Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

Can you tell me about your itinerary? What did you do? What did you see? Did you love it?

DH is dying to go there and I need some convincing...

Re: Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

DH and I went to San Diego last March and we loved it! The weather was gorgeous, beaches and sunset beautiful. We hung out in Balboa Park a lot during the day and hang out/eat dinner in either La Jolla or the Gaslamp Quarter. We went to the San Diego Zoo which was a lot of fun. We had wanted to take a drive out to Coronado Island but ran out of time :(

They have beautiful beaches, we went to Mission Beach and really liked it there. There are waterfront restaurants, bars, etc.

We rented a car and took a drive out to Santa Monica Pier one day and to LA another day to see the Hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, etc. but honestly, San Diego was our favorite.

I would definitely go if I were you! DH and I have been dying to go back and were so depressed to leave!

Re: Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

I've been twice. We first took a trip to the LA area, checking out Hollywood and going to Disney Land, plus some of the famous beachs. We also took a long day trip down to Joshua Tree National Park.

Our next trip we did a long road trip flying into San Fran, drove up the coast to Redwoods National Park and then driving inland a bit to Lassen Volcanic National Park and down to Yosemite. I liked this trip much better as I really enjoyed the nature aspects of it. The LA area just didn't excite me too much as I felt like I could see most of that scenery elsewhere.

We've also been to Death Valley as part of a Cali/Utah road trip.

There's so much to see there that I definitely think you'll be able to find an itinerary to suit your interests.

Re: Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

DH is from California and I know the area between San Diego and L.A. pretty well. We decided to do something different this year and drive up north instead.

We just got back from a 10-night road trip up the California coast. We went to Hawaii last year so I was a little "blah" about planning California, but I have to tell you, the scenery rivals Hawaii's. It's different, but not less beautiful. The area around Big Sur is AMAZING. And we spent 3 nights up in wine country (we chose Sonoma) and had the best time. Good food, free wine, picnics, gorgeous weather, hiking, biking, a spa day... I'd recommend it in a heartbeat. Go! Have fun!

Things to be excited about:

San Diego's restaurants, museums, and beaches
Central California Wine Country (Santa Barbara, Paso Robles)
Driving the Pacific Coast Highway north of L.A. to Big Sur
Big Sur (probably one of the most stunning places on earth)
Monterey
Redwood forests - we saw a tree at Big Basin that was over 300 feet high - the height of a 30-story building. Can you even imagine?!
Sonoma Valley (Napa is supposed to be lovely too but there was so much in Sonoma we actually didn't make it over there)

I'm not a fan of L.A. or San Francisco to be honest, but that's not what this post is about so I'll leave it at that.

Message edited 9/12/2010 4:31:57 PM.

Re: Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

Dh and I did a great road trip down the Pacific Coast Hwy, it was beautiful. We flew into San Fran, drove to Sonoma wine country, Carmel, San Simeon (to see the Hearst Castle, a must!), Monterey, then down to LA which I don't particularly care for but we stayed with friends on our way to Vegas!

Re: Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

We spent 11 days in California. We flew to SF, we rented a convertible and drove straight to Napa. We stayed in Napa, then drove and stayed in SF, Monterey, San Simeon/Moonstone Beach (Hearst Castle), Santa Barbara (loved it here), then Palm Springs and down to San Diego. We had no interest in LA. It was an amazing trip. Looking back I would have stayed in the Carmel/Big Sur area as well.

Re: Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

we just went last summer
we had a wedding to go to in San Diego.
SO about a week before the wedding, we flew into San Fran.
we spent 3 nights in San Fran, it was great! walked on the golden gate bridge, had a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradellli, saw the CUTE sea lions at Pier 39, took the tour of alcatraz (VERY cool!), took a day trip to Napa VAlley and tasted a few wines...
AFter a couple days in San Fran, we started out drive down the Pacific Coast Highway... GORGEOUS!!! all amazing ocean views and rocky cliffs. along the PCH we spent one night near Cannery Row. We spent the second night in a town called Solvang ( really cute Danish town with neat little shops and stuff), spent another night in Huntington Beach, which was pretty too... and then 3 nights in San Diego for the wedding.
Along the PCH (besides just the incredible views) we saw the HUGE redwood tree forests, stopped on 17 mile drive at Pebble Beach, took the tour of Hearst Castle ( really cool!),walked around in LA for a little while ( didn't spend a ton of time there, though- weren't really huge fans of it)
San Diego is incredible too! we went hiking at Torrey Pines Nature preserve, our friend who was out there for the wedding is into sailing so he rented a big 22 foot sailboat and we went out in the San Diego bay one day, and the San Diego zoo is amazing, too.
Basically, it was one of the best trips i've been on ( and i've traveled all over) just a great time, gorgeous scenery, and a lot of neat stuff to see. i say do it!!
If you want, i can FM you with the link to some of my pics from the trip that are on facebook....

ETA: forgot to add that we also stopped in santa barabara, too. loved it there and would probably go back to spend more time in that area...

Message edited 9/17/2010 7:11:46 PM.

Re: Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

I used to live there and miss it very very much.

I would suggest looking into San Diego or the San Fransisco area. Both are gorgeous with a lot of touristy things to do.

Los Angeles - the whole So Cal area is my favorite but I'd start in one of those other places.

Gorgeous scenery, perfect weather, so much to see and do... there's no reason to not go!!!

Re: Anyone been on vacation to California, just to see it?

I love both northern and southern california.

If you go north, you can do SF and Napa Valley. Napa Valley is so romantic.

If you go south, you can do LA and San Diego - simply beautiful weather and tons to see and do. You may want to tack on Las Vegas to your southern california trip. The first time I went to san diego, we also went down to mexico. I thought tijuana was a dump and a waste to go to.

Message edited 9/21/2010 12:13:12 PM.