Family vacation ideas in Bakersfield (price, company, town)

[tangodoodles]

Originally Posted by anagrig

Wow, thanks guys for such prompt response! I'll check it all out. Rafting sounds exciting though I've never done it before. Would we need to buy our own raft or there are places to rent? Where we live in MA is also a rather sleepy city, so what you've got there sounds pretty good to me! Plus, we are so tired of our long winters, that we won't complain about the heat (i guess since it's dry heat, it should stay nice in the shade?)

Also, does anyone know about possibly any existing Bakersfield mom's blogs, or group activities?.. it's going to be hard for the girls to be for two months in a completely new place with no one to play with..
Thanks again!

For more good suggestions, go to Bakersfield.com. You can create a profile and then post a blog and other members can give you suggestions. Plus the site has lots of information on events around town.

[Roaddog]

If you really like the mountians I have a few real nice places to go, get a map, at the north end of Lake isabella in Kernville you can take hwy 190 to the Giant Sequoia's, there is a nice hiking trail there and beutiful scenery, there is also a place called Ponderosa with a dinner and even a guy who entrtains on the weekend. There are a lot of streams and trout fishing if you desire.

Anouther nice place is North of Bakersfield above a town called Springville, it's called Balch park, it's in the redwoods and has small fishing ponds and day areas along with campgrounds, it also leads to the Tule river which is great.

Both of these areas are not a long drive for a nice day trip. there are other places even closer like Alder creek and Cedar creek along with White river, they get a little warmer in the summer due to a lower elevation but can be nice day trips.

I live in Bakersfield and I hit the mountians all the time. glad to help anytime.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Roaddog

Anouther nice place is North of Bakersfield above a town called Springville, it's called Balch park, it's in the redwoods and has small fishing ponds and day areas along with campgrounds, it also leads to the Tule river which is great.
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Adding to this...If you drive up Highway 190 from Springfield towards the Tule River you can have a blast at these rock slides. Here are a few shots of my buddies enjoying the slides and jumps back around 1988. Note my friend Bob wearing the bike helmet.

We'd camp further near the Aspen Meadows above Johnsondale and Roads End. Even in the hottest part of summer it was cool at night at around 8000 or 9000 feet. Lots of wide open spaces to go four wheeling. Great fishing in the Kern River and on Isabella. Many, many fun times there in the Sequoia Forest there. Many good places to camp on CR-107, the Western Divide Highway. Dome Rock and Elephant Knob are worth visiting.

[mono#9]

anagrig--try googling newcomers club bakersfield--I think you'll find some interesting links there.

[jdavid93225]

I think the responses given are pretty good, and include many of the things I was thinking of. Something I didn't see, though it might have been mentioned, is the Kern County Museum on North Chester. It has a lot of local history, including a neat exhibit about the oil industry. They also have temporary exhibits that are often very interesting.
KCSOS : KC Museum : KERN COUNTY MUSEUM

Another place to visit, at least once during your stay, is the Buck Owens Crystal Palace. It is a restaurant with live entertainment most evenings. It is also a museum of Buck Owens memorabilia, and of course, Buck Owens was a huge part of the Bakersfield music scene. If you're not really into country music, and would prefer to skip the entertainment, their Sunday Brunch is excellent, and in my opinion, is very reasonably priced. Kids 10 and under eat free with a paid adult, though they've allowed my kids to eat free even when they were a year or two older.
Buck Owens

While thinking about the mountains, I thought I should mention my area, too. I live a little less than an hour south of Bakersfield, and not far from me is Mt. Pinos, which is a beautiful part of the Los Padres National Forest. There isn't a whole lot to do there except hiking and mountain biking, but it's a beautiful place to do those things. On summer nights when there is a new moon, it's also a popular spot for astronomers to come out to view the night sky. If you get up there during a "star party," you are likely to find the crowd to be friendly and very willing to allow you to look through their equipment at whatever it is they are viewing. This is also a great place to see the meteor showers in August. The elevation (~8000 ft.) is much higher than Bakersfield (~400 ft.), though, so you can expect the temperatures to be much cooler, especially at night. During July and August, this is likely to be a welcome change.
Mount Pinos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We also have the nearby attraction of Fort Tejon, where Civil War Reenactments are performed monthly during the summer.
Fort Tejon SHP

