Fort Bragg

The smell of salt and low tide hits you before you even park the car, and the gray-green Pacific stretches out flat and wide in a way that feels nothing like Southern California beaches. Most families passing through Fort Bragg make at least one stop at Glass Beach, where decades of tumbled sea glass still turn up in the pebbles if you look carefully with the kids. A lot of people also walk a stretch of Ten Mile Beach at MacKerricher State Park — it's long, flat, and easy enough for little legs, with harbor seals hauled out on the rocks if you catch the right time of day. For food, North Coast Brewing Co. is the kind of place where you can sit down for a real meal and a locally made beer while the kids eat something off an actual menu, and Pomo Pizzeria works well if everyone just wants pizza and to get back on the road. If your route takes you up Highway 1 or cuts inland toward the redwoods, Fort Bragg is a solid place to slow down for a few hours — or overnight at one of the small motels right near the water — before the next stretch of driving.