Things to do in Northern California?

[California]

Photo in an old post. The background incidentally also shows the fog rolling in to my place, 10 miles inland. I'm a couple hundred feet above the valley floor, beyond that ridge, where the fog is arriving from the Golden Gate.

It can be sweaty hot midafternoon. Then as the fog is sucked in, real chilly, and you go get a sweatshirt.

 

[RobertN]

A little late to the conversation, but here's a few idea's from a NorCal/Sacramento native.

If you're going to Yosemite, you are next to the southern end of Ca-49; that highway runs the the length of the classic "Gold Country". There's lots of places on Highway-49 that are fun to go to. And, it's a short hop to lots of places.
- Explore Angels Camp, Murphy's and Arnold. Calaveras Big Trees park is a great stop in the area
- There are a few cave/cavern tours near H49, like Moaning Caverns, Calaveras Caverns
- The Amador-El Dorado Wine country is fun to check out, wine taste(prefer over NAPA)
- The Marshall Gold Discovery site where the Ca gold rush started is in Coloma. Whitewater rafting, historic town etc
- Old Town Placerville, Sutter Creek, Nevada City are spread out along H49
- Lake Tahoe is a short drive from Placerville(H49 crosses H50)
- Virginia City is fun; not far from Lake Tahoe

Check out the train museum in Old Sacramento; really great museum
Lassen National Park is north of Sacramento
Bodega Bay is west of Sacramento on the coast. The Birds(Alfred Hitchcock) was filmed in the area. Great coastal trip, stop at Spuds Crab Shack

Those are places I would take visitors

 

[ericm979]

Honestly surprised it would be that cold in California that time of year.

Just along the coast! Where I lived on the north coast it could be 55 and foggy in the summer but three miles inland it's sunny and 90. A little north of where I live now the summer fog belt extends 10 miles inland and up to 2500'.

The presence and depth of the summer fog belt depends on the local geography and probably local ocean currents as well.

 

[Sigarms]

A little late to the conversation, but here's a few idea's from a NorCal/Sacramento native.

If you're going to Yosemite, you are next to the southern end of Ca-49; that highway runs the the length of the classic "Gold Country". There's lots of places on Highway-49 that are fun to go to. And, it's a short hop to lots of places.
- Explore Angels Camp, Murphy's and Arnold. Calaveras Big Trees park is a great stop in the area
- There are a few cave/cavern tours near H49, like Moaning Caverns, Calaveras Caverns
- The Amador-El Dorado Wine country is fun to check out, wine taste(prefer over NAPA)
- The Marshall Gold Discovery site where the Ca gold rush started is in Coloma. Whitewater rafting, historic town etc
- Old Town Placerville, Sutter Creek, Nevada City are spread out along H49
- Lake Tahoe is a short drive from Placerville(H49 crosses H50)
- Virginia City is fun; not far from Lake Tahoe

Check out the train museum in Old Sacramento; really great museum
Lassen National Park is north of Sacramento
Bodega Bay is west of Sacramento on the coast. The Birds(Alfred Hitchcock) was filmed in the area. Great coastal trip, stop at Spuds Crab Shack

Those are places I would take visitors

Realistically what is the drive time from Angels Camp to Virginia City?

2 weeks has filled up pretty quick, and we still have a couple of days to some stuff. Virginia City is on my radar just wondering how many days to give it.

Also need to revisit our schedule as it makes more sense to hit the half moon bay area from Monterey, that said, I told my wife I'd prefer to deal with the city on the weekend and not the weekday. It would be nice not to have to back track.

 

[Hughman]

Realistically what is the drive time from Angels Camp to Virginia City?

Probably about 4 hrs. You would need to take Carson pass (88) since 4 is still closed with snow.

 

[RobertN]

Realistically what is the drive time from Angels Camp to Virginia City?

2 weeks has filled up pretty quick, and we still have a couple of days to some stuff. Virginia City is on my radar just wondering how many days to give it.

Also need to revisit our schedule as it makes more sense to hit the half moon bay area from Monterey, that said, I told my wife I'd prefer to deal with the city on the weekend and not the weekday. It would be nice not to have to back track.

Angels Camp to Virginia City is about 3 hours.

 

[California]

From my own experience in dealing with people from anywhere in the world, people are more similar than you would think. Good people, bad people, smart arse people, and people with common sense who due unto others as they would have done unto them and actually try to lead a good life with others.

Best example of this at the moment is Noraly Shoenmaker, a Dutch woman touring the world on a small motorcycle. 5 years now, 40 countries so far. Everywhere she goes she finds far more good, decent people, than the opposite. The world - mostly - isn't a scary place after all.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ItchyBoots/videos

Ok, back on topic. Sigarms, you and family are going to enjoy this vacation.

