Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - first trip to west coast

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All I can suggest is a great hotel in San Fransisco. We stayed at the Water's Edge in Tiburon ( Shark in Spanish). Great small hotel on the water. Each room has its own working fireplace and tiny balcony facing the bay. Their are only about 20 rooms in the whole complex. The rooms are modern and linens are great. (tip: don't pay extra for the internet access if you take a laptop with wireless. A local restaurant has an airport that we were able to tap into for free internet.) It is located across the bay from Fisherman's Warf, about a 15 minute drive to town. Tiburon is a wealthy neigborhood with quaint shops with a great view of the city accross the bay. You can take a ferry accross the bay litterally steps from the hotel. The ferry will take you to Fisherman's warf. Do a search for the hotel. This place was great. Its a nice escape from the crowd of the city and very romantic.

Give me an August day in Mammoth over one in Palm Springs any time. It's gorgeous there in the summer and can attest to many backcountry trips in the area at that time.

I don't understand the comments not to cross the Sierra Nevada in January?? Hundreds of thousands of vehicles do every day. There are highway and interstate crossings that are just fine most of the time, i.e. I-80, U.S. 50, to a couple. True, there are passes south of Lake Tahoe that are closed, like Monitor and Ebbetts, but these are not the major crossings.

I have lived in CA my whole life and love San Diego, but I sure wouldn't miss SFO. What a great city.

Have fun,
PSL

Oh--and I think the feedlots are around Avenal on I-5!!

" a bit of culture, a bit of cheese"...that would definitely be San Francisco :)
Museums and wonderful neighborhoods and architecture and gardens and shopping and great restaurants and somewhere there is a bit of cheese lol.

I agree with the idea of flying out of LV to Ca..it is a boring drive at best..and you really just want to get to Ca where you will see the sights!

What a fun trip you are planning!
( I was a wee flowergirl myself , a long time ago) ((F))