California
 

I would appreciate some help on planning our trip.

We are hoping to travel to California in the summer of 2012 with my brother and his family. There will be 8 of us travelling and none of us have been to California before. (We have only been to NY before and my brother and his family have never been to the States.)

We both have two boys; ours will be 19 and 18 and my brother's are 19 and 12. We usually travel via home exchange and have been offered the use of a home in Malibu plus their condo in Mammoth Lakes. Not knowing the area at all (or having any concept of distances and what is reasonable to see and what isn't (distancewise) )- what things should we really not miss. Is it worth taking up their offer of a stay in Mammoth Lakes?

If we were to add another location to our itinerary where do you suggest we opt for - north to SF or south to SD? My brother and his family would be able to travel for two maybe three weeks, we would be able to stay a little longer.

As background, my husband always wanted to go to California (he event got his visa back in the early 1970's as a uni student) but never made the trip. It was his plan to do the 'Golden Triangle' (LA, SF and Vegas / the Grand Canyon). He retires this year and this will be our first trip post retirement (and the first 'big' trip travelling with my brother and his family). I want it to be a trip that everyone enjoys - adults and kids.

All suggestions gratefully received!

From Malibu to Mammoth Lakes is about 330 miles and about 5.5 hours driving. Mammoth Lakes will generally be 10 to 15 degrees cooler on any given day.
By all means, go to Mammoth and then go over the Tioga Pass into Yosemite National Park.
The other option from Mammoth is to go through Death Valley NP on the way to Las Vegas. There are many bus and even helicopter tours from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. Rental vehicles are cheaper in Las Vegas than in Southern California.
Also plan on seeing Sequoia/ Kings Canyon National Park.
Others will chime in on what to see in the Malibu area.

I think Malibu, Mammoth Lakes, San Francisco, and a drive down the coast on Hwy 1 would be PERFECT.

Perhaps a good plan would be:

- 5-8 days at Malibu

- 5-6 days At Mammoth with a couple of day-trips to Yosemite.

- 5-7 days in San Francisco

- Drive 2 1/2 hrs down to Carmel & spend 2 nights there

- Head down our beautiful Hwy 1 - visiting Pt Lobos (just outside of Carmel) and spend 1 night in Big Sur. Dine at Nepenthe.

- Continue down beautiful Hwy 1, perhaps visit Hearst Castle if you are not from Europe & therefore have not visited many castles.

- Fly home from Santa Barbara or LA.

Here are my San Francisco Bay Area ideas
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

>>go through Death Valley NP <<

Not sure I would do that in the summer

Stu Dudley

That's why I said "go through". Spend more time in your air conditioned rental car than out in the baking sun in Death Valley. Use LV or Henderson as the base if you want to drive the rental car to the Grand Canyon instead of taking a tour.
Stop for a tour of Hoover Dam if you have the time.

Mammoth is a great place to be in the summer. So much to do!

Adding another vote for Mammoth. We spend a week near Mammoth in September every year, and it's never enough time.

There is much to see along Highway 395 on the way to Mammoth. Beautiful scenery, interesting geology, the world's oldest trees, lakes, a ghost town... A few links for information:

http://www.desertusa.com/mag07/jul07/fossil.html

http://www.viamagazine.com/road-trip...as-highway-395
[Written as if driving north to south.]

http://www.viamagazine.com/destinati...lly-old-growth

http://www.latimes.com/travel/printe...,1082199.story

Thanks for all the information and the links - some great advice!

(Unfortunately I couldn't open the Via magazine links as they needed me to input a local ZIP code :(.)

StuDudley your linked post is fantastic - so much information. Thank you!

Don't miss the Bodie State Historical Park while in the Mammoth area:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...th/4855486766/

Hastobe_Katt, try typing in 95405.

Thanks for the pictures Michael and the code worked perfectly Jean - thanks!