Planning special trip to northern Cal: ideas?
 

We're looking at options for a one-week trip in late June and northern California is a possible location for us. It will be my husband my myself and out two grown daughters (22 and 19). We travel well together, enjoy cultural activities, shopping, good food, etc. My husband and I do not drink, so wine country is not a real draw. We don't tend to like huge tourist crowd kinds of places or big resorts. We'd enjoy some beach time but don't want to sit around all week. My husband and I were at a wedding in Stinson Beach a few years ago and loved that area (Muir Woods, etc.) and thought it might be nice for a few days of downtime -- just trying to build the right itinerary around that. Also, this is celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, so I'm trying to make it special. (We would have gone to Spain if we could have made the budget work so this is (sadly) the second-place plan, but it's still one I am excited about. Any ideas?

Where are you coming from? Do you want to visit any National Parks? Be aware that there are other airports to fly into besides SFO. If you can find the time, try to stretch the trip to include Crater Lake in southern Oregon.

Crater Lake is so beautiful -- saw it on a cross-country drive after college. We're coming from the Boston area, but I don't think we want to make this a national parks kind of trip. Some mix of nature/urban/arts/food/culture would work best, knowing my daughters and us.

How about my home town, Gualala?

We have a renowned arts center, lots of galleries and shops and only three bars, all in restaurants. We also have some of the world's most beautiful scenery, right on the ocean with a river, and lots of redwood trees for your hubby.

I don't know how to post links but you can get more info at RedwoodCoastChamber.com

Best,
Lisa

This may not be what you want- I have spent a couple of Thanksgivings here and loved it

http://www.sheepdung.com/lvr_ghtop.htm

Yes- the name is Sheepdung estates. Its close to Boonesville - out in the country but not that far from town. We did some short hikes and drove over to the coast one day- We were only there for 3 nights, one being Thanksgiving which involved cooking most of the day.

The room I stayed in is separate from the house - there were no blinds on the windows and at night I could see so many stars it was amazing. Its a great place for down time but you might be looking for something a little less out in the boonies

Have you been to Point Reyes National Seashore? The area around Point Reyes Station, Olema and Tomales Bay is one of my favorites for a getaway. Last time we stayed in a house built right over Tomales Bay. Point Reyes Station is small, but there are several good restaurants, a very cool bookstore, and among other things, the Cowgirl Creamery.

Every year we stay just south of Gualala at The Sea Ranch. We love that area too. The Sonoma Coast is just amazing and often overlooked.

You do a road trip loop up Highway One as far as Mendocino, then come down 128 through Boonville, to Healdsburg and then back to the city.

I might go farther north -- to Mendocino county.

Farther south (Sea Ranch, Gualala, etc.) are great too. But Mendocino, Ft Brag, etc - an excursion inland to the Redwoods, would be a fabulous week.

Either IN Mendocino, or somewhere like Little River Inn http://www.littleriverinn.com

I love Sea Ranch, near Gualala.Also love the town between there and Mendocino.