For you California Folks
 

I am planning a trip out your way, and was looking for pics of some beach hotels we are planning to stay at, and came across this website.

Cool website to look around at.

http://www.californiacoastline.org.

Didn't know if you guys knew this was out there or not, but I found it helpful in planning a trip.

For instance, the Fairmount Hotel north of the Pier in Santa Monica requires that you rapel to the beach, whereas the Lowe's south of the pier is in the same general altitude as the beach. Beaches are all flat here - never thought about wearing my mountain climbing gear to get to it.

If you want funky and local, the Cadillac Hotel on Venice Beach is where to go. The upscale option in Santa Monica is Shutters on the Beach. If you are going north to hippie poet country, the funkiest lodge I've ever seen is Deetjen's in Big Sur...I got the sense that you could order a salad with some chronic sprinkled on top.

I love The Montage Laguna Beach, its my favorite hotel in all of California, the Architecture is my favorite (California Craftsmen) and the luxury is just over the top everywhere you look, I LOVE being pampered so It works for me, pricey but it's just money right?

how about the Ritz at laguna niguel in SoCal or if you are in NorCal, the Ritz at Half Moon Bay. Both gorgeous locations.

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/resorts/laguna_niguel/

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/resorts/half_moon_bay/

I think the Ritz Is so/so In OC their are more over the top hotels (Montage, St Regis etc)

Well, I'm staying at a Holiday Inn Express near the Jacksonville Navy Base this Saturday. Doesn't get much more over the top than that, does it?

Have you ever been to the Half Moon bay location? Impressions???

Slightly off topic - sorry.
I was driving down the coast several years ago and came across an Inn or restaurant maybe that had this bizarre attraction out back. There was a stream running through the rear of the property. In the stream were rows and rows statues built from river rocks. Ran the entire width of the stream and maybe 100 feet long. It was something to see. I think it was in the Big Sur area. Anyone know what I'm talking about.

Thanks for the suggestions
 

Here's the itinerary plan so far. We are traveling with 3 kids, so we are not doing anything too funky or out there. We'll save that for when we come back alone. :thumbup:

- Fly into LA, rent Escalade (big family for 2 weeks requires big luggage and big car)

- Drive through Santa Barbara, have lunch, go on to Santa Maria, stay the night. Routine Radisson deal for one night.

- Drive through the Paso Robles wine area a little, see a winery, drive up to Monterey. After looking about a 100 places, settled on the Marriott at the marina. Spend a couple days there, do a whale watching trip, go the aquarium, do the 17 mile drive, go to Carmel, etc.

- Drive over to Sequoia Nat'l Park, stay at the John Muir Lodge for a couple nights. Spend a few days breathing clean air, hiking in the wilderness, appreciating nature, dodging bears, taking pictures.

- Drive to Pasadena, stay the night at the Ritz. Hang out at the pool, drink a lot, eat a lot, hang out at the pool some more for a couple days. Mid-vacation chill break.

- Drive to San Diego. Stay at the La Valencia in La Jolla for a few nights. See Old Town, go the zoo, do whatever else comes up. Oh yeah, the kids are wanting to go to that LegoLand place, which does almost nothing for me, but I'm making them go to Sequoia and hike a couple days, so I guess I'll take them to LegoLand.

- Drive up to Santa Monica, stay at the Loews on the beach for 3 nights. Go to the beach, see LA and environs, chill. Try to find a place with margaritas and beach music for at least one sunset, to make us feel at home.

- Come home form LA (damn, it has to end sometime).

For a first-time Griswald family adventure to the Golden State, I think we're covering a decent amount of decent stuff. Everyone had their thing to do, which grew our trip from a week to 2 weeks. Wife wants some pampering at the Ritz, and wanted to go to La Jolla. Kids wanted to see whales, the aquarium, the zoo, LegoLand. I wanted to see wilderness. So, we tried to catch a little bit of all of it as an "Intro to California" trip.

