We are spending four days in vegas this December and trying to plan a road trip up the coast of California. Presently we are thinking of Carmel or Santa Barbara. Any other ideas for us. We would prefer a smaller community as opposed to the big cities like LA or SanDiego. Would appreciate any other of the beaten track,well kept secret havens any one knows about.

Carmel is lovely but pretty expensive. Great places to stay all over & terrific fine art community. Not sure how much time you have for your coast trip. Santa Barbara is a good bet. Fess parker Doubletree is a nice place & across from the ocean, there is also Bath St. Inn which is terrific. We did a Segway tour that was so much fun http://www.segwayofsb.com/try_tours.html
the Botanical gardens & SB Zoo are great spots.
The Palace Grill is fun but can be very busy, Jane is a great bistro type place. High tea at the 4 Seasons Biltmore is a true experience.

You'll probably have better luck with finding good weather in December if you stick to Southern California. It can be very nice along the Central Coast but you could also run into some severe weather.

Generally, the coast south of Santa Barbara will be nicer that time of year.

I agree about the weather - Carmel is going to be chilly, whereas San Diego will be darn near perfect.

And you don't actually have to go into the city limits of San Diego, you could hang in north county in Del Mar or Encinitas, to get your small community feel.

If you want to be south of Santa Barbara, consider Carpinteria, great beach. North of Santa Barbara don't count on beach weather, but some nice small towns are Pismo Beach, Morro Bay, Cambria and Half Moon Bay.

No place in CA has beach weather in December. The only people in the water will be surfers wearing wet suits.