What are the best places to visit in California?|179125

I live in Portland Or and I_m gonna take a road trip with my b/f and a couple friends. I think we_re definitely gonna go to SF, LA, and possibly San Diego. What are some fun, interesting places to stop by in these cities or on the way? Also do you think we should reserve hotel rooms in advance or try to find open ones when we get there?

Go everywhere you can. Stop in Santa Cruz see the Boardwalk. Fun rides and beach atmosphere. Also,use Motel 6 where possible. Pretty cheap but clean. A week isn_t quite enough time to go and see what is in CA. Figure spliting the state in half. I would take in either N CA (SF, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Sacramento, Monterey) or S CA (Santa Barbara to San Diego) and then do the other another time. Also Yosemite (Central East) is cool for Camping if you like to do that. Go to AAA insurance and get a VIA magizine. Then you will see there is too much to do in a week. Depending on what you do and how you spend for food, you could get by with about $50 a day+- Come on down to CA and have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Alcatraz tour is supposed to be interesting. It is often sold out unless you book in advance. I have tickets to do this later this month. Their website is:

http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/

The Gray Line tour is fun and interesting. You could get tickets usually the same day at Pier 39. I have done this last year when we found tickets to Alcatraz were sold out.

Yosemite National Park is worth seeing in your lifetime. Lodging is expensive and booked in advance. It might be possible to find lodging in Merced and do a day trip out of there to Yosemite. I have not actually tried this, and I don_t know how expensive lodging is in Merced in summer. The last time I actually visited Yosemite was about 15 years ago. It was early November, and even then the only available lodging in Yosemite Village was a tent.

San Francisco is a great place to visit for the day. You can have your portrait drawn by a street artist for very little money like maybe 20 bucks? You can get a piece of Ghiardelli chocolate at the main store there. You can take a ferry out to Alcatraz! You can drive down Lombard Street-the crookedest street in the world, as they call it. It_s a whole day easily spent in the city.

In San Diego there_s a dog beach that_s awesome. Even if you don_t have a dog you can go watch all the dogs run without leashes and playing with their owners. It_s cute and really fun! Also there_s some amazing authentic mexican stands you can get a carne asada burrito! Very amazing mexican food because it_s all authentic.

Have a blast! It should be a memorable trip with your friend. I_m jealous!

definitely reserve the rooms in advance! there are quite a few sites that you can search that will likely show you great hotels at the best prices available. check out the website BookMe and you will be able to compare prices on all the reputable travel sites in just a couple minutes. it_s very convenient and will save you a bunch of time and money. Also, make sure you buy them online... otherwise they charge much higher fees for phone orders. good luck.