California. where to celebrate a birthday.

[jewelspirit]

Or possibly Danish We were there a couple weeks ago following my son's wedding in Santa Barbara.


flView attachment 344769View attachment 344770

If you have any Danish ancestry it's a cool place to visit for an afternoon.

A couple years ago we spent a couple nights at Circle BarB horse ranch just outside of Santa Barbara.

As posters have said, Santa Barbara airport can be a pain to get to and homeless people enjoy the area.

Yeah, sorry, was just typing off the top of my head.

Solvang is certainly a sleepy village, but there's a nice resort with horseback riding, plus lots of events. I agree when it comes to Santa Barbara's issues, and when we travel to that part of the coast, we prefer Carpinteria (just south of Santa Barbara) for the calmer beach and still charming town.

If flying is the main concern, than I agree Central California is not as easy to get to, but it is a slower paced vacation. Easier flying into ONT or LAX, Palm Springs has lots of resorts, and if you'd like to stay on a resort property most of your time it's a great place to do that. I personally enjoyed both Marriott resorts in Palm Springs, but there wasn't much to do outside the resort on our trips.
San Diego is also a popular option for beach vacations, but I don't have much experience with the coastal regions there. My family has done some trips to more inland resorts in San Diego County, and since we're a fan of sleepy little towns, we often do a weekend trip to Julian, CA for the apple pie.

 

[aboveH20]

Yeah, sorry, was just typing off the top of my head.

Solvang is certainly a sleepy village, but there's a nice resort with horseback riding, plus lots of events. I agree when it comes to Santa Barbara's issues, and when we travel to that part of the coast, we prefer Carpinteria (just south of Santa Barbara) for the calmer beach and still charming town.

If flying is the main concern, than I agree Central California is not as easy to get to, but it is a slower paced vacation. Easier flying into ONT or LAX, Palm Springs has lots of resorts, and if you'd like to stay on a resort property most of your time it's a great place to do that. I personally enjoyed both Marriott resorts in Palm Springs, but there wasn't much to do outside the resort on our trips.
San Diego is also a popular option for beach vacations, but I don't have much experience with the coastal regions there. My family has done some trips to more inland resorts in San Diego County, and since we're a fan of sleepy little towns, we often do a weekend trip to Julian, CA for the apple pie.

After I posted that I felt bad for "correcting" you. I was just so excited to see Solvang mentioned since we had just been there.

I have sons living in Burbank and Santa Barbara so on one solo trip I visited the southern son and Disneyland then took the train to SB. It's a beautiful ride when the tracks are along the ocean. I walked all over SB and even took public transportation to the mission. I do love SB.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Another option, or two, if you don't want to drive 2 hours to Santa Barbara, and another to Solvang... by the way, I've done that, and really enjoyed my day....

Another option is to head south and go to San Juan Capistrano and visit the mission there - San Juan Capistrano. It's a beautiful mission and part of the California history. You can also go to one of the restaurants there. San Diego is about 1.5 hours to the south and you can visit Old Towne and their Seaport Village. It's another very pretty drive, and you can stop by Children's Pool in La Jolla.

Another option is to visit the J Paul Ghetty Villa on PCH just north of Malibu. There is a beach nearby with a restaurant, Beach Cafe, right on the beach.

Another option is to go to Laguna Beach and take in the Sawdust Festival (if you're going before September) and the Pageant of the Masters, where people go on stage and depict live action replicas of great works of art. It makes for a really nice day.

 

[tink89]

Thanks Everyone. I think i have maybe possibly decided on a couples trip to Disneyland. We will both be getting a AP when we go in December so it will work perfectly. Hopefully there is a deal out there for rooms coming out.

I love how everyone recommended the Carmel/Monterrey area and many other places around where i live. It is nice to know others love your area just as much as you do.
We live so close to many places that you sometimes do not appreciate just how beautiful they are. We live about 2 hours from Napa/Sonoma, 1 hr from Monterey, and about 15-20 min from SF. Facebook is literally in my backyard.

We will be taking a trip in either February if schedule permits or April to San Diego/ Palm Springs area as a family.