West Coast trip.

[awick14]

DH and I are starting to plan our trip to Sacramento, California for next spring/summer. We are thinking of going last week of May- First week of June. (Dates are not 100% yet)

We are planning on doing the Oregon Coast on the way to California (3-4 days) and then spend a week in/around Sacramento. The return trip will be 3-4 days of whatever we missed on the way there.

Any tips on what to see/do (or what not to see/do) on the Oregon Coast?
Any thing worth seeing around Sacramento? We are staying with family there for no cost, and we will be wanting to spend about 3-4 days of our time in Sacramento with them.

We will be driving this trip. We live in Canada and just to give you guys an idea of travel time, it is about a 20 hr trip from here to my Uncles house.

[awick14]

I also need some ideas for inexpensive places to stay along the Oregon Coast.

TIA

[awick14]

We will be doing a day or two trip to San Francisco with my family, as my aunt wants to show us around there.

[catsarecute]

If you are going to be in Sacramento, spend some time in Lake Tahoe. I like the North Shore. I also just got back from a weekend at Donner Lake/Truckee which is really cute. Central Truckee has a strip of cute shops and restaurants. Donner Lake is a great area as well.

As far as seeing things in Sacramento, I would suggest Old Town (which can be seen in an hour). I love the Folsom area. Sutter St. has shops and restaurants and Folsom Lake is a large recreation area. There isn't tons to do in Sacramento so must people head up to Tahoe or Amador County for wine tasting.

I also suggest going to San Francisco and spending time there. So much more to do and see!

[mrs.jacinthe]

If you like wineries, there are a number of them in the Sacramento region which are worthwhile - look in Sutter, Amador, and Placer counties, specifically.

There's the sacramento zoo, rivercats games, old town (the underground tour is totally worth your time), and the crocker art museum in Sacramento proper. There's a riverboat on the Sac river which is pretty cool. A lot of the smaller, older gold-rush era towns in and around the Sac area are interesting with little shops, antiques, and restaurants - i.e. Folsom, Auburn, Grass Valley, Placerville, Nevada City, etc.

I also recommend a quick trip up the hill (can be done in one day, easily) to the Tahoe/Donner area, especially if you're into outdoorsy things. The gondola ride at Squaw is pretty cool, even in the summer, although it is on the $$ side. There's also Apple Hill (which is in Camino, just east of Placerville) which will have some facilities open and operating at that time of year - at least one orchard proper, plus a bunch of wineries and a brewery.

I guess a lot or recommendations depend on what you like to do and how much you want to drive around.

[jewel]

Aug 14, 2012 13:30:23 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

If you like wineries, there are a number of them in the Sacramento region which are worthwhile - look in Sutter, Amador, and Placer counties, specifically.

There's the sacramento zoo, rivercats games, old town (the underground tour is totally worth your time), and the crocker art museum in Sacramento proper. There's a riverboat on the Sac river which is pretty cool. A lot of the smaller, older gold-rush era towns in and around the Sac area are interesting with little shops, antiques, and restaurants - i.e. Folsom, Auburn, Grass Valley, Placerville, Nevada City, etc.

I also recommend a quick trip up the hill (can be done in one day, easily) to the Tahoe/Donner area, especially if you're into outdoorsy things. The gondola ride at Squaw is pretty cool, even in the summer, although it is on the $$ side. There's also Apple Hill (which is in Camino, just east of Placerville) which will have some facilities open and operating at that time of year - at least one orchard proper, plus a bunch of wineries and a brewery.

I guess a lot or recommendations depend on what you like to do and how much you want to drive around.

All of these are great ideas. There's a lot to do in the Sacramento area, but there are also so many amazing places within an hour or 2. Like PP said, it just depends on how much you want to stick around town and/or drive.

However, I would recommend making the trip a bit earlier, if you can. It gets really hot in the area, and early June is unpredictable. It could be nice in the 80s, or over 105. Mid-may is almost always nice weather.

[awick14]

Aug 14, 2012 13:59:24 GMT -5 jewel said:

However, I would recommend making the trip a bit earlier, if you can. It gets really hot in the area, and early June is unpredictable. It could be nice in the 80s, or over 105. Mid-may is almost always nice weather.

We would be able to go May 3-17 or May 20th-June 3rd.

[jewel]

Aug 14, 2012 14:16:34 GMT -5 awick14 said:

Aug 14, 2012 13:59:24 GMT -5 jewel said:

However, I would recommend making the trip a bit earlier, if you can. It gets really hot in the area, and early June is unpredictable. It could be nice in the 80s, or over 105. Mid-may is almost always nice weather.

We would be able to go May 3-17 or May 20th-June 3rd.

Would you rather risk rain or extreme heat? I'd go for early May, but that's just my personal perference.

[curlygirlygirl]

Are you staying put in Sacramento or visiting other places fairly close by? We just got back from Lake Tahoe and it's beautiful there! There's also San Francisco/Napa or Monterey/Carmel

[awick14]

We are sleeping in Sacramento, but planning on going to San Francisco one day for sure. I love all these ideas so far. I am going to look into lake Tahoe, an a few others.

Aside for the California part of our trip any recommendations for the oregon coast part of our trip?