I'm goin' to California

March 10, 2008 6:45 PM

TravelFilter: Help me plan a driving trip from Sacramento, CA to Eugene, OR. Difficulty: Two children, six and four.

I'm flying into Sacramento in the middle of April and will be driving up to Eugene to visit relatives. I've allowed three-ish days for the drive and I'm looking for suggestions of places to stop and things to see along the way. I've had no luck finding a good resource for this sort of information.

I'd love to make the trip as enriching and educational as possible for my spawn (six year old boy and a four year old girl). This is their first real trip away from the East Coast.

No idea is too eccentric or quirky. :)

posted by DWRoelands to travel & transportation (14 comments total)

Ooh ooh! *raises hand*

You'll be going up I-5. A great stop is the Turtle Bay Museum in Redding, CA. It's about 2.5 - 3 hours from Sacramento and is great for both kids and adults.

It's really only a one-day drive from Sacto to Eugene, so you could also head to SF for a day. From Sacramento, it's a 1.5 - 2 hour drive, depending on traffic.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:51 PM on March 10, 2008

I'm afraid I don't have any points of interest for your specific trip, but a co-worker told me that when she started taking long-ish driving trips with her daughters, she would start the driving after lunch...then stop for dinner, get the kids into pajamas and drive as long as her and her partner could...transfer the kids to a hotel bed, and then wake up int he morning and spend the morning in the town/city they stopped in, at the hotel pool, etc, or even better if the stopover was in a place of interest. Then, after lunch...pack up and repeat.

Seemed brilliant to me, and I thought I'd share. I suspect I'll be trying it out next February with my girls who are currently 4 & 6.
posted by Richat at 7:00 PM on March 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

They might enjoy the Oregon Vortex, a tourist trap "mystery spot" where balls roll uphill, brooms stand on end, and the like. It was a bit much for my restless two-year-old last summer, but older kids would probably dig it. It involves a tour of about 45 minutes; it's about 30 minutes off I-5 between Grants Pass and Ashland.
posted by lisa g at 7:09 PM on March 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

The Oregon Caves are near Grants Pass.
Dunsmuir and the Shasta area has some great scenery and interesting history.
posted by rhizome at 7:31 PM on March 10, 2008

Seconding the Vortex/House of Mystery in Gold Hill. Trippy! And interesting enough for the kids, I suspect.

Also, for tips, Roadside America is great.
posted by hulahulagirl at 7:43 PM on March 10, 2008

If you want a quirky place to stay, my mother-in-law stayed at the Railroad Park Inn, near Shasta. They slept in a caboose car converted into a hotel room and she couldn't stop raving about it for weeks afterward. It was like she was six years old, not 66, when retelling the tale of the night she got to sleep inside a caboose.
posted by mathowie at 8:21 PM on March 10, 2008

I think your crowd would probably enjoy Out n' About Treehousery.
posted by cior at 8:38 PM on March 10, 2008

Your kids sound a bit too young to really enjoy the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, -- but only you would really know that for sure.
posted by Class Goat at 8:44 PM on March 10, 2008

My 4 and 6 year old LOVE the Turtle Bay discovery center mentioned above. It's a really unique idea: rather than having a full scale children's museum, zoo, or aquarium, they've combined smaller versions of each, and added to that a great outdoor playground, world class pedestrian bridge across the Sacramento river and a beautiful, extensive garden area. There's a nice cafe that looks out over the river- really, I can't imagine a nicer 2-6 hour stop with kids. Oh, and bring your zoo/aquarium/science center/kids museum memberships- you probably get in free!
posted by carterk at 8:55 PM on March 10, 2008

Every Sacramento kid who has ever been (and loads of bay area kids that live off the Amtrak Capitol Corridor route) have experienced Old Sacramento and the California State Railroad Museum, which is filled with animatronic awesomeness. May be a little old for the 4 year old ... not sure.

The other Sacramento kids' destination is Fairytale Town. Basically imagine the most wonderful, fantastic playground in the world and then multiply it by radical.
posted by fishfucker at 8:56 PM on March 10, 2008

Three obvious things .... In SF: Exploratorium (hands-on kids' science museum); Cable Car Museum. North of SF, see some redwoods (they are amazing and unforgettable).
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:52 PM on March 10, 2008

Seconding a night at Railroad park Inn. You and the kids will love it. It's actually in Dunsmuir, right off the highway, about 4-5 hours from Sacramento. We've stayed there a few times while trout fishing in the area.
posted by artdrectr at 11:18 PM on March 10, 2008

There's the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, not far from Sacramento. What kid wouldn't revel in jelly beans galore?
posted by HeyAllie at 10:33 AM on March 11, 2008

Head out to the coast and see the redwoods in CA and the sand dunes in OR along highway 101. Stop at the Trees of Mystery at the north end of CA.

There used to be an attraction in Gold Beach, OR with big fake dinosaurs in the "Oregon rain forest". I don't remember what the place is called, or know if it's still there, but should be fun for kids.
posted by yohko at 1:34 PM on March 11, 2008