Flying in to San Jose, CA from Delaware.
We have all day Thursday to kill between Woodside and Half Moon Bay and half a day between Mtn. View and San Jose. Have to be at the airport by 4pm. We have a car, my husband wants to see the Pacific and some Redwoods.Any suggestions?

I would spend Thursday along the San Mateo county coast. It is a really interesting place - mostly rural with a few small towns, good beaches for beachcombing, farms, and so on.

Half Moon Bay it a nice town - the downtown has some eclectic shops and small restaurants. There is the harbor area as well.

Pescadero is a tiny little town. It's claim to fame is a restaurant called Duarte's Tavern - local place owned by the same family for a few generations, specialize in local food. The beach at Pescadero is great as is the marsh - good birdwatching there. Just behind Pescadero is Butano State Park, which is one of my favorites. Beautiful redwood forests there - mostly second growth, so you don't have the really large trees, but just a beautiful place.

For larger trees, there are some good groves a bit further south in the Santa Cruz mountains - Big Basin is a good place to go. You could go there the day you fly out - no problem to do some wandering around and a picnic at Big Basin and then get to the airport by 4.

You could head down to Santa Cruz as well. If you like wine, the Santa Cruz mountains have some good wineries.

J always has good ideas for this area!

I add that Duartes is VERY rustic and plain and uncharming....yet one of those places that locals love. HMB has a couple of other good restaurants...Pasta Moon and Cetrella which are both very nice. The Ritz Carlton is stunning, right on the water, and a nice experience...though always pricey for whatever you do there. However, it is a good place to experience the Pacific.

if you are in Woodside anyway, you can take 84 all the way over to the ocean. It is a bit windy - as in, the road winds... so just take it easy and don't feel pushed by the car behind you that drives too close to you...just maintain your comfortable speed and it's fine. you should come back on 92, though.

Mountain View and San Jose... Well, Stanford Shopping Center is probably among the best of what it is..and it is outdoors. Good enough restaurants there, too, for lunch. Nice Apple store in downtown Palo Alto. Stanford University is very scenic and has a large Rodin Sculpture garden outside, as well as a very respectable museum, the Cantor.

Mountain View is known for its ethnic restaurants...so you can go there for that reason only....but truly the entire area between MV and SJ is loaded with excellent ethnic cuisine, so you can have what you want anywhere. You don't have to go to MV. The area from Mv to SJ is really just one big suburban sprawl and not especially interesting. The best food is in Menlo Park and Palo Alto. Don't even bother with Los Altos.

The next interesting venue is Santana Row, which is in San Jose and convenient to what you are doing. Worth a few hours if you stay and eat and walk around.

Oh, and the redwoods are in the parks between woodside and the ocean. There is also Huddart Park right in Woodside, off 84 as you drive west. Easy to get in and out.

Try to go to Big Basin Park--beautiful trees and deer.

Thanks so much everyone. I always get the best suggestions here. It all sounds like exactly what we're looking for. We did find Big Basin info. It's nice to know that we can do that and still make the airport. We thought it may have been too far.
Thanks again.

Big Basin definitely isn't too far to get to the airport in time. It is actually very close to San Jose. We are so spoiled here - so many great things so close by.

Huddart Park is actually on Kings Mtn. Road, a very steep and narrow road that comes off of Hwy 84 to the right just after you pass through "downtown" Woodside. 84 makes a turn to the left and the park just off 84 along this stretch is Wunderlich Park. There's an impressive old stable barn there near the entrance parking lot. Both these parks stretch all the way up the slope to Hwy 35 (aka Skyline Blvd.) which runs along the ridgetop from Hwy 92 to Hwy 9. There are parks all along Hwy 35 on both sides of the road, with lots of second growth redwoods and the ocassional bit of old growth. At the top, where 84 and 35 intersect, there's Alice's Restaurant (named for the Arlo Guthrie song, but not the original one the song was written about-if there even was an original one). Somewhat gourmet burgers and regular American dishes, and their own line of beers and ales. Farther north on Hwy 35, between 84 and 92, are two more upscale restaurants, the Mountain House and Bella Vista, both have websites, search on their names and "Woodside". They both have limited opening hours, and may require reservations.

If you continue on 84 on the west side of 35, you'll be heading down again, and will reach the little village of La Honda about halfway to the coast. There's a biker bar there called Applejacks, also has a website that hasn't been updated in years, but will give you an idea of what it's all about. Basically just having a beer or two (no food). It's popular with the Harley crowd, but not intimidating for others, has an uneven wooden floor, a couple of pool tables. Although much of the clientele wears leather chaps or jeans and boots, you won't be made uncomfortable if you show up in a business suit. Well maybe you could lose the jacket and tie before going in, but it's a pretty easygoing place.

Nearby is the Heritage Grove of old growth redwoods, aabout a mile down Pescadero Road off of Hwy 84, and then the very end of Alpine Road, again a very narrow stretch but you only have to go a short way to reach Heritage Grove.

There's a great map of the whole area with links to park maps and panoramic scenes of the parks at:
http://www.virtualparks.org/regions/...-qtvr-map.html

Perfect information. We're actually going for the Bridge School Benefit Concert to benefit the school that Neil Young and his wife Pegi started for handicapped children. We're also attending a festival for Neil's fanbase of "Rusties" and have a meal planned at the Mtn. House which I think is down the road from Alice's. This info sounds like it will fill the time between events very nicely for us and I thank everyone very much.
Denise