Travel Within Northern California This Week?

We took a trip to the Gold Country! It was really fun! We stayed in Murphys (about 2 hours from Dublin) at a cute little cottage in downtown.

We drove 20 minutes to Columbia one day to pan for gold, one day we went to Big Trees National Park (Arnold) for a hike, and the last day went to Moaning Caverns near Murphys.

The panning is fun, but you should take the lesson for $8 so they'll find some. It's just gold flakes, but the process is the fun part. They won't come out with nuggets, but the kids had a lot of fun!

Big Trees is beautiful and there's a really easy hike for the family. When we went, it was really cold, so bring warm clothes.

There are lots of caverns to explore up there. We chose Moaning cuz it was close. You can take a half-hour tour of it. I've heard Mercer Caverns aren't very kid-friendly.

This was a great family trip and the place we stayed was so cute! Here's some info:

http://www.columbiacalifornia.com/

http://www.vrbo.com/205916

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful

Monterey Bay Aquarium is about a 2 hour drive. There is also this great park (Dennis the Menace Park).

The Oakland zoo is only 20 30 min. drive from Danville.

Discovery San Jose is 30 to 45 min. drive.

Half Moon Bay is nice this time of year.

Have you ever been to Point Reyes? It's beautiful scenery, and there's wildlife and hiking trails and some museums, as well as a historic lighthouse. You can hike as much as you want but there's also a shuttle bus to get you around. There are hotels and b&b's nearby and it's close to downtown Novato which is cute too. I went there when I wad pregnant and we saw a group of little boys having the time of their lives! Have a great time wherever you decide to go!

There are so many wonderful things to do right in San Francisco. To name a few: Exploratorium, California Academy of Sciences, De Young Museum. And this year the hotels are so much cheaper. You can even take a ferry to Alcatraz, it's fascinating. Good luck!

Go North! You can start at Stinson beach, my folks often spend Thanksgiving on the beach and it is usually nice, then Muir Woods, Point Reyes, and route 1 north to Jenner, where the Russian River meets the Pacific, very beautiful, lots of great hikes, and wonderful beaches. Have fun!

Don't know if it'd be crowded on a holiday week, but we loved spending a few days at the Monterey Bay Aquarium over the summer (got a family membership - if you go more than twice it pays for itself), walking around a few historical sites, and the kids also enjoyed the "Dennis the Menace playground".

M.,
There are so many options!!!

Monterey and the aquarium, or Solveng (not sure ofthe spelling) on hwy 1.

Travel to SFO as a visitor, try the Exploratorium in SF, Fort Point, the warf, china town, Japan town, Golden Gate Park, SF Zoo, the beach if the weather is nice.

Mount Diablo rock city and the summit,

Yosemite or South Lake Tahoe. The Lindsey Museum in WCR.

Tilden Park in Berkeley, hiking, lunching, train rides.

There is a great book about trips in the bay area with children, can't remember the name, saw it at Barnes and Nobles.
Remember to have fun!!!

A.

When we want a fun place to go, we check out this website. There are a lot of great ideas, and many places that I had never even heard of. Enjoy your few days away! :)
http://www.bayareakidfun.com/pages/bestofthebay.html