Wife and I have decided to go take a vacation with our 3 kids (6, 10, and 12) in the San Francisco area, to include going to Yosemite and (maybe) Sacramento. We will fly in and out of San Francisco with a very early arrival (7:30 am) on a Saturday and a late afternoon departure on the following Saturday.

I want to get in a "light dose" of San Francisco/Bay Area with more of our time spent more in Sacramento and at least one day during the middle of the week in Yosemite. I have zero desire to stay in a hotel or AirBNB inside of San Francisco or to "take in" all of it, but things I/we want to get in are:

USS Hornet

As many National Parks/Monuments as possible - Yosemite, John Muir, Rosie the Riveter, Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Fort Point, Presidio, San Francisco Maritime (but most likely not all of these)

Lombard Street

A cable car ride

Going to a Giants game would be cool, but probably towards the bottom of the list as Mrs. Scuba isn't a huge baseball or baseball stadium fan.

Zero interest in Napa Valley, Mrs. Scuba isn't a wine drinker and the kids would find it boring.

Probably no interest in Six Flags, we haven't even been to the one in St. Louis with our kids despite me growing up 15 mins from there.

Yes, I've read crime is an issue in San Francisco and its the liberal mecca. I've lived in St. Louis, but where to be and not be there is pretty obvious and we won't be out at night much in San Francisco anyway.

We will most likely stay in an AirBNB outside of the city and will be in a rental car, yes I've read traffic is horrible there.

What says the SF mind trust about SF (other than visiting Nancy)?

Does Jack Burton still hang out there? Will I get to meet any of The Lords of Death or Lo-Pan?

One day is barely enough to drive in and out of Yosemite Valley. If you want to see anything, like walk to the base of Yosemite Fall or the bridge below Vernal Fall, you'll want more time. Depending on the time of year and day of week getting in and out and parking will be long and difficult.

make your reservations early for anything near Yosemite. Likely too late now to find anything in the actual park

check the SMF airport for your flight. I suppose you could try OAK and SJC too, but beware the area around OAK is a shithole and rental cars get busted into all the time.

you can rent bikes and then take them across the GG and then take the Ferry (red and white I think) back to SF again.

Do Alcatraz.

Capitola is nice if you want a traditional beach town. Carmel or Montery is nicer but likely too far away.

The cable cars are still kind of fun to ride.

Pier 39 and Giradelli Square are still nicely kept.

As for Sacramento, other than the train museum thing, what do you hope to see there? My sister lived there for a few years and I always found Sacramento to be boring as hell. (apologies to our members there )

I read Yosemite in 1 day might be a problem.

Sacramento more than likely won't happen. Originally we were thinking about flying into there, but we found nonstop flights into SFO from Minneapolis, so that's already locked in. Mrs. Scuba went there for work and said there was stuff to see. Its now pivoted to more San Francisco stuff, then I realized Yosemite is not terribly far and also that San Francisco is the 2nd most expensive place to visit after NYC.

This will likely be the only time we are visiting San Francisco and Yosemite, but we don't have to see everything.

My lifetime California experience to date is two layovers at LAX and another time staying overnight at a LAX hotel for a deposition...

Welcome to California.

Get reservations for Alcatraz. It’s not a walk up and buy a ticket venue.

Pier 39 is fun.

The Giants ballpark is beautiful and a good time.

Yosemite is a good distance away from SF.

Santa Cruz has a boardwalk that your kids would enjoy but your itinerary has you going north east not south.

So much to see and do really. Big cities, beaches, mountains, Redwoods etc. Take your pick…

Yosemite is a week all by itself. Muir Woods has a fabulous redwood forest, is only a day trip from SF, but it can get busy, so check ahead.

Giants stadium is really nice, literally on the bay, great food (especially the garlic fries). A lot of fun, and I don’t even like baseball.

SF used to be one of my favorite cities to visit, but it has gone downhill quite a bit. One of the best restaurants I’ve ever eaten at didn’t survive Covid. Crime, homelessness, drugs and excrement have taken their toll. Giradelli, Pier 39 and the cable cars are still worth seeing, I think. I would take the Bay Area Regional Transit train into the city rather than driving in.

If you are into a certain amount of history, Alcatraz is interesting.

I don't want to rain on your parade. But I used to leave in the heart of that area for decades and not one thing is really coming to mind as must see. Only things I liked were the arts (opera, symphony, ballet) and food (upscale fine dining). Or maybe going for Dim Sum (Chinatown or maybe Yank Sing in Rincon).

Lombard Street - as long as you're there and have time, I guess it's something to do. But you may find it anti-climatic, especially if you have to wait behind a long line of cars.

