greybeard

My wife and I are visiting from UK this August. I have the following itinerary pencilled in, but would appreciate any input from Fodorites; anywhere we must visit, or should avoid! Or favourite attractions, restaurants, bars, etc.
We are mid fifties and like countryside and scenery, good food and wine, maybe theatre. We love to walk, but my arthritic knee won?t do more than a mile or so over broken country, so no hiking Im afraid.

San Francisco ~ 5 days

Then pick up hire car;

Sonoma ~ 2 days
Eureka ~ 2 days
Coos Bay ~ 1 day
Portland ~ 3 days
Bend ~ 1 day
McCloud ~ 1 day
N. Lake Tahoe ~ 2 days
Sacramento ~ 2 days
San Francisco ~ 1 day

Thanks for your help, Greybeard.

Gardyloo

I understand your itinerary but do have a couple of comments and a question or two.

First, an overall view: It looks like you're trying to get to Lake Tahoe on more of a direct line than you would by using the Interstate 5 freeway (motorway) then turning at Sacramento. The result is a route through some outback country that will be scenic (great "old west" landscape along much of US 97 and US 395, if I'm right) but that also will be rather slow going and punishing on a couple of the days. Also, in August, some of the route (Bend to Mt. Shasta, for example) will be blazingly hot. Now if that's okay with you, so be it. Almost all of southern Oregon and the Sacramento Valley in California is hot as hell in August; the advantage of the freeway is that you're through it more quickly.

Now, some details. If you need two days in Sonoma due to lodging commitments, so be it. If you can "steal" one of those days, head out to the coast on the stolen day (use SR 116 along the Russian River - quite scenic) then go north to Gualala or Mendocino for the overnight stay. This coastal scenery is beautiful, the towns attractive, and, because later you're rushing past much of the scenic parts of the Oregon coast, you'll be able to compensate with this stretch of Pacific coast. If the extra day in the wine country is a priority, consider making it a day trip from SF, or explore instead some of the wonderful vinyards in Oregon (an hour or so southwest of Portland) during your stay in that city. Great wines, relatively unknown outside the northwest and certainly unknown in Britain.

Two nights in Eureka is one or two too many IMO - the attractions along here are the big trees, which can be seen in passing to some degree. You might consider Ferndale as an alternative lodging site. Then the next day drive slowly through the groves between Eureka and Crescent City, then overnight somewhere on the southern Oregon coast, maybe Gold Beach, rather than spending the second night in the Eureka area and needing to highball it to Coos Bay the next day. Coos Bay is a rather economically depressed industrial town (with a great Indian casino converted from a sawmill); if you do stay in that area I would recommend Bandon instead.

However, if you stay in someplace like Gold Beach or Brookings, you can easily get farther north along the coast the next day - my suggestion would be somewhere around Newport or Yachats (pronounced Yah-hots) - which would give you plenty of time to stop at coastal overlooks, take pictures of lighthouses (don't miss Hecata Head just north of Florence) and in general spend more leisure time outside the car than riding.

Cut over to Portland on Oregon SR (State Route) 18; this will take you through the aforementioned Yamhill County vinyard area. You'll miss the north coast towns of Tillamook or Cannon Beach, but you will have had plenty of coast by then I suspect.

Three days in Portland is great - enjoy the Columbia Gorge, do a loop up to Mt. Hood and watch the windsurfers at Hood River; take a day trip out to the Maryhill Museum on the Washington side of the river opposite The Dalles (here you'll see what the scenery is like on your proposed US 97 route through Bend.)

Then on the southbound leg, if you want to go to Bend and all that, so be it. Leave early and make sure the air conditioning is working. If you decide you can skip the desert part of the trip, then blast south on I-5 and overnight in Ashland, right on the California border. Indulge your foodie/cultural aspirations with one of the excellent restaurants, then catch a play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland - one of the premier outdoor (and indoor) theatre offerings in the US during the summer. www.oreshakes.org.

I would marshal my strength in Ashland and make the run to Tahoe all in one day, via I-5 and I-80, rather than via Lassen and Susanville, unless you're coming for Lassen in the first place. With the time you have alloted, it would be pretty much a drive-by experience anyway.

Finally, two days in Sacramento...why? Hot as hades, nice town but not as interesting as other nearby alternatives, especially the Gold Rush towns along SR 49. Consider Grass Valley or Coloma instead; explore the back roads in this wonderful, historic area.

Hope this isn't too confusing; I'm sure you'll have a great holiday regardless - it's hard to go wrong in this part of the US.

greybeard

Hi Gardyloo

Thank you for your long and detailed reply. Answering your points in the order they appear above.

