Anaheim

Oh we're definitely gonna be mobile, Anaheim is just kind of gonna be our home base.We definitely plan on trying to see some of S. Ca. while we're there.We've only been to Ca. once and that was San. Fran.
My preliminary research last night came up with maybe a night or two in newport beach. I'm trying to do something either north or south on Rt.1 and checking it out, Newport is the only one so far. If anyone has any other ideas, whether be be north,south,up,down,sideways, shout it out please. I know the wife wants to see LA but I have no idea what to do or see there, she mentioned Rodeo Dr.(sightseeing only! said I). Is the southern rt.1 from long beach to Newport very scenic?, I know the drive from San Fran to bodega bay was one of the coolest and beautiful drives I've taken,in the top 5 fr sure.

LA. Does anyone have any ideas for spending a day or two in LA? Is Chinatown worth a visit(love the food)?Venice Beach?The previously mentioned rodeo Dr.?Anywhere..Buehler..Buehler..?

I really appreciate all the help and comments, J

BTW Would love to have a meet with RM or Forky. Togother...hmmm, unless they promised to not be assholes to each other, I'd love it. I bet if we actually met, it would be a good time

Okay, you asked for it.

Newport Beach, not Newport, is plenty close enough to Anaheim for just a day trip, so I'd save my hotel money to splurge on something else. There are some nice dinner and day cruises out of the harbor and into the open ocean, and I think the view is spectacular.

LA's Chinatown is for real. Last time I was there, some merchants had their vegetables spread out on the sidewalk, and I peeked inside their social club and saw some very serious looking ancients playing mahjong, probably for serious money. Use Yelp on your phone to choose a restaraurant, since the hole-in-the-walls are usually the best places - in my opinon. And the voluminous shopping will be slightly cheaper than Rodeo Drive.

A little over walking distance from there is the Ahmanson Theatre. I just checked, and while you're there it will be A Trip to Bountiful starring Cisely Tyson, who won the 2013 Tony for her performance. PM me if you want to know how to get first 15 row orchestra seats, and probably first ten, for $20 total, no Ticketmaster charge. You'll be close enough to count her wrinkles.

The architecture of the nearby Disney Concert Hall is spectacular, as are the acoustics if you decide to attend. And if anyone is Catholic, the architecture of the downtown cathedral is very unusual - love it or hate it.

Venice Beach is fun, but be sure and wear dark sunglasses for protection - because you don't want your wife to see that you are spending all of your time watching girls in their bikinis bounce by on their roller blades. (Now I bet you'll definitely go there.)

If you're adventurous and want to do something even the locals don't know about, drive a little up the coast from Venice Beach, skip the public beaches, and access the formerly private beaches of Malibu. The parking is plentiful, free, and actually closer to the water than at the public beaches. At Carbon Beach (Billionaire's Beach), as you walk through the Zonker Harris Accessway, David Geffen's compound will be immediatley on the left, Sinatra's unspectacular old pad several lots off to the right. Between there and the Malibu Colony, you'll be legally traversing the "private" beaches of the likes of Barbra Streissand, Suzanne Somers, Judd Apatow, Larry Ellison, Courtney Cox, etc.

It's public up to the daily high water line, so you can always walk on wet sand, and if you're willing to consult a map, you can find dry sand to picnic on. Here is a very complete guide, and btw, I'm in the video for about one second. There is an iPhone app, "Our Public Beaches," and there is supposed to be one for Android any time now. And don't stay too long, because there are no restrooms or snack bars. So like I said, this would be an adventure.

And you're less than two hours from San Diego, so let me know if that's a possiblity.

Hope that helps.

Southern California has a lot to offer in terms of attractions, tours, beaches, the Mountains (including Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake), and the Desert (including Palm Springs [which is East of Los Angeles and Anaheim] -- which is known for the Mineral Baths, the Palm Springs Arial Tramway, The Living Desert Preserve and an Aviation Museum Plus Native American Casinos as well as Death Valley [which is in the other direction -- a detour on the way to or from Las Vegas]) and from Anaheim you should be less than 2 hours from San Diego (which has Sea World, The San Diego Zoo as well as The Wild Animal Park among other museums and attractions) and it's about 2 hours or so away from Tijuana, Mexico (if you want to go that far South -- but you might need a Passport to go there). Plus Las Vegas (at least from Los Angeles) is about 280 Miles (one way) away.

