What to Do on Weekends?

(Herbert Neugebauer, Germany, 1993; updated by Caroline Chaize , France, 1995 and Elke Gutekunst, Germany, 1995)

First of all, there are plenty of places to visit in California. Some are quite near, some are a bit further away, but distances play a much less important role here compared to Europe.

This is not intended to be a plan for the weekends for your whole stay, just a few places that are worth to visit and some things that you have to consider before.

Things to consider:

book rooms at a hotel/motel or rent a house in advance.
It happened once to us that we were looking for a motel 11pm in the night and couldn't find anything. In general it is better to have a room in a motel with a lot free than to have nothing. At some places it is normally easy to find a motel, but if there is something special at your weekend, you have to book earlier.
If you are planning a weekend at Yosemite or Lake Tahoe you should rent a cabin/house/condo at least 4 weeks in advance. If you try it later, it can get difficult to find anything (reasonably prices) especially for Yosemite.
Before you leave, the one that reserved the rooms should take care, that everybody can find it. A short meeting at least with the drivers and a look at the map is everything you need to avoid any problem. At HP everybody has access to the voice-mail system, so it is easy for everyone to leave messages to the missing parties, or if someone is late, they can leave a message to the ones that are waiting.
Don't expect that you can stay the whole day in the water if you want to go to a beach. The temperature of the water is between 50-60 F (10-16 C). The weather is also a bit strange at most beaches. Don't be surprised if you don't see any sun until 12pm-1pm. In the afternoon it's normally sunny and very often it will even be hot (so you may like a jump into the cold water).
Motel 6 is generally a good deal. Prices are in the of $30-$40 for a room for 4 persons. They are usually located near the Highways everywhere in USA. Find one nearby to get a directory and price list.
If you like to fly to Las Vegas, LA, San Diego etc. you will get a cheaper rate if you book 3 weeks in advance!

Places to visit:

Santa Cruz:

This is a place that you can visit when you don't have any plans for the upcoming weekend, because it is not very far and you don't need a whole weekend, you can just go there for one day.

Location: 45min (freeway) south of Palo Alto / Sunnyvale or 1 1/2 to 2 hours on the highway 1

Attractions:
Beach, ... OK, Beach
Someone told me, that there are also some nice Bars/Restaurants/Discos to go in the evening, but I don't know for sure. At Santa Cruz there was also the "Men's professional volleyball tour" once, so check it out, it may be worth a visit.

Motel/Hotel:
I never stayed there over night, but I think it's not too expensive and normally it should be OK if you book a room 1 or 2 day's in advance.- Plans: Just stay at the beach the whole day and talk to some people that know Santa Cruz before for the bars and discos there.

Capitola:

This cute little town with it's nice beach became our favourite place for the Sunday's. Here you "see" nice beach boys and valley girls !

Location: 50 min drive. Take Highway 17 South. It's a little bit after Santa Cruz.

Santa Barbara / San Luis Obispo / Big Sur / Monterey:

Santa Barbara and Luis Obispo are a bit further away, but still worth a weekend. You should plan to go there already on Friday evening, because of the distance.

Location: About 5-6 hours south of Palo Alto / Sunnyvale down the freeway 101.

Attractions:
Mission, Nature / National Parks, Beach. Santa Barbara is a quite famous place for famous people and has a nice beach. There are also some nice beaches near San Luis Obispo and there is also a mission to visit for the people that are interested in a bit more American culture. Bit Sur is a National Park on the way between San Luis Obispo to Monterey (nearer to Monterey). Monterey? Mostly beach.

Motel / Hotel:
Not too expensive in San Luis Obispo, a bit more perhaps in Monterey. In SLB you should book rooms in the week before you stay, for Monterey you have to check perhaps a bit earlier.

Plans: Go south to SLB on Friday evening, perhaps you may find some more bars for the evening that we did. On Saturday visit Santa Barbara, and enjoy the beach. You can stay in SLB again in the night. On Sunday morning go to the north on highway 1and enjoy the nature and the Big Sur park. If you don't want to do that, just go north straight and stay at a beach in Carmel or Monterey.

Monterey / Salinas / Carmel:

Another weekend in the south. It is not so far as SLB or Santa Barbara, so you can go there on Saturday morning.

