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Thread: Driving Sacramento to Southern California, ideas for stops.

  1. #1
    At home in the hills candles71's Avatar
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    Driving Sacramento to Southern California, ideas for stops.

    We have had many threads about places to stop while driving to/from Disneyland in the past. There was a cool article in the Sacramento Bee's travel section yesterday (sunday) I thought I would share. It has some wacky places to see while driving 99 from Sacramento to Bakersfield. Next sunday's will be I-5. And, the following Sunday (April22) they will feature LA from the 30's and 40's.
    While I enjoyed reading and found out about several places I had never been aware of (there was an amusement park ghost town near Stockton?), I thought of all our Northern MPers who have much longer drives who frequently ask about fun places to stop. So here ya go.


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  3. #2
    Registered User disneylandgirl's Avatar
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    Jan 2008
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    Cool


  4. #3

    I wish I had some recommendations, but the last time I did the drive from San Francisco to Anaheim was back in the 80's; I had a friend visiting from England who thought Disneyland was maybe 2 hours away (rude awakening). We did the drive along the coast highway so we could stop when he wanted to, to take pictures of the beach or of the seals, or of fun inns or exhibits... it's a longer drive, but weaving in and out between parks and ocean and what all else was a lot of fun.


  5. #4

    We always stop at John's Incredible Pizza in Bakersfield at the Rosedale Exit. It's a Higher-class Chuck E Cheese-type place, pizza/soup/salad/pasta buffet and everyone gets to stretch for awhile. Kids get to play video games. There's several gas stations right there (including Costco). Depending on the day & time you go, it costs about $6.50-$9.50 per adult, all you can eat. This probably isn't what you had in mind, but it always works for us.


  6. #5
    Registered User foolishmortal's Avatar
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    They forgot Sal's mexican rest. in selma! Yum!

    Or bravo farms.

    And yes the valley really is a nice place to live. That being said, I take the 5 to DL. It's closer to the farm!


  7. #6

    For some of the best ice cream and candies (chews) stop at Dewar's in Bakersfield. If you like milkshakes order George's Special. If you like bakeries, go to Smith's bakery, also in Bakersfield. Both easy to find with a Google search.


  8. #7
    At home in the hills candles71's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by foolishmortal View Post
    They forgot Sal's mexican rest. in selma! Yum!

    Or bravo farms.

    And yes the valley really is a nice place to live. That being said, I take the 5 to DL. It's closer to the farm!
    Oh, yes we blaze on through going. Straight down 5 from Sacramento. We have started taking 99 driving back so we can stop and say hi at Whistler's dad and step mom's in Fresno.

  9. #8

    We also take I5 south all the way down. Most of the time we are very impatient and don't want to stop. We put it into cruise control and usually stop one time, for gas and some quick food. This is usually at the last major exit (I think the Bakersfield exit) before hitting Grapevine. Out target time is to make the drive in 6.5 hours but it usually turns into 7.


  10. #9
    Registered User ALB2277's Avatar
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    Sep 2003
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    Fort Mohave AZ

    sending this to my inlaws they are driving from boise and taking the 5


  11. #10

    I am a drive straight through kind of person too. I have the car loaded and ready to go the night before with blankets and pillows at every seat and cloths for each of the kids in a small bag. I get up at 3:30 and get the kids and my wife into the car (van) and back to sleep. I am on the road by four with no traffic and am flying along. They wake up around nine or ten and get dressed under their blanket. We stop for breakfast and we're at the park by 11:00. I take a nap in the afternoon while they are all at the park. Painful for me to get up so early, but I have no traffic and I don't hear any, "Are we there yet," "How much longer," or "I have to go to the bathroom."


  12. #11

    I know it costs more (extra night at the hotel) but I have recently become a fan of the drive at night. We left for a 6 hour road trip about 2 hours before the kids normal bedtime, they were reasonably well behaved for about 1 hour, and then fell asleep early and slept through the rest of the drive. We arrived at our destination in the middle of the night, got checked into the hotel, and then finished crashing. The only minor downside was that the kids were awake first thing in the morning and the grownups were dragging a bit more.

    I realize this probably will only last as long as the kids have early bedtimes. When they want to stay up as late/later than we do, we will likely need to switch to getting up at ungodly hours.


  13. #12
    At home in the hills candles71's Avatar
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    We have done both. The early morning we did both times we went to Magic Mountain. We left around 2:30 3:00, and were at Magic Mountain at the 9 AM opening. The first time we did this was our first trip, and we left MM at close and drove to Anaheim. The second time, Whistler and I had APs so we were blacked out of DL the next day (Saturday), and planned to go to Universal Studios that day, so we found rooms between MM and US for the one night.
    The last 2 trips, we left in the afternoon, and drove straight down without hitting traffic and crashed at the hotel when we got there.

    The I5 article is up now.


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