california ideas

DH and I are going to California for 2 weeks for our 1-year anniversary and need some recommendations on where to stay, eat, visit, etc.
We're flying into SF and then driving down to San Diego. Stopping wherever catches our eye.

Please help :)

Santa Cruz just a little bit south of SF, that you can do in a day really, then stop in Monteray - Cannery Row, see the aquarium. Spend the night at the Apple Inn in San Luis Obispo if you can, such a warm and friendly B&B.

See if you can visit Catalina Island.

Santa Barbara is beautiful, too.

So much to do in LA.

Definitely bar hop in the gaslamp district of San Diego.


Have a great time, there is so much to see.

thank you so much for the wonderful ideas Kriss2c :)

They sound GREAT!!

OHHHH I did that same trip a few years ago. Totally unplanned just drove and stopped. Had THE BEST TIME!!!! I have the most amazing pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't have a digital camera at the time.

One of my favorite spots was Monterey - Pebble Beach. Do the 17 mile drive - you'll love it. Here's a link:


Monterey Penisula

We also stopped in Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, LA and so many other places. We went to the San Diego Zoo, which is really nice.

We would find these beach front motels for like $30 a night - and they were NICE!

Have fun and take lots of pictures!

The Fairmont hotel in San Francisco is beautiful, I've stayed there many times, the tower rooms are nicer than the ones in the original building because you have a great view. The hotel is not near Fishermans Wharf, but you could walk there in about 15 minutes. The hotel is near Chinatown, about 4 blocks away. I would definetly drive over the golden gate & have lunch on the other side in Sausalito, there are many nice restaurants there.

On your way to San Diego, you should drive through LA, stop in Beverly Hills preferably Rodeo Drive, drive through the neighborhoods in Beverly Hills & Hollywood Hills & you must try a restaurant on Sunset Blvd call 'Miyagis', its sooo good!! They serve Japanese food and everything is so fresh & they have weird balls of icecream for dessert that are delicious! They also have outsdoor tables that overlook Sunset.

Santa Monica is a really nice place to go to for the day, there a restaurant on Ocean Avenue called Ocean Avenue Seafood & the food is amazing. From there Malibu is about 45 minutes away and is worth driving into for a day. Theres an old restaurant near Malibu that is right on the beach & I think its called Paradise Cove, the food is OK, but once you finish your meal you can walk right onto the beach and spend some time there, the views are beautiful.

Hope this helps.

Oh you decided to go!! DH and I went (as we spoke awhile ago) to SF and Napa for our one year last year. Now we are off to SD this year - in a few weeks - when are you guys headed out - FM if you like.

In SF, I did a day by myself walking all around the city (he had a business conference). I walked all over and shopped and took in the city sites. Then we did a day at Alcatraz (at night) and the whole seaport area (Fisherman's Wharf) - this doesn't need a full day - got boring after awhile. Then we did 2.5 days in Napa.

Not sure what our plans are yet for SD, put if you are going after us - I can let you know soon... All I know so far is DH got Jets/Chargers tickets off of eBay. We are going to do about 3 or 4 days inSD and then 2 in LA.

Definitely visit Napa. One of the best days of our trip!

Also stop for a night in Big Sur. We stayed at the Ripplewood Resort
It was great!

If you do stop in Big Sur definitely have lunch at Nepenthe

WOW!! great ideas - thanks girls!! I was just telling DH that my fellow LI wedding girls will hook us up and you all did :)
so thanks!!

Niecey - you remembered :)
definately fill me in on your trip.
any advice would be much appreciated from one fellow bellmore-ian to another :)