Originally Posted by
abmj-jr
An idea for a 2-night trip out of the City might be to Lassen Volcanic National Park in the far northern part of the state. For Lassen, you would need a full day drive to Red Bluff or Redding and a couple of nights in one of those inexpensive small towns. A full day would then suffice to drive up to the Park, see everything and drive back down to your room. The sights are rather compact and easy to see in a 1-day visit but very different from the much more crowded Yosemite/Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks. In addition to the beautiful high mountain area, Lassen is still an active volcano and has areas with sulfur clouds, steam vents and bubbling mud pots in a place called Bumpass Hell (gotta love that.)
That's a very good idea.
I'd expand on it with this option (which adds two days): Drive from San Francisco to Fortuna or Eureka (with maybe the first part on Highway 1 through Muir Woods). Stunning scenery and the redwood forests leave one speechless. Then drive from Eureka/Arcata to Redding; this is a beautiful drive and goes through the fun and funky town of Weaverville. Overnight at Redding (or Red Bluff) and then Lassen the next day. A long day's drive back to San Francisco could cut over at Williams to Clear Lake and then back through the Sonoma Valley to San Francisco.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...71&ie=UTF8&z=9
And a previous poster is right: September anywhere east of Berkeley is going to be hot.