San Francisco to Eugene family spring break
 

I'm a long time lurker and first time poster. I appreciate this forum and all of the very helpful suggestions in planning a trip. At the last minute, our spring break is open and we are making plans for my husband and I to travel with my son, 14, and daughter, 18 to visit northern California and Oregon the first week of April by flying into San Francisco. We considered flying in to Seattle and Portland but it was very expensive flying from Indiana. San Francisco is more reasonable and is a great destination as our teens have not traveled west of AZ. My son is a huge Oregon fan and we are planning to drive to Eugene to visit the campus. In addition, we would like to see Redwoods; Crater Lake and/or the Oregon coast during the first part of the week and tour San Francisco for a couple of days at the end of the week. We arrive Sat night and are taking a red eye out on Sat night. I know we are trying to cover a lot of beautiful country in a very short amount of time. I appreciate itinerary suggestions and hotels along the way.

Please clarify - are you flying in to SFO heading north and then coming back down to SFO to fly out?

That is a LOT of territory in one week. Less than a week since you want to spend some time in SF.

Re Crater Lake - you won't be able to drive around the lake or see/do much since most of the roads are closed http://www.nps.gov/crla/planyourvisi...conditions.htm So I'd probably skip the Crater Lake detour - that will help w/ your very short timeframe.

You can head up I-5 - see Mt Shasta, Ashland (I'd stay over night in either Mt Shasta or Ashland - depending on how tired you are. It is a Looooong drive. Then on to Eugene. for your 2nd night. Then over to the coast at Florence and spend 4 days seeing the OR Coast, CA Redwoods, CA Coast and finish in SF on Thurs afternoon. That will give you 2.5 days in SF.

Forget going up to Eugene and stick to SF and Northern California. Way too much driving especially with gas over $4 per gallon.

That would be my choice too, but apparently son wants a Duck experience >)

(MichelleY: did you happen to catch the new profile photo??? :) )

FYI: The gas price is less than $4/gal in Oregon. The way I would get to Eugene would be to take the overnight Coast Starlight from Emeryville to Eugene and then rent a car to drive to the coast.
Keep checking the airfare to Portland if you have not purchased the tickets yet.
The best time to visit Crater Lake is in July or August. There is over 90" of snow in much of the park now.

Janis- love the photo!

I live in San Francisco now. I used to live in Eugene. It is about an 8 hour drive (not counting stops.) I usually just drive it in one day, as spending the night on the road just makes the trip seem longer to me - but it all depends on your preferences re: hours in the car at one stretch.

Eugene and the coast are likely to still be rainy the first week in April, so keep that in mind if you are planning on outdoor activities - it's unpredictable of course whether you will happen to hit a few nice days in a row, or have some rain every day of your trip up there. In my experience, the latter is more likely than the former at that time of year, although probably most likely is a day or two of rain and a day or two without.

I agree with the advice to skip Crater Lake.

Florence is a pleasant small coast town, more or less due west of Eugene, about an hour's drive. I like that area because you get both the rocky forested headlands kind of coast and the sand dune kind of coast. Heceta Head, about 10 miles north of Florence is a lovely small beach and lighthouse, although the lighthouse was undergoing some kind of renovation when we were last there in August. Honeyman State Park, a few miles south of Florence has huge sand dunes, with a small freshwater lake in the middle of them.

Thank you for the replies!

tomfuller - thank you for mentioning the train. I am checking on the times. Any suggestions on getting to the train station from the SFO? Shuttle, train, taxi? How much time should I allow from arrival of flight to the departure of the train?

JanisJ - my son really wants the duck experience! I appreciate your suggestions - NorCalif also mentioned Florence. We are planning to fly into SFO.

NorCalif - thanks for the suggestions on Florence and information on what we can expect as far as the weather.

We are road warriors so if the train doesn't work we will likely find a hotel outside of the city for night 1 and make the trip to Eugene the next day. Crater Lake is out. Do you have any suggestions for hotels in/south of Florence along the Oregon and CA coast? I think we would like to stay around the Redwood National Park and be in SF on Day 6 (Thursday). That will give us 2.5 days in SF.

The 3054 bus over to Emeryville leaves Pier 39 Fisherman's Wharf at 9:05PM every night. You should plan on seeing the area for at least an hour before you get on the bus. The bus takes 40 minutes to EMY. The trip on the train to EUG is scheduled for 14.5 hours.
I like the Red Lion along US 101 in Coos Bay.

I drive between California and Oregon/Washington quite often, and try to use the coastal route whenever possible. I think your trip is quite doable, and while I do like trains, I don't think the Coast Starlight would be the best bet in your case. The train's route runs way to the east, and many of the more scenic parts are traveled at night.

Driving, staying on US 101 through northern California adds no more than around three hours of driving time between SF and Eugene, sometimes less (getting out from SF to I-5 in the Central Valley can be quite trafficky) and there's no question that the coast route is infinitely more scenic and interesting.

Day 1, SF to Crescent City via the Avenue of the Giants (a loop through the Humboldt Redwoods). Around 7 - 8 hours in the car, but what hours!

Day 2, Crescent City to Eugene via US 101 and SR 38. The southern part of the Oregon coast (between the state line and Bandon) is IMO the most scenic part, and Oregon 38 is not only the fastest, but the most beautiful road through the coast range. It parallels the Umpqua River, past a wildlife refuge (probably some elk present) then a lovely little river canyon. It joins I-5 just south of Cottage Grove, around 30 min. south of Eugene.

Day 3, Eugene. The campus is very walkable. Don't miss the art museum (famous for its Asian collection) and be sure to load up on all sorts of Ducky items. Say hi to Pioneer Mom and Pioneer Pops for me. (Note - watch "Animal House" before you visit the U of O.)

Day 4. Up early and drive the 40 min. north to Corvallis; OSU also has a lovely campus. Then head out US 20 to the coast near Newport. Head south (back on US 101) and have a late lunch in Yachats (Ya-Hots.) Keep going and stop at Heceta Head lighthouse just north of Florence. Tonight I'd push it to Bandon, a very cute little town with some of the best restaurants on the coast.

Day 5. You can make it all the way back to SF in one day, but actually I'd recommend staying someplace an hour or so north of the city (Santa Rosa, maybe, or Healdsburg) so that you're not paying SF prices for a hotel and parking.

Day 6/7. Get into the city after the morning rush hour, then spend all of days 6 and 7 in SF and vicinity.

Most of the parks allow only hostels inside the park. Unfortunately the one in Redwood National Park is currently closed.

There are other private lodgings not on park land, like in Orick which is surrounded by redwood park lands.

http://www.redwoodadventures.com/

Do a search for "Avenue of the Giants", "Humboldt National Park", "Redwood National Park" and you'll come up with dozens of lodging possibilities.

The place that DW and I stayed in the Redwood NP was the Ravenwood Motel in Klamath CA. http://ravenwoodmotel.com/
The motel was OK but I didn't like the nearby bar/restaurant.
What time of day does your plane get into SFO? Keep checking flights to PDX if you have not already bought the tickets to SFO.