Location: About 2 hours south

Attractions:
Carmel and Salinas are famous places. Carmel is a vacation town for artists and upper class people. You can't stay there for the night! Carmel and Monterey have nice beaches and Carmel also has a mission. You can easily reach the Big Sur park, if you didn't already on the trip above. Monterey has a really nice Aquarium, you really should go there. There is also the so called 17 miles drive from Monterey to the north, which is really worth the few bucks that you have to pay at the entrance.

Motel / Hotel:
In Monterey there are a lot of Motels that are not too expensive. But check a bit earlier, it seams to be a bit more crowded that other places.

Plans: Carmel Beach on Saturday, on Sunday morning the Aquarium on Monterey and the beach in Monterey

Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley

Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley are both located less than one hour north of San Francisco. They're one of the most fascinating parts of California and offer nice countryside, several state parks and several wineries (some with winetasting for free) and historical buildings.

How to go there:

101 north on Golden Gate Bridge, CA 37 east and finally CA29 / CA 12 north.

Lodgings:

- Best Western Inn (at jct. CA 121 & Soscal Ave, 100 Soscal; Ave. 94559 Napa)
- $75 - $110(2 beds bedrooms)

- Napa Valley Travellodge (at jct. 2nd & Coombs sts, 853 Coombs Street, 94559 Napa)
- $55 - $150(2 beds bedrooms)

Wineries:

- Sterling Wineyards in Calistoga,
- Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville

Lake Tahoe

Beautiful lake, 1900 meters altitude

You can rent mountain bikes, jet skis or hike. Lake Tahoe is also very known for its casinos so you should go to Nevada for gambling. There you will find lots of casinos. Especially in the South of Lake Tahoe.

The Squaw Valley is the place where 1960's Olympic Games took place. You can take a gondola to reach the mountains. There you have many possibilities like ice-skating, swimming in a nice pool, hiking, "bungi jumping" and all with a wonderful view.

How to go there:

It is situated at 5/6 hours north-east. Take 680 North, 580 East, 5 North and then the 50.

Lodgings:

You can rent a cabin for the week-end. The Trader (HP's newspaper) has a special part for rentals in Lake Tahoe. Some of us found a four bedrooms cabin for 270$ for one week-end in this newspaper. However, don't hesitate to check in advance for any rental if you want a good location and reasonnable prices.
There are also a lot of campings. You just have to check in advance.

Yosemite:

"THE" national park. No doubt it is one the greatest and most famous American national park. You can hike there, climb, bike, and enjoy the nature. Just be careful with the bears....

How to go there:

Take the 680 North, the 580 East and the 120 East. It is 4/5 hours far.

Lodgings:

This is the big problem here. Yosemite is crowded the whole summer. You have to reserve months in advance if you want a campground or a cabin inside the park. Try to reserve a place for September at the beginning of the summer. However, it is cheaper and easier to find something outside the park. In Sonora (one hour away from Yosemite) and Mariposa, you will find motels at 20$ per person.

Point Lobos:

Point Lobos is a State Reserve. Here you can see about 250 animal species like sea otters, sea-lions, starfishs, squirrels, pelicans etc.

There are some nice trails for hiking along the coast. This is a great place to enjoy California's nature.

How to go there:

Take the 101 south. A little before Monterey, take the 1 until Point Lobos. It is about one hour and a half long.

Big Sur:

The Big Sur backcountry offers a bounty of hiking trails especially in the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. There you will find many Redwood trees. Some of them are even 360 feets heigh. Blazingly beautyful drive along the coast on Highway One. The 1996 euros got up to 15 ppm (pictures taken per mile) there.

How to go there:

Big sur is situated on the coast, two hours south from Point Lobos. Take Highway 1.

Lodgings:

You can rent a cabin in a campground, call the (408) 667 2322 for the reservation, the office is open daily from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.

Four people can go in a cabin and the price was $35 per night and per personn.

San Diego:

San Diego is a really nice city with much night-life but even there everything close at 2 a.m. (go out early). Check out the rectangle at 2nd and 4th street crossing market street. The Sea world in San Diego is at least one day worth. You can see there shows with killer whales, dolphins and even sharks. Of course you shouldn't miss the beautiful LA HOLLA beach whith its famous life guard stations.

As San Diego is the NAVY naval base, you can visit some military sites on the island (just in front of the harbor) or go uphills to the state parc in the southwest of the city and watch submarines and big battleships from a distance.

