San Diego to San Francisco

Hi,

I need advice. We are going to travel to US in december. First stop
will be in Phoenix to visit an old friend from Sweden (where we're
travelling from), then by car to San Diego. This part is planned.

From San Diego to San Francisco we plan to travel by car. Three days
travelling and two overnight stay in motels will be a good pace I
think, regarding that my wife and I are travelling with our two
daughters, 23 months old. We would like to see (part of) highway 1 and
nature surrounding.

Now: What to see? Where to stay? We both prefer
nature/wildlife/culture.
My wife mentioned Disneyland in Anaheim, but I'm not sure.
I would like to see some wildlife in Monterey.

Any suggestions? How to split the trip, bearing in mind that we need
(preferably) to have checked in at the motels in the afternoon or early
evening so our daughters can have their sleep in beds?

flygis wrote:
Hi,

I need advice. We are going to travel to US in december. First stop
will be in Phoenix to visit an old friend from Sweden (where we're
travelling from), then by car to San Diego. This part is planned.

From San Diego to San Francisco we plan to travel by car. Three days
travelling and two overnight stay in motels will be a good pace I
think, regarding that my wife and I are travelling with our two
daughters, 23 months old. We would like to see (part of) highway 1 and
nature surrounding.

Now: What to see? Where to stay? We both prefer
nature/wildlife/culture.
My wife mentioned Disneyland in Anaheim, but I'm not sure.
I would like to see some wildlife in Monterey.

Any suggestions? How to split the trip, bearing in mind that we need
(preferably) to have checked in at the motels in the afternoon or early
evening so our daughters can have their sleep in beds?


Your daughters are far too young to appreciate Disneyworld and would
only interfere with your enjoyment of it - that should wait until they
are much older...

You might want at least one day in Monterey/Carmel where you will find a
lot of activities based on your interests...
check out... http://www.cityitinerary.com/activities/index.php?s=35

BUT are you sure there aren't any grandparents where you can leave the
kids and you and your wife can enjoy a great trip? ... LA art galleries
and theater, Hearst Castle, wine tasting tours, romantic dinner in
Carmel, sites of SF...etc. these will be really hard with little kids.
You are going to miss a lot of what this area has to offer.

Good luck.

--

Seinfeld Lists
http://wave.prohosting.com/tnguym

LOST - ScreenSnaps & Sawyer's Nicknames
http://tinyurl.com/a2r2r

"Your daughters are far too young to appreciate Disneyworld"

I thought so too.

"BUT are you sure there aren't any grandparents where you can leave the
kids and you and your wife can enjoy a great trip?"

I'm afraid not. We're travelling from Sweden and we'll be away for 17
days, so we don't want to leave our kids at home. Also, my friend in
Phoenix stays on contract for little more than one year from now, so if
we want to visit him, it'll be before the kids are two years and have
to have own chairs on the planes.

The trip between SD and SF is a kind of bonus, because we're going to
SF anyway for a visit of another friend.

In article .com,
flygis wrote:
The trip between SD and SF is a kind of bonus, because we're going to
SF anyway for a visit of another friend.

I would suggest you spend the night in Santa Barbara and Monterey.

"TheNewsGuy(Mike)" wrote in message
...
flygis wrote:
Hi,

I need advice. We are going to travel to US in december. First stop
will be in Phoenix to visit an old friend from Sweden (where we're
travelling from), then by car to San Diego. This part is planned.

From San Diego to San Francisco we plan to travel by car. Three days
travelling and two overnight stay in motels will be a good pace I
think, regarding that my wife and I are travelling with our two
daughters, 23 months old. We would like to see (part of) highway 1 and
nature surrounding.

Now: What to see? Where to stay? We both prefer
nature/wildlife/culture.
My wife mentioned Disneyland in Anaheim, but I'm not sure.
I would like to see some wildlife in Monterey.

Any suggestions? How to split the trip, bearing in mind that we need
(preferably) to have checked in at the motels in the afternoon or early
evening so our daughters can have their sleep in beds?


Your daughters are far too young to appreciate Disneyworld and would
only interfere with your enjoyment of it - that should wait until they
are much older...

I disagree, almost two year olds are a prime demographic for DisneyLAND.
(Disneyworld is in Florida.) The park is decorated for the holidays and is
enchanting for tiny kids who believe Minnie can make snow fall on cue. (I
still find it magical, and I'm a cynical grownup.) That said, the best way
to do Disneyland with little ones is to go right when the park opens at 9 or
10am, take them back to the hotel for naps as the park is getting crowded in
the afternoon, and come back for the fireworks at night. If you are coming
from San Diego that kind of schedule might not work. There is morning rush
hours between San Diego and Anaheim, I don't know how bad it is in
December.

