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jukes's avatar
jukes
Explorer
Sep 20, 2014

San Francisco Loop 2 weeks ideas

Planning a trip for June 2015. Flying in to San Francisco and staying a week just north of there in a home swap house (so it's free and it's nice). Then we will either do another home swap or rent an RV. We did this a few years ago and loved it, we visited SF, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur, Yosemite, a Gold town, Half Moon Bay. It was amazing and we ended up moving from the UK to Asheville, NC due mostly to that trip! The RV was fun and we just had 2 boys then aged 3 & 5.
We'd revisit those places but it would be a shame to not explore different areas.
We have to fly in and out of SFO to save over $1000 on flights.
Our in laws will be with us (flying in from UK), and after San Francisco we want another week with them and then they'll head off to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. So that week with them needs to take us somewhat in the right direction for them to get there. We will then have the final week of 3 without them.
So week 1 in San Francisco area in a house.explore SF, Napa, etc
Week 2 somewhere that takes us in a good direction for them to go to LV and Grand Canyon.
Week 3 without inlaws ending in San Francisco. In laws go to LV and GC.
During week 2 and 3 my family (2 adults and 3 boys age 3,9,11) in RV, in laws will have a car and stay not in RV.
Hope that makes sense!
Original plan was to fly out of LA but will cost a lot more.
We prefer to not drive every day to a new location, we enjoyed 3 or 4 days in each place.
Any AMAZING campgrounds in such amazing locations not to be missed??? Maybe a mix of some with a beach, pool and some without.
Thanks sorry long message.

6 Replies

  • kazmir's avatar
    kazmir
    Explorer
    Sep 25, 2014
    From SF I would head across to Tahoe and stay on the west shore. Nice state park there and great beach for the kids. No hook ups but beautiful. Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point State Park

    Then you can head over to hwy 395 and take your time going down thru the sights that are on the east Sierras. I know there are several State parks - the link above will give you info all all the CA parks. Red Rock SP above Mojave is beautiful.

    Once you drop off in LV, you can head over to LA or Santa Barbara and work your way north on the coast. There is a great state park at Leo Carrillo SP. it has a great beach and you can then head up Hwy 1 all the way back to SF. Below Big Sur we like to camp at Plaskett Creek Campground in Los Padres NF.

    The most important thing while camping on the coast during the summer is to make your reservations or there will be nowhere to stay. Sorry to say! 6 months out for reservations, private are more available it seems.

    Have fun, planning is half of it!
  • WishWeWereCampi's avatar
    WishWeWereCampi
    Explorer
    Sep 22, 2014
    Some of the places we've taken the kids are:

    Kings Canyon/Sequoia Natl Park
    Calaveras Big Trees
    Moaning Caverns
    Twin Lakes (on the 395) the fishing was great
    Bodie (also on the 395)
    I've never been there but heard Lake Mary is really cool
    Pismo. Once we found out there was a rocket launch at Vandenberg so we went to see that while we were there. You can drive on the beach and rent ATV's. We enjoyed the hike out to Oso Flaco Lake, lots of birds and an isolated beach.
    Hearst Castle
    Refugio
    Morro Bay
    Santa Barbara (limited camping options there, however)
    Jalama Beach (we've been there but never camped there, lots of people really love camping there.)
    Some places I've always wanted to go are California Hot Springs and also Mono Hot Springs.

    We like to dry camp in the summer and tend to prefer rustic settings, the beach, & hiking.

    If you want to get reservations at any of the CA state parks at the beach, you will need to be on the computer(s) at 8 AM sharp, have your campsites researched as to which ones you will fit into all ready to reserve and your finger hovering over the "book site" button.

    Sounds like you will have a great trip - have fun, wherever you end up! CA has so many great camping spots....
  • wgriswold's avatar
    wgriswold
    Explorer
    Sep 21, 2014
    You might want to consider Lake Tahoe. The weather in June is unpredictable. It might be warm, almost hot, or snowing. The prediction a few days in advance will be pretty accurate.

    I would think about Lake Tahoe, 395 to Bishop area and then the relatives continue south and you could head for the northern coast through the mountains north of Tahoe (through Susanville), weather permitting.

    Have a great trip.
  • korbe's avatar
    korbe
    Explorer
    Sep 20, 2014
    A loop from SF and LV could be the back side of the Sierras. Hwy 395 has a lot of nice stuff along that route up through Bishop.
  • jukes's avatar
    jukes
    Explorer
    Sep 20, 2014
    korbe wrote:
    About a days drive north from SF on hwy 101 you could visit the redwoods. Humboldt redwoods State park is pretty neat.


    Thanks yes, the house we will stay in is in Marshall, Marin about 90 mins north of SF. After that week we'd love to head north further, but need to spend that other week with the in laws who then will head off to the Grand Canyon, LV so heading North will take them really far!

    I'd love a loop that goes SF - somewhere in direction to LV - back to SF :)
  • korbe's avatar
    korbe
    Explorer
    Sep 20, 2014
    About a days drive north from SF on hwy 101 you could visit the redwoods. Humboldt redwoods State park is pretty neat.

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