 

[ericm979]

I'd think even with the epic snow that highway 4 would be plowed by August! I saw that they got to the summit of Sonora pass (108) recently. That's from the east and the west side will be harder.

88 is a faster road. 4 is 1 (or 1.5) lane in the high country and has a lot of tight turns. It's prettier, not that 88 is ugly. It's worth the drive but not if you're trying to get somewhere.

 

[RobertN]

I'd think even with the epic snow that highway 4 would be plowed by August! I saw that they got to the summit of Sonora pass (108) recently. That's from the east and the west side will be harder.

88 is a faster road. 4 is 1 (or 1.5) lane in the high country and has a lot of tight turns. It's prettier, not that 88 is ugly. It's worth the drive but not if you're trying to get somewhere.

Haven't been over 88 since the Caldor fire. I know it burnt thru to 88 in area's.

We like to go to Kirkwood Lake, Silver Lake to kayak, Usually go H50 to Pollock Pines, then Mormon Immigrant Trail to H88. MIT is still closed from snow. Will see in a few weeks how burnt out that whole area is...

 

[plowhog]

Drove south on Hwy 395 yesterday from Reno to Bishop, CA. All mountain passes over the sierras west to east are still closed. (Monitor, Tioga, etc.) Noticed one of them advises 26% uphill grade. I believe Ebbetts pass (4) is 24% grade.

I took this pix out my windshield not far north of Mammoth. I was at 7,000 ft elevation on the road. Note the surrounding mountains up from there.

 

[Hughman]

I believe Sonora pass has the 26% grade near the top of the eastern slope. If Sonora pass is open when you are here, there's a pack station at Leavitt Meadows that does horseback trips into the mountains. Rock crawling on horseback takes a little getting used to.

 

[California]

San Francisco Office - National Weather Service has an excellent video of fog moving in, and text explanation, on Twitter. Scroll down to the first post on May 29.

https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea

 

[alexpops]

Not sure what you decided to do with respect to SF, but if you do Uber in, USS Pampanito is a pretty cool trip through a WWII submarine, but avoid if you get claustraphobic or have a problem with small spaces. The Balclutha is an 1880's square rigger nearby & pretty interesting if you dig old boats. Also, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a WWII Liberty Ship, same vibe as Pampanito, but more room. Every tourist wants to do Alcatraz, but as far as I'm concerned, that is a depressing place & easily skippable.

 

[California]

Not sure what you decided to do with respect to SF, but if you do Uber in, USS Pampanito is a pretty cool trip through a WWII submarine, but avoid if you get claustraphobic or have a problem with small spaces. The Balclutha is an 1880's square rigger nearby & pretty interesting if you dig old boats. Also, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a WWII Liberty Ship, same vibe as Pampanito, but more room. Every tourist wants to do Alcatraz, but as far as I'm concerned, that is a depressing place & easily skippable.

Agree with all that. Those ships are worth seeing!

Alcatraz is a waste of time, you would be stuck there for a while and any video is enough to know about it.

Also a Haight/Ashbury paid tour is a complete tourist ripoff. There's nothing there to see. Hasn't been, for 50 years. The hippies quietly left and moved 50 miles north to Sonoma County.

 

[kenmbz]

agree on Alcatraz, but when my CO friend from NY came out to visit, it was a must do for him.
Haight ashbury has some coffee shops trying to recreate the "scene", but the area has no feel of the 60's anymore.

The pier is touristy and expensive, but I always stopped in for a dungeness crab. You can probably see seals around the area.

 

[RobertN]

Not sure what you decided to do with respect to SF, but if you do Uber in, USS Pampanito is a pretty cool trip through a WWII submarine, but avoid if you get claustraphobic or have a problem with small spaces. The Balclutha is an 1880's square rigger nearby & pretty interesting if you dig old boats. Also, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a WWII Liberty Ship, same vibe as Pampanito, but more room. Every tourist wants to do Alcatraz, but as far as I'm concerned, that is a depressing place & easily skippable.

USS Hornet is in Alameda; it's a great place to tour. Have been a number of times for the museum in general, as well as a number of Cub Scout and Scout overnites. My son earned a bunch of Merit Badges there.

They have some great docents who served on Hornet CV-12 when she was operational.

Home - USS Hornet Museum

Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday 10AM - 5PM (Last entry at 4PM) Closed New Year’s, Than...

uss-hornet.org

 

[plowhog]

Looks like one of the most prominent hotel chains in the USA has now pulled the plug .... shutting down two major hotels.