All these places have at least tours and museums to check out and Los Angeles has several things to check out as well including Hollywood (Hollywood Blvd., The Hollywood Walk Of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theater [where the celebrity hand and/or footprints are] plus the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium and Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, The Max Factor Hollywood Cosmetics {Makeup} Museum, maybe going on something like the TMZ Tour of celebrity stuff), The La Brea Tar Pits, The L.A. County Museum Of Art, The Petersen Automotive Museum (Please note that the La Brea Tar Pits, The L.A. County Museum Of Art and the Petersen Automotive Museum are all within blocks of each other and this stuff is also very close to The Original Farmer's Market and The Grove LA [see below]), Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Olvera Street, Westwood (where UCLA is), Beverly Hills, Universal Studios (and maybe even Warner Brothers Studios and/or Paramount Studios -- but check into that), The Original Farmer's Market and The Grove LA (which has shopping, movies, food as well as dancing fountains done by the people who did the fountains at Bellagio), The Getty Center Museum (in West Los Angeles) as well as the Santa Monica Pier (and the Getty Villa in I think Malibu), The Queen Mary Ocean Liner (that's in Long Beach -- which is not far from Anaheim), Newport Beach and Balboa Island as well as Venice Beach.

And then there is also other stuff up further North such as Magic Mountain (that's another amusement park) in Valencia (which is off of Interstate 5) as well as Santa Barbara, Solvang (which is a quaint Danish town -- if I'm remembering correctly) and San Simeon (where Hearst Castle is) -- which are off of Highway 101.

And speaking of Highway 101, it and Highway 1 (the Pacific Coast Highway) meet up up North (I think by Ventura or Oxnard or something).

And if you're interested, maybe you could catch a baseball game with either the Los Angeles Dodgers, The Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim or the San Diego Padres (if any of them by then are involved in Post-Season games -- if that's still going on by then). Otherwise, there's also maybe a football game with the San Diego Chargers.

And if you're a member of the Auto Club (AAA), you might be able to get discounts to at least some of these attractions and maybe to some restaurants as well, so check into that as well!

Enjoy!

RecVPPlayer

Wowza, that's A LOT of stuff to do and check out, thank you forky and RVP. Really appreciate all the suggestions. As usual I'll start making my list, that will end up a mile long, and we'll pick whatever we feel like for the day.

I'm starting to wonder about this burn conference, I sure as hell hope they don't want me to speak or anything, EGADS! I don't do well at public speaking, AT ALL.

Hey, I love Disneyland. One of the best vacations I ever had with the family was two weeks in Disney World. My favorite ride at both Disneys is Soarin at California Adventure (get a Hopper Pass for both parks), but we also LOVE Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Indiana Jones, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. I just got back from a week in Vegas and even with RFB at the Mirage and Golden Nugget, BUT I would leave for Disneyland today!

You're very welcome! Yes, Southern California is a wide area (North of Santa Barbara County I think becomes Central California) and there is a lot that people can see and do.

There also is Gray Line Tours to check out (I'm pretty sure that there is an Auto Club [AAA] discount for that one too and they offer all kinds of tours around Los Angeles from Los Angeles as well as from Anaheim) and another thing to possibly do would be to take a boat out to Santa Catalina Island (which had more than one song written about it which are called "26 Miles Across The Sea" [I think that it's 26 Miles from San Pedro or maybe Long Beach] Plus the song "Avalon" by Al Jolson).

And see my initial post in this thread because I have now added some more information to it.

Another place to check out California and Southern California things is to go online to the "Huell Howser Archives" (this is Videos from all of the TV shows that he did for Public Television which is still a work in progress since he did so many shows over the years -- he unfortunately passed away last year). He did a lot of shows going all over California (and sometimes other places as well including to the kind of hidden places in Las Vegas).

As for the Burn Conference, maybe you should tell your Therapist that you are not a good speaker but maybe you could write something out about your experience that maybe could be handed out and then maybe you could answer questions that the attendees may have.

RecVPPlayer

If you want to go down to San Diego, you may want to consider taking the train. You can pick it up in Anaheim. When it reaches the Capistrano Beach/Dana Point area it runs along the coast for virtually the rest of the way into San Diego.

John, there's a Discount for Amtrack (the Train) if you book it through the Auto Club (AAA). And always check into any other discounts that may apply to anywhere that you may end up going.

And if you take the train to San Diego, then you'd have to find transportation to the attractions down there. I'm sure that tours are available around there as well. There also are Auto Club Discounts for I think all three of the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park (it may have another name now) and Sea World.

RecVPPlayer

If you are interested in antiquing, head to the city of Orange, they have some cool shops near the traffic circle. It is maybe 15 minutes from Anaheim

In addition to everything mentioned above, if you are going to SoCal in October you could take one of the whale-watching tours from one of the coastal cities like Dana Point. Whales travel between the feeding grounds near Alaska and the birthing grounds off the coast of Mexico during the fall and spring, though I don't remember which direction they're going in the fall.

If you're a Catholic or a history buff, there's the Mission San Juan Capistrano which is in southern Orange County. Good insight into early California history. For the Republican-inclined, there's also the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, just NE of Anaheim.