We're planning a family road trip from San Jose to San Diego. We have a 2.5 year old and a six-month old. We've got a house rented already for San Diego, and are pretty sure that on the way down we want to stop in San Luis Obispo, and then the next day just drive to San Diego. Any ideas what we should do on the way back? We can take anywhere from two to five days. We do Monterey and Carmel all the time as daytrips (we have a membership to the aquarium) so by the time we get that far north we'll just shoot for home.

Anyone?

funny, i grew up in san jose and went to college in san diego and have relatives in central CA. so, i'm familiar with highway 101 from top to bottom.

san luis is a good choice. my recommendations for the return are as follows:

Santa Barbara: beautiful beaches, beautiful town. this is about the mid-way point between san diego and san jose.

Hearst Castle: never been, but lots of people recommend it.

Paso Robles: go for wine tasting. there are tons of wineries off of Route 46.

Are you interested in any of the attractions of LA? What about Disneyland or Universal Studios? Santa Monica is beautiful as well.

If you let us know what your interests are we can probably be more specific.

I would try to stay at the Apple Farm Inn just outside of San Luis Obispo. For the return trip, I'd stay in Santa Barbara, someplace close to the beach and with a pool. I've done this trip and these were our 2 stops and we enjoyed them.

We think the kids are too young for Disneyland. Okay, so Santa Barbara on the way back. Should we make another stop? I've actually been to and from San Diego many times, but we thought we'd take our time this time and enjoy our state. How far is Santa Barbara from Cambria? We've done Hearst Castle, I like it and my husband doesn't. Probably not good with a two-year-old anyhow (no, don't touch that stay here, don't swing on that rope...._

if you are going after the heat of summer, you could cut inland and go enjoy palm springs. most kids love hanging out at a pool.