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Too much for two weeks? Re: Tahoe/Napa and north

Hi ladies!  I'm finish my doctorate in August and DH and I are planning a vacation out west.  We'll have two weeks, one at a relative's timeshare at Lake Tahoe.  We did San Francisco at Thanksgiving, so we were thinking about Napa. Can we do a day trip from Tahoe? We are TTC right now, but we thought a vineyard tour or two would be fun, even if I can't drink. 

We have family in Seattle and Vancouver, so for the second week we were thinking of driving north through Napa and meandering along the coast to Seattle and spend 2-3 days there at the end of our trip. 

So to recap: 

Sat-Sat: Timeshare at Lake Tahoe

Sat-Wed: Drive up the coast towards Seattle

Wed-Sat/Sun: Seattle and Vancouver

What say you, travel nesties? 

Also, this would necessitate flying open jaw.  I've been watching prices but I'm assuming we'd fly into Reno or Sacramento?  We'll obviously fly out of Seattle.  Neither of us have been in Seattle proper, but I really want DH to meet my family in Vancouver and he's never been there. 

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Re: Too much for two weeks? Re: Tahoe/Napa and north

  • I was in Tahoe in October just for a 4 day weekend. We came in through Reno. A lot of people talked about winery tours but we did not think we had time to hit NAPA on a four day trip. I think the concierge at the timeshare could tell you straight. We did go to a couple winerys in Tahoe and had a blast. I also loved the river cruise and hiking down to the castle.
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  • You might even want to look at flying from Reno to Seattle, it's not just open jaw airline tickets but also rental cars picked up at one location and dropped at another that add up. You could do a week in Reno/Tahoe, then fly to Seattle and pick up a different rental car there. Orbitz does multi-city tickets.

    Reno's a very easy airport to fly in/out of, it's small so you don't need more than an hour max for security, I used it all the time.

     There are some wineries around the lake area, and Napa isn't far away depending on which side/end of the lake you are on.

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  • First, CONGRATS on finishing your doctorate! 

    Now that the proper congrats are done....to be honest, a "day trip" from Tahoe to Napa would be a bit long from me.  Without traffic, it is at least a 3 hour drive.In short, assuming you sleep 'til a normal time, I'm not sure how much time you'd actually spend IN Napa/doing Napa-y things.

    Plus, I couldn't imagine going on a winery tour/doing tastings if I couldn't drink. But then again, I might be a lush Stick out tongue

    However, if you just wanted to stay the night in Napa and do a nice dinner there, that could be a decent idea.  

    The roadtrip sounds like fun, but keep in mind that driving up the coast is going to be long.  Highway 1/101 is gorgeous, but VERY curvy at parts.  Not sure how much fun that would be in your first tri. 

    Not trying to discourage, because the trip sounds awesome--just a few things to think about...

     

     

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  • imagehoney&badger:

    First, CONGRATS on finishing your doctorate! 

    Now that the proper congrats are done....to be honest, a "day trip" from Tahoe to Napa would be a bit long from me.  Without traffic, it is at least a 3 hour drive.In short, assuming you sleep 'til a normal time, I'm not sure how much time you'd actually spend IN Napa/doing Napa-y things.

    Plus, I couldn't imagine going on a winery tour/doing tastings if I couldn't drink. But then again, I might be a lush Stick out tongue

    However, if you just wanted to stay the night in Napa and do a nice dinner there, that could be a decent idea.  

    The roadtrip sounds like fun, but keep in mind that driving up the coast is going to be long.  Highway 1/101 is gorgeous, but VERY curvy at parts.  Not sure how much fun that would be in your first tri. 

    Not trying to discourage, because the trip sounds awesome--just a few things to think about...

     

     

    Thanks!  It's been a good ride, but we are looking forward to celebrating the end. 

     Thanks for all your input. I actually hadn't thought about flying from Reno to Seattle.  We actually love driving and road trips though, so even though it's long, I think we would still enjoy it.  Plus, we're trying to hit all 50 states and neither of us have Oregon. Big Smile But I'm definitely going to consider the cost about the rental car.  I knew it would be more expensive to drop it off at a different location.  Are there any agencies that waive that fee? We also have a Zipcar membership, but I'm pretty sure you can't drive them that far. 

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  • You can do a day trip to Napa from Tahoe, but I wouldn't. If you just want to do some winery-related things, you could go to the El Dorado wine country which is much closer to Lake Tahoe and has some great spots. It's near Placerville for reference on a map. 

    There are also a couple of restaurants that have opened up in that area with chefs who trained under Thomas Keller (some at French Laundry), so you can get pretty good, high end meals in that area (extra bonus, they tend to be WAY cheaper than Napa.)


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  • Last summer we did almost the opposite.  We flew into Seattle and spent a few days there before doing an Alaskan cruise.  When we returned we wented a car and drove south.  I think the rental car was about $1000, we splurged for a convertible.  In four days we stayed the first night at a friend's in Portland, the second night in Crescent City near the Redwood Forest, the 3rd night I forget the town, and then we were in San Fran.  We then spent a few days with family and did Napa.  I am not familiar with Tahoe, but I loved the road trip part.  We did the pacific highway even though the interstate would have been faster, the views were worth the time it took!  We are also trying to hit all 50 states.  No matter what you choose I hope you have a great trip!
  • Thanks for all the tips ladies! We actually have already tweaked our trip a little.  I think we're going to fly into SFO and rent a car for a week in Tahoe, then fly out of SFO to Canada to stay with family (thank you Alligient air!), and then fly home out of Seattle.  It actually is cheaper to do it that way than drive up the coast...still some more tweaking to do, but you guys gave great suggestions!
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