question for the posters in cali

blueedwards · Dec 12, 2005

i am going to santa cruz in march for a wedding. was thinking of making a vacation out of it...driving south to l.a. and san diego...spending a couple days at each spot.

any tips on where to stay and what to do? also places to avoid?

never been to cali before.

thanks

blueedwards · Dec 12, 2005

also, i should probably mention, this is a family vaca so...not really interested in gambling and/or night clubs.

thanks

TescoVee · Dec 12, 2005

I grew up near Santa Cruz and live in LA now so here is my 2 centsSanta Cruz is a nice little hippie town that is getting converted over to yuppie town slowly. Water will be too cold then to go in. Its a short drive to San Francisco which is a must.

in LA
if you have little kids then take them to Disneyland.
if they are a bit older you can do Magic Mountain.
if you want to hit up the beaches, Malibu is great. Venice is for sightseeing.
Santa Monica is nice for tourist shopping
if you want to go in the water stick to Malibu or go to Newport/Laguna in Orange County.

enjoy our traffic

Anonymous1 · Dec 12, 2005

throw in knots berry farm in buena park...15 min. from dland...universal studios in LA is very cool...south orange county hotels on the ocean such as ritz carlton and saint regis in dana point are outstanding...5* stuff...san diego...mission bay...seaworld...coronado island

HiloBoy · Dec 12, 2005

for a relaxing time the montery and carmel are beautiful. 17 mile drive carmel town montery aquarium. also lunch at canary row and the montery pier are great.

HiloBoy · Dec 12, 2005

universal studio is also a nice place to spend a day with kids

BoZZi · Dec 12, 2005

definitely go to SF, it's about a 2 hour drive maybe a little less....if it was summer you could go to great america in san jose.....thats pretty much it for family purposes.

Woody0 · Dec 12, 2005

Also from Santa Cruz take California Highway 1 South through Big Sur to see the rugged coast. Hearst castle at San Simeon is well worth visiting. It takes about 3 hours and there are several motels in San Simeon for the overnight stay.

blueedwards · Dec 12, 2005

Woody0 said:
Also from Santa Cruz take California Highway 1 South through Big Sur to see the rugged coast. Hearst castle at San Simeon is well worth visiting. It takes about 3 hours and there are several motels in San Simeon for the overnight stay.

patty hearst the bank robber?

blueedwards · Dec 12, 2005

BoZZi said:
definitely go to SF, it's about a 2 hour drive maybe a little less....if it was summer you could go to great america in san jose.....thats pretty much it for family purposes.

where should i stay and what should i see in san fran? will it be cold in march?

i would love to check out that prison but, i dont think my wife and 1 year old daughter would enjoy that.

Woody0 · Dec 12, 2005

Patty Hearst is the grand-daughter of William Randolph Hearst http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst, who was a newspaper tycoon in the 1920's and the role model for Orson Welles "Citizen Kane".

He built an enormous property on his several thousand acre cattle ranch in California and furnished it with his art collection. It was the "in" place for movie stars to visit pre-WWII. It is now property of and run by the State of California. http://www.hearstcastle.com/

blueedwards · Dec 12, 2005

interesting

oldmanTED · Dec 12, 2005

blue edwards said:
where should i stay and what should i see in san fran? will it be cold in march?

i would love to check out that prison but, i dont think my wife and 1 year old daughter would enjoy that.

Blue:

Where you stay in SF will depend on your budget as there is a wide range of prices and hotels. Regarding the weather, March the temperatures should be in the mid to upper 50's, possibly low 60's. Your biggest concern will be whether or not it rains. No way to forecast, but March is part of the rainy season here.

As for what to see, you can take the Cable Cars near Union Square, go to Fisherman's Wharf, see the Golden Gate Bridge where the San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean, take a boat tour of the Bay and stop off at Alcatraz, go to Pier 39. These are but a few things to do. It is a beautiful City with undulating hills surrounded by the Ocean and Bay. There are many tour buses with different packages daily, so you could choose your destinations once you got here.

blueedwards · Dec 12, 2005

oldmanTED said:
Blue:

Where you stay in SF will depend on your budget as there is a wide range of prices and hotels. Regarding the weather, March the temperatures should be in the mid to upper 50's, possibly low 60's. Your biggest concern will be whether or not it rains. No way to forecast, but March is part of the rainy season here.

