If you are looking at a 7-10 vacation in Northern California, then the SF Bay Area and Yosemite should be more than enough to fill your plate, if you have never been to either before. You could add a visit to Monterey Bay and the aquarium, and the beach at Santa Cruz if they want to see a little surf culture and a beach boardwalk, but I would say limiting yourself to the SF area and Yosemite would leave you with plenty to do.

Do your boys enjoy hiking and physical challenges? Or are would they prefer something a little more sedate? Either can be had at these places, but it would be helpful to know what kind of activities you would enjoy as a family before offering too much advice.

As for RV vs. car: I have never vacationed with an RV so I can't speak to the pros & cons. I know it wouldn't do you any good in SF; in Yosemite the campsite reservations fill up quickly, and there are no RV hookups so you would have to run your generator, which you can only do in limited hours. There are also a number of RV parks outside of Yosemite, but they would still involve about a hour (or more) drive to get to the places of interest, which can add up in gas costs.

If you didn't want to stay in motel or hotel like lodging, you could stay in tent cabins, which in the summer are located in numerous areas throughout the park, including Curry Village in Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows in the high country (a great place for starting some longer hikes.) You could also look into renting a house or cabin near the park. For more information on Yosemite lodging choices, click on the "Before You Go" link to the left of your screen and then click on the article "Where to Stay in and around Yosemite."

For a first time visitor, I think the many areas you will want to see will require too much driving for an RV, but that's just one person's opinion.

There are SO many RV's on the road in Yosemite right now. Lots of the drivers seem to be unable to keep their large vehicles on their side of the road; good thing we have a smaller car!

cruiseamerica.com and El Monte are the two most popular RV's on the road.

One other thought ~ if your visit is "Valley centric" and you are staying in a Valley campground, then you can use the extensive shuttle service for your Valley viewing.

But my 2 cents ~ visit SF either at the end or the beginning of your trip and do NOT have a rental car while you're in the City, then use the rental car to visit Yosemite and possibly Santa Cruz/Monterey.

Another traveler was dismayed to find that her preferred lodging for June 2010 is already fully booked. So make your choice and search for reservations NOW!

You could try to fit in Sequoia/Kings Canyon. This all depends on how much your boys like the outdoors. I've read some people here say that one should do Sequoia first because otherwise it's "disappointing" after Yosemite, but kids don't see the world through scenery-seeking eyes, so much. As a kid, my cousins, friends and I all loved Sequoia best, because there were so many places you could really romp and play and pretend to be a pioneer. Fewer people, for one thing.

Crescent Meadow in Sequoia is a place where a kid can find a stick to whittle his own walking stick, cross a meadow on a giant log, find a tree he can hide in, make a makeshift bow and arrow (bring string) and parents don't have to fear falling into rivers, waterfalls or off granite domes. They can fish (if you're into that), they can wade in the Lodgepole River, they can wait up to see if bears come.

The Lodgepole area of Sequoia has a sandy beach, one of the view in the Sierras that's okay to go in (it's pretty clearly marked where you aren't supposed to go in, and pretty common sensical too). There are horseback riding excursions, etc., and a granite dome to climb (not a Half Dome scary thing, but Moro Rock - something almost anyone can do).

The quiet beauty of Sequoia is its attraction. Also, there's more wildlife, since there are fewer people. You are likely to see bears in their natural habitat (no one has ever been killed by a California bear - and the only people harmed by one have either tried to literally pry food from its jaws or, worse, gotten between a mother and her cubs and attempted to interact with the cubs - they are used to people and do not want to interact with you). Yes, Yosemite has bears too. If you're camping, you have way more choices about where to stay in Yosemite - reserved sites still fill up fast, but there's quite a bit of first-come, first-serve camping.

There's lots of mountain driving on your itinerary already, though. You know what I'd do? I'd rent an SUV, buy a cheap tent (or a nice one), grab some sleeping bags and have a go at real camping. Actually - with kids that age, I'd buy two smallish tents and have them put theirs up (great fun). Sit by the campfire, really listen to the outdoors.

It takes a day to drive from Yosemite to Sequoia, because of all the windy roads.

At the end of your trip, all your camping gear should fit into one big duffel you buy at Fisherman's Wharf!

If you need advice on how to get gear in SF (or its outskirts), PM me or post on one of the National Parks boards (Yosemite people are very helpful, there's not a lot of us Seqouia people).

Wow what a great help you all are! I love TripAdvisor because of all the positive info we have received over the last couple years. :) Everyone has been so helpful!

We would be going probably early July since the school year here runs into late June, depending on the snow days.

Our boys are very much into hiking, fishing, and outdoors. We spent times in Acadia National Park in Northern Maine where they scurried up the rocks and trails, and the Outer Banks of Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina where we fished off the shore, relaxed and such.

