OT: Going Going Out Out to Cali Cali

[aural]

ok my LL Cool J reference aside - My wife and I are knee deep in planning our summer vacation. Neither of us has ever been out to California, so we really wanted to go see what all the noise was about

So far this is what we have locked down:

June 22 - flying into San Diego
June 23 - San Diego Zoo
June 24 - Mess around San Diego - Drive up to LA
June 25 - LA - Ocean of the Pacific (Possibly)
June 26 - LA - Getty Museum / walk around Hollywood and Beverly Hills
June 27 - Leave LA - Drive up to Las Vegas
June 28 - Vegas - Penn & Teller that evening
June 29 - Vegas
June 30 - Leave Vegas - Drive to Monterey
July 1 - Monterey - Monterey Bay Aquarium early then Drive to San Francisco
July 2 - San Francisco - Alcatraz / San Fran Museum of Modern Art
July 3 - San Francisco
July 4 - San Francisco - (Red Eye Back Home)

If anyone has any cool suggestions of places we could hit, Please let me know. There is SO much information out there and its just impossible for me to get through it all. I dont know anyone that lives out there, so i dont have a local connection on cool stuff to see. I'd love to go anywhere that i could get interesting pictures of architecture, flowers, well anything really.

 

[gregr]

Looks like a great vacation
You're gonna love the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Monterey one too- they are amazing.
Were it me... and perhaps I'm biased (or anti-biased ) because I live here-- I'd skip Beverly Hills and Hollywood and just hit the road to Las Vegas when you're done with the Getty. I see you put down a whole day for the drive to Monterey- that's a good thing as it's a good haul. Depending on which way you go could actually drive thru Yosemite via highway 120. That is an amazing piece of scenery but a long long day. Perhaps an overnight in Bishop or somewhere along the way, instead of trying to make Monterey in one day. Some stuff to consider

 

[jwedehase]

Yeah, LA to Monterey will be... 7 hours, if you're good. I went to Florida for my honeymoon, so I can tell you the first thing you need to worry about is the gas pedal in the rental. Just put it all the way down or you're going to get run over! Expect 85MPH on the freeway north of LA.

Hollywood's a good CA experience, everyone should probably see it once. It's nice to "see where the movies are made." However, Beverly Hills is a bust. There's Rodeo drive, which is about three blocks filled with all kinds of shopping you'll never want to afford. Other than that, I wouldn't bother.

I'll post more later, when I'm not getting ready for work.

Yosemite is my favorite place on the planet, but one day is tough.

 

[jwedehase]

Alright... you want photogenic spots, or a broader view of CA?

The Aquarium of the Pacific is in Long Beach, and if you're into CART/IRL racing, the fountain out front is part of the race track of the Long Beach Grand Prix (AWESOME race) and all the curbs are painted for racing year-round. This aquarium is very nice, and worth every penny. You'll be glad you went.

I'd suggest tacking something into that Long Beach day, the Aquarium won't take all day. You can see the Queen Mary there, but it's just a big ol boat/hotel. That might be a good day to do the aquarium in the morning, and save the Hollywood sights for that evening. Also, I've never been to the Getty, so I don't know how consuming that will be.

If you leave Vegas early enough, you could get some rockin' photo ops in the Mojave desert at sunrise. I'm sure there will be something spectacular to find any time of the day, though.

When you get to Fresno, don't stop. We don't have anything to see. Actually, there's a triple-A baseball team and a decent zoo, though the zoo will be completely underwhelming after SD.

Between Fresno and Monterey, make a stop at Casa de Fruta. It's a tourist trap/stop, but you can find many cool novelties there, like my favorite: habanero mustard. It's a nice "stretch your legs" stop, too.

Monterey Bay Aquarium is world class. One of our club members works there, and set up a Behind-The-Scenes tour a while back. They offer this tour to the public, but we got a trip with extras. The kelp beds were ground-breaking, and there's the whole Deep Sea exhibit, as the Monterey Bay has one of the deepest trenches in the entire ocean (5-6 miles deep, IIRC), just a few miles off the coast. The aquarium is located on Cannery Row, which is a bit of a tourist trap, but that's partially what you're here for, I would think. Bubba Gump's has some decent food, though Benny-Hana's has great teppan-yaki.

When you're in Frisco, look into the City Pass, which is a small booklet of tickets to different things. I only remember that Alcatraz and the trolleys were on the list, but there were a total of 8 places, IIRC. Make a point to see the California Academy of Sciences and Steinhart Aquarium. That's one of my favorites in SF, located inside Golden Gate Park. Just on the other (north) side of the Golden Gate Bridge is a nice photo spot, if you're into that. Lots of people also walk the GGB, though it's long. I've never done it yet, but I'm told you can feel the wind whipping the monster bridge around.

Things I wouldn't bother with:
Anything Disney. You can see the exact same thing in Orlando.
Theme parks. Time wasters on your tight schedule. Even Universal Studios.


And if you had the time, I'd find a way to get Yosemite in there. In July, all the water falls will just about be dried up. Yosemite is known for being 4 different entities, one for each season. Summer brings hiking and bicycling. If you go, get a convertible. Nothing compares to looking 8,000 feet up the sheer wall of El Capitan, or the short hike to the base of Half Dome (Mirror Lake). Or Yosemite Falls, the tallest fall on the continent. Ugh, I could keep going. I love that place.

 

[gho]

Hey, if you want to meet up, I can meet you for the SDZoo, SDWAP... Send me email.

 

[BlueCorn]

We're members at Monterey Aquarium and head down there as often as we can.

Here's a meal tip. Take a 30 minute drive south on highway 1 to Big Sur. There's a little place called "The River Inn." Go there for breakfast on Sunday or Saturday. The pan fried trout and eggs is awesome.

http://www.bigsurriverinn.com/main.html

I avoid Bubba Gump like the plaque. It's way touristy.

 

[jwedehase]

I'd definitely hit up GHO, if for nothing else than to abuse him for camera knowledge. Whatever you do, don't look at his Web site, or you'll want to put the camera away for good.

I guess I'd have to agree with the Bubba Gump review. It's always packed, and right on the same block as MBA. Thanks for the tip, Beerguy, I'll have to try that place nex time.

 

[Kinetic]

alcatraz tours need advanced booking of tickets, just to let you know