How to go there:

It is located one hour south of L.A. by car or two hours south of San Jose by plane (the round trip is about 80$).

Lodgings:

You can get some 1-800 phone numbers in the travel agencies of the bay area.

Los Angeles:

Los Angeles is a huge city which presents many interests.

How to go there:

The trip takes like five hours for german drivers and six hours for regular ones, so if you are in Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, etc., you should try to leave at 5pm on friday, at latest.

You can drive 101 or 5. 101 has more curves, but perhaps is not as boring for driving as 5 is. If you choose the fastest and shortest (5) you can save about 30 minutes. Make sure you get a L.A. map when you come close to it, since it's the largest city in California - over 70 miles from one extreme to the other one!!

Specials:

1) DISNEYLAND

If you want to spend a weekend in to L.A., and you want to have a lot of fun, you should go to DisneyLand. Don't expect to find a huge roller coaster, but dozens of different funny stuff to ride and to walk around for over 12 hours!

DisneyLand ticket cost $36 (you can find a $3 off bonus at HP Travel Services), and you don't have to pay for absolutely anything else. Only food, of course, but since it is only $1 or $2 more than McDonald's it's not a big deal (I think hamburgers are the only food you can find there).

I suggest you riding Space Mountain, Star Wars, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, and of course Fantasmic (incredible show at night-don't miss it). Try to arrive soon in the morning (9am) and to ride the most popular stuff before thousands of people arrived about 11am.

Location: DisneyLand is located in Anaheim (Southern L.A.).

Lodgings:

There are a lot of hotels very close to it (10 minutes walking) but anyway most of the hotels provide free shuttle to and from DisneyLand. Try to go with 3 or 4 people, because usually double rooms have two king size beds and you can pay the room among four guys.

Some hotels are:

Marriott Fullerton/Anaheim
2701 East Nutwood Av.
Fullerton
Ph #: 714-738.7800
Fax #: 714-738.0288
HP Rate: $60 double room ('95 rates)

Hyatt Regency Alicante
P.O. Box 4669 Harbor & Chapman
Anaheim
Ph #: 714-750.1234
Fax #: 714-740.0465
HP Rate: $100 double room ('95 rates)

Both of them are luxury hotels, 10 minutes from DisneyLand (check current rates). Make sure you make reservations before you go there, because hotels close to DisneyLand are usually sold out on weekends.

2) UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

You will find many attraction in this park: rides (don't miss Back to The Future), shows, and a visit of Hollywood studios.

The entrance to Universal studios is $33. You get a dioscount as an AAA member ($25).

Location: It is situated in Hollywood, northwest from LA.

Lodgings:

You can find a lot of motels in the surroundings, if you share a two beds bedroom with four people, it will be about $15 per night and per personn.

3) THE CITY AND BEACHES

Los Angeles is a city of the extremes. On one hand the beaches of L.A. are the most beautiful along the Californian coast and on the other hand the city of L.A., in my opinion, is not a "real" city, is known as a place with high crime rate and very dark corners.

Even though, the center of L.A. consists of some really impressive buildings with a lot of glass and beauty.

Some beaches at the L.A. coast, as for example Huntington Beach, Malibu, Venice Beach, are famous movie places and crowded with upper class people. If you are interested in shopping, of all kind of stuff, Venice Beach will be your delight. With an over 4 miles wide boardwalk along a beautiful, sandy beach with many, many people, Venice Beach offers opportunities for every one. Surfers prefer Huntington Beach with the cliffs and heavy waves.

Go to Beverly Hills and Hollywood. You can walk for hours on the Hollywood Avenue, its really amazing how many different colors of light glitter everywhere. But try to reach one of the Beverly hills top and take some awesome romantic pictures of the L.A. skyline.

A word of advice from the 1996 euros: Hollywood is not nearly as glamurous of a place as it sounds to most europeans. Actually, it's considered a 'bad area', so don't go east (away from the sea) at night beyond where the walk of fame (the famous sidewalk with the stars). You might encounter STRANGE people. And don't stay in a motel there, because you may hear gunshots fired at 3 am in the morning, which makes you get up and lock the door and get back to bed without knowing of it in the morning. And if you jump off the second floor into the pool you get yelled at (even if there's no sign!)

There's no real path or street to climb up to the famous HOLLYWOOD sign. If you want to go there you have to sort of go cross-country. Bring hiking gear if you plan to do so.