Another mountain community you might want to visit is Tehachapi. There are shops and restaurants in town, as well as the Tehachapi Mountain Park in case you are interested in outdoor recreation such as hiking. Along the highway between Bakersfield and Tehachapi, there is the world famous Tehachapi Loop, where the railroad tracks actually cross over themselves as they climb the grade. It's pretty neat to see a train cross over itself there. Here's more info on the loop:
Tehachapi Loop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Another place you might find interesting is the Tule Elk Reserve. I've never been there, but intend to sometime soon, so this is just a suggestion as another thing to do while you've visiting Bakersfield. Here's a link to more info:
Tule Elk SNR

Another place I didn't see mentioned earlier is the Buena Vista Lake Recreation Area, southwest of Bakersfield. This area is especially popular for water skiers and those with personal water craft, but it also has a fishing lake. Here's a website for more info:
Kern County Parks and Recreation: Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area

If you're still looking for other ideas, you might want to look into taking the train up to Sacramento for a day or two. I don't know if your kids have ever ridden a train, but it could be a neat opportunity for them. Sacramento is nearly 300 miles north of Bakersfield, but it offers lots of recreational activities that can be worthwhile. Since the train will take you all the way there, you can get there without really needing a car. I don't know if this would be within your budget, but it might be worth looking into. If you're interested, there is Old Town Sacramento that offers shopping, dining, and museums, as well as things like horse drawn carriage rides, riverboat tours, and Steam Train excursions. There are also historical sites in the area pertaining to the California Gold Rush, which are an interesting part of California History.

Speaking of California History, you might want to consider looking into visiting one or more of the California Missions. The San Fernando Mission is about 1.5 hours south of Bakersfield, and is the San Buenaventura Mission. There are others along the "Central Coast" which lies about two hours west of Bakersfield. Here's a link with some good Mission information:
Mission Trail Today - The Missions of the US Southwest

I hope some of these things are helpful to you, too.

[gorideaquad]

just a quick note it is HOT HOT HOT in the summer. Be super extra careful with your girls if you are not used to hot weather, it will catch you by surprise with a heatstroke. It is dry heat, yes but it just floors me every summer. Go to lakes, pools, any body of water. Pismo beach is like 2 and a half hours away, good bet. LA has all the stuff you want, # hours away. Raging waters, magic moutain etc is all there. People here just try to keep cool in the summer. If you work out or walk outdoors, get a gym membership. The air is super poor quality in the summer so as the heat index rises, the poor air quality goes up.
Overall, keep cool and have fun. There are gymnastics classes indoors etc. have fun.

[anagrig]

Wow! i can't thank you enough for your help, guys.
If the majority of Bakersfield people are as helpful and friendly as you all are, we will definitely have fun no matter what temperatures await us.

[anagrig]

that's so cool!

[california5]

Generally that time of year you need to go out early in the morning or later in the evening if you want to be outdoors. During the day it is just too hot. Temps well over 100 degrees are normal.
Kern County Museum is nice, KCSOS : KC Museum : KERN COUNTY MUSEUM , as is California Living Museum. KCSOS : CALM : Home Page
I've taken the kids on field trips to both places and they really enjoyed it.
About 40 minutes to the south is Tehachapi, up in the mountains and much cooler than Bakersfield. The Ostrich ranch is a fun place to visit there, Home
there is also Tom Kahni Park, Tomo-Kahni SHP

[Dussymane]

Lake Isabella totally. I went there and stayed in a cottage on the mountain a earlier this year with some friends. Its different because on one side you have sequoias and the other you have desert mountains. Its such a nice contrast. Its about an hour east of Bakersfield