Travel advice please?

[Sparkle]

Hey Sparkle, I only just saw your post but bbill's advice is spot on. My wife and I did a California road trip a few years back and we pretty much covered everything Bill said.

From Vegas through Death Valley is amazing and the views of the Sierras are well worth it. Tioga Pass to Yosemite is breathtaking. In my view you have to do Yosemite, but also Sequoia National Park (the trees there are HUGE and one of the most amazing things I have seen). Big Sur is beautiful. Forget Carmel (it's a touristy toytown), but stop at Santa Cruz (it's a fantastic little place) - Jefferson Starship were playing a free gig on the boardwalk when we were there!

Just thinking about it makes me want to do it all again. It was the best holiday I ever had.

Hope you enjoy it.

Brilliant, thanks Paulie. I think we'll definitely be doing Yosemite, clearly it's not to be missed.

[Penny Lane]

yeah stay away from the subway in LA

Why is this? Unsafe? Congested? Sorry to sound really naive but I doubt the guide books are gonna tell me things like this which I really need to know.

vespa or someone else can probably attest more to this but the subways in say Chicago, DC or NY, which everyone takes, are a lot nicer; in LA everyone drives so the subways aren't that nice/safe/clean--try to stay above ground and drive or take the bus. i think you are going to be surprised at how little there is to see in LA (IMO) CA is so awesome other than LA;

[Sparkle]

yeah stay away from the subway in LA

Why is this? Unsafe? Congested? Sorry to sound really naive but I doubt the guide books are gonna tell me things like this which I really need to know.

vespa or someone else can probably attest more to this but the subways in say Chicago, DC or NY, which everyone takes, are a lot nicer; in LA everyone drives so the subways aren't that nice/safe/clean--try to stay above ground and drive or take the bus. i think you are going to be surprised at how little there is to see in LA (IMO) CA is so awesome other than LA;

Oh right, ok, thanks. Guess that makes sense if everyone's driving. Have made up my mind to spend less time in LA - just need to get my sister on board now. Thanks for your help.

[pawpaw]

HA! Thanks for the endorsement PW...you sound like someone with traveling tastes similar to mine! Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are adjacent to each other, are spectacular, and if you want to explore more mountains after going to Yosemite, definitely go there.

LA does have a lot of problems, and I don't claim to know everything about the city (try to pm ms. yvon or chief OKONOKO, or one of our other Angelinos), but I think LA is pretty cool, and since you're flying in and out of it, you should definitely explore. Great museums (the Getty, LA County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art LA), plus a lot of cool galleries in Downtown/Chinatown. The Huntington Library and Gardens near Pasadena are really nice. Get out to the beach too - it's hard to beat having a couple beers in a seaside bar, watching the sun go down over the Pacific. And I'm not much of a shopper, but if you are or your sister is, LA is the place for it. Also, find a good Mexican restaurant while you're there...I'm not sure where you're from, but I'm pretty sure you don't have Mexican food as good as LA.

I CAN recommend quite a lot on San Francisco though...good bars and restaurants, shopping, neighborhoods to see or avoid...I used to live there, and I love the city, love to talk about it. Also, if you want to camp while you're in California, I know a lot about that kind of stuff too.

Alright, I'm done (for now)... ;D

[Soulshine]

I love San Francisco. Las Vegas is fun even if you dont gamble. You can just walk around and see everything. Go to the Bellagio and check out some Dale Chihuly glass.  :o

[Sparkle]

I love San Francisco. Las Vegas is fun even if you dont gamble. You can just walk around and see everything. Go to the Bellagio and check out some Dale Chihuly glass.  :o

Yeah, I doubt the budget is going to allow any gambling. Just had to google Dale Chihuly... pretty cool  :)

[Sparkle]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to say thanks for your recommendations on this thread and via PM. Got back from our trip a few days ago and had the best time. Highlights were definitely the Grand Canyon (wow), Yosemite and Big Sur. I'm a huge fan of the outdoors and definitely got my fix of beautiful scenery. We covered about 2700 miles and the driving was really easy – got used to driving on the wrong side pretty quickly and managed not to crash the car which was an obvious bonus! Met up with family I'd never seen before in San Diego who hooked us up with free accommodation in Orange County so we were able to skip LA too. All round it was a great trip, everyone was really friendly and we'll definitely be back, hopefully very soon.

Me at the Grand Canyon & Yosemite:

[pawpaw]

Hey, glad you enjoyed your trip!!!  :)

[Paulie_Walnuts]

Yeah, made me really jealous. I'd love to do it all over again.

Hey Bill, did you ever make it to the ghost town of Bodie? That was a great place I'm glad I made it to.

[pawpaw]

Yeah, made me really jealous. I'd love to do it all over again.

Hey Bill, did you ever make it to the ghost town of Bodie? That was a great place I'm glad I made it to.

Yeah, I did get out to Bodie once, a couple years ago. That place is pretty cool, seeing how well the interiors of some of the buildings have been preserved (I guess dry, desert air allows for that). That was a wild place too, in its day.

[Sparkle]

Yeah, made me really jealous. I'd love to do it all over again.

Hey Bill, did you ever make it to the ghost town of Bodie? That was a great place I'm glad I made it to.

Yeah, I did get out to Bodie once, a couple years ago. That place is pretty cool, seeing how well the interiors of some of the buildings have been preserved (I guess dry, desert air allows for that). That was a wild place too, in its day.

We also made the detour to Bodie on the way to Yosemite and I'm really glad we did, it was a pretty neat place. Thanks for that recommendation Paulie  :)

[The DARK]

I think I've taken photos at that exact same location (to the inch)