Go to Lake Tahoe. You can go skiing, snowboarding, boating, hiking, biking, golfing, and gambling. It is a spectacular place with great scenery.

San Diego is great; Hearst Castle in San Simeon (not sure if the kids would get a kick out of that, ‘tho); San Francisco is wonderful (am prejudiced, ‘tho, since I was born/raised there!!); Fort Bragg/Mendocino area: scenic; Carmel/Monterey (fantastic aquarium in Monterey).

Lots to do in SF: typical touristy areas would be Chinatown; Pier 39 (shops, amusement, right on SF Bay); Golden Gate Park; downtown has nice shopping; Fisherman’s Wharf/Ghirardelli Square: shops, food. Weather isn’t the best, but not terrible either.

There is allot of places you can go, from desert to rain forest.
If you are in the north go to Willits and take the skunk train to Fort Bragg, there is a pygmy forest near by. Also you can drive a car through a redwood tree. and there is a strange tree house that is kind of neat

http://www.skunktrain.com/
http://www.nps.gov/archive/redw/home.html
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/CAPHItree.html

If you are near SF go to the Exploratorium and the red/white fleet and Pier 39.
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/California/San_Francisco-755471/Shopping-San_Francisco-Pier_39-BR-1.html
http://www.exploratorium.edu/
http://www.redandwhite.com/

If your further south try 6 flags.
Monteray Bay or Winchester Mystery House

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/overgeorgia/?flash=false
http://www.montereybay.noaa.gov/visitor/welcome.html
http://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

If you are in the LA area try Universal Studios. or Medieval Times. or Griffith Park

http://themeparks.universalstudios.com/hollywood/website/index.html?__source=USMN.GNAV
http://www.medievaltimes.com/
http://www.griffithobs.org/

If your in San Diego go to Wild Animal Park is a must.
Or watch a live polo match close up or go across the street to watch hunters and jumpers.
(that’s my favorite intersection in all of Ca.)

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wap/index.html
http://www.sandiegopolo.com/
http://www.blenheimequisports.com/

Oh, I forgot about scripps
http://sio.ucsd.edu/
Now that takes care of the Coast area.

In Sacramento goto old town and the train., if fairytown still there thats fun for the kids.

SAN Diego Of course – SeaWorld, Sunsets, Balboa park – interesting musuems such as dinousaurs, science , etc., Belmont Park – Rides, Beach, Food,etc.; SD Zoo, SD wild animal park, Old town, and much more!…….!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your family would probably enjoy the Winchester Mystery House in Santa Maria 10 minutes away from San Jose {haunted mansion full of mystery} ……………..San Francisco is a really good place to go definetly {exploratorium, Alcatraz, fisherman’s warf, pier 39, golden gate bridge, subways, trolleys, china town,,….}………………………Also Hollywood universal studios – shows such as fear factor, shrek, van helsing,etc., Coca cola water park, nickelodeon water park, king kong robot. and alot fun more for a family to enjoy………………………………………and even the hearst castle in San Simeon but not for kids {may be}/.?……………

Plan on coming to LA? If you want to skip Disneyland, then go to Universal Studios instead. It is less expensive than Disneyland, but still a lot of fun. It’s off-season, so there are a lot of deals and hardly any lines at all, like you would see during the summer!

It is also very close to Hollywood, where you can do the Star Walk of Fame bit, see the handprints at Graumann’s Chinese Theatre, go see a great show at the El Capitan Theatre, and a whole bunch of great stuff in the Hollywood area.