Suggestions for drive to DL from (Oakland/SF Bay Area)

[LavenderPeach]

Sounds like 5 is the way to go - we want to get there as fast as possible. But it sounds like there is really no good place to stop on 5? Does anyone have any advice about that? Maybe just packing our own snacks/lunch?
QUOTE]

Yes, 5 is the quickest way down. It's not that there aren't any places to stop on the 5, it's just that it is mostly fast food and gas stations, not anything too interesting. The 101 has lots of cute little towns you can stop at and shop/eat but the 5 is pretty much just a road you take to get to southern california. Someone else pointed out one of the more interesting places and that is Pea Soup Andersons. Even if you don't eat there they have a nice little gift store.

 

[Leofoenget]

OH leaving on a Sunday? You should not have any problems at all. I have done the trip on a Sunday few times and pending an unforseen accident, we never hit any traffic in LA and breezed right on through to Anaheim. Usually when you hit Santa Clarita you hit traffic, but not on a Sunday. It only took us about half hour to get from Santa Clarita to Anaheim. On anyother day it can take 90 mins+

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Sunday is a great day to drive. We live in the East Bay area, and always leave about 5:45 am. My in laws live in Palos Verdes, so we have made this trip many, many times. We leave very early--just because when you hit the Los Angeles area--the traffic becomes TERRIBLE after 3:00. But leaving on Sunday--this shouldn't be such a problem. We stick with the early leaving time because the kids can sleep for the first few hours and we get a jump on any traffic.

Don't stop in a town called "Buttonwillow". There are a few restaurants there and we have eaten at a few--but they are very dirty (and the bathrooms are freakishly dirty!) and one time we all got food poisoning from a diner there.

We switched over to stopping at Pea Soup Anderson's---which has amazingly clean bathrooms and sorta decent food. It is a good place to stretch your legs, too. There is a cute gift shop attached to the restaurant.

 

[tlovesdis]

There is a Red Robin in Coalinga, which might be the perfect time to stop for lunch. There is also Pea Soup Andersen's but you would hit that kind of early and Harris Ranch, again kind of early.

Other than that you will only see lots of fat food, Denny's and Ihop on the way down.

You could always snack in the car and stop near Magic Mountain for lunch. There is a lot there!

 

[DL4my2kids]

Movies for the DVD player. Books to look at pictures. Snacks for the car.

I have been to the Red Robin that tlovesdis refered to and it's good. We have also stopped at a Denny's but I can't remember the name of the town. That may actually have been near Magic Mountain.

 

[tinkermell]

I'd take the 680 out of SF to 101. A much prettier ride that is for sure!!! Not sure how much time it will add, but Freeway 5 is nothing but endless miles of road. It was made for speed, not sight seeing.

If you do take 101, you will be going through some very pretty parts of California. Once you get to San Luis Obispo, you are close to the beaches. If you are around Pismo Beach at lunch time, eat at Splash Cafe. Yummy clam chowder and burgers. Also just a fun little beach town. Laid back. From there you kind of go back inland a little for awhile. Then back out again to the beach right by our favorite place to camp . Refugio State park. On through Santa Barbara (I love Santa Barbara), down through Ventura and Thousand Oaks. From there you start cutting east to 5 which takes you to Anaheim!!

 

[got2gp]

We live in Santa Clarita (the area around Magic Mountain) and these are all great suggestions. We've made the trip up the I5 to Washington lots of times over the years, with our kids who are now 19 and 15. The stratagies for entertaining them do change with age, but always try to think of something clean and non parent irritating, if you know what I meen. When they were little we relyed a lot on coloring, activity, and sticker books. We used colored pencils instead of crayon to stop the melting problem. Music and movies work well with this age group as well. Now they pack their own bag with a book or magazine, I pods, gameboys and snacks. Sometimes they just sleep, after all they are teenagers.

