For fall break, we decided to make the ultimate Northern CA 10 day road trip with some of our best friends. We left on a Friday in early October after school got out and headed to our first stop in Las Vegas. We stayed at our timeshare at Tahiti Village where we were able to get ourselves and our friends a suite. This was just a stopover so it was dinner, sleep, and heading out in the AM. We then made our way to Yosemite National Park area and checked in to our room at The Cedar Lodge in El Portal, just outside the park. We spent one whole day enjoying the sites that the beautiful park has to offer and of course, picked up a souvenir Yosemite Christmas tree ornament. We are serious collectors of ornaments from our travels. The next morning we headed to Lake Tahoe where our friends got us a hotel room (family hookup) at Harrah’s. We toured around town a bit, got an ornament, had a delicious dinner at Hell’s Kitchen and headed out the next morning. We went North just into Oregon planning to see the deepest lake in the US. We stayed in some cute cabins called Crater Lake Resort in Fort Klamath, OR. We were so excited for the next morning to see the lake only to arrive in the middle of their first blizzard of the year. When we walked up to the crater, all we saw was a giant white cloud covering the entire lake from the surface to our eye level. We saw no lake but we did get an ornament, haha. That was a bit disappointing since that was the only reason we ventured into OR. We couldn’t fit in any other OR sites into this trip but we will get it next time. We then made our way to the coast to the Northernmost town of CA and checked in to the Anchor Beach Inn in Crescent City, CA. This was just another stop over for the beautiful sites to come the next day. We took the coast road South from there and drove in and out of all the cute little towns on the water. We were most excited about visiting the Redwoods. We stayed in a great cabin in the Redcrest Resort in Redcrest, CA and drove all through the Avenue of the Giants (not leaving until we found the perfect ornament). The redwoods were beyond giants and so magnificent. We found this really cool road side attraction called The Trees of Mystery. Their backyard had some special redwoods with signs about their history. They also had a series of sky walkways halfway up the redwood trunks. We felt like Ewoks going from tree to tree. It was the coolest place. We got a big foot ornament from there as they had numerous big foot statues to photograph with. We then made our way South to San Francisco where we intended to visit Alcatraz but was completely booked so we made our way to Palm Springs (stopping to sleep at a Days Inn in Lebec, CA). We took the aerial tram in Palm Springs with was a very cool experience. It’s the largest rotating gondola in the world. Of course, we got an ornament so we can enjoy the fond memories of our travels. This trip had a few hiccups but all in all it was amazing and so memorable! I highly suggest this route!
