California Vacation
 

My husband is planning on running the LA marathon on March 9, 2014. We will be flying in to LAX on March 7. After the marathon we would like vacation in CA. We were thinking Napa Valley because we've heard so much about the region but we are not at all interested in wineries. We have three kids (10, 5, and 3). I came across Safari West as a possible destination in/near Napa. Does anyone have any feedback on that? At this point we are really open to ideas but are not familiar with the area. We've been talking about maybe renting a car, driving to Napa or Santa Barbara....maybe doing a couple of nights in each area. Any suggestions for CA vacations would be greatly appreciated.

This is an incredibly open-ended question, which makes it hard to answer. I would suggest watching a few travel shows about CA and see what piques your interest, then do a little reading about various areas to narrow things down a bit. Also pull out a map and check out the relative locations of the areas you are thinking of.

Napa is 400 miles from LA, which is a heck of a long way to go for only a couple of nights, especially for someone who isn't interested in wine :)

You didn't say how much time you have, but being that you will be here in March, you might want to focus on southern CA since the weather will be better. See Los Angeles, San Diego, and maybe the inland deserts.

If you want to go north, a classic trip would be LA, Big Sur, Monterey/Carmel, San Francisco, and perhaps Yosemite (although it might be snowy in March).

To avoid a drop off fee on a rental car that you pick up in LA, you can take a Pacific Surfliner train from LA Union Station to Santa Barbara. The SAB station is downtown at the foot of State Street not far from the pier.
Your kids will love the Santa Barbara zoo.
When you are done in Santa Barbara, take the Coast Starlight north to San Jose,Oakland or Emeryville and rent a car to go to Napa. Fly back home from Oakland, San Jose or Sacramento if you don't want to drive through San Francisco.

Forget all the trains and to-ing fro-ing.

But IMO Napa is not a good idea for a family that 1) isn't interested in wine, and 2) has 3 kids.

I'd do the Mid coast (generally Santa Barbara to San Francisco). Nice zoo in Santa Barbara, world famous aquarium in Monterey.

or

Go south and do San Diego - your kids would LOVE LegoLand and the San Diego zoo/animal park

or

Do Yosemite and San Francisco

I also don't understand why you'd go all the way to Napa. It sounds like you'll have four days after the marathon so Napa would be too much time driving and too little time vacationing.

You could also stay in the LA area. There is much to see and do - days at the beach, Santa Monica Pier, visits to theme parks, museums including La Brea Tarpits, Natural History Museum, California Science Center, Kidspace (a children's museum), and Long Beach Aquarium and fun food experiences such as visiting Olivera Street. LA also has a zoo and several gardens that my kids have enjoyed exploring (The Huntington, LA Arboretum).

To return to your original idea - We have done Safari West and really enjoyed it. We drove up to the bay area, visited some family and friends, stayed overnight, drove to Sonoma, stayed at Safari West, did the tour the next morning, hit a few Napa wineries and Taylor's Refresher and drove home. So, it can be done in a few long days but there really is quite a lot to do in California, and closer to LA.

Early March might also have snow in the grapevine area. Does anyone know? That would make the drive a little longer. Maybe you should plan to fly to SF (or Oakland, or San Jose) and then start your California vacation. You can spend a few days in the city (my kids liked walking the waterfront and riding the cable cars and the museums in Golden Gate Park such as the California Academy of Sciences and de Young Museum) and then explore Napa/Sonoma, and/or go down to Monterey/Carmel.

With your 3 children along on this trip, focus on LA and San Diego.