Expert: Ernest Tufft - 4/14/2011

Question
hi there, im in australia and in october i will be visiting my brother who currently lives in pheonix and will be heading up to napa valley in his RV seeing and stopping at the obviouse sites on the way. i would like to here some recommendations towards the best wineries in CA good coffee in san fran and best parks for hiking 5-10miles in distance(best hiking trails or jogging tracks)in CA. and i need to ask, why have you avoided australia ? take a look at the town of Esperance and Broome in WA, my personal favourites and cities of Perth/ fremantle,clean city with great beaches and 200miles of wineries, melbourne is great for sports, comedy, cafes/ restraunts and shopping. it all worth a look at, if you ever get a chance. thanks shane

Answer
Hi Shane,

Thanks for the invitation to come "down under".  I would love to visit Australia, and hope to do so in the future.  Sorry for the delay in answering this question as I have been on the road for a few days now.

You question covers a lot of issues for travel in CA, so I'll just mention a few ideas.  For recommendations on wineries, go to my contributions at Virtualtourist.com, under the town of Napa, and under my user name of atufft.  At the website, type in Napa, CA, and then scroll to the Top5 Contributers, and I will be one of them.  I provide an orientation in writing and images to the Napa Valley there, as well as for Napa itself, and provide additional links to other important towns within the Napa Valley.  Bothe State Park is a good place to park the RV, but there are other places too.  If your brother hauls an auto behind his RV, you will want to disconnect it and drive all around the mountains above the valley where there are some smaller mountain vineyards with great views of the valley below.

San Francisco coffee bean warehouses invented the vacuum pack can, and has been a world leading exporter of ground coffee for more than 100 years, also providing the founders of Starbucks their training for roasting premium coffee long before this beverage became so fashionable in Seattle.  Famous coffee houses in SF include Cafe Trieste in the North Beach, the place were Beat Generation writers socialized.  Also, I recommend taking the N Judah MUNI train out to the end at Ocean Beach for a beach walk.  At the end of the train line is Java Beach, a great beer and coffee shop with free wifi, sandwiches and more.

California has many places for hiking, as the state is very diverse geographically, I dare say much more so than Australia.  California has both the lowest (Death Valley) and highest (Mt. Whitney) points in altitude within the 48 lower United States.  There are plenty of trails along the beaches, within the inland valleys and hills, the foothills, and the alpine Sierras.  My personal favorite is Yosemite, where I recommend you take the RV.  Secure reservations in advance.  This will be an outstanding year to appreciate the waterfalls of Yosemite, which is several of the world's top 10 highest waterfalls, including the second highest in Yosemite Falls itself.  Hikes to the top of Yosemite Falls or Half Dome will provide breathtaking views of the granite carved Sierras and beautiful Yosemite Valley below.

Hope this helps.