thousand Oaks CA

[orlandothebeagle]

Ive already posted this but thought I would try again. We are from scotland and plan to visit my cousins next year, they live in 1000 oaks, we were planning to drive to laguna seca, la and lv, as they are all in diff directions we would use theres as a base and go off for a few days, we will be there for 3 weeks, how feasable is this?? Any thoughts? Laguna seca would be for motogp, where could we stay, camping on site?

Also what about throwing the grand canyon into the mix, are we being to greedy? We might never be back to this part of the world, thanks for reading this even if you cant help. I need some expert help.Whats a good route planner? Also we do not mind driving at all and we are happy to share driving.

 

[mommaU4]

Hi there. My in-laws live in Moorpark CA which is about 15 minutes from Thousand Oakds and we used them as a base last time we were in CA.
It's do-able, but realize you will spend a lot on gas. CA is known for having some of the highest gas prices around.

From Moorpark into Hollywood/LA it took us about an hour, depending on traffic, time of day and exactly where you are going.

I live in Vegas and from Moorpark it takes us about 5 hours. But we stop often, including once to eat, and we go slower then most people do. If you want to do the Grand Canyon while you are in Vegas there are tour companies that will provide day trips out there. That would be your best bet.

3 weeks is a long time, I think you can do a lot in that time and should if this is your only chance. It might be rushed not a relaxing trip by any means, but a fun one. You can sleep at home.

Sorry I don't have any specific info on routes or Laguna Seca. If it were me, I'd just use www.mapquest.com and Google to see what I could info I could find.

Or hopefully someone else will pop on with more info.
Good luck!

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Ive already posted this but thought I would try again. We are from scotland and plan to visit my cousins next year, they live in 1000 oaks, we were planning to drive to laguna seca, la and lv, as they are all in diff directions we would use theres as a base and go off for a few days, we will be there for 3 weeks, how feasable is this?? Any thoughts? Laguna seca would be for motogp, where could we stay, camping on site?

Also what about throwing the grand canyon into the mix, are we being to greedy? We might never be back to this part of the world, thanks for reading this even if you cant help. I need some expert help.Whats a good route planner? Also we do not mind driving at all and we are happy to share driving.

I live in Simi Valley and it is about 15 minutes from Thousand Oaks too....
We drive to Los Angeles/Hollywood in 40 + minutes depending on the time of day. That trip is definately a one dayer....
Las Vegas is about a 5+ hour trip as mentioned above. I would only do Las Vegas if you planned to stay a few days. Grand Canyon is about a 8 + hour drive. You can do it for sure - stay a few days to explore the canyon etc. I don't knw anything about Laguna Seca....Never head of it..
I would love to swap houses with you....:You stay in mine and we go to yours..... Have always wanted to go to Scotland... ever since highschool where our school was the Hghlanders and I started Scottish dancing and ordered my kilt from Scotland.....

I think if you will be here three weeks these trips will still allow you some down time with your family in between trips... You can also drive a bit North to Santa Barbara and/or he local beaches....

Have fun and let me know if you have any other questions....

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Thanks for all your replies, laguna seca is nr monteray, we were thinking about doing a big triangle, to lv, then san fran / monteray then down highway 1 to la.

As for visiting scotland, any time you want to visit is fine, In fact I am a vet nurse and I used to be pen pals with a vet nurse from kansas through a nursing magazine.
Any way I was joking on a letter saying she could come and look after my cats when we go to america, she wrote back and said that would be great thanks, her and her sister would come
I was only joking but it was too late, I could only hope she was as nice as she seems. She was, she came and stayed for 2 days before we left for usa. She had a great holiday in our home, since then her mum and dad has been to visit, shes been back twice and we have been to visit her in kansas and last year she met us in fl, we are great friends and I hope somehow we can meet up soon with her and her hubby.

I dont think we have any questions really at the moment, I think we will not book hotels and just take off, we are not taking my niece as there will be too much driving for her( she is 12 and goes on all hols with us)
Only thing about my house is it is not child friendly,rather the opposite so if you have kids you are out of luck! We have a pond in the garden which is very unsafe for kids, Ive never seen my cousins house he has just moved and got a 2 year lease so I hope he send some picys, I am going to try and post some pics for you!

 

[orlandothebeagle]

 

[heathpack]

Cute beagle.

I'll bet you will have a great trip. I live in Hollywood and am a little jealous. I would be a little concerned about your plan to not make hotel reservations as some of the places you mention might be quite crowded and hard to find good accomodation.

Consider this itinerary:
Day 1: Drive Thousand Oaks to Phoenix, AZ. About 5 hours. Spend the night in Phoenix.
Day 2: Drive to the Grand Canyon. About 3-4 hours.
Days 3 & 4: Visit the Grand Canyon
Day 5: Drive to Las Vegas. About 4-5 hours.
Days 6 & 7: Las Vegas
Day 8: Drive to Sequoia National Park (Visalia, CA). About 5-6 hours.
Days 9 & 10: Visit Sequoia National Park
Day 11: Drive to Napa, CA. About 5-6 hours
Day 12: Visit Napa
Day 13: Drive Napa to San Francisco. About 1 hour. Visit SF.
Day 14, 15: Visit San Francisco
Day 16: Drive to Laguna Seca. About 2 hours
Day 17 & 18: Visit Laguna Seca
Day 19: Drive to San Luis Obispo. About 2 hours. Visit Hearst Castle.
Day 20: Drive to Santa Barbara. About 2 hours. Visit Santa Ynez and Los Olivos (more beautiful wine country) on the way.
Day 21: Drive back to Thousand Oaks, about 1 hour.

