Kid-friendly Rest Stops Between Oakland and Long Beach

There are really no play areas in between. We shoot for clean rest rooms and a place to move around. I have 2 boys ages 5 and 9.

In addition to Pea Soup Andersons (clean rest room - good pea soup - nice gift shop area - some room to move around), try:

1) Harris Ranch in Avenal. Clean rest rooms and nice gift shop area. Kids can check out the fountains in the gift shop area and hotel.

2) Top of the grapevine @ Fort Tejon State Park. The park is about 1.5 to 2 hrs from Long Beach. We sometimes picnic there on the way back. You can do the CA Junior Ranger Program also! This has become kind of a tradition for us. We have family in Southern CA. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=585

It's tough - not too much in terms of play areas. We have stopped at some fast food places. I recall on Carl's Jr with an outside play area. No good when it is 110 outside.

Good Luck!

Oh, Mama. I've done this exact drive many times (used to live in LB). I hate to say it, but along I-5, there is nothing interesting at all. If you want interest and want to take your time, go Hwy 101, but you will add lots of time to your trip.Best to just power through on I-5. Here are places we have stopped along I-5.

After the 580 hits the 5 going south, there are a couple of rest stops with grassy area where you can get out and run around/stretch your legs. It is neither interesting nor pretty, but there are bathrooms. We have stopped for food in Santa Nella, which is at about the 2 hr mark, and has a number of choices (Anderson's Pea Soup if you want to sit down). We generally think of Kettleman City as the half-way mark, and it has lots of choices for crappy fast food. Again, nothing interesting, but a good place to stretch. From there on, its a lot of nothing until the grapevine. The scenery gets more interesting at this point, but again there are no big points of interest. And once you get off the grapevine, you hit the traffic of greater LA. You'll pass Magic Mountain, but you can't exactly do a quick stop there, so again, I say just power through to Long Beach and get it over with.

Good luck.

M.,
We travelled alot with our kids and the state supported highway stops are great, there are bathrooms, usually clean and lawns to run on. We usualy packed some toys, including balls and bubbles to play with outside. It's inexpensive and added to family time.

A.

Hi there,
I have a good idea for this situation. My husband and 13 mo. old son travel to the central valley often since my mother lives there. Anyway, my advice might not work for your lifestyle because we (my family) tend to do things a bit differently from most folks. So here it is, there is this charming little dust bowl town called Gustine which is about 10 min. off of I5 going east. They have a GIANT park with a play area that is perfect for a roadside stop. You can't really miss the park, its in the center of town. There is also a great place to get sandwiches called Wolfsen's Meat and Sausage on South Ave. This place is the real deal excellent quality comparable to something you'd get in SF. What is interesting about traveling down I5 is that just to the east are all of these small Ag towns that were booming in the 40's and 50's. Lots of old timey parks to relax in, check Gustine out if you want to escape the Micky D's environ's. As for further south, I don't have any further suggestions. Hope this is helpful for you.

Hi,
Just wanted to share that those McDonald's with the playareas are a god-send for traveling with kids. If you check on the their website, they should list which ones have those. Good luck and have fun!
J.