brie

I know, I know, "don't do it". But I am doing it, so I need help.

We (me, DH, 9yo and 12yo) will be staying in the San Simeon area Sat night (hopefully touring the castle Sat afternoon) and sleeping in LA Sunday night. I am looking for suggestions on how to spend Sunday to maximize enjoyment and minimize sitting in traffic. We fully realize that we won't be able to see everything CA has to offer, but we'd like to maximize the enjoyment in what we do see/do.

This is part of a SF-SD itinerary and Sunday is the beginning of our LA stay. We could spend the whole day outside of LA, or we could get to LA earlier and spend some of Sun there. Which do you recommend and what would you do with the time? When are we likely to hit the worst traffic where?

Thanks to all the CA experts out there!!

here_today_gone2Maui

Of course, "do it!"

It's about 4 hours and change from San Simeon to LA, depending on where you need to go. I have driven from LA to Cambria/San Simeon many times for the weekend. I had one memorable trip a few years ago with just my daughter and myself, just before she graduated and went off the college. We spent a day at San Simeon, had a nice dinner in Cambria and headed home to Pasadena the next morning. We took our time home, haviong breakfast at Dorn's in Morro Bay and stopped at the missions in San Louis Obispo and Santa Barbara, looked for butterflies in Lompoc, found a French-style bistro aon the water for a late lunch al fresco in Oxnard, and even wandered off the path to Santa Paula, stopping at a roadside stand to buy fresh oranges and corn to bring home and to extend the trip a bit longer because we were enjoying the drive. We were home in plenty of time for dinner.

bookhall

Here's a vote for Santa Barbara. I've got some pictures in an album at http://community.webshots.com/user/bookhall . We found that the one place on our California trip that was a delightful surprise, and wish we'd spent more time there.

joesorce

I'd stay in Santa Barbara instead of San Simeon........then head down to LA in the early afternoon. The traffic gets tight about 10 miles south of Santa Barbara but only for about 5 miles. Usually 5pm to about 9pm I'd say.

brie

Thanks....Specifics about likely traffic conditions are especially helpful.

here_today, your experience sounds lovely, but was this a summer (beach) weekend? I've heard dire warnings....

bookhall, we'd love to spend time in SB en route. What do you particularly recommend?

And joesorce, I'd love to stay in SB but it's a Sat night and I've had no luck finding 1 night 2 rooms 3 beds <$200 w/pkg and pool south of Cambria. Do you know any magic?

Thanks and keep the great advice coming!

here_today_gone2Maui

Brie, yes, this was our last summer trip before she started her senior year of high school. We wanted to spend the day tasking the time to "see" things we normally buzzed on past, kind of a stop and smell the roses roadtrip.

The key to that particular trip was to leave early and to avoid coming into LA on the 101, hence the detour on the 126 out of Ventura. It took us out of our way a bit, but we had decided that we would rather spend the extra time driving through rural countryside than sitting in traffic. While it may not have shortened the drive any, is was much more enjoyable than sitting in stop and go traffic in the Valley and we got to see something new.

The traffic coming into LA on the 101 is pretty heavy on any given weekend. Actually, I can't think of anytime that stretch of freeway is a joy to drive.
If you just want to get to LA, hit the road early and you can be there in time for lunch and you will miss the afternoon traffic.