Alcatraz is cool to go once but if I remember correctly, it takes a long time for what the tour is (getting to the area, finding parking, waiting for the boat, boarding the boat, taking the boat there and back, the tour). My memory of the visit was similar to a ride at Disney - long wait, short ride. But may be better now. It's historical and depending on your interests, a must see. But I think it takes a lot of non-value add time if you're really not into it. An alternative is Angel Island but perhaps not really appropriate for kids - more immigration history focused (like Ellis Island). And not as convenient but is a nicer walking (bikes allowed?) tour.

Fort Point - it's a nice walk from Chrissy Field to Fort Point. Or you can drive all the way to the point (but parking is limited).

It's been decades since I've last been but the sights in Golden Gate Park were interesting (De Young Museum, Academy of Science, Botanical Garden, etc). None of this may be interesting for kids though. Along these lines, the Legion of Honor museum may be worth checking out too. Along these lines, for kids (albeit expensive), is the Exploratorium.

I've never been but have wanted to visit the Charles Schulz / Peanuts Museum (Santa Rosa).

If you go to Yosemite and have an extra half day, there are some cave tours in the area - I'm not sure which one was good (the other few were just okay). Nothing exceptional, just something different to kill time. Some examples:
https://moaningcaverns.com/
http://mercercaverns.net/

I would skip Sacto, it will be 100 degrees and not that interesting. Lombard St, not a big deal. Pier 39, well if you have never been to the coast, maybe. My recommendation is to spend as much time in Yosemite as possible.

Santa Cruz, somewhat interesting. Monterey and Pt. Lobos more wild and beautiful than S.C.

Not to be a downer, but I’d also recommend only a ‘lite dose’ of San Francisco.

If you do Alcatraz, the walk from the landing to the cell block is equivalent to climbing 13 flights of stairs. It is serious. I did it at 30 and when I got to the top, I was tired and it bummed me out. Don't be afraid to take the golf cart ride to the top. Also, the extra money for the headset audio is worth it.

I’d also vote for skipping Sac and spending more time in Yosemite. June will be crowded there and it takes time to get around. If you want to do anything other than enter, drive around the valley floor, and a quick valley hike, you won’t have enough time. Yosemite is worth the extra time.

Santa Cruz is a fun CA town. You can take in the serious hippie vibes to appreciate that you don’t live there while also enjoying the city. The redwood mountains that Santa Cruz sits at the base at are nice, but pretty much the same as any other redwood forrest up and down the coast. Muir Woods is a fine stand in, probably superior actually.

I’d also suggest you look into Point Reyes National Seashore, north of the bay. It’s beautiful. If you can make it fit and you guys are up for some easy hiking, it’s awesome. Chimney Rock hike with the seal overlook is really a great way to spend an hour or two. It’s a pretty flat easy 2 miles but you hike out a peninsula and are surrounded by ocean at the end. One of the most favorite easy hikes I’ve ever done.

Old town Sacramento and train museum is well worth it especially age range of your kids. Also in sac is Sutters fort and in the low foothills is sutters mill where they actually diacovered gold in 1848. If your a history geek at all or want to know about pre statehood CA I’d recommend those 2 places. Yosemite is nice but unless your kids are ready for serious hiking go to the main meadow in the valley floor and check the museums and visitor centre. Can see half dome and various falls and the water falls and Merced river should be really rolling in June. If you can swing it Sunday brunch in the historic Ahwahnee hotel is really good. Pricey but worth it once. Get reservations for that. Note the cost to enter park unless you have a national parks pass is like $35per car. But think good for 7 days. A drive over the Hiway to Mono Lake and seeing mono lake is also worth it and a side trip to Bodie is doable for a long day drive. Lived 2 hours from Yosemite and my cousin was a manager for curry company for 20 years and could visit anytime. Kinda over rate IMO Vs other places in the Sierra.

I grew up in San Francisco and Konata I have the same reservations. With that being said, here's what I recommend: Do the San Francisco 49 mile scenic drive, with emphasis on the drive, as in stay in your car most of the time, drive slow and if you're going to park, check out the people first. I used to take visitors myself.

For Dim Sum, I was going to recommend Oakland chinatown as the better choice but I really can't recommend Oakland as the mostly black residents themselves are complaining about their safety.

I stayed in Sacramento for over a year before leaving the state. The only thing you might be interested in is the history downtown shopping district.

I would highly recommend Yosemite.

Let me give you a couple of other recommendations:

Consider visiting Mount Shasta.

You should focus your trip a bit. What’s the draw in Sac? There’s some neat stuff but it’s not a spend most of your time there place unless you’re visiting family. The SF attractions are a couple days worth depending on what you want to do and how full you want your day. You need to book Alcatraz like now. That’s a half day. I’d skip Lombard. Big hassle for a nothing burger experience. Seriously, driving really slow on a switchback. Yosemite isn’t really a drive in and out in a day thing unless you want to spend a very long day, mostly driving, for a quick glance at the famous scenery. You really need a couple days at least to appreciate it. It’s 4ish hours each way from Sac or SF. You might need to reserve now. The distances involved in what you listed are going to have you in a car for longer than you’re actually doing and seeing stuff.

