LA & San Diego days out advice

trets77

Warner Bros Studio tour is great and much more to see than the Universal Studio ride which is basically just thrills and scares between famous outdoor sets .

http://www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/

kipperman

San Diego Zoo is great - and La Jolla well worth a visit. ( Harry's diner there a particular favourite of the children). I see you've done Seaworld, which I would have advised against anyway. Horribly American ( strange that!) and very busy. Trolley bus tours good, do them early which will give you an idea of the places to go back to.

Churchmouse

Unless I've missed it, nobody's answered about Del Mar races. My son lived about a 10 minute walk from there for over a year. Great racetrack, and a good day out. We went on the infield both times. If I went again, I'd like to try the stands, but the infield was great! They have dirt and grass tracks, and the whole thing is very entertaining.

As others have said San Diego zoo is a must. Balboa Park houses this and lots of museums, that DH and I loved. I don't usually like zoos, but I adore this one. The panda in my avatar is a photo I took in the zoo. They really take animal welfare seriously, to the point that sometimes you won't see certain animals because they all have access to *private* places, out of sight of visitors.

We loved Old Town, and were lucky that on our first visit there was a Mexican Festival being held there. Step into the general store and it's just like stepping into Little House on the Prairie:rotfl:

La Jolla is beautiful. Seals in the harbour, but if you do the cliff walk, you'll come across the sea-lions. Great to observe the differences.

You can drive across the Coronado bridge into Coronado. The crossing itself is an experience!!!

Enjoy!

debs66_2

Churchmouse - big thanks for the Del Mar info. I think we will definitely go there now.

Kipperman - you are right about Seaworld, we wouldn't go back unless the kids were very small. all a bit 'colgate ring of confidence'!!

For anyone else's benefit who is reading this thread, we did some fab things last year that we will do again, such as a Padres baseball game, which was a great night out. We also visited Escondido on a Friday evening. Through the summer they run a Cruisin' Grand night, from about 5pm until 9pm ish. 400+ custom and vintage car owners meet over three parallel streets and cruise continually down the main street, called Grand Street. There was a roadside DJ playing 50s music, and bikers, families, you name it, every age group admiring the cars. The vibe was wonderful in this lovely old town on a balmy summer's night.

We also enjoyed downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarter, but really wanted to know whether any of the other parks are worth a day out. I think really because Seaworld was a bit of a letdown.

Thanks again everyone! :beer:

Pennywise

Tijuana is an "experience". The contrast between USA and Mexico is something to see. But, as already said, Tijuana is quite tacky, mainly catering to those tourists crossing the border, lots of tat. Also, expect a long queue to get back into America. All in all, an interesting day out, but if you're hoping to see the culture of Mexico, you'll be disappointed.

It's a shame that you're tied in to staying in LA and SanDiego. We stayed in San Francisco for a few days, which was excellent, boat trip around the bay, visit to Alcatraz, trip to the Napa Valley vineyards, shopping in the city, tram cars, etc. Likewise, probably too far to go to Grand Canyon. Try going north next time!

kipperman

It was the bit during the orca show at Seaworld in San Diego that all of the audience were asked tp stand up to show solidarity for the American soldiers in Iraq ( as sponsored by Anheuser-Busch beer- I kid you not) that was a bit much for us Brits. Spent a most uncomfortable 5 minutes just looking at my feet.:rolleyes:

debs66_2

Kipperman .... 'BELIEVE' .... (what a crock!)