ChristieP

My husband and I are making a quick trip out to see the Reagan Library/Air Force One in September. We are flying in on Sunday afternoon, and plan on spending half of Monday at the museum, and flying back Wednesday morning. So we will have Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday free. I love wineries, and we both enjoy seeing historical sites, hiking, and shopping. We will have a car, and we are willing to drive a couple of hours if needed. (I've already seen Sequoia NP.) Any suggestions, along with dining and hotel recommendations, are appreciated!

krgystn

Make sure air force one is on display-- they are doing some rennovations and I don't believe it is open right now.

joesorce

Ojai, California would be a nice jaunt from Simi after the Reagan Library. Are you staying in Burbank Monday and Tuesday night or willing to stay elsewhere on Monday? Santa Barbara would also be a nice place to spend Monday night and most of Tuesday, but then I guess you're wanting to be near Burbank airport on Tuesday evening?
Note: traffic from Burbank out to the Reagan Library will be a little rough if you leave Burbank before 10am.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/arti...i-california/1

ChristieP

Website says Air Force One is open, as is most of the museum, during renovations.

We were planning to stay near the museum Sunday night, but after that, I'm open. Santa Barbara would be neat!

Our flight out Wednesday is at noon, and we arrive at 11 on Sunday, so hopefully traffic will be OK.

krgystn

If you stay in Santa Barbara, there is great wine tasting one hour north in the Santa Ynez valley.

krgystn

You also have Universal Studios or Griffith Park if you want to stay closer to Burbank.

joesorce

You might consider heading up to Ojai or Santa Barbara on Sunday, and staying two nights. Then on Tuesday heading back towards Burbank and stopping at the Reagan museum all afternoon. Then Tuesday night in Burbank or Hollywood so your closer to the airport for your departure. Tuesday night out near Simi would be fine, too....departing Simi at 10am should easily put you at Burbank airport ticket counter by 10:45.

ChristieP

Thanks Joe. I think we might just end up doing that. Going the long way out on Sunday and coming back and staying closer Tuesday makes more sense.

The Santa Barbara Wineries look wonderful!! I think strolling around Los Olivos and visiting the tasting rooms would be great! We could do that all day Monday.

dbdurand

I have some recommendations for the Santa Barbara portion of your trip.

1. Before you go, rent and watch a copy of the movie "Sideways". In 2004, it got an Oscar for best screenplay and received excellent reviews. The action involves a lot of wine tasting and drinking, all in the Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez Valley area.

2. Go to this website.
http://www.santabarbaraca.com/experi...rism/sideways/

Click on the link "Download the PDF". This will yield "Sideways, The Map", which you can use as you see fit as a guide. It should be useful and fun.

3. Before you visit the Santa Barbara Mission, read at least part of the history of the 21 California Missions. All 4th graders in California study the missions and if possible visit one. Quite feasible if you live anywhere near hwy.101 (El Camino Real). California was a Spanish colony until 1821 and after the Mexican war of independence, a Mexican colony until 1848. Forgive me if those dates are a little off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Missions

4. Things to do besides stare at the ocean. (About 5 minutes of that and I get restless).
http://www.santabarbara.com/points_of_interest/

5. Eat breakfast at Sambos. If you're black, you may bridle at the name, but the website explains how it came about. Sort of.
http://www.sambosrestaurant.com/610/index.htm

6. Look at this tree! Largest of its variety in the US, and it's FREE. Much bigger than it looks in the picture.
http://www.beachcalifornia.com/sbtree.html

ChristieP

Thanks for all of the great tips!!

We've decided to stay at Casa Del Mar in Santa Barbara Sun-Mon nights. We're planning to drop our stuff off on Sunday afternoon, then head for the Wharf for dinner. I'm actually looking forward to watching the sunset over the ocean. We are from Texas (NOT near the ocean) so this will be a real treat!

I've scoped out some wineries in Los Olivos. The downtown area looks neat!! Suggestions for lunch there would be great.

We do want to stop and see the Mission. Being from Texas, we also had Spanish Missions. One of them is kind of famous for a battle that was fought there in 1836... ;-) We'll either do this on Sunday if we arrive before check-in, or Tuesday morning before we head to Reagan Library.

Oh! Suggestions for hotel for 1 night in Simi Valley? Holiday Inn Express looks pretty safe.