Yes we plan to drive to Lake Tahoe via Bend, Mt Shasta, and then all the way on US 89. We actually try to avoid Interstates if we possibly can. Heat we can stand, toured the Ole South last summer and Arizona, Utah Wyoming, Colorado in the heatwave of 2001. It hit 119 in Monument Valley while we were there!

Problem with Sonoma is nearly every property demands a two night stay at weekends! I deliberately booked flights to give us Mon~Fri in SF, and mid week stays in Portland, Tahoe, and Sacramento for price reasons, but if you have a three week vacation there are two w/e to fill! Have noted SR 116 route to coast, thanks.

Two nights in Eureka is actually: arrive evening, stay one full day, leave next morning. I am beginning to think you are right to suggest make it Ferndale instead though. Or maybe we might cut to one night Ferndale, drive up through the redwoods then cut inland to Ashland for two and cut out Coos Bay.

If we do go to Coos Bay it is definitely only a sleep stop. Up next morning at crack of sparrow?s to make lunch in Yamhill wine country. Interesting that you mention the Indian Casino, I had that as a possible hotel.

Cant mess with Tahoe/Sacramento leg, I have already got two fantastic hotel deals on Priceline for those days and they are non-cancellable. I guess we want to visit those places because of too many movies as kids. To us Lake Tahoe will always be the 50s, Sinatra, movies about college kids working the summer up at the lake. Got to be done. Sacramento is the California State Fair; if your English and grew up on American movies you just HAVE to go. Also I have a date with a Baseball game in Sacramento.

Final thought, which is the BART station for the Oakland As, and is it walking distance from the station to the ballpark?

Thanks again for your help, Greybeard

curmudgeon

In Bend, the High Desert Museum is excellent; plan for a couple of hours there. If you haven't been to Crater Lake (southern Oregon), I would really try to fit it in. On the southern Oregon coast, the "mail boats" trips on the lower rogue river are interesting and fun; worthwhile in my opinion.

Oakland A's baseball is very convenient to BART - there is a stop at the colliseum. The SF ballpark is nicer if your schedule fits with the Giants.

I would consider having a car for some of your SF days; in my opinion much of the SF attraction is the surrounding area (at least when you have 5 days). Fort Funston (old coastal fort just south of SF) is a great place to walk and watch the hang gliders soaring when weather is good. If you can catch a concert you like at the Mountain Winery (in Saratoga, near San Jose), it is a wonderfull setting.

Gardyloo

I always thought that saying was discriminatory - toward mad dogs. Oh well.
;-)

If you do decide to cut over at US 199 and skip the southern Oregon coast, you can compensate a little going north by taking non-freeway roads through the Willamette Valley - use SR 99W north, which parallels the freeway but reveals more of the lovely landscape - covered bridges, farm towns - than you'll see from I-5. This is the country that the Oregon Trail was all about.

I think N. Lake Tahoe is great, much nicer IMO than the south end. Check out the Cal-Neva Lodge for ultimate 50s associations (Frank Sinatra was a partner until his links to da Goodfellas got him crosswise with the authorities.) JFK is also alleged to have "encountered" Marilyn Monroe in one of the Cal-Neva's lakeside cottages. As in Close Encounters.

If you have to go to the State Fair in Sacto, okey dokey. Take salt tablets, use SPF10,000 sunblock, and don't expect Judy Garland to be singing about the fair. Or Ann-Margaret. And the last time we were there (the blisters have healed) we felt a little squidgey about safety later in the evening - a rather rough-looking crowd started gathering. Just a heads up.

As Curmudgeon says, you can easily walk to an A's game from the Bart station. As a Mariners fan, though, I have to tell you that friends don't let friends support Oakland.

Austin

I remember by one night stay in Sacramento years ago, in July. It was 112 degrees. Definitely heed Gardyloo's advice. It will be the hottest leg of your trip!

greybeard

Thank you all for your valuable input.

Yes, the baseball schedules mean the Giants are on the road both times we are in SF. In fact the only options are The As our second night in town and the AAA team in Sacramento, cant remembr their name.

Got the taste for baseball watching the Diamondbacks in 2001, now its a must do every time we are in the states.

Thanks again, Greybeard

J_Correa

Sacramento has a minor league team - I think they are called the Rivercats. You might want to check them out.

Other things to do in Sac - Old Town and Sutter's Fort are definitely worth checking out. If you want to drive a little ways, check out Coloma where the Gold Rush started.

curmudgeon

I'm not a big baseball fan, but I enjoy the atmosphere at the minor league as much or more than the A's or SF Giants. There is a (AAA league?) team in Portland as well as Sacramento. There is also the (A league) San Jose Giants. By the time you get down to A league, the level of play has dropped off, but the connection to the game is much higher when you can sit right by the field.

