Help with CA trip

[fiddles]

I posted this on the travel board as well but I'm not sure how quickly I'll get responses. H is really dragging his heels on this so it's left up to me to plan.

H & I are taking a road trip to San Diego to visit family for Christmas. We plan on leaving around the 29th and heading back up north to Seattle. We need to be back in Seattle by 1/3. I'm looking at places we can stay long the way. Fun little towns to stop in at. At first I was thinking of Napa or Sonoma but I don't know how many wineries would be open during the middle of the week.

Any suggestions?

Right now I have us leaving SD on 12/29 and going to DisneyLand, leaving on the 30th.

[amandasw]

I don't know a ton about CA, but I have been to Pacific Grove/Monterey and really thought it was super cute (Pebble Beach is gorgeous!). I had some friends who did a big road trip and found cute B&Bs there too. I think there's lots of small places like that, but might be something different if you've already been to San Francisco.

[georgeharrison]

www.treehouses.com/treehouse/treesort/home.html

and

www.safariwest.com/

We have never done the first, but we have done the second twice and I love it there - wish I could live there.

[dawnyp]

The wineries should be open. They close after new years if I recall, we once went there the first week of January and a lot of places were closed.some places we're open but you should definitely check with them. The plus side is the places were mostly empty and we got a lot of special treatment.

If you don't do the wineries San Fransisco is great for an overnight as well as Portland or the Oregon coast. I did Canon Beach one new years day it was great.

[jennlin]

fly. that's my advice

[fiddles]

Nov 19, 2012 15:25:51 GMT -5 jennlin said:

fly. that's my advice

Nooo that's no fun!! Plus we are driving because there are things I want to bring back. Like 100+ year china from my great Aunt

[Deleted]

Wineries should be open. I prefer Sonoma over Napa.

Is Santa Barbara on the way? That's a lovely little town.

[georgeharrison]

Nov 19, 2012 15:32:09 GMT -5 fiddles said:

Nov 19, 2012 15:25:51 GMT -5 jennlin said:

fly. that's my advice

Nooo that's no fun!! Plus we are driving because there are things I want to bring back. Like 100+ year china from my great Aunt

we drove last year and we brought back my grandma's silver that she collected piece by piece when she got her first job. She'd buy one new piece each payday.

[InBetweenDays]

Can Jan. 3 be a a driving day or do you need to be back on the 2nd? Are you hoping to do US1/US101 the entire way or I-5? Would you rather do long days of driving and have a bit more time at a few stops (like drive 10 hours in a day and have more time in a fun town)? Or divide up the driving more evenly?

US1/US101 is beautiful but will add on quite a bit of time to your trip. I'd probably head to Sonoma on the 30th and see about staying there for New Year's Eve. On the 1st, drive up the coast to Crescent City and then take Highway 199 over to I-5 (Grant's Pass). Highway 199 goes through the Redwoods and is gorgeous! Stay in Roseburg, OR on the 1st. Then drive straight up I-5 to Seattle on the 2nd. Unless the 3rd is a driving day. Then I'd maybe add in another stop or continue up the coast.

[fiddles]

Jan 3 could be a driving day. We just want to be back in enough time to pick up the dogs. Both of us have to work on the 4th.

[fiddles]

We would actually do Disney on 29 and go to our next destination on the 30th. Honestly we've been to San Fran a few times so that's not really on the list.

From my phone yo!

[Deleted]

Oh and unless you're dying to see Disneyland at Christmas time, it's going to be a zoo. Just be prepared for that.

[fiddles]

Nov 19, 2012 21:11:59 GMT -5 @uwhuskygirl said:

Oh and unless you're dying to see Disneyland at Christmas time, it's going to be a zoo. Just be prepared for that.

oh definitely prepared. We go every time we are down south.

From my phone yo!

[fiddles]

Thanks everyone for suggestions. I'll check up some stuff and get back to h. We might even do the Vegas thing. It will be crazy but kind of a fun place to be on NYE.

From my phone yo!