L.A. help please

[Manton]

Originally Posted by yellman

I am really on the fence about this. We are there for 10 days. I understand it is about a 5-6 hour drive to san fran. Is it worth it to drive there and back to experience san fran or is there enough for us to do in la and area for the 10 odd days.

Please let me know your thoughts.

It's really more like 6-8 hours. So, you kill two days effectively.

There is plenty enough to in LA for ten days. Plus, to see most of it you will have to be in the car a lot anyway. So you won't want to face two long haul drives.

SF is a trip unto itself.

 

[JTK]

Where are you travelling in from?
10 days in LA is a long time and you will definitely have opportunities to venture out of town. Have you made a decision on where you will be staying? Santa Monica is nice, but is not central at all, and it will be difficult travelling to other places around LA. I would recommend someplace in Hollywood, like the Roosevelt or Renaissance. Both are located near the subway, which you can take to Universal Studios and downtown.
As for day trips, San Diego via train is a great option! It's a 2 hour trip that takes you along the coast, and is one of the most scenic rail lines in the country. You can easily take the redline subway (from Hollywood) to union station downtown, and then take the pacific surfliner to your destination. If you don't want to go that far south, you can stop in Oceanside, San Juan Capistrano or San Clemente. All of these places are beautiful and worth seeing w/ a family!
If you have a car, take a drive out to Joshua Tree National Park. It's about a 2 hour drive east of LA. It will be hot, but not unbearable. If you're up for an overnighter, you can stay at the 29 Palms Inn, located just outside of the park. It's a really inexpensive and quirky little motel, and I'm sure the kids would get a kick out of it!
As for LA, the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica is a fun place for tourists. Lots of shopping available, especially w/ the newly redesigned mall on the south promenade.
The Getty Center is a must see!!! Very beautiful museum, both inside and out. Also very easy to get to.
If you have any questions or need any additional advice, feel free to PM me!

 

[yellman]

thanks for all the replies as always.

Still back and forth on goin to san fran or not. We have gotten tickets to universal. It probably does not make sense to go to san fran as we are there from the 6th to 16th and the plane kills 2 days and the trip kills another 2 days.

Any recommende hotels. LA is such a big area, we will have a car. Any shopping hints.

 

[mordecai]

Originally Posted by yellman

thanks for all the replies as always. Still back and forth on goin to san fran or not. We have gotten tickets to universal. It probably does not make sense to go to san fran as we are there from the 6th to 16th and the plane kills 2 days and the trip kills another 2 days. Any recommende hotels. LA is such a big area, we will have a car. Any shopping hints.
hotels - i've heard Magic Castle is good for kids. I've never stayed at Farmer's Daughter but I think it's cheap and it's walking distance from everything mentioned below shopping - 3rd street (in hollywood, not 3rd street promenade) is pretty easy and tasteful, and is near the farmers market, grove, tar pits, Peterson museum, and LACMA. great restaurants and cafes along 3rd as well, or you could go for novelty to Canter's on Fairfax. Beverly is one major block north of third and has some good shopping too. If you end up around here, I'd also recommend going to Little Ethiopia on Fairfax for some great food.

 

[foodguy]

just finished four days of entertaining another kind of kid tourist -- my dad and 3 of his 80+-year-old friends descended on us. Actually, it was a great time. They spent the first day at the Getty. Second day long beach aquarium and then a whale watch boat, which turned out to be terrific ... we've got a real run of blue whales this year and at one point there were so many around us they quit calling out the spotting points. Next day we did the tar pits (more interesting than I'd remembered) and LACMA (Japanese Pavillion and Meso-American were high points), and then had an early dinner at Canters. Good time had by all and I think pretty much all of it would have been enjoyable for moderately interested kids.

 

[Manton]

Wow, I've spent a lot of time out on the water off CA and I have never seen a blue whale. Lots of grays.

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by Manton

Wow, I've spent a lot of time out on the water off CA and I have never seen a blue whale. Lots of grays.
me too ... and usually it's just a spout in the distance. but we were coming within 100 yards of some of these guys ... close enough for the aquarium guide to be able to determine that we were seeing some of hte same whales in different spots by looking at the fluke patterns. it really is a highly recommended excursion for anyone, especially kids.

 

[mordecai]

Originally Posted by Manton

Wow, I've spent a lot of time out on the water off CA and I have never seen a blue whale. Lots of grays.

Aren't you from Northern California? I thought they were a pretty common sight during summer. My favorite NorCal trip involved going to Point Reyes lighthouse during the migrations (although the whales did look pretty small from the cliff). On the way back we headed to Tomales Bay for fresh oysters and stopped again in Olema for BBQ oysters.

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by mharwitt

Aren't you from Northern California? I thought they were a pretty common sight during summer. My favorite NorCal trip involved going to Point Reyes lighthouse during the migrations (although the whales did look pretty small from the cliff). On the way back we headed to Tomales Bay for fresh oysters and stopped again in Olema for BBQ oysters.

marshall store? great oysters on tomales. i've never seen the whales from point reyes, but i'm looking forward to a return visit soon ... i think the lighthouse renovation is finished.
i've also seen grays off the monterey peninsula at point lobos ... that gets almost silly sometimes, there are so many of them.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by mharwitt

Aren't you from Northern California? I thought they were a pretty common sight during summer. My favorite NorCal trip involved going to Point Reyes lighthouse during the migrations (although the whales did look pretty small from the cliff). On the way back we headed to Tomales Bay for fresh oysters and stopped again in Olema for BBQ oysters.

One of my favorite spots in NorCal. Some friends just did a night kayak trip to see all of the bioluminescence. Said it was amazing.

 

[mordecai]

Originally Posted by iammatt

One of my favorite spots in NorCal. Some friends just did a night kayak trip to see all of the bioluminescence. Said it was amazing.
that sounds incredible. i try to visit Marin every time i'm in the bay area. it's a necessary break from San Francisco, and the Mission especially, where many of my man-child friends still live. @foodguy, I don't think we ate at Marshall Store, but will check it out next time I'm there. I think that last time we ate at Drake's Bay Oyster Farm. I've done the trip mentioned above twice, although the second time there were no whales.

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by mharwitt

@foodguy, I don't think we ate at Marshall Store, but will check it out next time I'm there. I think that last time we ate at Drake's Bay Oyster Farm.
they are an older oyster family that grows mainly for hog island. but they sell for themselves at this store. raw/bbq/rockefeller, but they also have kermit lynch wines and cowgirl creamery cheeses. one of my favorite places.

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by mharwitt

Aren't you from Northern California? I thought they were a pretty common sight during summer. My favorite NorCal trip involved going to Point Reyes lighthouse during the migrations (although the whales did look pretty small from the cliff). On the way back we headed to Tomales Bay for fresh oysters and stopped again in Olema for BBQ oysters.

Grays are common and I have seen a million of them. To my knowledge, I've never seen a blue. If I have I did not recognize it as such.

 

[mordecai]

Originally Posted by foodguy

they are an older oyster family that grows mainly for hog island. but they sell for themselves at this store. raw/bbq/rockefeller, but they also have kermit lynch wines and cowgirl creamery cheeses. one of my favorite places.

i'm sold.

crap, maybe OP should go to the bay area.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by mharwitt

i'm sold.

crap, maybe OP should go to the bay area.

It's a seriously great spot. After learning of it from FG, my wife and I went up for lunch half a dozen times over the summer. Really laid back, great food and wine.