The Hornet is in Alameda. Rosie the Riveter is in Richmond. They’re 30ish minutes apart depending on traffic. From Richmond you can take the Richmond-San Rafael bridge to Marin, drive past San Quentin, and take the Golden Gate Bridge across to SF which puts you at the Presidio and Fort Point. Then Pier 39. The Alcatraz boat is around there. The Exploratorium is a great place and just down the road. Then the Ferry Building. Decide where you want to take your cable car. That’s an insane day. Doable but I’d hate to cut time at the Hornet or Alcatraz short because you have a self imposed schedule to keep. Parking and traffic could wreak havoc on whatever schedule you make.

I've been to San Francisco, there's no reason I would ever return. I'd just spend the whole trip in Yosemite and surrounding areas. Yosemite is not a one or two day trip.

New England Lobster Co in Burlingame is right by the Airport and has some dam good food.

I like Pacifica beaches which are very close.

Never been to Alcatraz, heard good things.

Down by the piers in SF is decent. Good food and boat tours and stuff. It's safe there last I went.

I think you've got some good ideas, just need to manage expectations.

Arrive - I assume you've got rental car. If you want to do those SF things, it may be best to stay in downtown and pay for a hotel operated parking garage to ensure you stuff doesn't get stolen on day one of a seven day trip. Then just walk/Uber to those places. I think Saturday and Sunday are enough time in SF. Drive Sunday afternoon to John Muir for a nice easy walk through the park and then drive to Sacramento Sunday evening. Stay at the Embassy Suites downtown (I-5 and Tower Bridge). Old Sacramento museums (not the lame gift shops), particularly the railroad museum are ideal for the age of your kids. I haven't been to Sutter Fort in 30 years but pretty cool. If you don't want to stay downtown Sac, there are safe hotels in Roseville, Folsom etc.

Leave Tuesday for Yosemite and stay just outside the park. Check at if car reservations are required to drive a car into the Valley. Plenty of nice and easy hikes in the valley. Arrive Tuesday morning (a four plus hour drive from Sacramento or SF) and leave Friday (?) for SFO. Not sure how early your Saturday return flight is.

If that's too much time in Yosemite, add a day in SF to go north to Golden Gate bridge, Stinson Beach, Point Reyes and Inverness.

If you are going to stay in the City, then there are plenty of car rental companies there, take transportation to the hotel, spend the first day getting on the cable cars, to the Wharf, Piers, have crab soup, Ghirardelli, head over to the Buena Vista for a real Irish Coffee, then jump on the cable cars right there for a trip back into the city.

Rent your car right there and you won't have to mess with parking, which can burn up more per day than the cost of a rental. Pick it up, get the family, head out for the day trip and back into the city and drop it off that evening but you need to be sure what time they close up, or it defeats the parking cost issue.

Sacramento is a full days travel you'll spend a lot of time going back and forth, so plan a full days trip, its about 90 miles, and a couple of hours each way, coming back traffic can be heavy from Vallejo south to the Bay Bridge.

When you do drive over the Golden Gate, great views, depending on the fog, can be had from the Marin Headlands, first exit off the bridge, back under and up the hills. There are some WW2 gun battery houses/platforms, guns are gone but it's where we had emplacements for defense of the bar from the Japanese. Plus you have Muir Woods, Mt Tamalpais.

Sausalito is a quaint waterside town, Drive down Alexander Blvd into downtown same 1st exit off the GGB and its a neat drive you can also go to Fort Baker that way. Momma will probably like the shops in Sausalito, there is a Scomas on the water for seafood with views.

There is a great hamburger place right on Bridgeway, has a rotating grill in the front window, always a line out the front door, fantastic burgers Google shows its still there, Hamburgers Seven Thirty Seven at 737 Bridgeway, get a burger and drink head across the road to the park. Dang now I want one... It's Vet Owned now, so if that matters.

Thanks for all the ideas. As of now, car appointments are only needed weekends in June for Yosemite.

Right now I am thinking about getting an AirBNB around Outer Richmond area that has off street parking and there is a fair chance we won't even go into downtown SF. I was looking at splitting it as suggested and doing an AirBNB outside of Yosemite but looking at Google Earth of the parking in the valley gives me indigestion. We've been to Grand Canyon twice and Rocky Mountain and the parking situation at Grand Canyon was not pleasant, and it looks like Yosemite is even worse.

How is Pinnacles NP? Its only 2 hours south of San Francisco.

Twice in the last decade I have flown into and out of SFO for business. And both times I scheduled in a day to hike at Muir Woods. It is an absolutely amazing place.