Summer Trip 2024-And Questions

[Jane M]

Your itinerary is way too ambitious.
Have you ever been to CA? A straight drive on the highways without traffic from San Diego to Foster City is 10 hours. Add traffic and miles driven on highway one (a very slow drive as it is only 2 lanes and curvy) and you could easily spend 15 hours (or more...on a holiday week) just driving.
Doable only if you plan on not sleeping the entire trip.

[theurbanfiles]

Originally Posted by NORTY FLATZ

"Avenue Of The Giants" is quite unique.

Stop anywhere along the route, shut-off the car, turn off all electronic devices, look up and listen.

Take 2 minutes.

Experience.

I appreciate this, truly. I think going up that far north may not quite be in the cards for us this time around. However, because we have family in the bay area, and I do not necessarily foresee that changing in the immediate future, the odds that we end up vacationing out west sometime in the next 5 years is not insignificant either. On that trip, perhaps we will fly into PDX and do that way down. Before I realized that the combined flight and rental would be 1100 or so for SD and up, and about 1800 for PDX and down, that was in fact, what we were going to do. When we do make that trip, and I think it will be a matter of when, not if, sometime in the later 2020s or early 2030s, I am making sure that we cover Astoria/Cannon Beach, Crater Lake, AND Redwoods. So, I may allot 7 or 8 days for that drive versus the five we have for this one, lol.

[theurbanfiles]

Originally Posted by Jane M

Your itinerary is way too ambitious.
Have you ever been to CA? A straight drive on the highways without traffic from San Diego to Foster City is 10 hours. Add traffic and miles driven on highway one (a very slow drive as it is only 2 lanes and curvy) and you could easily spend 15 hours (or more...on a holiday week) just driving.
Doable only if you plan on not sleeping the entire trip.

Should it really be that crazy though? I mean, I guess everyone of course, is different, and the way they travel is different and I get that. But:

Day 1: Around town San Diego, really. Of course, the times when we actually get there could certainly be worse, but I mean it shows around 15 minutes to downtown from where we are, 10 minutes to Balboa Park, and around 25 minutes to the bottom of Point Loma, which, hopefully to curve rush for, we plan on doing in the morning. I get that some of these could certainly be worse, but I feel like we can always recalibrate if that ends up being the case.

Day 2: Driving from San Diego up to LA. Again, I'm cognizant this could be worse (though it is a Sunday morning when we'll be doing this), but the baseline time from SD to LA factoring for our 2 core stops, would be 3 hour or a hair over-even if that ends up being 4, I don't feel like that is too too bad by road trip standards, western road trips, esp.

Day 3: Around town/LA: One ace in the hole, that maybe we can take advantage of, is that we are only about 2 miles from the Studio City metro station. Not sure how comfortable taking LA Metro is, but it would certainly cut down on traffic, and we'd still have access to Universal CityWalk, Hollywood/Highland complex, and downtown, along it's route. I'm very open to playing it by ear on this day if things truly are nightmarish. The strip we are staying on in Burbank looks cool to explore by foot and try some independent places, and we have some Griffith Park hiking that looks pretty great within a few miles of where we are staying, as well.

Day 4: Up to San Luis Obispo-I don't actually plan on going on Highway 1 through Malibu. On this day, I plan, particularly on making a pretty decent length (3-4 hours) stop in Santa Barbara, and then more mid length (1-2 hours each) stops in Solvang, and San Luis Obispo. The without traffic time it indicates for that is about 3.5. But even if we assume that becomes 5 to 5.5 in the car, that still doesn't seem all that crazy or taxing to me for a road trip day, esp when it's intentionally bookended with several breaks throughout. If were making good time, maybe we try to catch the sunset at end of day at Morro Rock Beach.

Day 5: Up to Foster City-I get this would probably be the craziest day, relatively speaking. But even this, for us at least, isn't that crazy. I mean, maybe it's just the midwest "why fly, it's only a 10 hour drive" energy coming out in me, but growing up, we, on a number of occasions as a family did the 16-17 hour Cleveland to Orlando drive. And just last month, my dad and I did a day trip from Manatee County, FL to Tallahassee and back, which featured like 6ish (comfortable amount) hours of ground time with which to see Tallahassee. It didn't feel terribly breakneck to me, either. For this day, I assume the following:
7:45 A-10:30 A: Driving from start point to Carmel by the Sea (Google says it'll take 2:05, so we'll say 2:45) on 101 (PCH through Big Sur I'm fairly positive will be closed.)
10:30-1:15: Grabbing a quick snack and/or coffee in Carmel (at the bakery, I think looks good), and then driving 17 Mile Scenic Drive with stops to hike/look
1:15-3:45: Monterey Aquarium for 90 minutes, then 60 minutes grabbing a fast casual lunch somewhere in Cannery Row area
3:45-5:15: Driving to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (Google said 60, but I'm adding +50% longer)
5:15-6:15: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (note, we can cut this if traffic is really crazy, and it won't be a big deal/end of world. We don't plan for this to be a lengthy stop either, maybe just walk up and down the main drag and call it a day
6:15-8:00: Driving to Foster City (Again, adding 1:45 instead of the 1:05 Google is showing now, because, summer).