Major hotel chain abandons San Francisco, blaming city's "clouded" future

Park Hotels & Resorts said it is pulling out of two downtown hotels due to "concerns over street conditions" and other challenges.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Sigarms]

Not sure what you decided to do with respect to SF, but if you do Uber in, USS Pampanito is a pretty cool trip through a WWII submarine, but avoid if you get claustraphobic or have a problem with small spaces. The Balclutha is an 1880's square rigger nearby & pretty interesting if you dig old boats. Also, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a WWII Liberty Ship, same vibe as Pampanito, but more room. Every tourist wants to do Alcatraz, but as far as I'm concerned, that is a depressing place & easily skippable.

SF is still kind of up in the air right now.

First goal, get to Muir woods from half moon bay without losing my insanity with possible traffic and get there first stop so we have time (again, why I picked Sunday morning for the drive). Another goal would to have my son get some pics of the Golden Gate Bridge since we're there which would be another reason for an early start from half moon bay as we may take some pics before crossing the bridge (not certain which side has the best parking, haven't done research on it yet and I need to re read this thread for anything I missed).

We spent a lot of time at Patriots point in SC as a family years ago along with the boy scouts, as well as visiting the USS North Carolina, so not certain about the sub and ship gig.

I might of asked this before (apologies if I did) but heading back to Angels Camp, would I be better off just back tracking through SF?

This may be a dumb question, but are there areas in SF to avoid at all costs while driving a car? Lets just say that when driving in Philly, if you decide to "get lost" to check out some parts of the city, there are some areas that turn VERY differently and you understand pretty quick you're in the wrong part of town (let alone accidentally ending up in Camden after midnight taking the wrong bridge LOL). I don't consider myself paranoid, but I'm also not stupid.


Even though there is butt load to do out there to the point of having a daily itinerary, looking forward to it. Not looking forward to flying out of Charlotte at 0600 though with the drive there.

I've changed over the years. In my youth on vacations by myself, I'd just go where the drive took me and check everything out LOL

 

[alexpops]

Used to be the areas to avoid at night or if racial tensions were particularly high were Hunters Point/Bayview, Tenderloin, Mission District (& Civic Center for aggressive panhandlers). Haven't spent much time in the city over the last 10 years, so things might have changed with the homeless & drug camps. From Half Moon Bay to Muir Woods, I'd take highway 1 to 19th Ave to GG Bridge instead of driving through downtown & for parking I'd look at North Side lot just before Sausalito Exit. If you're there early enough, you might find parking on the SF side in the Presidio or Crissy field. Good pics if you take the Sausalito Exit, make a left under the bridge & climb the hill to the headlands. You'll see a turnout just before the road turns right & from there you can hike up to the top of the hill & look down on the Bridge & across the Bay to SF.

From Muir to Angels Camp, you don't need to go through SF. Fastest route would be Richmond/San Rafael Bridge (takes you by San Quentin) then I-80 & CA-4, & only areas to be careful of would be Richmond & Stockton.

 

[ericm979]

SF is still kind of up in the air right now.

First goal, get to Muir woods from half moon bay without losing my insanity with possible traffic and get there first stop so we have time (again, why I picked Sunday morning for the drive).

It'll be fine. I don't like traffic and I don't have much of a problem going through SF on 1 on a weekday. It'll be quieter on a weekend.

Another goal would to have my son get some pics of the Golden Gate Bridge since we're there which would be another reason for an early start from half moon bay as we may take some pics before crossing the bridge (not certain which side has the best parking, haven't done research on it yet and I need to re read this thread for anything I missed).

There's a huge rest stop on the north side, it's a good place to park and get to the bridge. There's a big park on the south side (the Presidio) which is nice, and a bunch of stuff like picnic points, restrooms, Golden Gate visitors center, none of which I have seen but are probably nice too.

I might of asked this before (apologies if I did) but heading back to Angels Camp, would I be better off just back tracking through SF?

Depends on the time you have and your desire to see more stuff that day. From Muir woods you could get to San Rafael, then take 580 over the bridge to Berkeley. Then get to highway 80 and take that to 4. Then head east to Angels Camp. The Richmond Parkway might be an interesting way to get from 580 to 80, its got some views of the bay.

This may be a dumb question, but are there areas in SF to avoid at all costs while driving a car? Lets just say that when driving in Philly, if you decide to "get lost" to check out some parts of the city, there are some areas that turn VERY differently and you understand pretty quick you're in the wrong part of town (let alone accidentally ending up in Camden after midnight taking the wrong bridge LOL). I don't consider myself paranoid, but I'm also not stupid.

You mean like bad areas where crime might happen? Not much. Maybe the mid part of Market st just south of the civic center (but the civic center area is fine). Maybe Bayview/Hunter's Point. Elsewhere you might see some homeless people but they're generally harmless.

The tech companies made SF so expensive that a lot of poor people have left. The biggest danger is getting stuck behind a malfunctioning robot car or having a Tesla on auto pilot slam on its brakes in front of you. I'm only half kidding.

Some parts can get crowded and there's a lot of one way streets so navigation can be a challenge.