San Francisco and surroundings for six days in June with kids
 

I am planning our summer vacation and need help with the same. We will have a full week in San Francisco area starting June 12th. We will be flying into San Francisco on 6/11 @ 10:00 PM and staying in San Jose at my sister's place (coming there for her graduation on the evening of 13th). We will be flying out of San Jose on June 18 @noon to enjoy the next leg of journey in Seattle/Vancouver. From there we plan to fly back to South Florida on or around 6/24. During our trip, I would like to explore San Francisco, a day trip to Napa and possibly a night or two in Yellowstone and/or other recommended areas. We will be a party of six, wife & I, two kids (3 and 6) and my parents and plan to rent a minivan for the duration of the trip. Being from South Florida, we are not looking for a lot of water and beach stuff but mostly mountains, waterfalls, outdoor natural beauty and kids friendly stuff. So far we have some basic idea but would love to hear from others who have done something similar.

Thanks in advance:)

So you have June 12-17 to work with, with June 13 taken up with the graduation stuff.

Yosemite (not Yellowstone :) ) is pretty crowded this time of year and you may have missed the boat for lodging unless you can luck into a cancellation.

Lake Tahoe is a popular place to visit from the Bay Area.

For wine country - are you interested in Napa specifically or other wine areas? We have wineries in the foothills on the way to Lake Tahoe, in central California (Monterey county, Paso Robles, Santa Ynez Valley)

I know you said you aren't interested in beaches since you are from Florida, but you might want to rethink that - our coastline is vastly different from Florida's. We have dramatic rocky coastlines, with mountains that rise up directly from the ocean in many places.

You could visit the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains, Santa Cruz itself, Monterey, the Big Sur Coast.

Yellowstone? Do you mean Yosemite? If I'm counting right, you have 4 days yet to plan, 14th to 17th.

From your base in San Jose, I'd continue south and while you say not beach, I think the Monterey Bay Aquarium will be the most interesting place for your kids to see. You could continue down the coast and visit Hearst Castle or over to the Sierras to have a couple of days at Yosemite. North of San Francisco would, I think, be less interesting for your children.

Monterey is great for kids. Santa Cruz also very fun place. The Denis the Menace park in Monterey is awesome and the aquarium is great for all ages. SF not too much for little kids in my opinion. Great for adults! Yosemite lodging will in fact be almost impossible to get. Call every day to see if there are any cancellations. These need to be made a year in advance. Tahoe is fun especially North Shore but I only know of condos. I think there are more hotels in South Shore.

Thanks for the correction.... Yes, I meant Yosemite. Also when I say no beach, i meant not spending the day at the beach. I absolutely plan to drive the Big Sur and probably even 17 mile drive as I did that a few years back and it was the most amazing drive.

When we were in in San Francisco a few years ago with our daughter (she was 5 then), she loved the Exploratorium. It is a science museum with lots of hands on exhibits. We also liked the California Academy of Sciences.

I recommend Muir Woods (north of SF) or Butano (south of SF) to see redwoods, and tidepooling at the beach to see some species that will be different from those in Florida. Even if you can get reservations at Yosemite, given that you only have 5 days not including the graduation, I'd stick to the greater bay area with side trips to Sonoma for hiking, eating, wine and some history in the town of Sonoma and Monterey for the beach and aquarium (great for little kids; our 3 year old loved it). I'd probably take my kids to the mission in Carmel as well. Worth it for the beautiful landscape alone.

The Exploratorium is now on the Embarcadero so that makes for a very fun day for kids. There's the Ferry Building, the Exploratorium, Tcho fancy chocolate factory, and then Pier 39 (touristy but the kids will like the entertainment and the sea lions) Walk a little farther and you're at Ghiradelli Square. Definitely go to Boudin for lunch or just to buy their bread (there's one in Pier 39 if you don't make it as far as Fisherman's Warf). I really love their bread, it's the best sourdough (well, apart from the one you can buy from the little grocery store in Pescadero but you're not going there). If it's a sunny day it will be just beautiful there.