Good substitutions would be very busy Yosemite National Park for quieter Sequoia National Park, and the quieter wine regions around San Luis Obis Obispo (Paso Robles) & Santa Barbara (Santa Ynez/Los Olivos) for very busy Napa. You could also drop out Napa to gain a day or two to visit LA. You could skip Phoenix and make a long drive from Thousand Oaks to the Grand Canyon (about 8 hours) in a single day, if you'd want to pick up a day to spend elsewhere.

I personally think your best mapping software would be google maps. Frommers.com would give you good lodging, attraction and dining recommendations for the various locales.

Have a great trip!

By the way, I am a veterinarian. So if you want to add a visit to a large specialty practice in LA to your itinerary, let me know...

Heathpack

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Whawh, thanks so much, I get your point re reservations, It probably is a bit daft not making them as I am a bit fussy! Dont laugh but I hope barry is still doing the hilton as we will stay there!

It is really exciting doing the planning, what is the speciality of your hosp? I deal only with emergencys out of hours, I really like it as 1 vet / one nurse so gets lots of responsibility and things to do.
We are a hospital in edinburgh.
How can you be jealous??? living in Holywood? Is that not what dreams are made of?
Any way thanks re beagle pictures, we love him to bits, they are not popular in the uk like they are in USA, when we got him we thought we vould take him out with us when we go on the horse but he just goes where ever the hell he wants!!!!!!

Nice to hear from you all.

 

[heathpack]

Our practice has 1 neurologist (myself), 4 surgeons, 4 internists, 1 criticalist, 1 radiologist, 1 oncologist, 2 ER docs, 8 general interns, 4 specialty interns, and 3 surgery residents. We have dozens of nurses working round the clock. It is a very busy place as you might imagine and we never close. We are in LA but very close to Glendale-- about 40 mins from Thousand Oaks (which is a very nice town by the way).

I'm jealous of your 3 week long trip. A little jealous of the Scotland living, too, but mostly of the three week stretch of time off all at once! Don't feel too sorry for me, though-- we are sailors and will be taking two weeks in September to sail down the coast of So California. If you are by any chance sailors, we can hook you up with ideas along those lines as well...

Thinking about my last post, I did leave your cousins out of the mix a bit. If you are into natural scenery and want a good trip from Thousand Oaks that the cousins might be able to join, consider the Channel Islands National Park, which is a chain of islands off the coast of Santa Barbara. You can get boat trips for the day from Santa Barbara and that would not be too far for your cousins to join in.

If you are inclined towards any of the national parks on the list and would like to consider camping, we could loan you more stuff than you could possibly ever carry. It might get a bit awkward hauling all that stuff around the western US, I suppose, but could add a really nice dimension to your trip...

Heathpack

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Our hosp has 6 vets day shift and 2 night shift, we do a week n and a week of so when I take a weeks hol I get 3 weeks off whic=h is great if you enjoy travel(which I do) I also do volunteer work for cat charity lots of diff places en mass neutering! vets do girls we do boys, sometimes 150 in a day! spain,portugal and ireland etc, thats another story.
We want to go to the motogp at laguna seca and did wonder about camping there, your offer is very kind, we may be in touch!

My dad had a motor cruiser, moored at anstruther, he goes lots of places with it, it has 3 berths, he doesnt do sailing as it is too much hassle,lol prefers to turn a key!
About your boat offer, we would love that, even just to make my dad jealous! I will pm you my e-mail, please keep in touch, Lynne

seems I cant pm you?? any how, like wise we are always out the country if you fancy a vist to scotland , my home is right in the middle of scotland, very good for travelling, you would be very welcome Lynne xxx

 

[heathpack]

I've updated my disboards membership with my correct email address. The PM should work now.

H

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Def does not seem to be an optionto pm you and when i tried to e-mail you it says you do not want contacted by e-mail, you can pm if you get a moment with an e-mail.

 

[Judy from Boise]

enquiring minds want to know.....was there a connection ??????

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Hey, I still never worked out what you meant? was it flight connection?

We got our flight booked with AA, last week in june for 18 nights

 

[Judy from Boise]

I was wondering you and the other poster were ever able to "connect".

 

[heathpack]

Oh yeah that would be me...

I did send orlandothebeagle a PM but did not hear back. Perhaps it did not work?

H

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

I'm on the late train on this thread..

I'm in Oxnard which is down the grade from TO, so about 25 minutes...

Beth is right about the gas though.. But like the PP said the timing is right...

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Heath pack i e-mailed you from work? I am not home now until mond, i will try from home. I have to protect your e-mail when I do it from work so it is not in our system so sometimes it does not work?
We got our flights booked for end june for 18 nights! So excited!!!!
Can you guys help me, we were thinking of flying to LV for a few nights, Is 175 dollars each for a return, a good price?
Thats with AA, will they get cheaper or as I suspect more expensive?


Thanks for the advice, So the Q is where is your boat moored?lol

Ta in advance.

 

[MrSanderz]

We got our flights booked for end june for 18 nights! So excited!!!!
Can you guys help me, we were thinking of flying to LV for a few nights, Is 175 dollars each for a return, a good price?
Thats with AA, will they get cheaper or as I suspect more expensive?

What days of the week are you visiting LV? Is the above AA flight from LAX?
My friends live in Simi Valley (right next to TO) and when we go to Vegas we fly southwest airlines from Burbank airport. It's a small airport, very easy to park, etc and we have never paid $175 for round trip tix. I know prices are going up but Southwest still has great fares when you book early (they start selling tickets about 6 months out).