California - California with kids

We are laying out our plan for a six week vacation in California/Nevada/Utah with our family of five. Mid Sept thru Mid Oct. Our kids are age 7, 5 and 3. Our current plan is to fly in to Las Vegas, stay in Circus Circus and after a few days rent a motor home to drive the national parks in the area for about two weeks. After that pick up an suv and go up north (Yosemite, SF). Other stops we consider are, San Diego and finishing at Disney in LA. Any must see and must do or definitely should not do for a trip with kids ? Any othet "hot" tips ?

Wow! 6 weeks! I am envious.

There are many, many wonderful places to visit in Nevada and Utah. I will let others address those as I am more of a California guy.

California with kids. I am sure others will add to this, but off the top of my head and in no particular order:

Yosemite and/or Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Everyone knows about Yosemite but the Sequoia "big trees" really seem to catch kids imaginations. Giant Forest in Sequoia NP is an easy drive up highway 198 from the Central Valley and suffers from far smaller crowds than the more famous Yosemite. The Crescent Meadow area has several easy, short nature trails that even a 3 year-old could handle.

If you find yourself with time to drive into northern California, Lassen-Volcanic National Park is a somewhat overlooked jewel where you can see actual volcanic activity right along the road and walk into a "boiling mud" region.

Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.

The Science Exploratorium in San Francisco has many "hands-on" exhibits and wonderful things to see. When they were growing up, my kids were just enthralled in that place.

Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Just keep a hand on your wallet.

San Francisco in general.

Monterey and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Pehaps the best in the world.

A drive along the central coast on Highway 1 - particularly stopping at any of the several elephant seal viewing areas.

In the same area, Hearst Castle might not be the kids favorite but the guides make it fun and the adults will probably enjoy it. It does involve a rather nasty bus ride on winding access roads and quite a bit of walking through the grounds.

Either Marineland or, better yet, Sea World in San Diego.

Balboa Park in San Diego has a wealth of museums, exhibits, the Arboretum and the Air and Space Museum.

Southern California is theme park central. Of course, the Disney twins - with my preference being the newer California Adventure Park. But don't overlook others like Knott's Berry Farm and the aforementioned Sea World.

That is a start. Other posters will have more ideas.

I'd go to the San Diego Zoo or the Wild Animal park over Sea World (where, apparently for $6 billion, you can buy the park and the Shamus). If you're going to do the trip between the SF area and LA, please drive down the PCH. Don't drive down the freeway--you'll see such lovely places like Fresno, Bakersfield and Gorman. :D

I second abmj-jr's recommendations of the Exploratorium (I loved that place growing up), the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Mt. Lassen. I'd head up to Shasta too, if you have time. There's also the railroad museum in Sacramento. That was pretty neat when I went there a few years ago.

If you want to go south out of LAS, I recommend the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Come in to Arizona and check it out. It's worth the drive. Of course, there's Hoover Dam, Lake Mead (what's left of it anyway) and Route 66 in that general area. Bryce Canyon is also a really beautiful place.

Six weeks. That's quite a trip!

Yeah, six weeks is long. It's kinda hard to narrow suggestions down with all that time. :eek: ^

No one has mentioned Joshua Tree National Park. That might be a good stop after Las Vegas, Nevada.

Any thoughts about making it to Arizona?

And, particularly if you're headed to Yosemite National Park later in that time span, you should make yourself aware of any potential bad weather, as that is up in the mountains.