As for where to stop, earlier poster are right, most of that section of the 5 is barrren and boring without many places to stop. If you can hold out until after the grapevine, there is hope though. Santa Clarita has a bunch of options for lunch right off the freeway. Lots of fast food, but also chain places like Chilis, Red Lobster and Marie Calendars are very convienient. At that point, barring traffic problems you are only about an hour, maybe a bit more, from DL. There are also a couple of nice little parks not too far from the freeway if the kids just need to blow off steam, or you would like to pack a picnic. If you need more info on the area just pm me.

 

[hulamom]

I'm in Campbell and we usually drive down to So CA at least once a year. We usually take 101 to 152 (Pacheco Pass) to 5 and down.

Has anybody driven 152 since they opened the new 152/156 interchange? Has it made an improvement?

We've taken 101 coming home if we plan on taking more than 1 day. Our usual overnight stop is SLO (DH and my alma mater!) or Santa Barbara.

-- Hulamom

 

[usschmidt]

We drove 152 last weekend and it seemed pretty good.

 

[TiggerNZ]

I am jealous of you guys in the States who can drive to DL!!!

I live in NZ and although we are just stopping for a few days enroute - our travel time from leaving home in NZ to arriving into LAX (not even getting to HoJo's by shuttle) is just short of 20hrs! Plus we are leaving late in the evening, so for us the 18th Dec is going to be one long day.......

Not too worried, DS loves plane travel, and with the tv screens, disney books, sticker books, mini cars, food, plane giveaway kids packs and all the other stuff I'll have by then think we'll be OK

Hopefully we'll both sleep a good chunk of the 12hr flight and be ready to hit DCA that afternoon! Wish me luck huh!

 

[konagal]

I'd take the 680 out of SF to 101. A much prettier ride that is for sure!!! Not sure how much time it will add, but Freeway 5 is nothing but endless miles of road. It was made for speed, not sight seeing.

If you do take 101, you will be going through some very pretty parts of California. Once you get to San Luis Obispo, you are close to the beaches. If you are around Pismo Beach at lunch time, eat at Splash Cafe. Yummy clam chowder and burgers. Also just a fun little beach town. Laid back. From there you kind of go back inland a little for awhile. Then back out again to the beach right by our favorite place to camp . Refugio State park. On through Santa Barbara (I love Santa Barbara), down through Ventura and Thousand Oaks. From there you start cutting east to 5 which takes you to Anaheim!!

AHhhhhhhhh............what a beautiful drive!

 

[pixiewings71]

The Harris Ranch is super yum but you will hit it early is you leave at 7:30. Lunch there is good though so you might want to stop. I still say Lost Hills and the Denny's is the best. We stopped in Buttonwillow once and never again, like the other poster said, it was nasteeeeee!! I'm surprised we didn't get sick after eating there but since we really didn't finish our food we were probly OK. I've seen the Red Robin but never stopped there so I can't speak of it but yes, if you can wait until after the Grapevine there will be loads of restaurants.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Don't stop in a town called "Buttonwillow". There are a few restaurants there and we have eaten at a few--but they are very dirty (and the bathrooms are freakishly dirty!) and one time we all got food poisoning from a diner there.

We switched over to stopping at Pea Soup Anderson's---which has amazingly clean bathrooms and sorta decent food. It is a good place to stretch your legs, too. There is a cute gift shop attached to the restaurant.

We always stop in Buttonwillow for gas. We don't eat there. It works out to be the best time for us to get gas. We always stop at Pea Soup on the way up, but on the way down, it is too early for us to eat. They do have good bathrooms!

On the way down we usually bring a lunch to eat at a rest stop. It is faster that way than going to a restaurant. Plus your kids can run around and not have to sit and wait for food.

 

[bzkds]

We're in Los Gatos (San Jose). It takes us about 6.5 hrs to get down there, going down 5. When the kids were smaller, it would take longer, just because it took longer for everyone to eat and potty, etc.

When we go, we leave here around 8am and get in down there around 2ish. We always stop at the rest stops and eat lunch at Kettleman City exit. There is an In & Out there, and a Starbucks.

After you get over the Grapevine, it's a good idea to take 210 (Pasadena) over to 57 and then catch up with 5 again. Saves time and the hassle of where all the freeways come together!

