...it can also be snowing. It's still beautiful in the snow but that can make driving there challenging.

About 4 years ago I went to visit friends in Fresno for thanksgiving. They have a cottage about 5 miles from the south entrance to Yosemite. We spent three nights up at the cottage.

It rained during the day and at night that changed to snow. It was light snow and it didn't stick come morning, but it did snow. The rain and snow limit what you can do outside.

Also, we went to Yosemite itself the day after Thanksgiving and it was popular. There was already snow on the higher elevations but not on the floor of the valley (this was before the rain and snow started later in the weekend). There were still many people at the park.

I have to say I've never been to the park in the summer so I don't know how it compares, but there were enough people that day that when we hiked around the valley floor there were always other people within earshot or sight. However I didn't find it so many people that I regretted my trip. I bet that if we had gone a bit further afield then the # of people around would have dropped quite a bit.

So I recommend Yosemite in Nov., depending on the weather report at the time.

Other places to visit near SF are:
Point Reyes
Monterey Aquarium and Big Sur

If you are looking for something to do on Thanksgiving day itself, you can visit chinatown in SF. It's open and completely deserted (for a change). It's a great time to visit and bargain!

You can also do the stairway walks in SF (depending on how active you want to be), or walk out on the GG bridge.

Bring lots of warm layers....