My husband and I would love to see Northern California, Pacific Coast Highway, and wine country, but everytime I start checking things out I get discouraged by hotel prices and parking charges.

In the wine country, Sonoma, and in San Francisco, we've used Priceline. Got the Hilton in SF for $75, and the Hilton in Santa Rosa for $55. You can save a lot on Priceline and make your trip more affordable.

As for parking, you don't need a car in SF.

Boy do i know what you mean..
Motels along the north coast used to cost $ 60-70, now same ones are at least $100..the south coast below San Francisco are even more so..
I have found that Super 8 and Econlodge are usually cheaper.and don't charge for parking..
I can not figure out how people afford $200-250 for a room..maybe unless it is a special occassion.
Before gas prices hit the top--currently$2.70 gal in Napa valley, we would pick a less touristy town near by...maybe 20-30 min drive
to desired area..Example: Salinas--inland from Monterey or Fairfield--across hill from Napa. another option is going "off season" but then you take a chance on the weather ..
Good luck..

And avoid October weekends. They are looking mighty pricey for my trip planning LOL. Along the coast itself, avoid weekends, and you will be better off price wise.

Yep - definitely avoid weekends along the coast and don't visit the wine country during the harvest. I don't think hotel prices in SF are any different for weekdays versus weekends. We have had good luck with Priceline in SF.

JC is correct for most weekends. Although for an example, the weekend of October 6/8, some hotels are charging more for the weekend than the weekdays before. I think because of Fleet Week and the Bluegrass festival in GG Park. Although, nothing like what they do on the coast with the weekend.

We went as young marrieds and camped. It was marvelous and romantic. That was a looong time ago (22 years ago...)but we saw alot and had a great time. We used our hotel $$ in San Francisco.
Have fun sipping!

When do you plan to travel? We went to San Francisco and Monterey in May; the Marina Motel in SF was $99 for a two-bedroom family room, including free parking and two-for-one breakfast coupons at a very good restaurant down the street, and the El Castell in Monterey was under $70 for a family room.

If it's just you two, you might also look into hostels. The Ft. Mason hostel in San Francisco has a lovely view of the Bay, and we stopped at another hostel at the Pigeon Point lighthouse between there and Monterey that looked quite nice. They're not necessarily fancy, but are good value, and you can save a little money by cooking your own dinner.

Lee Ann