jerio

I will be travelling up the California Coast with my kids (ages 10 & 13) in mid-July. We will be starting in the LA area on a Wed. and meeting my husband in San Francisco on Fri for the weekend. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on moderately priced hotels and sight seeing ideas. We will be stopping at Hearst Castle and Alcatraz on this trip. BTW-we are So Cal natives so we are very familiar with the weather and the traffic.
Thanks in advance for any help

Quahog

I wouldn't miss 17 mile drive. It is incredibly beautiful! It's cool to walk out to the 18th hole at Pebble Beach.

november_moon

It looks like you have 3 days and 2 nights, which is pretty good. And you will be travelling mid-week so you won't really run into the issues with 2-night minimum stays at hotels.

I'd do something like this:

Wed: leave LA in the morning and stop in Santa Barbara to see the mission and have lunch. I think the kids learn California history in 4th grade, so your 10 year old is the perfect age to be visiting the missions.

Then head up to Pismo Beach (or Morro Bay or San Simeon) to stay the night. I like Pismo with kids because they have a nice wide beach and lots of casual restaurants. I've stayed at the Cottage Inn, which is on the bluffs overlooking the ocean. There are stairs nearby down to the beach.

Morro Bay is fun too - they have a waterfront where you can see the boats and several restaurants overlooking the harbor. Cambria is great for adults, but I don't think it has much to offer kids.

Thu: Go to Hearst Castle in the morning - I'd pre-reserve tickets to get the first tour of the morning. Then head up through Big Sur, stopping at plenty of places along the way. Make sure one of your stops is Point Lobos, which is beautiful. There are lots of easy trails and some great tide pools to check out. Then stay the night in the Monterey area.

I like the Portola Hotel in Monterey because it is in a good, walkable location near the wharf and downtown. There are lots of other good choices too though.

Fri: Monterey to SF is only a couple hours' drive, so you can do a fair amount this day before heading up there. I'd choose 1 or 2 things depending on your interests: visit the aquarium, take a boat tour on the bay, take a kayak tour, rent bikes and ride around Monterey, boat tour of Elkhorn Slough, go to Capitola Village and check out the beach and the shops, go to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz (if I were 10 or 13, I think this would be my 1st choice).

I think I'd leave 17 Mile drive off the list though. You'll already be in the car a fair amount these 3 days and there isn't much on 17 Mile drive to interest kids. I grew up in Santa Cruz and we used to take visitors to see 17 Mile Drive - I always thought it was really boring - LOL.

janisj

"if anyone could give me some advice on moderately priced hotels"

What do you consider 'moderate'-- what is your budget?

sf7307

November_Moon knows that I think 17-Mile Drive is super-gorgeous, but she's right that it's "just" scenery and might not interest your kids.

Jean

Just north of San Simeon, stop at Piedras Blancas to look at the elephant seals. In July, there should be many young males showing off and pushing each other around.

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

http://www.elephantseal.org/

tenthumbs

I, too, would forego 17 Mile Drive with the kids. While it is exquisitely beautiful, it's lost on kids......or at least it was lost on the 4 teenagers we took!!

Novembermoon's recommendations, especially regarding the Central Coast, are excellent. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is wonderful; buy tickets online beforehand. If kayaking is your first choice, be sure to have a backup plan~we have gone to Monterey for the last 4 years for a bike race, and have yet to kayak because of the wind. My daughter LOVES the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz......

jerio

These have been great ideas and I truly appreciate all your help.
We will be going to Hearst Castle first thing Wed. morning. Will take your advice and do the tour 1st thing. Should we just drive straight up to Monterey after and see Cannery Row, etc? We will stay that night and go to the Aquarium on Thursday so we have all day there.
Moderately priced hotels for me would be about $100/night.
When I was young (many moons ago), I remember my parents taking me to the Winchester House. Is that still there?

jerio

I just re-read November Moon's post and i will definately do Big Sur and the Santa Cruz pier (can I do both in the same day as Hearst?). I also like the idea to stop at Piedras Blancas (thx Jean).
I will probably stop in Santa Barbara for lunch or early dinner and try to get close to San Simeon for the early tour. I have been told to stay in Morro Bay because it is the closest to SS. Although the mission in SB is a good idea, we did do the 4th grade project AND went on two mission trips My kids would kill me

Suzie

The La time recently had a list of 10 things to do on the drive for LA to SF here's a link:

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-...,2191188.story

They don't list Point Lobos which I would also consider.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=571

janisj

Cambria is closer than Morro Bay is to San Simeon.

