Family California Trip - tips

[jazzybee]

Hi Guys,

I've been going to San Fran a lot over the past few years, and am getting to get the family to join me at the end of my next trip in December. I've not ventured south of San Simeon so am looking for some advice and tips for the rest of the trip.

I plan to pick them up in SF and know what to do up there, but then go down to LA then across to Arizona, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and back to LA.

Now am looking for some activities the kids would enjoy - I want to book some tickets to a TV Show in LA, preferably one of the teenage kids shows.

Tuscon, can you visit the airplane graveyard? Are there tickets and timings available for sale? I've not been able to find any.

Monument Valley: Where is the best place to head for to see the large rock formations? and whats a good town/hotel nearby to spend the night?

Grand Canyon: Best Vista? I was planning on heading for the Skywalk on the South Ridge - But I am not sure if that is the best place to visit or just a rip-off. It looks like a Helicoptor trip for the familty would be at least $500 - are there any offers anyone knows about to do it cheaper?

Area51: Kids love the idea of visiting Area51 but can't see anything worth visiting there. Any strange craters etc. around there anyone would recommend?

Any places/oddities I am missing on that route? We plan to do Disneyland and San Diago Zoo - We want to take a look around Hollywood etc. Tuscon we can skip altogether if we can't visit the airplane graveyard.

We will be driving for 10 days in the run up to Christmas and staying in hotels - Kids ages are 15yrs old boy and 10 yr old girl if that helps with suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

[Papoo]

Hello Sir,

As an expat now living in Scottsdale AZ (and spending a fair bit of time in Southern Cali), I'll happily offer my advice. I travel with my wife, so we don't focus on kids attractions, but I'm sure they would love the Alcatraz tour, Golden Gate, and an open-top bus tour.

In the LA area, there are a huge number of things to do, depending on your interests. Disney is there, and also it's fairly easy to get tickets to see a TV show. For the kids, Hollywood is a fun place to walk around. If you go down the boulevard, there's a whole world of people dressed up as film characters, lots of buzz in the air, and seeing all the stars' paving blocks on the walk of fame may be of interest. Warner Bros studios are open, too. You can do plenty of different bus tours from Hollywood - movie star home tours etc. Downtown LA is not for tourists, by all accounts. 1 block in the wrong direction, and you may be taking fire.

Depending on the time of year, there are some great areas of beach. Santa Monica, just to the north of LA has a busy beach, lots of surfing, decent shops (3rd St Promenade), restaurants etc. You are close to Newport beach, which is a great place to get on a boat and see a few types of whales and hundreds of Dolphins.

Slightly further north is Malibu. Very sleepy town, but with a very relaxing feel and great beaches. You'll see a few movie stars while you're there.

If you make it down to San Diego, Sea World is worth a visit as is Legoland, and of course SD Zoo, which is as good as they get. Downtown (Gaslamp Quarter) is a great place to go at night. Across the Bay is the island of Coronado. It's a quaint little town with some nice beaches. USS Midway is an aircraft carrier on the Harbour, which is now a museum. It is well worth a look. North of SD is La Jolla, which is a beautiful idyllic town set atop a cove.

Vegas is Vegas. Anything and everything! Go see a Cirque show at the MGM. I like CraftSteak for dinner there. Kids will love the show, too.

Monument valley is great to behold, but thinking of kids, you'll be driving forever to take MV in, on the way to AZ from Vegas.

If you go to AZ, as far as Tucson goes, yes, you can get a bus tour around the Davis-Monthan graveyard. With it being on an airbase, you can't get off the bus and crawl all over the aircraft, unfortunately. Other than that, there isn't much to do in Tucson. It aint pretty, but the concert hall has good stuff going on.

If you make it to the Phoenix area, Scottsdale is great for shopping (world class), art galleries, native american history, museums, and restaurants. Downtown Phoenix is mainly offices, and the Baseball field & NBA stadium. Lots of sports and concerts (Dodge Theatre). Tempe is where the university is, it's a busy metropolitan town. Pleasant day strolling around, but not sure about kids attractions. The rest of the Phoenix area (Glendale, Chandler etc) is pretty much suburbia.

The Canyon is a fair way North, with not much to do once you've peered over the edge. A helicopter ride is the best way of seeing it, but as you said, it's expensive. All the viewing areas give you a breathtaking view.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask about AZ, as I'm pretty well accustomed to it..

Edited by Papoo on Wednesday 11th November 00:39

[Strangely Brown]

jazzybee said:

Hi Guys,

Monument Valley: Where is the best place to head for to see the large rock formations? and whats a good town/hotel nearby to spend the night?

