Welcome to the Golden State! I'm kind of jealous, since you'll have cool weather and I am going to live in 90+ degrees now until October. Enjoy the trip! Which route will you take?
Arcata is just an hour or so south of a cluster of great state and national parks where the redwoods grow. Check out my article on Redwoods National Park - we were up there last year and the hiking and art/photo opps are amazing.
In Arcata itself, there are great places to hike and a Humboldt State University, so I'm guessing there will be concerts and events at the school.
East of you, Mt. Shasta is a beautiful place to hike, and there is a reservoir where you can kayak. Then there are the Sierras and the southern Cascades - oh, and you have Oregon close by! The distances are longer than one assumes, but since you're retired, you'll have time to make all the trips! Northern California feels like the Pacific Northwest (Oregon/Washington/Idaho) more than it does like the rest of the state. Arcata is sixteen hours north of Los Angeles (where I live) - California is huge.
I'm curious about where you actually settle. Are you planning to live close to your sister, or farther south or east?