"i will definately do Big Sur and the Santa Cruz pier (can I do both in the same day as Hearst?)"

Not really. Assuming you stop in any of the amazing parks and overlooks in Big Sur, you'd have a tough time doing San Simeon, Big Sur and anything in Monterey on the same day. The straight drive w/o ANY stops is about 2.5 hours. Realistically count on about 3.5-4 hours from San Simeon to Monterey. And that is w/ just very short stops and no meal along the way.

And Santa Cruz is another 45-60 mins farther depending on timeof day/traffic.

And be sure to book your San Simeon tour ASAP. If the earliest one is already full - you'd have to book one later in the day. Even if you do get the early tour -- just Hearst Castle and Big Sur plus driving to Monterey is a pretty full day.

garyt22

You can also take a half day whale watch at montereybaywhalewatch.com Each tour has marine biologists on board and my teens loved it!

november_moon

Speaking of the drive through Big Sur and lunch We like to take a small cooler with picnic stuff in it - then just stop at a nice spot that catches our interest and have lunch. We've picnicked in Big Sur everywhere from state parks, to small beaches, to a turn out on the road with a great view. Lots of fun.

Oh, and I wouldn't attempt to go to Heast Castle and Santa Cruz in the same day. Too far away, too much to see in between.

christycruz

For Monterey:

I thought this was way more fun than the standard whale watching trips: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/e...s_sailing.aspx

More expensive too, but getting 1/2 nature tour and 1/2 sailing tour was a blast.

For Santa Cruz Boardwalk:
Plan to get there when it opens. Summer is pretty crowded, and the first two hours, 10-12, are usually the best in terms of crowds. It may be foggy at 10, but it will burn off.

jerio

Thanks for all your help. We have decided to do Hearst in the mid-morning (one tour only) and then stop at Piedras Blancas and take our time through Big Sur. I expect we will get to Monterey by nightfall but we will just check into our hotel and sleep. Then Thurs. all day at the Aquarium and have dinner at the wharf. Stay the night Thurs. and get up early to go to the Santa Cruz boardwalk by mid-morning. Then we can take our time and drive into SF to pick up my husband at the airport by early evening.
The only thing left for me to do is book our hotel in Monterey.(I got all the tix for HC and aquarium online) I am finding that they are a bit pricier than expected so I am going to go the Priceline route and book tonight.
Again, thanks for all your suggestions. I have them all noted and am going to try to fit in the other suggestions as well.

sf7307

>>

I recommend you be flexible about this, and have something else in your back pocket for the later afternoon. I think the aquarium is great, but a half-day is my max -- it's really quite small.

easytraveler

The two places to stop after Hearst Castle and Piedras Blancas (this beach is not really well-signed, if you see a lot of cars parked along the road, that's probably PB beach) would be:

1) Pfeiffer Big Sur, for a hike (about an hour) among the redwoods

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=570

2)Point Lobos, where you could spend the rest of the day. Point Lobos is just slightly south of Carmel.

http://www.pointlobos.org/

You could make it just one stop and that would be Point Lobos, but it'll be a pity to have driven all this way and not hike at least one redwood forest (there are no redwoods at Point Lobos).

You could also stay in Carmel, which would reduce the stress of having to make it up to Monterey by nightfall. The Aquarium doesn't open until 9:30am, leaving you with plenty of time the next morning to drive from Carmel to the aquarium.

Otherwise, I like november_moon's and the other Fodorites' suggestions better than the LA Times' ones.

Oh, PS, the most educational of the Missions is La Purisma, just outside of Lompoc. Only two of the Missions are owned by the state, the rest remain in the hands of the Catholic Church. La Purisma is a state park and has a lot of reconstructed history , including rangers in period dress. Much more meaningful for kids.

november_moon

Some backpocket ideas if the aquarium doesn't take you all day:

Rent bikes or a petal car and ride along the coast - great paved path from Pacific Grove through Monterey.

Boat tour or kayaking on the bay.

Carmel Mission - if you haven't stopped at a mission already.

Monterey Historic Park

tenthumbs

word of advice if you rent the pedal car in Monterey......put the children in the FRONT so you can see when they're not pedaling!!!

november_moon

tenthumbs - I told my husband I thought it would be fun to get a tandem bike. He nixed the idea because he didn't trust me to stear if I was in the front or peddle if I was in the back