California Trip Help Needed Please!
 

I have been reading the great info in the Calif.posts and the more I read the more I want to do. Here is my problem. We are planning a trip July 2 - July 17. We will stay in our Tahoe timeshare 7/2-7/8. I then booked a condo in W.Yosemite for 3 nights and was going on to SF and Monterey. Just recently the condo "search" came through for SF for me so that I could literally check out of the Ridge Tahoe and check in to Powell Place in SF. I was thinking of keeping Yosemite reservation in place and only using 4 nights of SF and then 2 nights in Monterey. In SF I had planned 1 day for wine country and one day for Point Reyes/Sausalito and the other for SF but now I really dont know. Also we want to see redwoods. With Yosemite, Monterey/Big Sur, and Muir Woods all within reach which one would you pick? We love hiking and my FIL is a wildlife photographer. Any suggestions? We fly out of SF on 7/18. My Yosemite reservations could possibly be changed but SF or Tahoe could not.
Thank You...Barb

You've got great hiking opportunities in each of these places. I guess I'd leave out Yosemite this time. Too out of the way, and kind of crowded in July. Great photo ops and nature viewing at Point Lobos, just south of Monterey. It would be a nice contrast to Lake Tahoe.

Beachbarbie: I had a hard time following your message and am not sure what exactly the problem is. One suggestion: if you are going to cut out Yosemite, you might consider going to SF via Hwy 4 instead of Hwy 50 or I80. On Hwy 4 is Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Here are some of the best Sequoia trees in the state. If you like to hike, take the time to walk out to the South Grove which is one of the most undisturbed and least crowded spots in the Sequoia forests.

If you do go to Yosemite from Tahoe, make sure you drive in the back way over Tioga Pass. You will see some of the best scenery in the West and you will drive thru some beautiful red fir forests. The Wawona grove is awesome but there is also the almost unkown Merced Grove which you can hike into and get away from the crowds.

At Tahoe, make sure you check out the east shore beaches if want to swim in invigorating crystal clear water. Your name implies that you are a beach lover. If it were me, I would forget SF in July and stay in the mountains and seashore but you know best what you want. Also, why stay in a condo in SF when there are so many great restaurants?

Hi, Barbie!

Guess I'm the kind who wants it all, so my suggestions are going to be slanted that way.

You have 15 nights in California and you are starting out at Tahoe (4 nights). I guess I don't see why you can't drive along Highway 395 from Tahoe to Yosemite, spend two nights there, then head for Monterey (2 nights), and end up in San Francisco (4 nights), in one big loop. This still leaves you 3 more nights. Maybe my math is off! :)

Or are you saying that you will drive to Tahoe, then HAVE to drive back to SF, then you want to zigzag cross state again to Yosemite, then zagzig back to Monterey? In this case, I agree with Grasshopper. Too much zigging and zagging. You're making me dizzy!

I think the message sounds pretty clear. You want to start at Tahoe, then go to Yosemite (where you already have the elusive reservations in place) for three nights, then go spend four nights in SF -- although you have a week, you can only use the last four nights since the first three of that week will be in Yosemite. Then you'll go to Monterey, drive up to SFO and fly home. Sounds great to me. What's the problem?
I don't get what this condo search thing is though. If you have to rent a condo for a week in SF and only use four nights of it, unless it is awfully cheap, I don't get the point. I'd have a hard time picking which restaurants to go to in SF in only four days, and I sure wouldn't be doing any cooking, as Otis suggests.

Since you will be in Tahoe during the enormously busy 4th of July you should plan to get all your food supplies as soon as you arrive. By Sunday you will be shocked at how depleted the grocery stores will become. Try to get to where you want to be early in the day on the 4th because the driving around the lake is horrendous. It's best to have a boat that day because it's easier to get around on the lake than on the roads. After the 4th things should settle down a bit so the 6th and the 7th will be better days for seeing other sites around the lake.

Sorry for the confusion. I own a timeshare in Lake Tahoe and so will be there 4th of July week. I then have reservations for 9th-11th in Yosemite. After I made the reservations I was able to trade for another timeshare in San Francisco(Powell Place)for July 9th -16th. I agree that I will be doing NO cooking there and will be eating out but these(SF) are dates that I cant change.So basically, I could go from Tahoe directly to SF and lose a deposit on Yosemite. But I would like to fit in the 3 nights of Yosemite(I want to see it all too!) So in case they will change the dates on my Yosemite res.should I give up part of Tahoe or SF? In going from Tahoe to Yosemite which route is the most scenic? Is there any restaurant that would be a good place to see the Tahoe fireworks from? Thanks for all of the ideas, I really appreciate everything! Beachbarbie