Things to do in Northern California?

[Sigarms]

I would suggest allocating a day in Sacramento. There is an excellent rail museum and it is worth visiting. It is located in "Old Sacramento" with cobblestone streets and lots of shops. Worth adding into the trip. Your family will love it.

California State Railroad Museum

Located in Old Sacramento, the California State Railroad Museum is regarded as North America’s railroad museum. Home of the Polar Express.

www.californiarailroad.museum

I once stayed at the Ahwahnee hotel over 4th of July weekend. Massive, massive crowds. Not much fun in the day with huge crowds. I purchased a book titled something like: "How to Tour Yosemite at Night." Worked well. It would be worth searching to find it.

Check the lunar calendar during your expected stay. If you there is anything near to a full moon, seeing the falls get lit from top to bottom, after dark, as the moon rises above the ridgeline is something you won't forget. There is also something called a "lunar rainbow" which is all silver since it only reflects one wavelength of light. These appear near the base of the falls. This would likely be a once in a lifetime experience.

If you wish to see spectacular scenery, take a drive over Hwy 4 to Carson City. This is Ebbetts Pass, and passes by the small towns of Arnold, Camp Connel, and Bear Valley. The scenery is equivalent to that in Glacier National Park-- huge jagged high granite peaks with deeply carved valleys in between. For many miles it is more equivalent to a one lane paved road but it is no problem at all in a passenger vehicle.


There is much to see and do in Carson City, as it is an old silver mining town. There is also a good rail museum there although not as good as in Sacramento.

So much to do and see-- just a few ideas.

Thank you for the suggestion of Nevada, I wasn't even thinking along that line.

I know about the "so much to do an see" part. When I used to go to Utah by myself, I would be out there for two weeks at a time, did it about 4 times, and I still didn't get to see everything I wanted to see. So much bigger than the east coast.

 

[Sigarms]

That must have been years ago. Zion is awful now...it got so crowded they no longer allow personal vehicles in. When you get to the Park entrance you must park your vehicle and get on one of the Park Service buses. AND you'll need a reservation.

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is also a zoo. Just looked it up to check my figures...5.9 MILLION visitors a year! The North Rim is much less crowded. This morning I got an announcement that, due to the heavy snowfall this year, the North Rim facilities (which are ~9,000 feet in elevation) have delayed their opening until the first week in June!

I hit the south rim of the Grand Canyon on my first trip to Utah. After that, the only time I went back was when I took my future wife (girlfriend at the time and my father) because there was so much to see and do in Utah but my girlfriend at the time wanted to hit it on the way back to fly out of Vegas. Best part was if you take the beaten path, you sometimes won't see anyone.

Honestly, if I were to plan a trip like this, I'd be going earlier in the year. That said, we had to get a hotel for my father because he was freezing his butt off in May LOL

Thing is, we're doing this for my son, and thus in August. The trip is for him and might as well have fun along the way on my end. Heck, he doesn't even know what I would consider a "real mountain" is, so no matter what, I'm certain he'll have a fun time no matter what.

When my father came to live with us that last 4 years of his life, the reality is we couldn't do anything together as a family per a vacation and leave the state.

What I've found in my past traveling is it isn't the destination, but the journey along the way.

I did look, and it seems August is the worst part of the year to visit Yosemite (thank you for making me look LOL). End of the day however, we are out there for two full weeks, and I'm certain we'll have some interesting journeys.

ONLY thing I don't like about this trip is anytime I went out west traveling, would always have a sidearm with me. NO WAY am I flying into California with a gun. That said, I also did a lot of car camping. I'm getting to old for that crap now anyways.

When my son moves out, wife and I will have plenty of time to go where we want and when. Priority on this trip is spending time with the boy.

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

First family vacation in a while. Planning on two weeks around Yosemite middle of August with wife and son (before he ships out for basic). Boy always seemed enamored with Yosemite, so we're planning the trip around that national park.

Flying into Sacramento, renting a vehicle. Wife has the town picked out, forget the name, but not to far from the park.

Used to spend a lot of time out in Idaho and Montana in my youth Kayaking, but always traveled early may because it seemed the tourists (which we will be a part of) exploded in those states right after Memorial day.

1 - How bad will the crowds be? (hate to ask, but have to)

2 - Looks to be a 8 hour drive to the redwood forest from Yosemite. Always wondered what that place is like myself, and would it be worth the drive?

3 - What other things would one consider worth doing and visiting around that area. I'm blind when it comes to northern California (anything North of San Diego).

