Day trip from Palo Alto
 

While visiting my son this week in Palo Alto, we are looking for suggestions for a day trip while he is at work during the day one day. Thursday & Friday we are heading to Monterey and Sat & Sunday we are heading back to pick him up for the weekend and and go to San Francisco and Sonoma. Is there any place East or West of Palo Alto we should consider visiting?

If you have a car you could drive to the pretty small town of Los Gatos, then continue to Santa Cruz, along the ocean. It's a popular town with a boardwalk (lots of rides), and along the way you could visit the redwoods.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=546

You could also visit San Jose.

Half Moon Bay
Big Basin Redwoods
Across the GG Bridge to Sausalito
SF - plenty to do there for more than one day
East of Palo Alto is East Palo Alto & the Ikea

I know J62 was joking, but just in case you didn't "get it", stay away from E. Palo Alto - NOT a place you want to visit.

I agree with the loop others have suggested.

Drive north on 101 and west on 92 to Half Moon Bay, and then south on Highway 1. You will have expansive views of the Pacific Ocean and, in less than an hour, arrive in Santa Cruz.

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, founded in 1907, is an amusing attraction of a kind hard to find on the West Coast.

From Santa Cruz, drive scenic 236 to Big Basin Redwoods State Park (23 miles). From there you will be about a one-hour drive from Palo Alto.

HTtY

If you go to Santa Cruz, it's a must to ride the 1924 roller coaster, the Big Dipper. http://beachboardwalk.com/giantdipper/

Great place to have lunch in Los Gatos is Nick's on Main. Best place in town.

Some people tout Manressa's, but it's another overblown tiny tiny plate 10 course restaurant.

A few suggestions within easy reach :

Filoli is a magnificent country Georgian-style estate with gorgeous formal gardens.
http://www.filoli.org/

The San Mateo County Fair is underway through the 16th.
https://www.sanmateocountyfair.com

If you haven't yet explored it, the Stanford University campus is well worth seeing. You can do a walking self-guided tour:
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/visitor...d_tour_map.pdf
Don't miss Hoover Tower, Cantor Center for Arts (free museum, Rodin Sculpture Garden is outside of it) and Memorial Church.

You could spend time in San Francisco without a car by taking Caltrain from Palo Alto (you can transfer to the BART system at Millbrae Station if you wish).

There are some awe inspiring old-growth redwoods to be seen at Sam McDonald Park, Memorial Park and the Heritage Grove -- all these parks are close to each other.
http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/...visionsLanding

Then there's the San Mateo coast -- you could spend all day just meandering along it, checking out beaches, small towns, a harbor, a tall lighthouse, etc.
http://www.openroad.tv/index.php?cat...d=16&p25_id=52

Thanks all! We had a great day and did what many of you suggested. We started in Half Moon Bay, stopping at the Ritz Carlton and walking along the beach behind it. We stopped in Pescadaro at Duartes Tavern for a nice lunch. From there we stopped at the Pigeon Point light house and down as far as The boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Wow were there ever a lot of people there for a Wednesday. We did get out and just drove through and headed back up Route 1 to see if the drive north would give you a different perspective and it did somewhat.

Thanks again for the suggestions. Now on to Monterey for a few nights.