California before Christmas

My family is thinking of taking a trip to California just before Christmas to visit my aunt in Palo Alto. My aunt also has a house in Pacific Grove so we'd road trip up and down northern California. We'd fly into Palo Alto, drive to Pacific Grove, head to Monterey, drive back to Palo Alto, hit up San Francisco, and possibly make an out of the way trip to the redwoods.

I really enjoy visiting my aunt, most of my family lives in California but everyone else is spread out in the southern cities (we decided to go north). I'm looking forward to kayaking the kelp with a few friendly otters and surfing the freezing waters off the coast of Santa Cruz. Knowing my family we'll also hit up the ranches for some wine tasting and stop in Carmel for a bit.

I'm very excited for this trip! I'll make sure to fill my suitcase with lots of camera equipment to document everything. I. Can't. Wait.