As for what to see, you can take the Cable Cars near Union Square, go to Fisherman's Wharf, see the Golden Gate Bridge where the San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean, take a boat tour of the Bay and stop off at Alcatraz, go to Pier 39. These are but a few things to do. It is a beautiful City with undulating hills surrounded by the Ocean and Bay. There are many tour buses with different packages daily, so you could choose your destinations once you got here.

thanks old man. i am at the stage in life where i want to stay in a nice place as opposed to the cheapest. of course, i dont have an unlimited budget so, a $300/night room is probably not in the cards.

JimmyHoffa · Dec 12, 2005

What Ted said and...

Don't miss the In-n-Out Burger at Fisherman's Wharf.

oldmanTED · Dec 12, 2005

blue edwards said:
thanks old man. i am at the stage in life where i want to stay in a nice place as opposed to the cheapest. of course, i dont have an unlimited budget so, a $300/night room is probably not in the cards.

The top hotels could go for double that amount. Perhaps something like the Holiday Inn, Hilton and Marriot might have prices you would be interested in. Not certain. Do you have access to AAA or some other tour service? Once you've found some possibilities in hotels and prices you are interested in, I can help you in location to make sure you are in a decent area.

blueedwards · Dec 12, 2005

double? man, that's worse than maui.

i've been to holiday inns that are nice and ones that are scuzy. i'd prefer a hotel that is not in the hood and/or located next to a "waffle house".

are you telling me that a holiday inn in san fran is $300/night?

Conan · Dec 12, 2005

blue edwards said:
i am going to santa cruz in march for a wedding. was thinking of making a vacation out of it...driving south to l.a. and san diego...spending a couple days at each spot.

any tips on where to stay and what to do? also places to avoid?

never been to cali before.

thanks

blue edwards, when you head south from Monterey, take the 101 and stop for lunch at the Nepenthe restaurant in the Big Sur area. The view is a mindblower and you can share your fries with the blue birds. Just don't turn your back on them because they will steal your lunch if you don't watch it.

San Simeon is on the way down too. Hearst Castle is an amazing palace that's open to the public for touring. Further on down, when you hit Camrillo on the 101 near LA, jump over to Highway 1 and take in the coast scenery including Malibu, then take the I-10 fwy east to the 405 south and go on down to Disneyland on the way south to SD.

SD has plenty there to see that's unique. Sea World is probably the most original of them all. I would also consider spending a day down in Mexico too. You can just drive right in. I'd go south to Ensanada, about an hour or so down the highway. If you'd like to stay there for a night, there are numerous hotels and motels that cater to Americans and have pretty nice rooms for cheap. You can shop there and find amazing deals just browsing around but if you go for the natural scenery, drive south of Ensanada about 25 miles to Punta Banda and just walk around. There's a natural phenomenon there called la Buffadora (whale spout) where waves come crashing in and shoot water up 120 feet straight up in the air. You might also find local fisherman selling 4-5 lb. lobsters for about $50/doz. (I used to pay $20/doz.)

oldmanTED · Dec 12, 2005

blue edwards said:
double? man, that's worse than maui.

i've been to holiday inns that are nice and ones that are scuzy. i'd prefer a hotel that is not in the hood and/or located next to a "waffle house".

are you telling me that a holiday inn in san fran is $300/night?

The hotels that are double are top notch hotels like the Mark Hopkins, Fairmont, etc. Hotels like Holiday Inn, Hilton and Marriot are less expensive and may be below the price you mentioned. All three of these are in downtown San Francisco which is where I would suggest you stay because it is the center of all the tourism and places you where you can do any of the things I mentioned. Hyatt is another. Just not sure of the prices of these because I personally have no need to stay in them but I was borned and raised in this city and lived and worked here my whole life, so I am very familiar with where you should locate for a couple of days.

blueedwards · Dec 12, 2005

oldmanTED said:
The hotels that are double are top notch hotels like the Mark Hopkins, Fairmont, etc. Hotels like Holiday Inn, Hilton and Marriot are less expensive and may be below the price you mentioned. All three of these are in downtown San Francisco which is where I would suggest you stay because it is the center of all the tourism and places you where you can do any of the things I mentioned. Hyatt is another. Just not sure of the prices of these because I personally have no need to stay in them but I was borned and raised in this city and lived and worked here my whole life, so I am very familiar with where you should locate for a couple of days.

thanks oldie, i'll check some places out online over the holidays and maybe run them by you.