Chris - we have often rented homes for the very reason you have shared - we travel/ed with our 4 children and either rented condos or homes often!

we were thinking about making a drive up the coast towards la one day. Are there any places worth checking out? we were thinking huntington beach, anaheim ( disney) or beverly hills. Im not sure we would go as far as bev hills with traffic and we here its not that nice.
But you know, three girls from maine and they think they have to go to hollywood!! maybe this would be a good time to get it out of their system.

I think it is a great thing to do if done right, and by that I men - get up EARLY - at Oh Dark Thirty - as in 4:30 AM or so. Tell the girls they can sleep - while you zip up the freeway - beating the rush hour traffic into LA/Hollywood - which can be done in about two hours without traffic.

I would take the 5 north from SD - and then the 405 to the 110 north into downtown LA - for a good view of downtown/the high rises - and then on to Hollywood - which is just north of downtown LA.

Have some good maps with you - and get one called the LA Freeway map - which shows the various freeways and listen to AM 1070 - which gives the news, and most importantly - the freeway conditions every six minutes during the rush hours. If there is an accident or tieup on any one freeway - you can use the map to try and avoid it - go around it.

For your LA day - I would just bullet up to Hollywood straight away (you could do Disneyland another day if they really want to see that - as that is only an hour or so from La Jolla) - and you could be in Hollywood for breakfast at one of the hot spots - and one of my favorites - is Mel's Drive-in - which has pictures on the wall of various movies - including the nostalgic xxx (fooey - senior moment - have to look it up - but it had Richard Dreyfuss and involved a lot of action at the drive in - oh yes: American Grafitti http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069704/ ) - with other pics of some of the young directors - such as George Lucas - also on the walls.

The Mel's on Sunset would bring back memories to old timers - who might remember the hit TV Series of the 60's - 77 Sunset Strip - which had "Kookie" - or Ed Byrnes as a young star - always combing his hair. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051247/

see: http://www.melsdrive-in.com/hoursand...hollywood.html

Of course, there are other hot spots - including Pink is it? - where you might also see some Hollywood stars. http://www.pinkshollywood.com/

Or, you could let the girls google away and see where they want to have breakfast.

From there - after seeing the Hollywood sights (most are on the main drag) - I would drive out Sunset to the beach at Santa Monica and drive up toward Malibu, where you could have lunch - or maybe a quick snack - and then double back on the 101 and down the 405 before afternoon traffic hits (as early as 3:30) - to get down to Orange County and pull off at around Irvine to get over to Laguna Beach (check the map)- for a late lunch/early dinner. From there - take the Coast hiway(1) down to San Clemente - and then eventually back on freeway 5 through Camp Pendelton back to Oceanside and North County San Diego.

If you have more Q's - or need the LA Freeway map - shoot me an email - and we could meet up for a cup of coffee somewhere - perhaps in my old stomping grounds - the Village of La Jolla. [email protected]

That would give you a very good review of much that glitters in LA.

Oh yes, Beverly Hills is just above Hollywood - so when driving along Sunset - you see the "flatlands" of Beverly Hills and take one of the side streets up to see some of the Mansions.

wow tom. thanks for all that info. Im sure my wife will like to read this when she gets back from work. Im not sure I could ever get them all out of bed at 4am though. I guess it all depends on how much they want to see hollywood. thanks

Well, you could go around 8:30 and forego the Malibu drive part and just get back down to Laguna before 3:30.

And I was thinking of Pinkberry - where some of the Hollywood types pop in for a yogurt, whatever.

http://www.pinkberry.com/

And you could also take Interstate 5 into downtown LA/on to Hollywood (again - listen to AM 1070 for updates on any traffic problems) - which I normally don't like to do as it can narrow as you get toward LA downtown - although they have worked on it, and my wife usually takes it. That way - you go right by Disneyland - and could even drive around it a bit if you didn't want to go in.

http://www.family-vacation-getaways-...land-Maps.html

One more thought. If you did it the first couple days after you arrive, your body clocks are still closer to East Coast time, and if you did get up around say 4:30 and were on the road by 5, it would be more like 7:30 to 8.

Also - if you drove out Sunset to the Ocean - you could head up toward Malibu for a little while - and then retrace your steps down to the little connetion just south of Sunset - Freeway 10 over to the 405 (only a couple miles) and down to Laguna/Orange County and/or back to SD.

Following this thread with interest as I'm headed to SD from Boston in early March. While we've had no snow (literally), we have had cold air and I'm thinking mid 60s will be a welcome delight.

Question, if we're doing a whale watch early in the day, would you bundle up for that, assuming it's cooler out on the water? I'm sort of hoping to wear capris and cargo shorts for the trip, but would bring warmer for the whale watch.

Im sure tom will weigh in on this some more but being a commercial fisherman my whole life I would def plan on being cold. bring a nap sack with a hvy sweat shirt or jacket. shorts are iffy. have fun.

Would agree with lobster that it can get cooler out on the water - and layering up (or being prepared to) is a good idea. I usually wear shorts all the time, but people accuse me of being part Polar Bear.

And if you are lucky - and are the first one to spot a whale -you can bellow: Thar she blows.................

It's been a fairly warm/light winter here, but we are now getting the 2nd storm front moving through - in a week's time - and it's supposed to snow down to 3,000 feet tonight - so the foothills east of here might look pretty in the am. dos

Thanks, the layers/sweatshirt idea is a good one

Amy
Im not sure how long a whale trip is in san diego. It must depend on how far the boat has to travel to get to the whales . Its quite common here in maine to travel 20 plus miles to the area the whales are feeding etc. It all depends on the speed of the boat . that can turn into several hours, half a day etc. If your lucky, you wont have to travel that far and be out that long.

The further & longer you are out , the more apt you are to get cold. If you get a day thats a little windy ,that wind will feel cold due to the water temp. even if its a nice warm day at shore, it could be quite chilly on the water. not always, but more then often.

but again, if your only going to be out a short amount of time & not too far out, then it wont be that big a deal if its a nice day.

Usually - it's about a half day trip (4 hrs or so) - and in some of the boats - you can stay inside most of the time if you like. But a good windbreaker to put over the sweater is well advised, with a hood or maybe take a wool hat if it doesn't have a hoodie.

I think we went out with these guys a couple of years ago - and did see some whales, but some trips are better than others.

http://www.hornblower.com/hce/port/o...FYoZQgodVRODSw

I'm a born Bostonian so I consider myself hardy stock, but wasn't sure how warm warm is this time of year in San Diego. The whale watch is a half day but we' re going out early on the 9:00 boat, so guessing that will be cooler.

I am in San Diego right now and it is very cool in the morning and last night was in the high 40's. in rancho Bernardo - not sure how cool it got at the coast. It really is not always beach weather and Amy I would 100% be prepared for cool/cold weather out on the ocean.

Poor Mom. This is probably the coldest front we have had move through all winter. And unfortunately - for the next 10 days doesn't look like it's going to get much above the low 60's.

Hey - you should have been here a few weeks ago.

60's is pretty nice for walking around though. beats the 20's. cant wait.

wow. looks like there is alot going on at the safari zoo. zip lines , guided tours, drive your own car . any advice on getting around the safari park?

Take the trams to see the whole park - and also just walk. Great to explore. Also get the schedule for the various shows.

Was out at Dog Beach at Ocean Beach today - and had a couple of bites - presumably Halibut - but nothing in the old lunch pail.

It was nice and warm today and people were out all over, in summer garb.