We had a Sambos in Texas when I was a kid. I remember eating there with my grandma!

divineMissM

Westlake Village is a tourist-friendly area near Simi, there is a Hyatt there and a Renassiance Marriott nearby in Calabasas. Also some smaller hotels. A couple of the restaurants have seating out on the little lake.
However, the drive from the Simi area into Burbank is a parking lot every morning from 7am to 10am. I don't think I would put myself in that mess. Better to have dinner somewhere after your Reagan Library visit, and then maybe head to a Burbank hotel after 8pm. A Hollywood hotel would work too, but getting into Hollywood at 9pm and leaving next morning at 10:30am doesn't leave you much time to see anything in Hollywood.

Theoretically Simi to Burbank leaving at 10am should get you into burbank airport by 10:45am, and Burbank airport is a breeze in regards to returning a rental car and walking to the terminal. But an accident on the freeway would be disastrous for you. Consider Hotel Amarano in Burbank or the Best Western. In the morning you could "hike" around the neighborhood of Warner Brothers Studio and Toluca Lake where several stars had homes back in the day. (I don't think you could fit in the WB 2 hour tour if your flight is at noon sharp, however.) The Annabelle hotel is fine as well, or there is a Holiday Inn. And for something to do in the morning, you could take an hour drive around "Griffith Park" or even fit in a quick trip to the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum if it opens at 9am that day. It's just 15 min drive to Burbank airport.

maitaitom

Griffith Observatory.
http://www.griffithobs.org/

You get a historical place and you can park below and hike up to the observatory.

ChristieP

Thanks for the recommendations! Staying in Burbank might be a good idea. I don't want to get stuck in traffic and miss our flight home because it would mean having to stay another day!

Gene Autry Museum is AMAZING! I've been there once. It would be neat to go again and see their Bohlin saddle collection again...

dbdurand

First, you will have to do a little work if you want to see the the sun drop into the sea at sunset. That's because Santa Barbara is on a south facing portion of the coast. If you check a map you will see that there is some land between the end of Stearns Wharf, for example, and an unobstructed view to the western horizon. There are places you can go to get such a view, a fairly short distance up the coast from downtown SB.

Lunch in Los Olivos. The obvious choice is the Olivos Cafe. It's featured in "Sideways" and gets good reviews.

joesorce

Unfortunately the Autry museum doesn't open until 10am and it's 15-20 minutes drive to Burbank airport. You wouldn't even be able to browse an hour there before heading off to your noontime flight.

And, sigh, Griffith Observatory is now closed on Mondays AND Tuesdays due to the bankruptcy of the city of Los Angeles.

You did mention shopping, if nothing else on Wednesday morning you should have time to visit "IT's A Wrap"...a store in BUrbank that sells used-clothing with a twist....it's all from the wardrobe department of current tv shows. It's on Magnolia Blvd in Burbank and only a five minute drive from there to Burbank airport.
www.itsawraphollywood.com

ChristieP

We went ahead and booked the Holiday Inn Express in Universal City on Cahuenga Blvd.

Bummer that the Autry Museum won't open early enough...

joesorce

If you can get the Safari Motel in Burbank, or the Hampton Inn, or the Best Western North Hollywood or even the Tangerine Motel in Burbank, all would be better choices in that pricerange than that Holiday Inn Express. It's not one of Holiday Inn's better efforts, and I believe there is also road construction on that block all night long at the freeway exit ramp.
. Also avoid Ramada Inn and Quality Inn and Comfort Inn in the area.

ChristieP

I switched to the Tangerine Motel. Website looks cute and Tripadvisor reviews are all positive. Rate is also MUCH better than the others, and they offer a military discount! Thanks!

ChristieP

Any recommendations for a restaurant near the Tangerine?

joesorce

There's a decent Mexican restaurant, Don Cuco's, next door to the Tangerine, and a few blocks west in the Toluca Lake neighborhood there is Timmy Nolan's Pub which is casual with great food. Also Trattoria Proscecco, Malbec Argentine Grill and Bistro Provence are just a few blocks from the hotel. Reviews are on yelp.com

However, as another poster suggested, you might want to dine in Simi Valley and wait out the traffic which is pretty bad from 4pm to 8pm.
For breakfast in the morning,Bea Bea's is about a 10 minute walk from the Tangerine, or try Paty's Coffee Shop.

By the way, Tangerine is a roadside motel just a half-block from WB studios. The website makes it look a lot more upscale than it actually is, but it's a step up from that Holiday Inn Express especially location-wise. For an evening walk head east on Riverside past Olive, take a right on Avon , and you'll circle the movie studio where Bette Davis had her classic fights, demanding better roles from Jack Warner.