I really don't think any of that will be that taxing compared to the standards/thresholds of some people's road trips, etc. Especially because, the ultimate point of this is, an A to B to get to family, based upon where airfare worked best. If I can see some or a good number of new and/or cool things again along this journey, then great, awesome! But, I'm not going to get worked up if we end up missing or cutting out some places along this, either.

[njbiodude]

Originally Posted by theurbanfiles

Hello all! Coming out to your beautiful state this summer, with the following planned itinerary:

June 28th: Flight out to San Diego
June 29th: Full Day of San Diego Sightseeing
June 30th: Driving up to Los Angeles, staying in Burbank (specifically, planning on touring SoFi Stadium and Visiting Griffith Observatory on this day)
July 1st: Full Day of Los Angeles Sightseeing
July 2nd: Driving up the Pacific Coast Highway (staying a little north of San Luis Obispo)
July 3rd: Driving remainder of PCH/north (staying with family in Foster City)
July 4th-9th: With Family in Foster City
July 10th: Flying Home

With all that said, I have the following travel-based questions, as I hope to maximize visit.

1) Sunset Cliffs looks really cool-esp the sea cave. Is that area by Luscomb's Point indeed the best to visit, and just how difficult is it to get out to the sea cave if timing it right with the tides?

2) As someone who is generally into urbanist places/cool public spaces, would you say that Santa Monica/Venice, or Pasadena is more worth visiting, and why?

3) Anywhere especially recommendable to visit on Olvera Street or Little Tokyo?

4)We are touring SoFi-I have heard Dodger Stadium is open free to the public to just walk in, take a peek at the stands, etc. Is this true?

5) As far as Hollywood/movie-based attractions-which one would you say is most worth visiting of the following: Hollywood Bowl/Museum, TCL Chinese Theatre Guided Tour, Dolby Theatre tour, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, or Other, and why? I remember touring WB when I was in 6th grade (a while back)-June 2003, but not sure I want to pay that much for a tour or spend that much time on one.

6) Which 2-3 things would you prioritize doing the most in the stretch between Malibu and SLO? Channel Islands NP looks beautiful, but I don't think we have that kind of time, as going there I think would take most of the day so that that is all we would do.

7) I highlighted this one as it's the question I'm most hoping to get answered-how likely is it that by early July, the full PCH will be open? I may not be going to Big Sur, otherwise. ]

8) How worth it is Pinnacles NP West-Balconies Cave Trail? Looks like it would be 45-50 minutes total on my drive (like 20-25 mins in each way in and out on the park road, and that's not factoring traffic. If you were deciding between only one of 17 Mile Drive, and Pinnacles, assuming going thru Big Sur was not an option.. which would you choose?)

9) How much would I expect to pay if I decided to bring my car into SF on the one day I plan to go see Alcatraz? Assuming I was staying 4-5 hours at a specific spot, is there any way I could get away parking relatively near Pier 33 for $20 or less?

10) Anything especially new or interesting you think I should check out, based on the fact that my family has the following combined interests: Urbanism, Hiking/Nature, Food, Shopping, Sports (though this last one, I can do my own research on so no worries there).

Thankful for anyone who may be willing to provide some guidance on some of these questions!

Check out Morro Rock in SLO and rent a kayak through the harbor

[theurbanfiles]

Originally Posted by njbiodude

Check out Morro Rock in SLO and rent a kayak through the harbor

This sounds absolutely incredible. I am not sure if there is a cut off time where they stop doing this for the day, but yeah, this sounds really really cool, to the point where I would consider blowing right through SLO if it meant I could get here before 6 and do this... or something. Honestly.. I wouldn't mind catching the sunset on Morro Rock Beach, as the reflections and lighting look really really awesome, at least when the sunset is visible from there, which I'm sure isn't always.

One other thing I'm considering, is just skipping the 17 Mile Drive AND Pinnacles. I think from a bandwidth standpoint, it makes sense. Google says it's about 2 hours flat from where we stay to Monterey, and so I'm thinking that if we get going by 7:30, we should be able to make it in there by 10. I'm hoping for 2.5 or so total hours there, then perhaps going straight to Santa Cruz to hopefully get in there before 2 or so for 2 hours or so. From there, my family member that lives out there works for a significant tech company in the Bay Area, so perhaps actually visiting him quickly at office at end of day (5ish) if possible, before turning in at their place for the evening. Just thinking all of that might be more expedient than trying to cram too too much in that day-that's the one day I'm sorta concerned about more than the others on that front since it's the longest distance wise and the day before a holiday, and while I'm sure both those natural spots are great, I think that getting our fill of Monterey and Santa Cruz (or at least, orientation to) will be time well spent.