Complete Guide to Weekend Trips in Central CA

As all travel healthcare workers know, choosing your next contract can be stressful and difficult. Stockton, CA was not exactly high on our list when we started exploring our options. However, when we started looking at its location, we found all the cool things that were within a couple hours drive. The location looked exciting, and the pay was great, so we decided to go for it. Our contracts started in mid-August and ended in mid-December, so we had quite the weather range (115 to 25 degrees).

Our top priorities were the national parks (Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Lassen Volcanic, and Pinnacles), Big Sur, and Napa/Sonoma.

National Parks

The planning started around the national parks, as they tend to be the most tricky for us to find camping spots. Yosemite was first on the list, because it is Yosemite. We wanted to do two trips there, essentially one without snow, and one with snow. Our first was in early October, and the second was late November. It worked out perfectly, as we were able to go up to Tioga Pass and see Tenaya Lake with beautiful weather on the first trip, and the second had snow since there was a storm the week before. There is a Yosemite specific post coming that talks about what we did and what hikes we went on.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon were an easy “two-for-one” weekend due to their proximity to one another. This was our first weekend trip after we got to Stockton, and it did not disappoint (other than the insane amount of bugs on our hike in Kings Canyon).

Lassen was the furthest that we drove for a weekend trip (~4 hours), but it might have been our best overall experience of all of them. Lassen sits at a pretty high elevation, and has almost zero light pollution, so you get some epic stargazing views. Also, it is not as populated as some other parks, so we did not feel crowded at all.

Lastly for the national parks, unfortunately we missed out on Pinnacles. We saved it for the second to last weekend, but it was storming. So, we tried to go our last weekend instead, but it was storming once again. Definitely bummed we missed out, but it ain’t going anywhere, so we can check it out another time.

California Coast

If you have not noticed, the CA coast is pretty big, and pretty awesome. Big Sur was high on our to-do list, and we wanted to get there early in our contract, so the weather would be nice. As luck would have it, we got ideal weather for our trip. We car camped near Big Sur Friday night after work, so we could get an early start. We were able to hit Big Sur, Monterey, Carmel, and Santa Cruz all in one weekend.

Half Moon Bay was another area we were interested in, and we were able to do this one on a day trip, which included hitting San Francisco on the way back. It happened to be when they were doing their pumpkin festival, and there was a crazy amount of traffic on 92 and coming south on the 1. We went around the southern route to avoid all this, so luckily the traffic was going opposite of us. If you are going in October, be sure to check out if the festival is going on. Of course, anyone that knows anything about surfing, has heard of Mavericks, so we had to check it out while we were there.

Point Reyes National Seashore was not really on our list at the beginning of our time there, but made it on there, and were glad it did. There were so few people out there, we essentially had the whole beach to ourselves for sunset. We saw the most wildlife we have seen while we were hiking out to the cliffs on the shore. Worth checking out for sure, and hopefully it will not be a super foggy day for when you go to the lighthouse, like we had.

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is just plain cool. If you have not been, check it out. Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter, it does not matter. There is cool stuff for every season.

One of the most fun things we did in Tahoe, was go snowboarding. Now everyone knows about Heavenly and Northstar, but we wanted something a little less busy and more local. In our research, and from recommendations, we found Homewood. It is on the western side of the lake, and is more frequented by locals. It is smaller than the big, well known places, but it was perfect for us. We particularly loved the view from the Big Blue View Bar with nice, cold beer about half way up the mountain.

Napa/Sonoma

Napa and Sonoma were certainly a “no-brainer” for us, especially being just over an hour away. We do not pretend to be wine connoisseurs or sommeliers by any means. But, we do enjoy a nice, crisp white on a warm day, or red any other time really. Seeing as our palates are not that refined, we did not want to shell out the big bucks for some of the tastings at the more expensive places like Opus, Stag’s Leap, or Stags’ Leap (we learned the placement of that apostrophe makes a big difference).

In general, everything is a bit pricier up there, including lodging. The River Terrace Inn is where we ended up booking our room. It was affordable for Napa standards, and turned out to be really nice. It had a beautiful outside patio area, where pretty much everyone was enjoying a glass of wine, because it is Napa. We definitely would stay there again, and would recommend to others. The welcome glass of wine was a nice little touch also (my guess is they probably do that everywhere though).

Romabuer Vineyards stuck out as our favorite overall experience. The grounds are absolutely stunning, with an elevated view over the valley. Our timing worked out well again for this trip. It was the fall, so the leaves were starting to change, which made for some beautiful colors.

We had a great tasting guide, who we ended up having a lot in common with (San Diego and Dallas connections). It was the cheapest tasting we had seen advertised (~$25), with something like 6 different wines. The wine was fantastic, they are known for their Chardonnay, but we had a delicious Pinot Noir as well. You get to keep the nice, stemless, crystal wine glass after the tasting too!

Over our time in Napa and Sonoma, we of course made quite a few stops at different wineries. Rombauer, Domaine Carneros, Artesa, Silverado, and Tank Garage Winery (rec from employee at Domaine Carneros) were the ones we made it to in Napa.

In Sonoma, we stopped at Roche (amazing Pinot Noir) and Cline Family Cellars (donkeys!). Pretty much all of the wineries (if not all) require a reservation for guided tastings, but most wineries also allow you to come in for a glass/bottle also. We did a combination of both, partly because a lot of our planning happens last minute, and reservations go quickly.

Domaine Carneros is a must if you like bubbles, and the property is amazing.

Roche was a great spot because they allowed dogs, the Pinot was delicious, and the courtyard area was really nice.

Artesa was more of modern vibe, with a very clean look, and some cool water features.

Tank was a totally different vibe. The building is an old gas station/garage, and it is a much more casual, chill atmosphere.

Both Roche and Cline were dog friendly, so that is a big plus!

San Francisco

Stockton was only about an hour and a half drive into SF, without traffic of course. There were a few things we really wanted to do, including bike across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, go to a Giants game, and eat all the good food.

Our first trip into town, we parked on Oakland and took the ferry across the bay. It was super easy, affordable, and quick. Highly recommend this method if you are doing a day trip, for a couple of reasons. One, traffic and driving through town can be a little crazy, parking is hit or miss depending on where you are, and the Oakland ferry terminal validates parking for up to 12 hours.

We tried to make it to a Giants game, but missed out on their last home stand because of a mix up of dates. Oh well, I guess we will have to go back.

There is A LOT of delicious food in SF. If you take the ferry in, or end up at the ferry terminal, Hog Island Oyster Co is a must. It is a very popular place, so be ready for a bit of a wait, but the line moved pretty quickly. Nara Sushi and Dumpling Time were both very good. Dragon Beaux was recommended to us, but we could not make it, so it is still high on our list. Tornado is an awesome little dive bar with a great vibe and beer list, where we got to watch the Padres beat the Dodges in the NLDS!

We only got a small piece of what the SF food scene has to offer, but it was very good. Lastly, you cannot not get a clam chowder bread bowl, you just have to.

Follow along with us on all of our adventures @acoupleoftravelingpts!

EA