Yosemite National Park is one of my favorite tourist attractions in California. I usually take every chance I get to go visit this beautiful National Park. As it happens, Yosemite is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the whole state of California, so it’s a busy place. There are many places to stay in or close to Yosemite, but most of them are very expensive. For a few years now I have been staying at the Yosemite Bug since it’s close to Yosemite and very affordable. I had the privilege to ask Yosemite Bug owner Dough Shaw some questions about his own rustic mountain resort and why is it a popular place with Yosemite National Park visitors.
People who visit Yosemite National Park for the first time are usually overwhelmed by the amount of information that’s available about Yosemite. After all the reading many first time visitors to Yosemite still ask the basic questions: So what are the main tourist attractions in Yosemite National Park? What are the must-see places? Wouldn’t it be cool to talk to someone local to Yosemite and just ask him? That’s what I did! I had the privilege to ask Douglas Shaw this very questions: what are the main tourist attractions in Yosemite National Park? And he was very gracious to answer quite a few more questions. Read on to find out the best places to visit in Yosemite National Park.
Traveling in California takes a long time. Probably it’s a general statement that applies to the whole of United States, but particularly to Southern California. Whenever we have to travel from Southern California to Northern California we take into account hours of travel…it’s pretty much a day if you count stopping to eat some food and getting out of the car to stretch your legs. If you throw some young children into the mix, then the equation gets a little more complicated. However, there are a few things to do that make the trip to Northern California a little more bearable.
La Purisima Mission is one of the 27 California missions that line up the California coast from south to north. Located in Lompoc, La Purisima is actually a state park and it has been extensively reconstructed to better capture the feel of the Mission times. With lots of things to offer for the entire family, La Purisima Mission Park is a great tourist stop for the California traveler. Read on to find out what is worth seeing at La Purisima.
The mountains around San Luis Obispo Bay area hide Avila Beach very well. But if you’re willing to get off the beaten path and get off the freeway you will be rewarded greatly with stunning views of the ocean and a relaxed atmosphere in one of the little known California beach towns. Avila Beach, California is the perfect beach town. It’s small, clean and simply beautiful!
Pismo Beach is one of those hidden tourist jewels that is within easy reach but bypassed many times by tourists. The California coast is just beautiful off the 101 freeway in the Pismo Beach area. The fact that many larger tourist attractions like San Luis Obisbo and Hearst Castle are so close, most tourists just pass by Pismo Beach on their way up north. What a mistake! Pismo Beach is just an amazing stop even if you have only few hours to spare. Pretty soon I’ll post my detailed Pismo Beach travel guide, but for now 
We visited San Francisco a few times and we loved it every time. This time however it was in December and it was raining hard and the San Francisco Bay was covered in thick fog. We ended up mostly driving around but we were still able to walk around Fisherman Wharf area and enjoy the sites. San Francisco is spectacular despite the rain. Read on to find out the main tourist attractions in downtown San Francisco.
Lots to see in Palm Springs and the surrounding areas. If you make sure you don’t visit Palm Springs after middle of May and before middle of September, you will have a great time in the Palm Springs area. If you come during the summer, you will be confined inside your hotel where the air conditioner will make the temperature bearable.
Lake Tahoe is one of the most popular attractions in California. It is mostly known as one of the best winter resorts in the world. However, Lake Tahoe is a great family vacation spot in the summer as well. We found Lake Tahoe to be very relaxing and family friendly. My family found great things to see and we enjoyed the beautiful views and places to visit. This article contains our favorite places to visit in Lake Tahoe.
Every year the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California puts on the best show. Entitled the Tournament of Roses, this amazing parade is all about flowers and in particular about roses. We always wanted to go to the Rose Parade, but with two small children coming out in the very early hours of the morning just to get a somewhat decent seat, is out of the question. So, we opted to come see the floats in what is called the Post Parade event where you come admire the floats that have been parked on a couple of wide streets. Is it really worth it? Well, read on to find out.
Sometimes when traveling you get to witness amazing things that you were not planning to see at all. This is what happened to me when going to the beach again at Point Mugu State Beach in California. I have brought some relatives of ours to the beach since they have not been in this part of the state. When we got there, we noticed that the waves were pretty rough and very loud (about 10 feet high). The water was breaking very close to shore, which made it pretty hard for us to enjoy the water. Eventually we decided to head back home since we couldn’t really play in the water much.
We wanted to go to the beach one weekend and we decided to go to Point Mugu since we haven’t been there in a long time. Since I have forgotten to take cash with me, I couldn’t park at the state beach and ended up parking right next to the Mugu Rock and then went down to a small rock beach nearby. We ended up having a great time and saw a sea lion and lots of pelicans. My daughter loved the trip.
We have visited UCLA in the winter on a sunny December day. Even though the day was short, we had a great time. I always like visiting the UCLA campus, regardless if it’s summer or winter, school day or weekend…I just love it. Maybe it’s because I graduated from UCLA myself…yeah it’s because of that. However, I believe anyone can enjoy visiting the campus for a day, including your children.
