Thanksgiving Road Trip Sequoia National Park, San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento

Sequoia National park is next on the itinerary.

We stayed a night at Bakersfield after the mesmerizing night drive from Death Valley, and started our day to the Sequoia National Park. Along our journey on Spruce Avenue, we saw many workers picking pomelo and of course we had to stop for a quick help. After few picking, they actually gave each of us a free pomelo. How nice of them and it was actually pretty good.

Across the field is the persimmon tree with many already harvested and few left to be picked. These are the free fun stuff we truly enjoyed during any trip – can’t get better than this.

We quite enjoyed the scenery along Sierra Dr prior of reaching the Sequoia National Park entrance gate. Not too far from the entrance, there is a popular attraction, Tunnel Rock. We stopped for a little bit to attempt climbing that rock and took some pictures.

The journey going up to the General Sherman tree actually gives mommy some motion sickness. The road is too curvy with many turns stop and go. We took a break around the Giant Forest museum where we did a short excursion to Crescent Meadow Rd to get to the Auto Log Parking Area to walk around a little for some fresh air.

From there, we drove to see the iconic Tunnel Log. Since cars could drive through it, be careful if there are on going traffic while taking pictures.

After few hours of drive, we finally made it to the iconic General Sherman attraction. Mind I tell you it was super cold with motion sickness along doesn’t quite help so we didn’t hike as much as we would have. Daddy came up with some racing game to excite the kids to hike down the trail to the General Sherman tree. Didi got pretty excited with the idea so that was good hike with kids having fun.

The trees were humongous and very tall. 

General Sherman Tree. Success!

We were told earlier that the winter storm was approaching in the afternoon, so we got out of the national park from the north side towards Fresno a little earlier than initially planned. However, perfect weather for a good hot pot at the J Pot restaurant.

Since the storm intruded our initial plan to Yosemite & Lake Tahoe, we had to divert our plan to further West into the City – San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento.

San Jose
Since this was a last minute plan, we had to google something quick and found Intel Museum for free.

Monopoly in the Park. The kids have been playing monopoly at home. We thought it would be an interesting stop.

Worth a shout out. This restaurant, Nam Thanh Banh Canh 3 Mien, so far has the best Banh Canh we ever tasted. The thick orange soup with Banh Canh was so good.

San Francisco
Last time we visited San Francisco was a quick stop during our road trip on Route 1 along the West Coast.

Chinatown
It is considered as the oldest and largest Chinatown in the U.S. We stopped here for dinner at a Chinese BBQ Restaurant, which wasn’t impressive. After dinner, we strolled the street and visited the lantern-lit street and you can see the night view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Golden Gate Bridge
Probably one of the must see places in San Francisco – the Golden Gate Bridge. There are few spots where visitor can stop by for photo shooting.

We think the Battery Spencer (Fort Baker Site) next to the Conzelman Rd has the best Golden Gate view.

Muir Woods National Monument
Across the Golden Gate Bridge is the Muir Woods National Monument. Similar to Sequoia National Park.

Before visiting Muir Woods National Monument, we were ahead of our parking / entrance reservation time. We went to Muir Beach nearby for kids to play. We didn't expect much as it was just decided last minute, we were pretty surprise that the place was actually pretty nice. Reminded us of Big Sur.

Sacramento
Night view at Old Town Sacramento

We have heard from colleagues that one of the best capital building in U.S. is the one in Sacramento. Unfortunately during our visit, they were undergoing some maintenance. Nevertheless, it was gorgeous inside the building and pretty on the outside as well.

On our flight back to Houston, we were having some casual conversation with one lady and was recommended to try similar style Banh Canh at this restaurant, Banh Canh Tom Cua. We went to that restaurant right after we landed :)

Although it is slightly different in taste and isn't as thick as the one we had, still thumbs up!