CALIFORNIA

Hey guys, the husband and i are going to california and was wondering if any of you had some reccomendations as far as things to do/restaurants/attractions/night clubs. we are going to LA, San Fran, and Monnerey. TIA

Re: CALIFORNIA

The hubby and I went to Cali for our honeymoon.
For San Fran, definitely go with a name brand hotel. We stayed at a little seedy place in Chinatown and there are lots of little no name places that probably aren't that good. I would definitely recommend checking out Chinatown for some good cheap shopping and for getting good Chinese. Little Italy isn't too far from there either for some good italian. There are lots of tour buses for you to get on and I definitely recommend getting on one of those and taking a tour of the city-- it doesn't take that long. We also had fun when our tour bus went over the golden gate bridge. Definitely check out fisherman's wharf and Ghiradelli square-- they are very touristy, but we had a lot of fun there. Waiting for a cable car could take up to an hour so we ended up skipping that in San Fran. Also, beware that if you are staying in downtown near the financial district, it seems like a lot of restaurants close fairly early. If your hubby is into sports, see if you can catch a San Francisco Giants game. The stadium is nice. San Fran was one of my favorites on our honeymoon.

I would recommend on the way to Monterey (if you are coming from San Fran) to stopping at Santa Cruz they have a really great boardwalk with a lot of rides.

I really didn't think there was a whole lot to do in Monterey, even though it's really pretty. The aquarium is rip offf!!! The main street is cute with its shops and restaurants, hotels are definitely pricey in the area. Check out pebble beach and the 17 mile drive for some scenic pics.

In between LA and Monterey I would recommend a quick stop at the Madonna Inn and Hearst Castle. Definitely have lunch at Hearst Castle and eat their meat, it is excellent!!

LA is kind of hard to pin down because it is so big! We stayed in Commerce City, which is kind of sketchy, but we stayed at the Double Tree which was so, so nice and it was next to shopping outlets and they treated us like royalty when they found out we were on our honeymoon. I would recommend a tour of the city and go down to Santa Monica to the pier. However, it is less impressive than the Santa Cruz boardwalk! Check out Farmers Market in LA for lunch, you guys can each get something you are interested in and there is good shopping next door at the Grove. Universal Studios is very close to LA and we had a lot of fun there. Downtown LA is relatively quiet during the day.

Hope this helps!!!