Cali & LV

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm going to San Diego in two weeks for a conference. I'll have two or three days to explore the city and am also looking for some suggestions.

I gather the SD zoo is the place to check out. I should probably budget half a day for that? What else should I be doing that time of the year?

Do I need to rent a car to get anywhere? Could I split it into a downtown/car trip and rent a car for, say, one of the days? Public transit outside of NYC has been rather disappointing for me so far... but at the same time, I don't want to chase after parking spots all day.

For what it's worth, the conference hotel is the Hyatt which, according to google maps, is right at embarcadero marina park north. It looks fairly central.

I enjoyed the tour of the US Midway. Otherwise we mostly just ate and drank. Stayed at the Westin downtown. We walked everywhere, cabbed to/from the airport and that was about it. Oh and I guess the strip clubs we cabbed as well, but I don't really recall which ones we went to. Stupid alcohol.

The USS Midway reminds me a lot of the Intrepid in New York, so I think I may skip it. Glad to hear downtown is walkable, and that taxis are useful though. Pittsburgh has ruined taxis for me... often times, it's faster to just take the bus. Also, some of the cab drivers here are assholes. I'm reminded of one who wouldn't take credit cards and didn't have proper change for a $20 (on a $12 bill or so). He then got pissed how he wasn't a bank and wouldn't unlock the door until I threatened to call the cops on him. Good times. (Oh yeah, and you wait 15 minutes for the cab to show up - in the center of downtown.)

So walking and taxis for downtown - got it.

going to agree with the other posters about the Imperial Palace... despite having possibly the best location on the strip the rooms are horrific

When barefoot the carpet in my room felt sticky ffs... and i think it was shag carpet also

Soriak_sl said:

Not to hijack the thread, but I'm going to San Diego in two weeks for a conference. I'll have two or three days to explore the city and am also looking for some suggestions.

I gather the SD zoo is the place to check out. I should probably budget half a day for that? What else should I be doing that time of the year?

Do I need to rent a car to get anywhere? Could I split it into a downtown/car trip and rent a car for, say, one of the days? Public transit outside of NYC has been rather disappointing for me so far... but at the same time, I don't want to chase after parking spots all day.

For what it's worth, the conference hotel is the Hyatt which, according to google maps, is right at embarcadero marina park north. It looks fairly central.

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If you're going to be there on a Saturday, definitely hit up Gaslamp. Place is crazy on Saturdays. Fridays are decent as well, but not nearly as ridiculous (the hot women come out at night...and they're all like fucking models). Even if you're not there either of those days, the food there is awesome. You're also right down the street from the Midway. Cabrillo National Monument is a bit far for a taxi, but if you were able to find another way to get there it's pretty cool.

Honestly, the biggest thing right now is just enjoying the weather. I think it was forecast in the 60's today, but whatever it was, I walked outside and it was fucking gorgeous (it's been cold/rainy the last week; although that's San Diego cold, which means 50's). With as short of a stay as you're going to have, the only real big thing to do would probably be the zoo. Otherwise, enjoy the SoCal lifestyle for a few days. Head over to the Hard Rock and scalp some 10's.

The three big CA cities can be broken down into three categories and what I'd expect to do in each city.

SD - All about the beach. People live eat breath the beach life here. Young, old, kids, whatever, we're going to the beach.

LA - Big city, lots of people, cars, nightlife, restaurants, tourist traps, shopping, and people watching. People here love themselves, and they want you to notice how sexy they are or how cool their new Chanel purse is. It's a place more for the young adult crowd, 21-35, or the people who don't want to grow up. In LA you will see 50 year old dudes banging models, that's how people role here. If you wanna go to the beach, head North and go to Malibu beaches, Dume Beach is cool, probably my favorite beach in all of CA. Santa Monica is a fun beach town for a nicer approach, or Venice for a casual approach. I'll add Orange County with LA since it's close enough. OC is like a giant suburb of suburban attitude. It really doesn't have much to do besides Disneyland. I'd say it's a solid mix of people that think they're to good for LA, and people who want more than the beach life of SD.