IMO, it is best to approach Monument Valley from the north and leave to the south. Either way, there are countless great views but it's worth going right up to the visitor centre. If you have an appropriate vehicle, you can drive around the area on the desert floor.

The only accommodation that I can recommend is La Posada in Winslow, AZ. The only problem is that it's quite a way from Monument Valley. It is within a reasonable distance of the Grand Canyon though. http://www.laposada.org/. While you're there, you can go to Stand on a that corner and you'll get to see some really impressive trains.

jazzybee said:

Any places/oddities I am missing on that route? We plan to do Disneyland and San Diago Zoo - We want to take a look around Hollywood etc. Tuscon we can skip altogether if we can't visit the airplane graveyard.

It might be worth swapping San Diego Zoo for San Diego Wild Animal Park. It's a better place to see animals in a more natural setting. And it's huge. Take the train around it if you want to see enough of it.

If you're down San Diego way and you never made it to Davis-Monthan AFB, then a visit to the USS Midway is worthwhile.

[Fidgits]

Strangely Brown said:

jazzybee said:

Hi Guys,

Monument Valley: Where is the best place to head for to see the large rock formations? and whats a good town/hotel nearby to spend the night?

IMO, it is best to approach Monument Valley from the north and leave to the south. Either way, there are countless great views but it's worth going right up to the visitor centre. If you have an appropriate vehicle, you can drive around the area on the desert floor.

Nah, i drove round it in a mustang convertible - so any car should be fine for getting around.

Definatley worth doing

[jazzybee]

Thanks for the tips guys - keep them coming.

Sounds like I need to spend a little more time in San Diego and skip Tuscon. A friend of mine considered moving there recently and spent 2 months out there - also one of my colleagues in SF I'll be meeting for work has lived in SD for 20 odd years.

In LA - My daughter wants autographs, where are the best places to hang out? Rodeo Drive? and Malibu? Are there any good reliable sites to get audience tickets to shows? I use applausestore here but when I do a google search for US alternatives, they look a little dodgy.

Kids are pretty good in the car - my Son has done a week of 6-8 hours a day around Europe recently and my Daughter is fine so long as she can get shopping breaks.

What is considered a 'Northern point' for Monument Valley? and which is the best Highway to follow?

Is there anything to do north of Las Vegas, or should we just leave it and head back to LA?

Thanks for the tips, and please do keep them coming

Edited by jazzybee on Wednesday 11th November 09:17

[Strangely Brown]

jazzybee said:

What is considered a 'Northern point' for Monument Valley? and which is the best Highway to follow?

It depends which direction you're coming from really. I only say that it's worth approaching from the north because you get this view:



However, coming in from the south you get this:



So either way is good. It is possible to do a loop to the north up 191 and approach heading south through Mexican Hat on 163. Be aware though that you are a long way from anything else out there.

jazzybee said:

Is there anything to do north of Las Vegas, or should we just leave it and head back to LA?

The only thing north of Las Vegas that is within a reasonable distance is Death Valley. It's quite spectacular but, as you would expect, there is nothing there. The kids might not find it too appealing. The Hoover Dam, to the east, would be a better bet.

It is quite easy to try and fit too much in for one trip. It is easy to spend the majority of the day just travelling to get somewhere and end up leaving yourself with no time to actually see the place. Personally, I quite enjoy that but your preference may vary. As I am sure that you are already aware, the distances over there can be huge.

[jazzybee]

Strangely Brown said:

It is quite easy to try and fit too much in for one trip. It is easy to spend the majority of the day just travelling to get somewhere and end up leaving yourself with no time to actually see the place. Personally, I quite enjoy that but your preference may vary. As I am sure that you are already aware, the distances over there can be huge.

Thanks - that is exactly how we spend most of our holidays, and the kids like it. They don't want to spend several hours looking around Hoover Dam, but driving over it, maybe stopping for 5-10mins would be great. The way I look at it, is, to show them as much of the world as I possibly can while they are young, then they have their whole lives to go back and investigate the memorable bits they enjoyed. For our Italian trip, after Venice, Florence, Pisa, Verona and Brescia it was Como they loved the most and said they would love to go back to.

[Strangely Brown]

In that case, you'll have a wonderful time.

The other thing that I would say is that it is very easy to overdose on "bigness". Once you get away from the major centres of population the vistas are HUGE, and every horizon reveals a new one. I have found myself becoming quite jaded after a couple of weeks at a time, but I wouldn't swap any of it and I am looking forward to doing lots more.

ETA: Just noticed the pic in your profile.

Here's one of my first trip to Monument Valley.

Edited by Strangely Brown on Wednesday 11th November 10:08

[Rofly Lollers]

Strangely Brown said:

... Death Valley. It's quite spectacular but, as you would expect, there is nothing there.

