The Lost Coast Trip - A Two Week Trip with Kids on the Northern California Coast

An Introduction:
Our little family of four packed up and headed north from Los Angeles earlier this month for a road trip adventure. I wasn’t sure what to expect. My daughter was three years old and my son was 11 weeks. Would we find enough kid friendly activities to keep my daughter satisfied? Was there more to do for kids than simply visiting children’s museums and zoos in new cities? We weren’t sure, but we were itching with the travel bug and determined to find out.

What we found was a long stretch of coast brimming with enough excitement for even our adventurous little girl. Beaches full of treasures, fog-laided towns, lost coastal roads, and magnificient hikes in the wild outdoors. So if you are looking for a getaway with the kids on the West Coast, load up your car and head for the stretch of coast between San Francisco and Arcata, CA.

Planning:
It didn’t take much planning to pull off our two week trip.  My husband had been compiling a list of “must see’s” for a while now (all of which I will share with you through out this blog), but we didn’t actually get around to arranging details until about a week ahead of time. 

I knew that if we were going to stay sane for the two week adventure, we had to have accommodation booked all the way up the coast.  Determined to stay away from hotels (and deciding to avoid camping because my son was just two months old), we turned to VRBO.com to look for houses we could book.  On average, we were able to find accommodation for about $175/nigh total, including all taxes and fees. 

We couldn't be very picky because of our limited prep time, but we did have a few simple rules when booking accommodation. 
1. Each place had to have at least one separate bedroom. I couldn't have my newborn wailing and then my three year old not sleeping. We had to have separate sleeping spaces.  This did mean at one point that my daughter ended up on a mat in the bathroom, but we made it work!
2. As much as possible, stay directly in town. We were going to be doing a lot of driving on this trip, so when it was time to end the day and grab a meal, I wanted to be able to let the kids walk. Stell loved stretching her legs and getting some exercise, and it helped her to be less bummed about our daily outings in the car. Plus, I could walk around the corner from a lot of accommodation to get coffee!
3.  Stay a minimum of two nights at each destination. Packing up our stuff was time consuming, so the longer we stayed the better. Plus longer stays gave the kids a chance to settle in.

We also made sure to bring along dark sheets and a staple gun! The first thing we did when arriving at a new place was to tack dark sheets up over the windows in our three year old's room. The darkened room helped her to sleep in just a little bit extra in the unfamiliar space.

The Route:
Day 1: San Francisco
Day 2-4:  Mendocino with Kids or "A Quaint Little Foggy Town on the Bluffs"
Day 4: Glass Beach with Kids or "A Kids Treasure Hunting Dream"
Day 5-6: Shelter Cove with Kids or "The Beginning of the Lost Coast of California"
Day 7-11:  Arcata or "An Ideal Launching Point for Incredible Outdoor Daytime Adventures"
During our time in Arcata we drove the Mattole Road (or "The Best Undiscovered Stretch of Driving in All of the United States"), explored Fern Canyon (or "An Incredible Kid Friendly Hike Straight Out of Jurassic Park") and played in the ocean and tide pools at College Cove (or "One of the Most Beautiful and Private Beaches in the World.")

Follow the links above to check out more about how to visit each of these incredible destination with your kids in tow!

Have you been on a trip like this with kids?  How much did you plan ahead of time?  What tips would you share for booking accommodation with kids? I would love to hear from you in the comments!