AboutErnest Tufft Expertise I am knowlegeable about most all parts of California, but am most knowlegeable about San
Diego, San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas, Wine Country regions, North Coast, Yosemite,
Mother Lode, Tahoe, and Central California.
Experience I'm a fourth generation Californian and know the history, culture, and geography of the state very well. Born and raised in the Francisco Bay Area, I lived 8 years in San Diego, and now reside in Stockton, CA. I worked 6 years in the Napa/Sonoma wine industry. I have also traveled to 19 different countries, on all continents of the world except Australia and Antartica
Organizations I'm a gold star member at VirtualTourist.com.
Publications Virtualtourist.com
Education/Credentials I have a Master's degree in English, and have teacher's credentials for grades K through 12. I currently teach at the community college level.
Past/Present clients I have helped many visitors from all over the world appreciate the great state of California, and I have also helped Californians visit other parts of the world.
Expert: Ernest Tufft Date: 6/25/2008 Subject: California roadtrip - L.A., Monterey, SF, and Napa
Question Ernest,
My husband and I will be in California from July 26 through August 3. Here is our plan:
Day 1 - fly into L.A., sight see, stay one night in Malibu.
Day 2 - leave Malibu at 11a.m., drive to Monterey via Hwy.1 (stop at lookouts, see Pfeiffer Beach, eat dinner at Rocky Point restaurant just south of Carmel). Possibly stop to check out Carmel. Stay at hotel in Monterey.
Day 3 - sightsee around Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row, do the 17 mile drive, picnic lunch at Pebble Beach (husband is an avid golfer), have some free time, head back to Pebble Beach for the late-afternoon bag pipe performance, Stay another night in Monterey.
Day 4 - Drive from Monterey to San Francisco. Sightsee around Fisherman's Wharf, do a sunset bay cruise. Stay at hotel in Wharf area.
Day 5 - Alcatraz morning tour, sightsee...Ghiradelli Square, cable cars, Lombard Street, etc. Stay another night in hotel at Wharf area.
Day 6 - Drive from San Francisco to Muir Woods, then continue to Napa Valley. Tour pre-selected wineries. Stay at hotel in Fairfield.
Day 7 - tour more pre-selected wineries. Stay in Fairfield again.
Day 8 - tour more pre-selected wineries. Stay last night in Fairfield.
Day 9 - Drive from Napa Valley to San Fransisco airport to fly out.
Before we start making reservations and getting tickets, I have a few questions:
* If we travel Hwy. 1 all the way from Malibu to Monterey, what is the driving time EXCLUDING stops?
* How much time should we allow for Muir Woods? Excluding that stop, what is the driving time from SF to Napa Valley?
*Do you have any restaurant recommendations for Monterey, San Francisco, or Napa Valley? (Winery recommendations would be great too!)
Thanks for any advice you can give, even if it has nothing to do with any of my questions!
Lyndsay
Answer Hi Lyndsay,
While somewhat conventional, your itinerary is very well conceived. Use Mapquest.com to determine the precise time from Malibu to Carmel, as I'm not sure off the top of my head. Then, drive 17 mile drive before B&B or small hotel stay, ideally in Pacific Grove, less ideally in Monterey. Better reserve in advance for good price and location. See www.virtualtourist.com Monterey (or Carmel, Pacific Grove) restaurant tips for membername atufft (me) or Ewingjr98 (a friend living there). Depending upon your tastes my friend prefers good beer and food, while my long standing traditional favorites are carefully paired wine and food. I like Flying Fish in Carmel a lot. Use Google and keywords to locate the place to stay.
The third day is a little vague here. Will your husband actually T-off at one of the Pebble Beach courses? These are pricey, but considering the current economy, this may be the dream time for your husband to find a bargain, if such can be found here. The T-off ticket price will be heartbreakingly high and the dress code and other rules surprisingly strict, so your husband should brace himself for this, but otherwise the recently "natural landscape" courses in Pebble Beach represent a green environmental standard as yet below the radar screen of other great Pro courses around the nation. You can easily spend time hanging around the club house during your husband's play. There are several courses of play, and I have written about some of these at www.virtualtourist.com. If time is short, there's even a classic 9 hole course at Pebble Beach.
Again, check Mapquest for drive time between SF and Napa, although my experience says about an hour. Muir Woods is a time honored tourist trap in my opinion among the old growth Pacific Coast Redwood Groves. Since you are driving from Monterey to San Francisco, I recommend, including Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz mountains into your itinerary. I frankly find the Wharf at Monterey worth little more than a hour, and perhaps a stop at an oyster bar there. Rather, Santa Cruz downtown and at the pier is a more hip and authentic experience, with better restaurants and lively local atmosphere. Taking the winding ridge hwy 9 through the redwoods and hamlets of the Santa Cruz mountains beats a bus tour to Muir Woods in my opinion. Big Basin State Park, the oldest of the California State Parks, has a larger and more distinctive old growth redwood forest ecosystem than Muir Woods--a tiny grove saved by affluent Marin residents. Check the California State Park website for more details, but in addition to northern Monterey Bay communities of Moss Landing, Aptos, and Santa Cruz, I have also written about such places in the Santa Cruz mountains--Felton, Mount Herman, Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek, Saratoga, and Big Basin State Park. These tips are filled with photos as well as details about these destinations. To address your question directly, Muir wood bus tours often stop for as little as an hour, though much more time can be spend here, but I do recommend rethinking to what extent you want to visit tourist favorites, or authentic California heritage. Bear in mind, for example, that after departing Big Basin, Hwy 9 quickly winds down into Saratoga, a quaint affluent bedroom community of the Silicon Valley. Hwy 280 north to "the city" is one of the nation's most scenic freeways.
Having lived and worked in the Napa Valley, I have naturally also produce considerable attention to photography and writing about such towns as Napa, Oakville, Saint Helena, and Calistoga. There are some 600 wineries with the Napa Valley, and so my recommendation is to geographically space out your wineries, and not try to visit too many. Choose a couple of Valley floor wineries, both north and south, a Mayacamas (western) mountain range winery, and a Vaca (eastern) mountain range winery, and you will have done an excellent job of canvassing the best of the natural wine region that is Napa Valley. These microclimates are all quite unique and the view spectacular. Again, browse my work at Virtualtourist.com for more details and winery recommendations. I have labored hard to present these places to visitors such as yourself.
Returning to San Francisco for a moment, I think that after seeing Malibu, Carmel/Monterey, and Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Fisherman's Wharft will appear as much a tourist trap as anything you will ever experience. San Francisco is one of the world's great cities for adults because of it's neighborhoods of fine home architecture and hidden culinary gems. Abandon the car, and take MUNI around town. Again, see virtualtourist.com for San Francisco (I'm numero uno there) to examine more closely the places less trampled by tour groups and buses, and you will return home smug with the experience that you truly visited "the city" (don't call it Frisco :-))
If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to ask...