Lodgings:

If you stay for some few days in this area I would recommend you to stay in Santa Barbara, which offers a lot (really enough) of motels and and hotels for about 32 $/night, or in San Diego, which is not more than

1 hour away from L.A.

1)Check out the following phones:

Free Reservation Service
(805) 687-9191
USA Toll-Free Number:
1-(800)-292-2222
Fax:
(805) 569-0726
3344 State Street, SB 93105

2)Hot Spots of Santa Barbara:

Visitor Information and Reservation Center (805) 564-1637

1-(800)-793-7666
36 State Street, SB 93101

3)on the web check out:

http://www.terminus.com/geni/USA/CA/travel_ca_menu.html

Lassen Park

Hot cooking and bubbling mud pots, steaming hot lakes and the sharp smell of sulfur - that's what you've been dreaming of your whole life?! - Then you'll have to go to Lassen National Park.

But this is only one face of this beautiful place in the northern part of California.

The park is named after Mount Lassen an (at the moment) inactive volcano that erupted in 1921 the last time. Lassen is the largest "plug" volcano in the world and offers relatively subtle reminders of its fiery nature. Hot springs, hot lakes, fumaroles or steam vents, and boiling mud pots are found in seven thermal areas within Lassen Volcanic National Park. Some of these features are getting hotter and scientists think that Mount Lassen is one of the most likely candidates to become an active volcano again.

The national park offers a lot of different hiking tours (you should always wear good hiking boots and at least a sweatshirt, because there's even in summer still some snow fields to cross), these are the ones I got my blisters from:

Bumpass Hell

One of the less strenuous hikes is the one to Bumpass hell, an volcanic hot "spot". The place got its name from the unfortunate Mr. Bumpass who lost a leg to a mud pot. It is a six miles round trip and can easily be done in 2-3 hours.

Lassen Peak

A more challenging trip is the steep switch-back climb up Lassen Peak. The trail is wide and well maintained, but the last 100 yards (100 meters) lead over plain rocks. It leads you 2 1/2 miles up hill, on which you have to overcome a difference of 2400 feet (800 meters) in altitude. But the great view over the whole environment is worth the effort. The hike takes about two hours up to the peak and only one down. Bring water and warm clothes (sweater or jacket) because it is very windy up there.

Juniper and Manzanita Lake

Other nice and almost plain trails lead around Juniper (3 hours, 6 miles) and Manzanita Lake (one hour, 2 miles). Both lead through deep forests and you can be sure to meet deers and squirrels which are not a bit shy in this area.

Lassen National Park in an ideal place for EuroStudents that like nature and hiking. The area is quiet and there's not too many things to do in the evenings. But you can take the fabulous picture of a clear blue lake sparkling in the sun, surrounded by lonely deep forests and a snow topped mountain in the background back with you. (Sorry, I had to give you this description of my impressions )

How to get there:

Highway 80 north ® 505 north ® 5 north till Red Bluff ® Freeway 36 east

A nice alternative to get there is:

Freeway 70 from Greeneville to Oroville and 99 south from Oroville to Sacramento. This way leads through the Feather River Canyon, which is worth seeing and a much nicer drive than on the crowded Highways.

You get a detailed map of the park when you enter it.

The fee is $ 5 for 7 days.

Housings:

There are various camping grounds in the park and cabins, lodges and motels in the area around.

Lassen Mineral Lodge Mill Creek Resort
Mineral in the woods near Hwy. 172
(916) 595-4422 (916) 595-4449
$ 42 $ 38-60

Fire Mountain Lodge Black Forest Lodge
(916) 258-2983 5000 Mill Creek
Cabins with 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms (916) 258-2941
$ 33-53 $ 40

Very good American and German kitchen. You get the amount of food you need after a hiking trip.

No guarantee for the prices !!!

Talk to Karl (THE Karl-at-corp) about a trip to there, as he usually organizes one for the euros of each year.

A tip at the end:

For everybody who wants more information about this or other interesting spots in California, I can highly recommend the guide mentioned below. It contains detailed information about the places, their historical background, fauna and flora, and possibilities to stay including maps and telephone numbers.

Northern California Handbook (2nd edition)
Kim Weir
MOON Publication INC.
ISBN 0-918373-84-0
$ 19,95