CA Jan coastal road trip plans
 

My husband and I are planning a 2 wk road trip this winter. Preliminary plans are to fly into San Francisco from Indy on or around Dec 28th and fly out of San Diego on Jan 11th. We're hoping to spend a couple days in San Francisco then head north on the coastal highway to Mendocino, spend a day or two there or abouts and then slowly make our way back down to San Diego. We're planning to visit San Francisco Maritime museum, Golden Gate Park, Humboldt Redwoods pk, Point Reyes seashore, Heast Castle, J. Paul Getty Museum, Queen Mary, Joshua Tree National Park, etc. Do these plans sound feasible? Any suggestions . . . places we should/shouldn't visit?

You should have no problem with your list. Be sure to drive Highway 1 through Big Sur. If you can spend the time, stay at Deetjens it is a lodge built in the 30's and is on the historic register. All rooms are individually decorated and are so quaint. Many have woodburning fireplaces and the little restaurant is so romantic! Also, have a drink and take in the view of the coastline from Nepenthe in Big Sur. Joshua Tree is wonderful in the winter. For a day trip drive in and have a picnic in Jumbo Rocks campground. Hidden Valley will be the first campground you come to but is very popular with climbers and very busy. Jumbo Rocks will be quieter. Have a drink in San Francisco at the Buena Vista near Fisherman's Wharf you will have a view of the Golden Gate from the barstools and they invented the Irish Coffee. It is still the best one I have had to date. Have fun!!!

Be sure to bring rain gear.

R5

RD has a major point. It could be rainy, and Hwy 1 may have mud slides that time of year. So watch the weather and road conditions.

Yep - definitely be flexible in your plans. Weather may require you to make some changes along the way. If the weather cooperates, then it will be a fabulous trip - wintertime is beautiful here. The storms are neat too, esspecially when you are on the coast, but unfortunately they can make for some slow driving, and even road closures as mentioned.

But there are ways around - for example, if slides in Big Sur make it impassible, you can stay an extra night in Monterey and drive part way into Big Sur, then back to Monterey and head south on Hwy 101 instead of 1.

A benefit of travelling this time of year, with the exception of New Years, lodging should be fairly easy to come by, so if you need to rearrange some things due to the weather, it shouldn't be difficult.

Check out sunset.com (a magazine geared towards western living) for articles on points of interest, towns, restaurants, etc. on your route. You'll find lots of great ideas here.

Those sound good, but you'll probably want to see more than just those couple things in each city, right? I would count on 3 days in SF and 3 days in LA so you can see the major things there. Then one night for all your other stops on the way down via the scenic coast.

Thanks for all the suggestions - you have been most helpful! Yes, I only mentioned some of the things we plan to do. We're still a little concerned that it most certainly WILL rain and may pose some problems. We get a lot of rain here in IN and are certainly used to it but not mud slides!

Which brings me to another question regarding remaining flexible with our plans. We have found that unless we absolutely need to make hotel reservations in advance, we prefer "going with the flow". Of course we always make advance reservations during holidays, when large crowds are expected, for our first and last night when flying, etc. Is this a bad idea for this trip? Or would it be better to make nightly reservations knowing we may need to cancel them?

We, too, are fond of traveling without reservations except where common-sense truly dictates. And the Big Sur area is one of those places--there're just not many lodging choices.

It all sounds fun and very doable. I am not trying to sound negative, but perhaps this will lead to further discussion. I live near San Fran and I almost never go as far north as Mendocino. It's not a particularly easy drive. I can hardly imagine going all the way up there and then facing a trip all the way south to San Diego.

If you want to see Redwoods, there are Redwoods along the way south from San Francisco, as well as close by in Muir Woods. I recommend seeing the big trees, for sure.

And you will see the lovely coast all along the way. Point Reyes seashore is wonderful. Point Lobos in the Carmel area is beyond wonderful.

I wonder what others think of skipping Mendocino.

It will be a wonderful trip - and if it rains you can probably drive down the Big Sur coast a shorter distance just to get the idea - and then return to Carmel and drive down an easier route to Cambria.

Have Fun!

I agree that Mendocino is a destination best enjoyed overnight or longer - it's not an afternoon jaunt out of San Francisco. It would be easy to insert Mendocino as a destination on the way to Humboldt County. You'd get out to the Mendocino coast via Route 128 (I'm assuming here that Terriano wants to stay in the town of Mendocino) and after that, proceed northward on Highway 1. Highway 1 swings inland after the village of Westport and joins 101 at Leggett, from where you drive to Eureka or wherever else you are staying in the Humboldt area. It's not a overly diffucult drive, but the Highway 1 portion north of Mendocino to Leggett has a lot of curvy twists and turns - not a lot of fun in rainstorm.

Then, the drive back down ...... it's a lot of driving, but some people love road trips.

I think you will find that driving in rain in coastal California to be a lot different than in Indiana. We don't get the quantity of rain that you get, but with the terrain combined with 2 lane roads, it can be an experience.

I live in San Jose and have family over the hill in the Santa Cruz/Watsonville area - and I have been stuck over on the coast on more than one occasion due to rain and mud slides. There have been other times when I have had to try 3 different routes before I found an open road.

Regarding reservations - I would be inclined to make reservations ahead of time with the posibility of canceling or changing them based on weather.

Last winter we went down the Big Sur coast during a major storm--the electricity was out in the area near Hearst Castle. We did that road both ways in one day from Monterey down to Hearst Castle and back. If you have driven on mountain roads, you should have no problems. If there are slides, the road will be closed at the first available turn-off.

As for seeing the redwoods. I suggest taking 101 up to the redwoods (Avenue of the Giants and the Rockefeller Grove would be my choice to see) and then go back to Mendocino via highway 1.

Take a wi-fi capable laptop along, and check www.traffic.com and www.dot.ca.gov to stay abreast of road conditions. Caltrans is really good at putting things online in a timely manner.

About eight miles north of Hearst Castle is Peidras Blancas. Elephant seals return each winter now after many years of being gone from this site.

I have met people from your neck of the woods who made that a prime stop.

We travel about an hour north each winter to view them and about half the time we are in a slight rain.

There are rangers that are helpful but the best experience is to just watching them. Depnding on the month you may see bulls fight and mate, females give birth, and pups huddle around.

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/piedras.html

bookmarking.

In LA and SF, I would at least come with an idea of an area where you want to stay and hotels in your price range. If price is not a factor, then it doesn't matter.

Unless you're ok with motels, you should be willing to pay around $150-200 for coastal town hotels. If not, you may want to do some research there ahead of time too.