Oh, my--you essentially have only 2 days from the time you pick up your rental car in Oakland (I'm not counting the day you fly out since you'll need to drive directly from wherever you are to get to the airport a couple hrs. prior to your departure time). Unless you want to be driving like crazy the entire 2 days, I would strongly recommend that you limit your furthest destination to Mendocino County and get there via #101 and #128, not the much slower coast route of #1. On the way you can stop at Hendy Woods to see the redwoods. Your current plan to meander thru the Napa Valley, stay in Mendocino, visit Humboldt County (Avenue of the Giants), AND take the long scenic route back down #1 is just not feasible if you want to do anything other than drive. I would eliminate the side trip inland thru the Sonoma and Napa Valleys and head directly to Mendocino. Then you'll at least have a bit of time to stay over and enjoy the area, and also to drive at least part ways south on #1 on the way back.

Yes, In my reply to your post on the other forum I did not fully see your time frame.

(Too bad, that would have been a good trip :~)

I think it is much too ambitious for your time. Unless you can add some days so that you won't just be driving fast up and down the freeway.

Why don't you plug some of these destinations into Mapquest or google maps and see what the actual distance/times are?

That is an ambitious itinerary. It involves a lot of driving in your rental car. A couple of suggestions:

-If you aren't really into wine, skip Calistoga and the Napa Valley. Instead take Hwy 580 from Hwy 80, cross the SF Bay on the Richmond/San Rafael bridge and head north on Hwy 101. Then cross to the coast on Hwy 128.

You will pass a couple of wineries north of Santa Rosa if you want to experience wine tasting.

Hotels in Mendocino are expensive; hotels in Fort Bragg are less expensive.

Avenue of the Giants is too far north for your trip. You can see redwood trees in Armstrong Grove (near the Russian River) or at Muir Woods National Monument about 14 miles north of SF, just off Hwy 1.

When you drive back south to the airport in Oakland, you don't need to drive through SF, go back across the Richmond San Rafael Bridge and avoid the bad traffic in SF.

Have a good trip.

Thanks everyone for the great tips, I will re-look at our plans, I was afraid that the Avenue of the Giants was too far away, but not really sure.

We really do want to drive the coast, so I guess that would take first choice over driving further North.

Thanks again.

Teresa

You'll be able to see Redwoods as you drive 128 to Mendo when you go thru Navarro River Redwoods State Park.

Visit Point Cabrillo for you lighthouse fix.

You should be able to get a room for that price at Mendocino Hotel if you are willing to share a bathroom. For that short a stay I would much prefer to in Mendocino but Ft. Bragg is only a short ways up the coast.

I would skip Napa/Sonoma, you can stop at some of the wineries in the Anderson Valley along 128. All of the gold mining towns are much further to the East in the Sierra foothills.

Allow plenty of time for Highway 1!

Enjoy!

There are plenty of redwoods between SF and Mendocino, but they are mostly second growth, not giants. 99% of the area was logged in the late 1800s/early 1900s so there are only a few old-growth parks left. Armstrong Redwoods is probably your best bet. Also there is Hendy Woods along Hwy 128 near Philo, Muir Woods of course, or if you want a real adventure, Montgomery Woods, about 30 miles inland from Little River, on Airport Road to Comptche, then on Orr Springs Road. It's only about 20 miles but takes about 40 minutes to drive--it's a very narrow, winding, steep road. The park is just half a mile west of Orr Hot Springs, so if you find that place, you've just passed Montgomery Woods (coming from the coast).

There are redwoods at Navarro River, Russian Gulch and Van Damme State Parks, but they are second growth. There's also the pygmy forest at Van Damme, you can drive to it on Airport Road, only about 5 miles from the coast.

Armstrong Grove is within your reach and is is not second growth. A couple of hundred acres were preserved from the loggers by some astute people.

Read the history here and see some pictures.

russianrivertravel.com/parks-armstrong-histo…

Excellent link, Puter. Colonel Armstrong was a lumberman himself, but he did preserve an impressive grove. Trees there are taller and bigger than any at Muir Woods, so you are definitely not settling for second best. It's a walking/hiking park, not a drive like the Avenue of the Giants, but you will probably have more time to spend walking there than you would along the Avenue with only two days for the trip to Mendocino and back.