First time in the Yosemite area with my wife and boys a while back was a full day gold panning trip with a guide all equipment and lunch and we really enjoyed it and I still have to gold flakes on the shelf. If you have time you may consider hitting Rt1 and getting away from the heat and there is a fantastic area to hike the giant redwoods in Muir woods just north of Frisco.

 

[MossRoad]

First family vacation in a while. Planning on two weeks around Yosemite middle of August with wife and son (before he ships out for basic). Boy always seemed enamored with Yosemite, so we're planning the trip around that national park.

Flying into Sacramento, renting a vehicle. Wife has the town picked out, forget the name, but not to far from the park.

Used to spend a lot of time out in Idaho and Montana in my youth Kayaking, but always traveled early may because it seemed the tourists (which we will be a part of) exploded in those states right after Memorial day.

1 - How bad will the crowds be? (hate to ask, but have to)

2 - Looks to be a 8 hour drive to the redwood forest from Yosemite. Always wondered what that place is like myself, and would it be worth the drive?

3 - What other things would one consider worth doing and visiting around that area. I'm blind when it comes to northern California (anything North of San Diego).

Aren't there sequoia trees in Yosemite? They are huge. If you've seen one huge tree you've seen another.

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

Aren't there sequoia trees in Yosemite? They are huge. If you've seen one huge tree you've seen another.

Probably, we have all kinds of seriously big trees in this region.

 

[Sigarms]

First time in the Yosemite area with my wife and boys a while back was a full day gold panning trip with a guide all equipment and lunch and we really enjoyed it and I still have to gold flakes on the shelf. If you have time you may consider hitting Rt1 and getting away from the heat and there is a fantastic area to hike the giant redwoods in Muir woods just north of Frisco.

Thank you.

From some of the comments, it seems it may be worthwhile to look into guided trips in Yosemite to help alleviate the influx of visitors in August. Our last family trip with the boys was to Florida, and I know I was kind debating my wife on the "fast pass" for Disney for what it added to the cost of admission (which my first reaction to the ticket price alone was NO WAY! lol), but in hindsight, that money spent on the fast pass was worth every penny spent IMO.

Muir woods looks only to be 2.5 hours from where we're staying. Now I'm wondering if San Francisco is worth visiting (I have an office I work out of Charlotte, and one thing that hasn't changed in my life is I despise traffic).

Looking at the map, does route 1 follow the coastline and is that worth the expedition seeing how far we want to go north?

Here is a dumb question, exactly how long does it take to drive from the north to south border in California?

The down side is we're kind of stuck staying around Yosemite during our time there, but the upside is the place is very nice (full kitchen for cooking, laundry, pool...) and long story, not really costing us anything, so we do have time to spend time overnight somewhere else if we wanted to depending on the drive (it looks like the redwoods would be an 8 hour drive and mentioning this to my better half, we're on the same page to stay elsewhere at night given a drive time vs what we want to do.

Seems like a sin to be there for two weeks and to only stay in one place.

I laugh with my wife on how my life has changed. Before I got married in my 30's, the ONLY time I stayed in a hotel was for work. Put about 50,000 miles on my VW golf one year for paddling alone and I had taken out the rear seat and built a bed frame in the back for sleeping. Depending on how rural the area was, would stay in hotel parking lot and sleep in the car so the cops wouldn't hassle me if I was pulled over on a dirt road at 3 in the morning (can't blame them for seeing a car parked in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road as it's worth checking out). Still have my hiking tent and sleeping bags, but sad to say I've become the person I thought I'd never become because now I'm tired of sleeping on the ground, added my body hurts more LOL My, how my perspective has changed.

 

[Torvy]

Part of our Honeymoon was spent driving down Hwy 1. Much of it is (or was 33 years ago) 2 lanes and slow moving as it a winding road. We left Bay area one morning. Stayed in Santa Barbara area that night and arrived in Long Beach the next afternoon for a night on the Queen Mary.

In all, we spent 2 weeks from Napa to San Diego back then. We enjoyed the wine country the most. The tours were beautiful and we learned a lot about wine and the history. We went back with the kids maybe 8-10 years ago (we were going north from SF to Seattle to see family along the way).

This one was a good tour, but is a more modern winery (despite the old look). Christian Brothers, Mondavi and Charles Krug were also interesting back in 1990.

Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga | Castello di Amorosa

Visit Castello di Amorosa, a medieval-style Tuscan castle winery located in Calistoga, Napa Valley. Explore our wines and book a wine tasting tour today!

castellodiamorosa.com

 

[polo1665]

We visited the Yosemite area in 2011. Stayed in Mammoth Lakes and drove to Yosemite from there. Visit Mariposa Grove in Yosemite area to see the giant sequoias.
We had originally flown into San Francisco, drove to Lake Tahoe and spent a few days there before heading to Yosemite. Tahoe is nice too.

Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias - National Park Service Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias - Yosemite National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

 

[plowhog]

it looks like the redwoods would be an 8 hour drive

It is little known but might be yet another jewel for your trip.

Along the route I mentioned earlier (Hwy 4 over Ebbetts Pass) there is a State Park called Calaveras Big Trees. It includes giant sequoias (redwoods.) There is a 2.5 mile hike route and a 5 mile hike route. I have done both of these and they are very good with many very large sequoia trees. Entrance fee is probably around $10.

It winds near Beaver Creek, where I have done a significant amount of trout fishing. There are beautiful redwoods in this State Park. I just did a check and it is a 2 hour drive from Mariposa, CA to Arnold, CA. Your travel time from Yosemite would be slightly longer but not by much.

Afterward, if you continue up and over Ebbetts Pass, you'll encounter the best mountain scenery pretty much anywhere. It would be spectacular for someone from flat land. If you don't want to double back on the same route, at Carson City you could go south on Hwy 395 to Lee Vining, CA. That is on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Then take Tioga Pass over the Sierras again which drops your right back into Yosemite. You'll be near 8,000 ft elevation on both routes at the peak.

Scenery on Tioga pass is also pretty spectacular. You could also do the same trip in reverse. Doing all of that is too much for a single day, but easily do-able if you added a 1 night stay in Nevada.

If you choose to do this and spend 1 night in Nevada, I'd suggest checking to see if there is room at Walley's Hot Springs in Genoa, NV. It includes many large pools all heated by natural geothermal. Think hot tubs but the size of pools instead. I rented the entire property once for New Year's and my family had a very good time. It's more highly developed now so not sure what their arrangements are currently.

 

[ericm979]

I would definitely go see the redwood forest... I understand 8h is no joke, is it worth it for that drive ?? I don't know, I guess it depend if you could hit other attraction along the way

There's redwoods and giant sequoias. Sequoias get larger in diameter and redwoods get a little taller. They're both huge. Sequoias are in the sierras and redwoods are along the coast. The best redwood groves are on the north coast, roughly along highway 101. Redwood national park (north of Eureka) is really nice but there's a ton of state and local parks along 101 both north of and south of Eureka, especially along the "Avenue of the giants" which is the old 101 south of Eureka. The parks in redwood country are less crowded in my experience than Yosemite and Sequoia national parks.

Sequoia national park is a couple hours south of Yosemite and has a bunch of really big trees. They're getting burnt up in fires lately so it's probably worth seeing them while there are still some groves left.

The Mystery Spot

Tourist trap, don't bother unless you like that kind of thing.

Santa Cruz and the seashore north and south of it are really nice.

Livermore Valley Wine Country

Maybe because I grew up there I have not been impressed with the area as a wine growing/touring area. Napa valley is the most famous wine area in CA and the most high end and touristy as a result. More down to earth would be the Shenandoah area south of Placerville in the sierra foothills, extending down to Murphys, and the Sonoma county wine country.

Big Sur and bixby bridge

Highway 1 currently has a bunch of road closures which may not be fixed by August.
It's worth a trip but even on a weekday you'll need to be patient as there are a lot of foreign tourists driving slowly and erratically.

​

Big Basin Redwoods State Park / Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad

Big Basin was burnt in a huge fire in 2020 (it got to within a few miles of my place) and reopened for reservation only last summer. I'd check to see how open it is.

Lassen Volcanic National Park,

Lassen is really awesome. So's Mt Shasta near by.

Bodie State Historic Park — Bridegeport​

Bodie is worth a drive.

I love the eastern sierras. There's way fewer people than the western side and the mountains are enormous and very scenic. The east side of the Sierras is basically a sheer cliff and the Owens valley is 6000' below it. The lower elevations can get hot during the day but the high country will be cool. Mammoth (a ski town) and Bishop are the larger towns in the area. Motels in Bishop can fill up when there's an event.


Lately the late summer forest fire season has often been pretty bad in the Sierras. The smoke often impacts the views of the mountains, and can be unpleasant enough that you may want to be elsewhere. If you're really unlucky there may be road closures where you want to go. I'd keep some alternate plans in mind for the coast just in case.

Though the coast can burn too. The same fire that burnt a good part of Big Basin went all the way to the shore in places.