Why Not Live the Southern California Dream This Summer?

Redondo Beach

People who've lived in Southern California most of their lives sometimes take it for granted, but we live in an amazing state, one that everyone should visit.

The weather along the coast in cities like San Diego, Laguna Beach, Malibu, Redondo Beach and Santa Barbara is perfect nearly year round, and you can do essentially anything you can imagine over the course of the year here.

I'd like to invite you to visit my amazing home state this summer and take a cruise.

Over the last couple of years, I have lamented the fact that cruise lines have pulled most of their ships from Southern California ports for summer to serve other markets, but the more I think about it, the better I understand.  Why cruise down to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta in the summer, when temperatures can get well above 90 down there while we stay comfortably in the seventies or low eighties from San Diego through Santa Barbara?

Carnival Imagination

The main reason to cruise is for the cruise ship experience itself, and you can definitely make a relaxing ocean voyage from Long Beach, with all the onboard excitement, delicious meals and terrific entertainment, the centerpiece of  your California vacation.  In fact, Carnival has two fun ships doing three and four night cruises to Ensenada all summer, with Imagination embarking on Thursdays and Sundays while Inspiration cruises from Long Beach on Fridays and Mondays.

For your summer vacation, I recommend the four night voyages, which give you a greater chance to enjoy cruising plus the bonus port of Santa Catalina Island. I've said this before, but I will repeat that if you enjoy having chips and cervezas at a Mexican Restaurant in your home town, you can enjoy the real thing in Ensenada. If you want something more exciting, go four wheeling in the desert while there.

It's always surprising to me how fully relaxed and rejuvenated I feel after one of these three or four night cruises.

However, for your family summer vacation, you should definitely enjoy Southern California, too. 

Knott's Independence Hall Replica

One obvious choice is a stay at Walt Disney Resorts in Anaheim.  While Orlando's amusement parks may have grown larger, the foundation really started in Southern California at the original Disneyland, and it is well worth seeing.  Right next door, Disney's California Adventure is a wonderful second park to visit while in town, and it is the perfect addition for a California Dream vacation.  Perhaps like me, you've been going to Disneyland since it opened, but have you ever stayed on resort at the beautiful Disney Grand Californian or one of the other great hotels in the area?  You know you would think about doing it if you went to Orlando, so why not do it in California?

I could go on and on about amusement parks like Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, LEGOLAND, SeaWorld and San Diego Zoo, but that's only part of the California story.


For a tropical vacation, the big allure is our beaches, and you can find great hotels to enjoy a few days, including the Portofino in my home town of Redondo Beach, which is conveniently located between Los Angeles International Airport and the cruise port.



Wes demonstrates that almost anyone can kayak.

  Again, the choices of great beach cities could go on and on, but I don't think you can find a better place to stay for walking to different shoreside activities than Redondo Beach.  We have harbor activities like sailing, kayaking and paddle boarding, or walking a little further on you'll find wide beaches for boogie boarding or sunbathing.  There's great live music at Baleen Kitchen, a lounge at Portofino, or you can walk to the world famous Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach for jazz on Saturday or Sunday.  At Redondo Beach Pier, there are great bar bands with free admissions and reasonably priced drinks.  The many restaurant choices include Barney's Beanery, Kincaid's. or Tony's Fish on the pier, and numerous affordable sidewalk cafes on the piers in both Redondo and Hermosa as well as at the nearby Hollywood Riviera. 

If a cruise is to be the centerpiece of your vacation, you should consider Hotel Maya in Long Beach for at least the night before the cruise.  It has beautiful panoramic views of downtown Long Beach as well as the Queen Mary, which is permanently dry docked by the Long Beach cruise terminal.

By the time you spend a couple of nights in Anaheim, Redondo Beach and Long Beach, plus a cruise, you will have experienced the vacation of a lifetime. 

Wine tasting with friends in Temecula.

However, you definitely could do much more, including viewing world famous art at museums like the Getty and Huntington Gardens, attend sporting events like Angels or Dodgers baseball, Galaxy or Chivas soccer or L.A. Kiss Arena Football, visit L.A. Live or Hollywood, explore the mountains by Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, go wine tasting in Temecula, attend classical music concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and rock or country shows at one of our many venues, attend Broadway quality plays (including at the beautiful Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center) and much, much more.  In fact, if you can do it anywhere, you can probably do it in Southern California.

Summer is a great time to visit California, and I can tell you how to do it while avoiding the pitfalls like unnecessarily wasting your vacation in traffic.  I've lived here most of my life, so allow me to help you get the most from each area you stay as well as choose the best locales for what you enjoy doing.