I would disagree!
Sure, most people drive to badwater and say they've "done" Death Valley, but there is so much more to it than that.

Artists Palette,
20 mule Team Drive,
Zabriskie point,
Dante's View
Rhyolite ghost town,
Titus Canyon
Ubehebe Crater
Numerous gold, lead and Borax mines (some of which are open to explore)
The Racetrack
Charcoal Kilns,
Scotty's Castle,
Sand dunes,
Aguereberry point


... and more.

[Strangely Brown]

Rofly Lollers said:

I would disagree!
Sure, most people drive to badwater and say they've "done" Death Valley, but there is so much more to it than that.

Happy to stand corrected. To my shame, I did base my comment on having just driven through to Lone Pine. It was quite "empty". Maybe I'll go back and explore the area a bit more.

Edited by Strangely Brown on Wednesday 11th November 10:57

[Rofly Lollers]

jazzybee said:

Monument Valley: Where is the best place to head for to see the large rock formations? and whats a good town/hotel nearby to spend the night?

There are two main hotels there,

1) The View Hotel
2) Gouldings Lodge.


I stayed at the View. The view from the View was spectacular.
The valley floor is quite flat, so you can drive around in a standard car, but it is very dusty. A Navajo guide is required for access to lots of the roads though.

[jazzybee]

Thanks for all the tips. I just reworked the route, and it is coming out quite long - 2248 miles over 10 days. 48 suggested hours of driving.

Strangely Brown - Perfect choice of car for the trip
My plan last year was to have my son fly out to SF, buy a Mk1 Miata and spend the next 2 weeks driving across the country to meet the wife and daughter at her family's place in Maryland - and leave the car for our trips there. Unfortunately work got a little too intense last year.

Rofly - thanks for those points in Death Valley, I am going to try and roll in the crater and Fossil fall into our trip.

[V12Les]

Fidgits said:

Strangely Brown said:

jazzybee said:

Hi Guys,

Monument Valley: Where is the best place to head for to see the large rock formations? and whats a good town/hotel nearby to spend the night?

IMO, it is best to approach Monument Valley from the north and leave to the south. Either way, there are countless great views but it's worth going right up to the visitor centre. If you have an appropriate vehicle, you can drive around the area on the desert floor.

Nah, i drove round it in a mustang convertible - so any car should be fine for getting around.

Definatley worth doing

And here he is!


Its a no brainer, you must drive in and around. You'll miss loads if you dont. Dont take a ride in one of their "buses" tho.

[Fidgits]

jazzybee said:

Thanks for all the tips. I just reworked the route, and it is coming out quite long - 2248 miles over 10 days. 48 suggested hours of driving.

Strangely Brown - Perfect choice of car for the trip
My plan last year was to have my son fly out to SF, buy a Mk1 Miata and spend the next 2 weeks driving across the country to meet the wife and daughter at her family's place in Maryland - and leave the car for our trips there. Unfortunately work got a little too intense last year.

Rofly - thanks for those points in Death Valley, I am going to try and roll in the crater and Fossil fall into our trip.

remember, driving in the US is much easier than the UK - so that 2000 miles will be quite easy (except around LA) - we did over 3000 in 14 days.. though we didnt have kids in all honesty which might make it tough.

[Bill]

Fidgits said:

jazzybee said:

Thanks for all the tips. I just reworked the route, and it is coming out quite long - 2248 miles over 10 days. 48 suggested hours of driving.

remember, driving in the US is much easier than the UK - so that 2000 miles will be quite easy (except around LA) - we did over 3000 in 14 days.. though we didnt have kids in all honesty which might make it tough.

It's still a hell of a lot of driving. I'm not convinced spending 20% of the holiday in a car is a good plan, particularly with kids.

[Fidgits]

Bill said:

Fidgits said:

jazzybee said:

Thanks for all the tips. I just reworked the route, and it is coming out quite long - 2248 miles over 10 days. 48 suggested hours of driving.

remember, driving in the US is much easier than the UK - so that 2000 miles will be quite easy (except around LA) - we did over 3000 in 14 days.. though we didnt have kids in all honesty which might make it tough.

It's still a hell of a lot of driving. I'm not convinced spending 20% of the holiday in a car is a good plan, particularly with kids.

as i say, other than 1 day (in which we had bad weather and drove from Yellowstone (in snow and sleet) over the mountains to Salt Lake City (in the rain) then down the freeway to Cedar City (about an hour from Vegas), the driving days really werent that bad - there is usually so much to see.

I dont know on the kids front though, it could be tough for them, but the experience is well worth it.

[Bill]

Don't get me wrong, I'd love it but SWMBO would be driven spare