If you get in your car in San Diego, and leave late enough to miss traffic,
you might try and get to San Luis Obispo by late afternoon. The sand dunes
on the beach there are fun to slide down. And then there is the fury of the
ocean. If you can't make it that far Pismo Beach/Santa Barbara/ and Cambria
all have motels and beaches. Spend the night and take 1 up to Monterey.
Warning: highway 1 is curvy along the coast. If the little ones get carsick
this might not be the best idea. Your views will be a bit limited, as going
up the coast you are on the inside of the highway, and it might be too foggy
to see the water anyway. On the other hand, its the only way to get to Big
Sur, if that is the nature you are looking for.

You might want at least one day in Monterey/Carmel where you will find a
lot of activities based on your interests...
check out... http://www.cityitinerary.com/activities/index.php?s=35

Carmel is a lovely little town with (in December) a freezing beach and lots
of cozy little shops that aren't really stroller friendly. If your girls
are shoppers this might appeal to them, I know my older daughter loved
wander shops when she was two, my younger one not so much. Monterey has a
great aquarium that the tiny girls will love. However, if you are leaving
LA in the morning you will be getting to Monterey late in the day, and I'm
not sure the aquarium stays open very late in the winter. So you might want
to do the aquarium the last day, and then get in the car and drive to San
Francisco.

BUT are you sure there aren't any grandparents where you can leave the
kids and you and your wife can enjoy a great trip? ... LA art galleries
and theater, Hearst Castle, wine tasting tours, romantic dinner in
Carmel, sites of SF...etc. these will be really hard with little kids.
You are going to miss a lot of what this area has to offer.

Good luck.

--

Seinfeld Lists
http://wave.prohosting.com/tnguym

LOST - ScreenSnaps & Sawyer's Nicknames
http://tinyurl.com/a2r2r

flygis wrote:
Hi,

I need advice. We are going to travel to US in december. First stop
will be in Phoenix to visit an old friend from Sweden (where we're
travelling from), then by car to San Diego. This part is planned.

From San Diego to San Francisco we plan to travel by car. Three days
travelling and two overnight stay in motels will be a good pace I
think, regarding that my wife and I are travelling with our two
daughters, 23 months old. We would like to see (part of) highway 1 and
nature surrounding.

Now: What to see? Where to stay? We both prefer
nature/wildlife/culture.
My wife mentioned Disneyland in Anaheim, but I'm not sure.
I would like to see some wildlife in Monterey.

Any suggestions? How to split the trip, bearing in mind that we need
(preferably) to have checked in at the motels in the afternoon or early
evening so our daughters can have their sleep in beds?

Suggest that you consider staying at Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo,
and/or Carmel/Monterey. It may be whale watching season. There is a
famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. There are not much other wild life in
the area other than deers. Mountain lions you won't be able to see
(they are very shy).

In article . com,
PeterL wrote:
There is a famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. There are not much other
wild life in the area other than deers.

Besides otters, the Monterey area has many birds. Going to Point
Lobos or Asilomar is a great way to experience the ocean-side
wildlife.

I suggested Santa Barbara, but Pismo Beach/Shell Beach is also a
good spot to stop, depending on how far you want to drive. I find
it a more convenient stop than nearby San Luis Obispo. The ocean-side
motels there are also reasonably priced.

More questions:

Is it hard to find a motel along the route? Should I book room in
advance? Are there reasonable priced motels?

If we skip the LA area, how should we drive during a sunday to not get
caught in traffic? (Have heard that the traffic in LA can be very
heavy.)

In article .com,
flygis wrote:
Is it hard to find a motel along the route? Should I book room in
advance? Are there reasonable priced motels?

Whether you should book a room in advance depends on precisely when
you will be traveling. Friday and Saturday can be a problem (but
you seem to be leaving on Sunday, so that's good), and then there
are holidays. The motels occur in "clumps," i.e. there are a large
number in certain locales, and then stretches with nearly none.
Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder, but some areas are more
expensive than others.

If we skip the LA area, how should we drive during a sunday to not
get caught in traffic?

Well, you presumably want to end up heading toward Ventura on US-101.
LA is criss-crossed with major highways. If you want not to get
caught, you tune into the "traffic info" radio station and listen
for which highways are moving well, and then consult your map to
determine the best route. If there are no traffic issues that day,
you will take I5-I405-US101. This is usually a pretty good route,
and has relatively few delays, but you never know about LA.

"Whether you should book a room in advance depends on precisely when
you will be traveling. Friday and Saturday can be a problem (but
you seem to be leaving on Sunday, so that's good), and then there
are holidays."

Yes, we'll leave SD on Sunday (the time not planned yet), and want to
be in SF Tuesday afternoon. So we need motels the nights to Monday and
Tuesday.
Are there any holidays or other special days the 11-13 of December?