Honeymoon in CA - redux (long)
 

Hi,

We got enough advice hear over the weekend to really narrow down our plans. Hopefully, we can get some more!

We're planning a small wedding/honeymoon for next May. (Seems like a good time to maximize weather in the Northeast and CA)

It seems like we really underestimated a good budget for CA, so we've decided to cut down on the time by a few days and shift some budget over to the honeymoon. We're thinking about something like this:
Day 1 - Arrive San Francsico
Day 2/3 - San Francisco
Day 4 - Get car and Drive someplace
Day 5 - Enjoy someplace
Day 6 - Drive someplace Else and Return Car
Day 7/8 - Enjoy Someplace Else
Day 9 - Go home

Obviously, this is still really preliminary. And, with the way flights tend to go west to east, we may not even have to include Day 9 (take a red eye home). (The entire trip could also be reversed. I've learned to always end trips on the highlight. So we'll figure that out when we know where someplace else turns out to be)

This gives us a budget of $650 (for both of us) per day. (With more wiggle room if we do that red eye....but that's ages away to decide)

We'd love some suggestions on:
1) What to make someplace and someplace else. We're both pretty new to California. We don't want to exhaust ourselves trying to make this trip comprehensive, but we'd love some contrast to San Francisco, and places where we can really relax and enjoy what will hopefully be nice weather. Neither of us are really beach people, btw. We're allocating entire days to driving, so that if the weather is nice, we can really enjoy that part, and any stops, as well.

2) Places to stay. To let you know our taste, I was looking at the Kor Group hotel in San Fran (may still be outside our budget, though). I know almost nothing about that hotel, but I loved their hotel in LA. Kind of funky, nice rooms (we don't mind small rooms), great location, great staff. I usually estimate about half the budget on hotel room.

3) The only activities we are set on are a day of horseback riding and a day of golf. Neither has to be super expensive/exclusive. Looks like there are some places with package deals, but it's really hard to evaluate those from the outside.

4. We're not big eaters, but we may want to do one, perhaps two nice dinners.

Any suggestions are welcome!

TIA
Rae

If this is May, and your first visit to California, I would make a "someplace else" - Yosemite. It will be spring time, the waterfalls will be full, and not overcrowded as the children will be in schools and colleges.

Yosemite is wonderful. Be sure to book now for next May, if that is what you decide.

The central and northern California coast is beautiful as well, and not beachy. You can enjoy an entire day of driving along the coast, with lots of nice places to stay and good eating places as well. The Cambria area is scenic and has things to do. (Cambria is on the central coast). Mendocino is on the north coast. There isn't much to do there, but it is lovely, kind of artsy, and a fun place to hang out.

You can find lots of info on Yosemite, Cambria, and Mendocino on this forum. Lake Tahoe is another possibility. There is lots to do there, ranging from gambling to hiking, bike riding, and visiting historical spots.

Thanks for the suggestions. We would love Yosemite, but I had put it aside for this trip, as I do evision keeping the driving to the coast (with all my original detail, I think I left that out!). So I'm hoping to find two other logical places to stop.

I'll check out Cambria and Mendicino...

Rachel

RaeEllen,

You can't go wrong (IMO) by choosing the coast. The north coast is more removed from civilization, having a more remote feel to it. It is magical, and somewhat mysterious on a foggy day. If you chose, you could begin your drive along Hwy 1 just over the Golden Gate Bridge and drive up to Gualala, where there are a couple of decent places to stay (or you could stay in Sea Ranch for a couple of days, renting a house). Sea Ranch has a golf course. They may have horses too, but I don't think so. You could then go on up to Mendocino for a night or two. They have several nice places there, and some great restaurants.

The central coast has more "hot spots" and action. I think Half Moon Bay has a horse stable where you can rent horses. Half Moon Bay is not far from San Francisco (like maybe 30 - 45 minutes. The Carmel/Monterey/Pacific Grove area is a logical stop. Pebble Beach is there, along 17 Mile Drive, although it costs beau-coup bucks to play golf there. The drive down the coast is beautiful, but a little scary as the road is narrow, windy, and has many drop offs into the Pacific in the Big Sur area. We usually make the drive going north between Cambria and Carmel, as we are cowards!!! It is, however, breathtakingly beautiful on a clear day.

Big Sur, an hour or so south of Carmel is in a lovely area with good hiking. Further south you'll find Cambria, which has nice places to stay and good food.

Check out some of the threads on these places; you'll be able to get lots of info.

Good luck on your planning!