Help me plan a short California visit

We (SWMBO & yours truly) will be landing in Palm Springs on a Monday morning. We need to be in San Diego by Friday night for the following weekend's event(s).

Very preliminary thoughts are to head North and hit Sequoia National Park, then Monterrey to see the aquarium, down the coast highway to Big Sur and Julia Pheiffer Burns Park (hike in to the waterfall), and on to San Diego Thursday night so we can do the Zoo on Friday. This will be during the last week of October.

Are there any other, additional, or better things we should consider? Will be a quick run through, so we're not looking for a 15 mile hike each way to see a big rock. 1-2 miles each way for a cool sight is good, but wandering around all day just to see the desert, a forest, or a beautiful valley isn't on the agenda.

How do you recommend we occupy our free time? Doesn't need to be automotive related, just unique to California.

You folks have all the good info, so please share some good ideas!

If you're renting a car be sure and get the extra coverage. Cali state minimum is only $5000 so pretty much any collision hits the limit.

Coincidence. Annie and I will be on vacation in Palm Springs Oct. 24-30 (arriving the afternoon of the 24th, driving from LA). We'll be staying at the Casa Cody Inn just off Palm Canyon Drive, a couple miles from the airport. PM me if you want to meet for a drink or a coffee before you head upstate. Incidentally, late October is beautiful in the Coachella Valley. The temperatures are back to a reasonable level. Lots of good hiking in Palm Canyon right near where we're staying. Joshua Tree National Park is an hour away. Keith McCormick's Classic Car Auction headquarters Link is right in "downtown" Palm Springs on Indian Canyon Drive and usually has some nice cars for sale on display, although his big auction won't be until mid-November. If you want to meet up, that might be a good venue. Let me know.

Track day at Laguna Seca? :)

The San Diego Zoo is great, another place to consider is the San Diego Wild Animal Park/Zoo Safari Park/whatever they call it now. It's run by the same people, but instead of having each animal in its own relatively small cage/enclosure, they put lots of animals into a few much larger enclosures. It's a pretty different feel to most zoos, and if you're into photography it's got some better opportunities. Bring a long lens though. :)

California State Route 74 downhill into Palm Desert is a cool drive.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WW36A-yVxCU

Do you know anything about sailboats?

About 8 years ago, I rented a Catalina 30 sailboat for the day in SD to take out some customers. It was about $300 for the day (and the company paid for it.) What I did not realize (and did not need) was that this was for a 24 hr rental. That means that if you were renting this privately, you could also sleep on the boat. When you take out the $150 a hotel would cost for the night, this is pretty cheap at $150 additional to rental an entire boat.

Here is a boat rental site. The physical location is not the same as when I rented so I am not sure if it is the exact same. Seems a Catalina 28 is $390 per day.

If the actual sailing does not interest you but waterfront might, here on AirBNB you can sleep on a boat for $100 -$200 per night.

JohnRW1621 wrote: California State Route 74 downhill into Palm Desert is a cool drive. https://www.youtube.com/embed/WW36A-yVxCU

I agree ... "Palm to Pines Highway," and it's spectacular heading down into Palm Desert. And you could drive 74 west all the way to the coast. (But you really wouldn't want to, except for the last thirty miles or so). The section over the mountains before hitting the coast is called the Ortega Highway, and that's a pretty spectacular drivers road too. I'll be doing both sections again when I'm out there in October, but unfortunately in a cheesy rental car.

In Northern San Diego County, specifically Escondido, is the original Stone Brewery Bistro and Gardens. A spectacular place for lunch. I recommend avoiding Sunday Brunch (the wait will be long) but if you hit there mid week and mid day, say 1:30 - 4:30, there will be no wait at all.

Take a brew tour, have lunch outside in the Garden.

SoCalCarCulture is a list of all Hot Rod style car show and Cruise In type events for all of Southern Calif.

I love Joshua Tree National Park, and I seem to recall its not that far from Palm Springs.

There's also an armored vehicle museum dedicated General Patton out that way, if that kind of thing interests you.

That is a lot of driving. I'm not sure it will work on your time frame. Or you will only get to spend half a day at any one place before booking it to the next spot. You're looking at 5 hours from Palm Springs to Sequia; 4 hours to Monterey; and 8+ hours down PCH to San Diego.

So, you land Monday, get to Sequoia and check in for the evening. Spend Tuesday morning and book it over to Monterrey. Wednesday morning you do the aquarium and Big Sur in the afternoon. Thursday you drive all the way down to San Diego. Friday you can see the zoo.

Honestly, I'd cut out something. Skip Sequoia and spend more time at Monterrey and Big Sur. Give yourself a bit of time to poke around a bit more leisurely.

Actually, Beer Baron is right. Your original plan is a lot of driving in a few days. Nothing wrong with that ... Annie and I used to do that in the nineties when we first started traveling to SoCal. We love it and feel at home there. We've put in over 10K miles in rental cars there in the past twenty years. So I wouldn't discourage you from trying to fit in as much as you feel comfortable with doing. But there is a lot to see in SoCal without driving up north. In fact the previous weekend you fly in, we'll be visiting the Petersen Museum in downtown LA, and Bruce Meyer's private car collection in Beverly Hills, as well as participating in the Concours d'Elegance at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. I'll be there as a participant in the ACCD car show with the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild reunion historic exhibit. But nevertheless, there's a hell of a lot to do in SoCal without having to travel 500 miles upstate.