There may be some county fairs in various locations along your route; they can be fun with less crowds and heat than the one in Sacramento. Not sure of the dates for the Oregon State Fair (Salem Ore), but it would be another alternative.

If the water levels were suitable (August may be doubtfull), you might enjoy a river rafting trip on the American River near Sacramento; there various options and levels of difficulty.

greybeard

More great input from you guys, thank you.

Yes the Sacramento team is the rivercats, i have had a chance to check my notes now. The Portland team are on the road when we are in town. Last year we attended a lot of minor league ball, Scranton, Frederick, Chattanooga, Durham, and 1 major league, Orioles Vs Yankees at Camden Yards. I have to say that below AAA I found the chutzpah went out of it for me.

Did whitewater rafting in Tennessee last August on the Atlanta Olympics run. Sorry, I hated it. I have raced small sailboats for 45 years and the correct techniques for rafting are totally opposite; every bone in my body was SCREAMING "this ain't right" every second of the way. The guide was shouting lean forward and my body was saying NO LEAN BACK IDIOT! Nice thought anyway.

Thanks again, Greybeard

Gardyloo

One good thing about the fair in August (I was trying to find something positive to say) is that you will likely be inundated with political hoohah, a unique if not enjoyable experience for visitors in presidential election years.

Also around Sacramento, spend a few hours getting lost in the Sacramento River delta area - some interesting towns including a couple with surprisingly large Chinese communities, leftover impacts of the gold rush and subsequent transcontinental railroad-era exploitation of Asians as workers.

jimshep

Two days in Eureka is too much unless you are including the red woods. I would redistribute the five nights in Oregon and two nights in Sacramento to spend more time on the Oregon coast, a day in the Columbia River Gorge, and a night at Crater Lake Lodge (plan ahead). There are three good state parks near Coos Bay, but, in my opinion, it is not one of the best places to stay on the coast. Our favorites include Brookings, Newport, and Cannon Beach.

J_Correa

Another vote for spending some time in the Sacramento delta. We were just through there on Sunday and it is a beautifully relaxing place. Every time we go through there I tell myself that next time we will take more time and poke around.

We live in San Jose and have family in Sacramento and points north so drive back and forth fairly often. If I am not rushed for time, I like to take Hwy 160 south from Freeport and avoid the whole I5/205/580 snarl.

beachbum

Sounds like you've got a nice trip planned, but I'm with jimshep. Seems a shame to come this far and not see that for which Oregon is most noted, its coastline. Heed Gardyloo's almost always good advice ("almost" because I don't agree with Edgefield), and don't stop in Coos Bay; anywhere but Coos Bay.

As a Portland area resident, I've often wondered what visitors do here for more than a few days. You can easily cover the city's highlights in one. Spend another driving the loop out the gorge, up to Mt. Hood and back. But then what? Back to the vineyards?

Since you'll have already seen the most scenic part of OR 26, I'd recommend I-5 to Salem, then east on OR 22 as the route from Portland to Bend. This route parallels the Santiam River up the western slopes of the Cascades, with several spectacular mountain views along the way. There are a number of places worth a stop if you've got time: Suttle Lake Marina, Camp Sherman and the nearby fish hatchery, Black Butte Ranch, and the town of Sisters to name a few.

Thanks for supporting Oregon's sagging economy, and have a great trip.

greybeard

Thank you all for your valued help. Looks like I may be rethinking some of our plans for the Oregon Coast section of our trip.

Trouble with all this planning is it makes me impatient to get travelling. Greybeard

janis

I am a northern Californian (born just down the canyon from Mt Shasta and live in Sacramento) who spends most of my holidays in the UK -- go figure.

Anyway - you have done some great research and worked up a pretty good itinerary. You've gotten some good advice so I'll just add a few minor points.

One night Eureka/Ferndale would be plenty as already mentioned.

The suggestion to stop over in Ashland is a good one if it works out w/ your drive times.

Tahoe gets very crowded in August but for a taste of the "real Tahoe" the crowds will be lighter at the north end.

The State Fair is the culmination of the summer fair season so there aren't any other county fairs running simultaneously. There is plenty to fill 2 or 3 days in Sacramento - especially if you do a drive up into the gold rush foothiils.

Raley field where the River Cats play is aterrific ball park. And it is a short walk from Old Sac and the river.

Don't let the warnings of high temps scare you off. Yes it is traditionally very hot during the State Fair - but two years ago it rained and was only in the 80'sF. The hottest place normally is in Redding and Red Bluff (which you are missing on this route. It can reach 100F or more in Sacramento in August - but the hotter it gets the lower the humidity goes. 95F in Sacramento is easier to take than 80F in the humid southeast USA. So count on the mid to high 90'sF - it could be higher or lower - but 90F is not uncomfortable at all - trust me