One place in SF Laura might like to visit! The Ribbonrie, this post over at Oh Happy Day reminded me.
Archive for the ‘California’ Category
The Ribbonrie
Posted in California on August 27, 2010| 1 Comment »
The route, with overnight stops
Posted in California, Oregon, Washington on July 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Monday morning: depart SF, sleep in:
Mendocino:
or Fort Bragg (Fort Bragg seems better value):
- http://www.atriumbnb.com/rooms.html
- http://www.beourguests.com/inn.html
- http://www.livinglightinn.com/fort_bragg_lodging.html
- http://wellerhouse.com/rooms.html
- http://www.greywhaleinn.com/sub_room.htm
This place is south of Fort Bragg and looks fairly smart:
And, yikes, there’s also a place for bikers to stay:
- http://www.casparinn.com/rooms.htm
“Before you inquire about lodging, take this test:
Will you be attending the concerts?
Do you like music and dancing until 2am?
After that, are you willing to hear the rustle of others who are winding down?
Is everyone in your party 21+ with valid I.D.?”
Tuesday morning: depart Fort Bragg/Mendocino, sleep in Gold Beach:
Then Gold Beach to Newport, Newport to Forest Grove (McMenamins), Forest Grove to Seaside/Astoria/Cannon Beach, then back to Seattle.
Ask Metafilter threads to have another look at
Posted in California, Oregon, Washington on July 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »
This is a placeholder for myself. Now that I’ve heard from people on places to see/stop I’m going through these threads again and finding that I get more information from them. But, I need to run so I’m bookmarking them as a reminder to myself:
http://ask.metafilter.com/124678/pacific-coast-101
http://ask.metafilter.com/64779/West-Coast-Road-Trip
http://ask.metafilter.com/42508/Driving-from-Seattle-to-San-Francisco
Tuesday 7 September – Mendocino – ?
Posted in California, Oregon on June 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Depart Mendocino.
Visit: Fort Bragg, …?
Overnight: Arcata or Gold Beach or …?
- Stay at Arcata? Around 3 hour drive from Mendocino. Or should we drive further that day?
- Or could stay at http://www.tututun.com/main.html in Gold Beach – though this means we would not be able to get inland for a bit as there are no roads that head inland until Bandon. Suites are available – seems like this would be the most economical option if we wanted to stay here.
Monday 6 September – SF to Mendocino
Posted in California on June 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Depart San Francisco.
Visit: Muir Woods, Point Reyes,
Overnight: stay in Mendocino. Options:
- maccallumhouse.com – rooms available for $200 and up (way up!). Includes what sounds like a fancy breakfast, and rooms have real fireplaces. Some have ocean views.
- http://www.mendocinohotel.com
Route suggestion
Posted in California, Oregon, Washington on May 15, 2010| 4 Comments »
This route suggestion comes from a friend of mine who has spent her life between San Francisco, Seattle and a family farm in Victoria. Which is to say she knows the coast line well. Basically she suggests driving the whole California coastline, cutting in to I-5 for Oregon (where the beaches become all about families hanging out) driving up to Portland and heading back out to the coast, through McMinneville and out to Tillamook/Cannon Beach.
My suggestion had been to stay on Hwy 1 up to 128 and cut inland to 101, but on the map that doesn’t make sense (I didn’t realize how 128 goes east but also south). Better to cut across on 20 or stay on 1 until it reunites with 101 (full disclosure: I’ve not driven that section myself, north or east of Ft Bragg, but I expect it would be beautiful–that whole area is).
I’d take 101 up to Eureka/Ferndale/Arcata area, through the big redwoods. Keep on 101. Some of the loveliest beaches are north of Arcata.
You could cut in at Crescent City on 199 if you’re tired of the curves by then, or continue up to 38 out of Reedsport, or 20 our of Newport or 18 out of Lincoln City–but at that point you’re almost to Canon Beach and you’d probably just want to stick with it.
With five days, though, it looks like we could do the whole coast while driving four or five hours a day. What do you guys think of that?
relevance from Ask Metafilter
Posted in California, Oregon on May 12, 2010| 3 Comments »
It’s like it was written for us: My wife and I are going on a road trip in about a week along the Pacific Coast Highway (101) from San Francisco to Seattle. What are some not-to-miss places along the way?
Some points pulled from that thread:
- Sea Lion Caves, in OR parallel to Eugene, though reported to be touristy
- Muir Woods, Scott and I have been here and it’s a really nice walk through redwoods, with a park gift shop and related comforts.
- Avenue of the Giants (also), to see redwoods
- Cape Perpetua in Oregon, with great views
- In general people report that the drive through California is a bit more wild, and the drive through Oregon is full of beaches and parks, but is more populated.
More Ask Metafilter threads:
I’m planning a roadtrip for my 30th birthday. Origin: Los Angeles. Destination: Seattle or Cabo?
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives road trip from SF to Portland (farther if needs be).
Where should I go on a three-day trip, leaving from Seattle?
What’s a good 2-3 day route for driving from Seattle to San Francisco?
Driving from San Francisco to Seattle: how do we plan a pleasant 4-day trip up the west coast?
some planning bits
Posted in California, Oregon, Washington on May 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I’ll be bringing our GPS driving unit, which will give us voice directions (or not if we’d prefer) for the drive. We’ll also have our phones and as long as there is a signal we’ll be able to research as we go along. Our phones also have Google Maps with a little dot that will show us where we are. Additionally I’ll be bringing a AAA Triptik, basically a set of maps for our route with notes about construction and attractions. Our AAA memberships mean we have roadside assistance, yay.
Route Planning
Posted in California, Oregon, Washington on May 12, 2010| 2 Comments »
Here is a Google Map view of the driving route mostly on Highway 101, if we take 101 all the way from San Francisco, keep going north up to Long Beach once we hit Washington, then drive through the peninsula (the part we didn’t see on the last trip) to Olympia, WA then onward to Seattle it will take just over 16 hours. I’m not sure how interesting the beginning of the drive through California will be as it’s inland.
If we take I-5 out of San Francisco then turn towards the coast at Redding, the trip time is close to 18 hours. Two hours more!
But, if we take Highway 1 out of San Francisco and drive the entire coast there, switching to 101 in Oregon it will also take just over 18 hours.
So, we have to figure out exactly which bits of coast we want to see. I vote for Cannon Beach in Oregon (aka the Goonies rocks). Next I’ll figure out what parts of the coast are not to be missed. Sadly, if we want to see Cannon Beach and Long Beach we won’t be near any McMenamin’s hotels! Also, we want to figure out how many hours we’d like to spend on the road each day, and how many days we want to take.
items of interest from Journey magazine
Posted in California, Oregon, Washington on May 12, 2010| 1 Comment »
There is a cider mill in Olympia, since it will be September it might (maybe) be cool enough to see apples in process. Lattin’s Country Cider Mill and Farm.
There are Paul Bunyn statues in Klamath, CA at the Trees of Mystery attraction on 15500 Highway 101 N. Grant’s Pass, OR at Cedarwood Saloon, 1345 Redwood Ave. and in Portland, OR at the intersection of N Denver and N Interstate Avenues.
The Long Beach Peninsula is where we can drive the car right out onto the beach. Which I insist we do despite the red neck overtones. It’s really, really fun and the beach is enormous. The magazine suggests two restaurants: Pelicano, which has views of a dock, and Jimella’s Seafood Market and Cafe, which might be too seafood-focused considering only one out of four of us will be eating seafood!
A west coast road trip 