I don't have too many suggestions about keeping the kids entertained. We always did the toys and coloring books, etc. Pretty much just toughed it out since there were no DVD players for cars when our kids were really small! lol

Beth

 

[ptlycloudy]

Our dilemma is we need to leave in the afternoon on a Wed. from Oakland. I am trying to decide if we should take dd out of school at noon, then we would miss the Livermore traffic but would hit LA traffic I think. Or leave at 2 when school is out but we will hit the beginning of livermore traffic and will get in kind of late to Anaheim. Any suggestions? My kids are 7 and 4 so we will have to make a couple extra potty stops, but they don't need much play time.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Our dilemma is we need to leave in the afternoon on a Wed. from Oakland. I am trying to decide if we should take dd out of school at noon, then we would miss the Livermore traffic but would hit LA traffic I think. Or leave at 2 when school is out but we will hit the beginning of livermore traffic and will get in kind of late to Anaheim. Any suggestions? My kids are 7 and 4 so we will have to make a couple extra potty stops, but they don't need much play time.

If you leave Oakland between 2:00 and 2:30 you should miss most of the 580 east traffic, but you have to get out at that time. My guess is that you'd arrive around 9:00ish if you leave at 2:00. If you were to leave at noon, you'd probably arrive around 7:00 or 8:00 because of L.A. rush hour.

 

[KCSunshine60]

We've made this drive from livermore quite a few times. When it is just me and my boys, we drive right through with potty breaks along the way. We usually pack snacks, drinks and sandwiches. Plus DVDs that keep the boys entertained.

This summer, my husband went along and he didn't want to drive all the way through. He wanted an overnight "refresher". After looking at the options, we ended up using Hotwire and got a great rate at the Hyatt in Santa Clarita. To be honest, I thought if we're going that far, what's another hour to DL.

But, it ended up being a perfect stopover. First, we got a great rateon the hotel~ $80. They Hyatt was really nice. It was across the street from a nice mall. There was an indoor mall but it was surrounded by a pedestrian mall with nice restaurants, a theater and a great little wine tasting store.

So, we bought a nice bottle of wine and had a nice dinner and then we went and saw a movie. The hotel had a pool and a great outdoor fireplace. We had the perfect, relaxing start to the vacation. It really made the long drive seem not so bad.

It was perfect!
KC

 

[Fantasy Girl]

Thanks for posting this thread! My husband and I are taking our three year old son to Disneyland on Wednesday. I am dreading the car ride too! We are hoping to leave early (6 am) and make only a few stops. I am packing lots of snacks, books, an old Game Boy, and a portable DVD player. My limit in the car is about 3 hours, so I know we'll be stopping before we reach Disneyland.

ETA: I forgot to mention that we're leaving from the East Bay (Dublin). 580 East doesn't really get too bad in the direction in the morning. It's the evening commute traffic on 580 East that is horrible.

I can't wait!!

 

[pixiewings71]

Our dilemma is we need to leave in the afternoon on a Wed. from Oakland. I am trying to decide if we should take dd out of school at noon, then we would miss the Livermore traffic but would hit LA traffic I think. Or leave at 2 when school is out but we will hit the beginning of livermore traffic and will get in kind of late to Anaheim. Any suggestions? My kids are 7 and 4 so we will have to make a couple extra potty stops, but they don't need much play time.

I would suggest picking DD up at school and hitting the road right from there. You should be OK leaving then. I wouldn't leave at noon, that puts you in LA at rush hour which is horrible!!

 

[Leofoenget]

We always stop in Buttonwillow for gas. We don't eat there. It works out to be the best time for us to get gas. We always stop at Pea Soup on the way up, but on the way down, it is too early for us to eat. They do have good bathrooms!

On the way down we usually bring a lunch to eat at a rest stop. It is faster that way than going to a restaurant. Plus your kids can run around and not have to sit and wait for food.

I've stayed in Buttonwillow. that place is freekie deekie. It's a half way point but wow watch your back