Truly, what California girls’ trip is complete without visiting Hollywood?

All the things my husband would have hated about a vacation, my daughter and I embraced as that thing girls do. The way too many people, the traffic, the glitz and glamour, and the shopping. We stayed at the only RV park anywhere near Hollywood (Walnut RV) and drove at least a half hour each morning to park at the Universal Studios subway station. Here we took the train into Hollywood.

Here are a few tips:

Purchase a tour ticket, but consider what kind of tour you want. There are so many options out there, you need to consider the amount of time you have and the attractions you really want to see. Hop on, hop off tours can be a good idea if you’re trying to cover a lot of ground, but we only had two days to spend and had already driven in from Venice. For us, the most interesting aspect was celebrity homes, so we selected a Starline tour which included free entry into the wax museum.

Visit the Madame Toussaud’s wax museum and look for the dress-up costumes. My daughter could have spent hours in this museum and have her photo taken in the garb, next to celebrities. We didn’t figure out there were costumes on pegs on the wall until we were halfway through the museum.

Use the train. It was quick, cheap ($5 per day) and allowed us to forget about trying to fight traffic or park an RV. We always left long before dark, and felt safe that way.

People watch. Hollywood is a very interesting place.

Visit Universal Studios. A one-day ticket was enough for us, but it’s a must! Arrive early and do the studio tour, Simpson’s Ride and Terminator 2 shows first.

Trip West 2010 Series:
Badlands
1880’s Town -Murdo, SD
Black Hills, South Dakota
Yellowstone National Park
Family Search in Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Ghost Towns, Wyoming and California
Manzanar War Relocation Center
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
San Francisco Adventure!

After lots of consideration and Internet research, we decided not to continue South on Highway 1 from San Francisco. With a different set of circumstances, we would have been up for the adventure and beautiful views that awaited us along the coast, but the ocean-side drive, on a 300-foot cliff on winding roads in a 24-foot motorhome sounded too white-knuckle for me:)

Instead, we took Highway 101 inland south to Monterey, which was a longer route, but without the fear of driving off a cliff. We’d planned to ride our bikes along the 17-mile road on the Monterey Peninsula, but discovered we’d arrived on the first day of of the Pebble Beach Golf Tournament. Seriously. We did ride our bikes along the beautiful bike paths in Monterey and visited the noisy sea lions while we ate calamari at the pier. Very nice.

Next we drove South (again on 101) to Morro Bay and stayed in a great State Campground right on the beach. The $35-per-night pricetag was irritating, since there were no hookups, but it’s part of the Governor’s plan to pay off California’s debt, and the location was fantastic.

The next morning we drove North again – on Highway 1, but not nearly as dangerous – to visit Hearst Castle in San Simeon. It was a pricey visit at $24 each, but the tours are very well-done and thorough. We spent half a day there, and learned so much about the very interesting and adventurous life of William Randolph Hearst. I particularly appreciated learning about his mother, who had a profound impact on his growing up, and instilled that sense of adventure, and appreciation for travel and art.

Trip West 2010 Series:
Badlands
1880’s Town -Murdo, SD
Black Hills, South Dakota
Yellowstone National Park
Family Search in Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Ghost Towns, Wyoming and California
Manzanar War Relocation Center
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
San Francisco Adventure!

Our “Out West Adventure” this summer couldn’t have been complete without getting to the Pacific, so after King’s Canyon, we drove across the state to San Francisco. We parked our RV at the Pacifica RV Resort on Hwy 1 overlooking the ocean. Although the park had little to offer guests, we could hear the waves from our beds, and watched the sun set on the Pacific horizon each night.

For two days while our motorhome brakes got fixed (an unplanned $1600 expense!) my daughter and I toured San Francisco. We used public transportation for everything, including the BART train from Daly City into San Francisco, the historic streetcars on the F-line, the cable cars up and down the hill (Darla’s favorite part), and the ferry to Alcatraz Island. Each type of public transport was efficient, cheap and far more interesting than the way we normally get around a city in a car.

Here are some tips from San Francisco visit:

Use public transportation options and ask for guidance at an information center. We stopped to talk to someone just outside the Civic Center BART station and they helped us to figure out which cablecar/streetcar passes would work best for us, and saved us a lot of money. There are several options and make sure you consider how to use the return trips and transfers. With a little care in timing, you can get buy on fewer ticket purchases.

Purchase Alcatraz tickets at least two days in advance – you can do this online. In the shoulder season you might get lucky with a same day ticket, but the ferries are often sold out. We may have only come into the city one day, but had to return a second because the tickets were sold out for the day we’d be visiting.

Be careful which block you’re walking in. You’ll find many homeless people as you walk toward the Civic Center and onto the Tenderloin district. We had hoped to see Wicked in town before we left, but we chose not to because we would have to stay after dark. City officials also encourage tourists NOT to offer money to homeless citizens, even though homelessness is a problem in the city. My daughter did offer half of her sandwich to a panhandler near Fisherman’s Wharf, but in general, it’s advised to be very careful.

Eat chocolate! Ghirardelli Square is a must stop and there is usually a free sample here and there. We also found a great little specialty chocolate shop – TCHO Chocolate – on Embarcadero at Green Street

Trip West 2010 Series:
Badlands
1880’s Town -Murdo, SD
Black Hills, South Dakota
Yellowstone National Park
Family Search in Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Ghost Towns, Wyoming and California
Manzanar War Relocation Center
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
San Francisco Adventure!

Check out my Positively Speaking column this month, about tips to help your kids prepare for standardized testing.

Have a great weekend!

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