In any case, We'd like to meet you in Palm Springs!

Hey guys, thanks for the input so far.

I didn't realize the SD Animal Park was different from the Zoo. I've been to the Zoo and the Monterrey Aquarium back in the early 90's, but SWMBO has not. We like going to these types of places and I know that these are some of the best if not the best of their kind, so they are probably very high on the list even if it means a lot of driving.

Track day type events are probably not on the list as SWMBO isn't really into them. But good driving roads are on the list even if we will be in a rental (with added insurance...thanks t25torx).

Gary, if we can fit a meet into the schedule that would be cool. I registered with one of those "doesn't work with the PM system" yahoo email accounts, so PM's don't work. Not sure if you can PM me and I can't PM you or vice versa (never figured that out, but I've never gotten a response to a PM I tried to send to members or GRM staff in the past).

If you are looking for the best clam chowder in Monterrey, it's at Fisherman's Grotto on the fishermans wharf. No need to dine in at the restaurant. Get the chowder in a bread bowl at their outdoor counter, find a bench away from the major foot traffic.

In reply to secretariata:

Just sent a PM to see if it goes through. Let me know.

In reply to Gary:

I did not get the PM. Tried to send you one to see if you get it.

Highway 1 from Monterrey (cruise through Pebble Beach) down to big Sur, you'll pass The Hurst Castle which is pretty cool if you're into massive mansions built by rich guys.

Then comes Morro Bay with the Rock. Morro Rock is a landmark, akin to Stone Mountain Georgia. Worth seeing, Tiger Mom went to school there so we had to drive past a couple years back when we went out west.

secretariata wrote: In reply to Gary: I did not get the PM. Tried to send you one to see if you get it.

No, I didn't receive. Phone/text: four oh one, three oh two, twenty-six seventy-seven.

Looks like your signing up for a "Golden State" road trip. Going north, to end up in San Diego. So...

Palm Springs, West 10 to 15 North to 138 West to 5 North. Spend the night at Harris Ranch, great steak and accommodations.

Next morning you can head East on 198 to 99 North to 41North to Sequoia. But this leg really needs 3 days to see the valley, so I would go 198 West to King City. Then 101 North to Greenfield then find Carmel Valley Road. This is a two lane country road that winds you to the coast and ends in Carmel.

The ongoing fire reaches from a few miles west of Carmel Vally Road to the coast. Highway 1 is iffy today but should be clear by the time you get to the area. That said the parks on the coast my be impacted as to hiking for some time.

I would plan a stop at Hurst Castle and staying in Cambria.

Getting back to San Diego on a week day is going to be a long drive. The 101 South to 134 South to.... the 405 South or the 5 South, just depends on traffic.

Have fun.

A small note about visiting Big Sur. A minor issue really, but you see... it's on fire!

I don't even know if the 1 is open in the area. Certainly look into it's current status. I just drove from Sacramento to LA today and I can tell you that fire is filling the central valley with a layer of smoke.

The "end of October" part is throwing me off. If you're going to Monterey this week, it's going to be full of cool cars (and traffic) as Concours D' Elegance is at Pebble Beach.

Crepes of Brittany is a great place for breakfast in Monterey.

If you plan on doing the Monterey Aquarium and seeing other museums/etc might be worth looking into CityPass or the Costco City packages.

Didn't know Big Sur was on fire, but the drive between San Simeon and Big Sur is one of my favorites. Hearst Castle is very cool, kinda bummed the Neptune pool was emptied last time we went. There's a general store with a restaurant across the highway from Hearst Castle that is pretty highly rated, they use local grass fed beef, I've tried it a couple times and wasn't wowed. If you want Mexican there's a couple miles south in Cambria called Medusa's that is good.

San Diego... don't miss Tacos El Gordo

and of course, obligatory In N Out burger stop, Double Double Animal Style extra toast, fries well

Everyone should experience the Salton Sea, Ski Inn is the home of the patty melt. Be sure to park and check out the beach.

That's a lot of stuff for a week! I could pretty easily keep busy between Palm Springs, Big Sur, and San Diego.

Keep in mind that driving along the coast is excellent, but isn't exactly leisurely... Very curvy, with unguarded 100' to 500' drops into the ocean. It can get really foggy at night, too.

GF and I stopped at the Ragged Point Inn and loved it.

Beer Baron wrote: If you are looking for the best clam chowder in Monterrey, it's at Fisherman's Grotto on the fishermans wharf.

Agreed. They do good crabs, too.

I would just mess around down in SoCal, plenty to do between LA and SD and Palm springs. Go get a sunburn at the beach, go to LA, tons to see there. Driving here sucks, I would try to avoid driving as much as possible. You could go down to Tijuana and see the donkey show.