I appreciate the Sequoia and Yosemite advice. Also the SF Bay area info. I will have to pull out a big map and do a loop to see what we can fit into our days. I will also visit nps.org and see what they offer for accommodations.

Thank you all! :) Please feel free of offer more advice and as time comes closer I may have more specific questions. :)

Take care. :)

Early July would be a good time to do the "Tahoe Yosemite loop". Pick up your RV after your stay in SF and head to Lake Tahoe. There are several lovely campgrounds right on the lake or nearby Fallen Leaf Lake. You can reserve space in advance.

From Tahoe, head east and pick up highway 395 (or head south through Markleeville and Monitor Pass, very scenic) to Lee Vining. (The ghost town of Bodie is a great stop on the way, but not in an RV.) Going this way, you will drive up Tioga Pass and enter Yosemite from the east.

The camping in Tuolumne Meadows is fantastic---much less crowded than the Valley. (Reserve in advance at www.recreation.gov). You could also camp a night or so in Yosemite Valley, but the spots there are very difficult to score---they disappear in the first 10 minutes or so when the reservations open up. The alternative would be to pack up early on your last morning at Tuolumne, drive to the Valley, park and spend the day there before heading back west at the end of the day. Camp at one of the many campgrounds on the west side of Yosemite (outside the park) and then head back to the Bay Area to turn in your RV.

You can of course do the same loop in a car, staying at motels or, for Yosemite, cabins inside the park (Curry Village) or just at the park boundary (Yosemite West or Foresta). Those are easier to reserve than Yosemite Lodge.

Unless you are very experienced with driving RV's, I would not recommend it. The Sierras (California Mountains) are a bad place to be if you are not a good mountain driver. This isn't CT or NC where it is relatively flat, it is hairy driving even in the best of conditions. A full sized SUV makes more sense.

On a 10 day loop in Nor Cal, I would include Yosemite, the coast, San Francisco (stop at Berkeley and show the boys the best university in the West), maybe Tahoe or maybe a bit of the Gold Country (Amador, Murphy's, Sutter Creek, Columbia, Mokelumne Hill).

www.malakoff.com/goldcountry/campmap.htm

Since your boys love hiking, fishing and the outdoors then I would think a grand loop tour of northern and central California would be perfect for you and them, including up to 5 national parks. You could start at San Francisco, go south to Monterey, see Carmel and Point Lobos, drive the Big Sur coast down to Cambria, then go east through the Central Valley, go to Visalia then up to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park, then back down to Fresno and up in to Yosemite National Park, spend a few days there, exit Yosemite at the eastern entrance on Tioga Road (120). Then go on the 395 north to Lake Tahoe, then after that further north to Lassen Volcanic National Park, where they could get a tiny preview of what Yellowstone is like, then west over to Shasta Lake, then west again over to Redwood National Park at the coast, then turn south and drive through the Lost Coast of Mendocino County, then south again back to San Francisco. A grand loop tour like this would let you see many of the best sights in California, but it would probably take 2 weeks at a minimum. It would be the trip of a lifetime for your boys. If you and your boys are comfortable with camping I would rent a car and bring or buy camping equipment and do it that way, rather than renting an RV. And you could always stay in a motel some of the time, you wouldn't have to camp every single night.

Hello, I'm a long-time RV'er. As stated above, there are pros and cons to renting an RV.

First, the RV-suitable sites at Yosemite fill fast. Some are taken nearly a year ahead of time. Not all campgrounds accept RV's there. So you would have to make up your mind right away and get something reserved.

Driving a smallish motorhome is easier than many people think it is, but you will need to go much more slowly on winding roads than if you were in a car. You will also average a slower speed on the higways. Thus, if you're thinking of covering a lot of territory, adjust your itinerary for slower driving times.

Cost in summer will be fairly high, from roughly $150 to $200 per day for one large enough for two adults and two teens. Add the cost of RV parks or campgrounds on to that, between $25 and $35 per night. The RV rental companies often charge for bedding and kitchen supplies as well. They also charge for generator use.

In Yosemite, since there are no hookups of any kind, you'll still need to use the campground showers to conserve your water supply if you are there for a few days - especially with teens ;-) You'll also need to use the campground toilets, as your black water tank will fill up quickly.

With an RV, you take your bedroom with you, and have a kitchen there for snacks and meals. But they can be tight inside for those not used to them. Additionally you'll need to allow about 20-30 minutes each day for hooking up and then draining tanks/unhooking when you leave your site - if you have hookups. Once you are at your site, it is a real pain to unhook and go to the grocery store for something you forgot, LOL!

But you will meet great people who are friendly and helpful, and it's a great way to see the country :-)

Hope this helps you make your decision!

Wow, Half-Brit, that was a really helpful post on RV's. Thanks. We sometimes wonder if we'd like to try one - you've convinced me it's not for us.