SF - Is more of like a chill out, go to the local pub, eat some food, go to the park, ride your bike around, and be super hipster about everything. It's a fun city, but it's an older city with an older more normalized crowd. In a sense, SF reminds me of the East coast.

Illuziun_sl said:

but it's an older city with an older more normalized crowd.

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What?

Another semi-hijack.
Going to California this coming summer for 2 weeks. I've been to San Francisco before but was only there 5 nights and was carless so did the usual stuff like Alcatraz, the cable cars, biked over the bridge into Sausalito then got the ferry back, walked along the sea wall from the market all the way to fort mason then back over the top to union square, blah blah.

This trip I want to get a car after a couple of nights getting used to time zone in San Francisco and maybe drive up to the Marin headlands and Muir Woods. Rough plan is SF to Monterey/Carmel along the coast via Santa Cruz, couple or three (?) days down near Carmel to chill on the beach, see the Aquarium at Monterey and just generally wander about. Then I wanted to drive over to Yosemite for a few days to see some of the park sights then head back over to San Jose and hang around that area for a few days, see Apple campus, Google HQ and yet more wandering about in the sun, quite fancy seeing Los Gatos and that area. Then drive back to SF, maybe via Berkley (worth going for just a day to wander about?), to fly back out.

While out and about in the car I want to hit up a decent outlet mall for some retail therapy, any that are must do's? I would also like a few tips on where to extend the stays passed 2-3 in an area or with that sort of loop if there is anywhere to detour off that's well worth seeing or a more fun route? I'm not into drinking any more so that's not a big draw, although the odd pint in a cool place is fun. I quite like hiking but this is a holiday for relaxing, dont want to knacker myself out with enormous walks. Pottering around new locales and sitting in the sun with a cold drink or coffee is great (basically I'm turning into a middle aged old fart).

Let's see if this map will embed....ok, no it wont so link:

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr...a=1,7&t=m&z=11

San Jose is not worth going to unless you're seeing a concert at HP Pavilion. Berkeley is a great college town. But it's a college town; so as a middle-aged dude who is not so much into drinking it might not be worth a visit. Google HQ is nowhere near as exciting as you think it would be.

Thanks, I did have Napa on the possibles list. The thinking being that if I was off to the Marin highlands area I could just carry on to Napa. Got a fair while to solidify the plan. The San Jose thing was basically just one of those places that you hear of so want to take a peek, same for the Google and Apple campuses as I am pretty much driving by them anyway.

Skip Napa and go to Sonoma. Napa has the better wineries, Sonoma has the better town/scenery.

Ok, I'm going to be in El Segundo for 2 weeks in June. Anything I should make sure I do?

I'm definitely going surfing. I've already had shit come up on a trip down to San Onofre, and I was in San Diego for a whole month and didn't get to it. Hopefully I don't get blackballed again (that happened in August in Huntington).

I'm really not sure why this trip is special since I only live like 2 hours from LA as it is, but I feel like I'm more likely to do stuff when I'm down there on business.

any of you locals been to this before?sfoutsidelandslooks like they have had some petty cool line ups in the past and its roughly when I was thinking of coming to the area

Kalaar Kururuc_sl said:

any of you locals been to this before?sfoutsidelandslooks like they have had some petty cool line ups in the past and its roughly when I was thinking of coming to the area

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Outside Lands is badass. I've been the past two years and it by far the most organized and well-run music festival I've ever been to. Plenty of bathrooms, food/drink vendors, ATMs, music stages, trash/recycling/compost receptacles. The lineup is almost always top notch too. I think last year was a bit weaker than the previous year but that's not saying much. Plus, the weather that time of year is perfect for an outdoor festival. Low 70s, no humidity and sunny.

My only gripe is also one of its greatest strengths - location. Golden Gate Park is beautiful - the layout is perfect of a music festival with a lot of natural obstacles blocking sound from other stages, but GGP is so far away from anywhere you'd be staying the in city. Using public transit to get to GGP that weekend is atrocious. Every bus is PACKED and they'll skip a lot of stops because they can't fit anymore people. There is a light rail that also goes there but it's just as bad.

Wear good shoes

skip southern california and just go to the bay area. nicer people, better food, and great climate

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