Please advise on the following itinerary tentatively planned for next summer:

7/23:Arrive Oakland from NYC July 23rd
7/24ightsee in San Fran and attend ball game (Red Sox @Athletics - yes tentative schedule came out!!)
7/25: Sightsee in SF
7/26: Drive Route 1 to Carmel (stay 1 night)
7/27: Drive to Yosemite (stay 3 nights)
7/30: Drive to Oakland and fly to NYC

Questions:
1) best place to stay in Carmel for between 100 and 200 dollars/night?
2) better to stay in SF or oakland?
3) already checked on rooms at Yosemite Lodge - no rooms avail for those dates - any other good places that are reasonably priced?
4) Must do's in SF?
5) Good restaurants?

Thanks!!

On your way to Carmel try to visit the Winchester house in San Jose.Great !!!
In Yosemite we always stayed in Mariposa not far from the park entrance. The Mariposa Lodge. Paul

Sorry forget something. For Carmel we stayed in Monterrey;Motel 6 and enjoyed the sea food and especially the fantastic clam chowder on Fishermans wharf.
We also landed at Oakland but stayed in S.F. the Marina motel(you can park your car under your room. à. Paul

If you plan on having a car and driving to the ballgame and around SF during your sightsee, then staying in Oakland would be better for overnight parking.

However, the BART do stop at the Colisseum and it's accessibility would be based on whether you would be staying near a station in SF (or Oakland).

You might try to find something in Yosemite West.

Stay in San Francisco. Don't stay in Oakland unless you want to see Oakland.

If you take route 1 from SF to Carmel, you won't be going through San Jose.

Big Basin has the best coast redwoods along your route, but it is a bit out of your way, and there are closer places to see coast redwoods, especially Henry Cowell, just outside of Santa Cruz. You could stop there for an hour or so on your way to Carmel if you have a desire to see coast redwoods. Big Basin is another twenty miles along the same route north of Santa Cruz, and is easier to get to from this direction than from San Jose on the other side of the mountains.

You will, or should, also see the giant sequoias, or Sierra redwoods, at Yosemite, the Mariposa Grove is the easiest to access.

I would definitely stay in SF rather than Oakland. You can easily get between Oakland and SF on BART for the game and save yourself a couple days' of car rental fees and parking. Then pick up a car on your way out of SF.

I agree with stopping at Henry Cowell to see the redwoods. It isn't much of a detour at all.

I would skip SJ, esspecially with this short of a trip. The Winchester Mystery house is reasonably interesting, but not how I would choose to spend the limited time that you have.

For lodging in or around Yosemite, check El Portal. I have heard good things about the Yosemite View Lodge and El Portal is pretty close to Yosemite Valley. Mariposa is about 30 minutes down the hill from El Portal, so still within reasonable distance to the park. You might look there too. South of the park are the towns of Oakhurst and Fish Camp. There are some choices there too.

I agree on skipping Winchester mystery house, and stay in San Francisco, not Oakland. Take bart to game. Easy to get around SF without car and parking in hard to find and expensive.

There is a reasonable lodge in Fishcamp called the Tamarack Lodge.

So many good restaraunts. What do you like?

Thanks for all the help! As far as food goes, we like Italian, seafod, steak, mexican - any food that's really good really. Thanks again!