, artist town. Great little shops and restaurants. Just south of San Francisco, I'd recommend a trip to Santa Cruz (a college town - lots of youth and vigor there) and another funky little artist town, Capitola.

If you visit Mendocino and you think it is familiar, it's because it was Cabot Cove on Murder, She Wrote all those years. Much of the show was filmed there and the hotel they used all the time in the show is actually there --called the Hill House Inn, I think. It is a charming town. <BR>One point about the drive south from there to San Francisco. We did it in the summer and I still refer to it as the wildest drive we ever did. Not sure if it has improved or not, but there were many hairpin turns with no guardrails and I felt like I was hanging off the side of a cliff. We have driven many highways including the Great Ocean Road in Australia and the Amalfi Drive in Italy, but that California coastal road remains in my mind as the scariest. <BR>Normally I would suggest a side trip to Crater Lake in Oregon and an overnight at the wonderfully redone lodge right on the edge of that spectacular lake. But I would doubt you would be able to get in at this late date.

Don't miss the Dunes area just off the Oregon coast. It's like a small inland desert a mile or two in from the coast, quite large in size and truly unique - not to be missed.

I would take Highway 101 all the way down. I think it is also called the Redwood Highway. My husband, daughter and I just did the drive. <BR> <BR>You will go thru spectucular Redwood groves, and the sweetest quaint small towns. <BR> <BR>Cresent City, Scotcia (has a beautiful bed and breakfast, The Scotcia Inn, stayed there, fabulous!!!), Trinidad, Mendicino...every little coastal town is great. Eureka is cool too. The weather may be a bit foggy in each town, but mostly burns off. It is part of the ambiance. <BR> <BR>Try to get your hands on a AAA travel book of CA. Follow the highway down, noting each town in between. It refers to history, historic places, and points of interest. It is great! <BR> <BR>Have fun...we did.