Fun Things To Do In Northern California
Northern California is a weird, wonderful playground. It's got redwoods older than most religions, buried ships under city streets, and a house built for ghosts. You could sp...
Northern California is a weird, wonderful playground. It's got redwoods older than most religions, buried ships under city streets, and a house built for ghosts.
You could spend a month here and barely scratch the surface. So let's just hit the good stuff.
Hug A Tree That Predates Rome
Head to Redwood National and State Parks and stand next to a coast redwood. These things are taller than a 30-story building and have been quietly minding their own business for two thousand years.
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Drive through one if you want. The Chandelier Tree near Leggett has a hole cut in it, and yes, people have wedged their station wagons through since the 1930s.
It's cheesy. It's also delightful.
Bonus Weirdness: Bigfoot Country
Humboldt County sells Bigfoot merch like it's a legitimate export. Stop in Willow Creek and visit the Bigfoot Museum, which takes the whole thing very seriously.
The giant statue out front is perfect for a photo you'll never explain well.
Get Spooked in San Francisco
The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose is a 160-room maze built by Sarah Winchester. She believed spirits told her to keep building, so construction ran 24 hours a day for 38 years.
There are staircases that lead to ceilings. Doors that open onto walls. It's a haunted house that's also an architectural panic attack.
Meanwhile, Alcatraz sits out in the bay being dramatic. The audio tour is narrated by former guards and inmates, and it's genuinely eerie.
Book ahead. It sells out constantly.
Ride the Only Moving Landmark in America
San Francisco's cable cars are the last manually operated cable car system on Earth. They're also the only National Historic Landmark that moves.
Hang off the side and pretend you're in a movie. Everyone does it.
Swirlster First: Places To See In Northern California
Then hit the Musée Mécanique at Fisherman's Wharf for antique penny arcade games. Some are over a hundred years old and still happily take your quarter.
Eat Your Way Through Everything
Gilroy calls itself the Garlic Capital of the World, and the smell will confirm it. The annual Garlic Festival has garlic ice cream, which tastes exactly how you'd expect.
In Fairfield, the Jelly Belly factory gives free tours. You wear a paper hat and watch jelly beans get born.
Wine country is right there too. Napa gets the fanfare, but Sonoma is usually cheaper and just as pretty.
Pro tip: spitting is normal and encouraged. Nobody's judging.
Cheese, Please
Point Reyes Farmstead makes blue cheese that will ruin all other blue cheese for you. Grab some, then hit the lighthouse and look for whales.
Meet Animals In the Wild (Sort Of)
Año Nuevo State Park hosts thousands of elephant seals every winter. They flop around, bellow, and generally behave like enormous, cranky couch cushions.
You need a guide to get close during pupping season. It's worth the reservation.
Up in Monterey, the aquarium is legitimately world-class. The jellyfish room alone justifies the ticket price.
And at Moss Landing, sea otters float on their backs cracking shellfish on their chests like tiny furry mechanics.
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Find the Mysterious and the Silly
The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz claims gravity doesn't work right there. Balls roll uphill. People lean at impossible angles.
Is it a vortex? Is it an optical illusion? Nobody agrees, and that's the fun part.
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has been running since 1907. Its wooden coaster and carousel are both National Historic Landmarks, which is a fancy way of saying they're old and still awesome.
In Fort Bragg, Glass Beach sparkles with smooth sea glass. Please don't pocket any — it took decades to make and it's not coming back.
Down the coast, Bodega Bay is where Hitchcock filmed The Birds. Locals still joke about it. Sort of.
Go Big With the Landscape
Lake Tahoe is so clear you can see 70 feet down in places. It's also freezing, which doesn't stop anyone from jumping in.
Burney Falls looks fake. It's not. It's a 129-foot waterfall fed by springs that pump out 100 million gallons a day.
Mount Shasta looms over everything like a bored giant. Some folks think it's hiding a secret city inside. Nobody's found it yet.
Chase the Sun
Drive Highway 1 at sunset with the windows down. Bring a jacket, because the fog does not care about your plans.
That's Northern California in a nutshell. Giants, ghosts, garlic, and a whole lot of weird.
Go find your favorite part.