I just hope that Christie Brinkley doesn't drive by in a Ferrari, and derail our trip.

What ever you do DON'T eat the sandwich! :rofl:

go there for golf quite a bit. Outside of Spyglass, Poppy Hills, etc, the Ocean Course at the HMB is one of the best course in Norcal IMO. Accomodations are good also and the wifey claims the spa there is decent.

I remember seeing a glass house on the beach somewhere in Orange County. I really wanted to throw something at it...

as usual Ben is being negative, whats wrong with a glass house? Being able to not afford things is not a reason to put others down, life lesson 1 :)

I think he just forgot the :) I didn't see anything negative. It's more like WOW - I wonder what would happen if I threw something at that glass house. Like Spicoli in Fast Times - duh that's my skull.

I wasn't being negative; it really was like what would happen if I threw something at it. But I'm sure people have tried that and the owners wouldn't have a glass house if that were the case.

Secondly; I really want to know why you would say a thing about me usually being negative? Where do you get that from? Can you link to me something that shows me being negative?

I think you are being more negative towards me for telling me what I can't afford.

ylwjacket -

Here's some restaurant suggestions if you haven't planned any specific out any reservations. Since you have kids with you, I've tried to give you some good choices where you can take the kids too, but still have excellent food.

Santa Barbara

Sojourner Cafe for lunch, reservations probably not necessary for lunch.

Santa Monica

Chaya Venice - excellent Asian-French fusion food. Celebs wil wonder in on occasion. Go early if you have the kids.

Border Grill - Mexican influenced dishes. Kid friendly during early evening.

Typhoon - a high end Asian fusion restaurant with every type of Asian cooking under the sun (chinese, japanese, thai, vietnamese, korean, filipino, etc.) Only place in L.A. that serves cooked insects!

Pasadena - all of these are within 5-10 min of the Ritz-Carlton Pasadena.

Bistro 45 - French American food, very small classy restaurant off the beaten trail. My personal favorite in Pasadena.

Saladang and Saladang Song - best Thai food in LA bar none. It's so popular they had to build 2 restaurants side by side. Very kid friendly at all hours. Great for either lunch or dinner. There is usually a line forming at 6:30 PM at both restaurants, they are that good.

Burger Continental - (The name is a misnomer, they actually have Middle Eastern food, great kabobs, kid friendly, probably a better choice for lunch instead of dinner, belly dancers at night)

Il Fornaio - it's a chain, but has the best pasta in LA IMHO. kid friendly if you reserve a private room.

El Cholo - Standard mexican food but well done. Very kid friendly.

Barn Burner - Texas style rib joint located next door to El Cholo. Picnic benches and butcher paper table cloths. Very kid friendly.

Marston's - for breakfast only, kid friendly, best bowl of oatmeal ever.

The best soft tacos in L.A (carne asada, carnitas, al pastor, lengua, sesos, cabeza) are sold off a taco truck on Fair Oaks Ave. 1 block north of California St. between 7PM and 2AM. Great for a midnight snack - just look for the truck with a long line of people.

Have a great trip.

wow - thanks for all the tips. i'll be tapping in on my mobile device to show these to my wife when we get there.

thanks again!

There's a lot more excellent restaurants in Santa Monica, but I live in the city next to Pasadena, so that's why the Pasadena list is bigger. When is your trip planned?

Don't count out Finger-Licking good Soul Food in LA.

1. Harold & Belle Creole Soul Food
*** LA on Jefferson Blvd
2. M&M Sould Food
Kodak Theater
Mall Toward Back
Hollywood Blvd.

Seafood dishes are the cheapest and the greatest in Moterey Park, Chinatown. It really helps having someone speaks Cantonese but you could still get by. I do.

I agree with all the Asawadude's selection. My favorite is the Border's Grill. Tortilla and salsa combination is superb. Margaritas are out of this world. They got a restaurant in Mandalaybay LV too.

My favorite would be In and Out...