Archive for the 'Fall' Category
Cabo San Lucas: Luxe ‘Thanksgiving in the Sun’ 4-night package (with football!)
November 13, 2009 5:58am
If you’ve never thought about leaving town for Thanksgiving because there was no way your family could live without the tradition of watching football, this splurge of a deal is for you. I bet you didn’t even know you could watch NFL games in Mexico. The brand-new Hacienda Beach Club & Residences in Cabo San Lucas knows what you want. It has put together a Thanksgiving package complete with turkey dinner, the NFL, and if you can break away from the bar — a sunset cruise on the Sea of Cortez.
Deal: Four nights in a one-bedroom residence for two people comes to $740 per person, or $1,480 before the 13% tax. When I called, there was plenty of availability for Wednesday, Nov. 25 through Nov. 29. If there are four people staying in a two-bedroom residence, the cost is $640 per person, pre-tax. The package includes a traditional turkey dinner prepared in your residence by a personal chef and butler, a margarita and chips & guacamole welcome, a sunset cruise on Friday, and a tailgating party at the Palapa Bar at the Beach Club, where NFL games will be shown. If you’re feeling guilty about the big turkey dinner, a personal trainer is also included one day during your stay. It’s worth noting that one-bedroom residences are priced at $575 per night after their grand opening in January.
When: Valid through Nov. 30, 2009, based on availability.
Note: The Hacienda Beach Club & Residences has a vacation rental component to it, but because there is no minimum night requirement it operates like a hotel.
Contact: Hacienda Beach Club & Residences, (949) 388-8590
— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
[Photo credit: Hacienda Beach Club & Residences]
Enjoy a free day at national parks, forests on Veterans Day, Nov. 11
November 4, 2009 8:52am
Next week, national parks and forests will waive entrance fees for one day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, to honor servicemen and women. Unlike past years, when only U.S. veterans, active members of the U.S. armed forces and their families got a free pass, this year’s Veterans Day observance will allow everyone in for free, according to a news release Tuesday, Nov. 3, from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
If the deal otherwise works like it did in past years, you’ll still owe fees for camping, permits and other activities. But you can save a lot anyway because some popular parks, including California’s Yosemite National Park, normally charge entrance fees of $20 or so per car.
The Interior Department earlier this year expanded the number of free days on federal lands, offering three fee-free weekends over the summer. At that time, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar noted that parks provide affordable family vacations “during these tough economic times.”
California state parks plan weekday closures, cutbacks in Inland Empire
October 27, 2009 10:09am
If you’re planning a fall, winter or spring outing to California state parks or recreation areas in the Inland Empire region, make sure your destination will be open on the dates you want to go. And that advice may soon apply to other regions too.
Starting next week, five state sites, including Mt. San Jacinto, Chino Hills, Lake Perris, Silverwood Lake and the California Citrus State Historic Park, will either close to the public on certain weekdays or reduce services. In some cases, parks will be open for day use for fewer hours each day. These steps are being taken because of budget reductions.
My colleague Pete Thomas has the full rundown in his Outposts blog, along with a head’s-up that parks elsewhere may take similar steps.
Halloween events, from fun to frightful, in Southern California
October 25, 2009 6:00am
What are you doing for Halloween? Don’t be the last one left indecisively standing (or you might turn into a pumpkin). Here, we treat you to a bagful of Southern California options to consider for super-spooky good times. Some are great for the little children; others—like, perhaps, Scareview Farms, from where the above image originates—are not.
Balboa Park, San Diego
Museums at Balboa Park are going all out for Family Day on Oct. 31. Attractions include costume contests and parades, as well as museum-specific activities such as a science-themed pumpkin contest at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center; craft sessions to build paper pumpkins with parachutes at San Diego Air and Space Museum; and a scavenger hunt at the San Diego Automotive Museum
Queen Mary, Long Beach
Ongoing most evenings through Nov. 1, “Shipwreck: 15 Nights of Terror” at the Queen Mary seems set to scare the wits out of you (just have to look at the event website for a taste). The nighttime event —not recommended for mortals younger than 12— features vampires and ghosts, among its ship full of creepy creatures, and mazes on board and onshore. Read the rest of this entry »
Santa Barbara: Family-friendly Halloween fun with Boo at the Zoo
October 21, 2009 2:25pm
You might hear howls and growls among the boos and hisses, but Santa Barbara Zoo’s Halloween event promises to be more merry than scary. Boo at the Zoo, Oct. 23-25, is designed for adult-accompanied children, ages 2 to 12, and this year the theme is “Wild Wild West.”
Cowboys and cowgirls —as well as pirates, princesses, fairies, trolls and mermaids — will be among the more than 75 characters running rampant during the festivities, which will happen from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. each day. Mother Goose will be on hand to tell stories. Attractions will include a haunted mine and a nighttime train ride. And mazes and games and candy and prizes will all be part of the fun.
Of course, the setting itself offers its own attractions. There will be opportunities for animal encounters, and zookeepers will be giving talks. At the California Trails exhibit, which opened this year, attendees can see endangered or threatened animals, including four rare California condors.
This is a kid-centric event, and costumes are most definitely encouraged. Read the rest of this entry »
Priceline gives weekly updates on Thanksgiving and Christmas air travel
October 21, 2009 9:59am
If you are still waiting for a good deal to book your holiday travel, we suggest you tune into Priceline’s travel blog. Brian Ek is giving a weekly update on flight costs for travel around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Earlier this month we talked with Ek about holiday airfare prices and concluded that if you had to pick between traveling during one of the holidays, Thanksgiving was going to be cheaper. However, in this week’s analysis, prices are going up for Thanksgiving and coming down slightly during Christmas.
“At the macro level, Thanksgiving airfares increased to an average $372, while December holiday airfares dropped to an average $423. Thanksgiving is still the better deal, but Christmas is looking better,” Ek writes.
These averages are based on flights booked by Priceline customers. So, what does it mean for SoCal travelers?
Ek said that airfares between Los Angeles and Chicago were down 9% for winter travel and up 20% for Thanksgiving. However, fares between Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., were down 8% for Thanksgiving travel and unchanged for winter travel.
For more end-of-the-year travel booking advice, read “Holiday travel planning tips from the experts.”
—Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
Image: Priceline logo. Credit: Priceline.com
Get a third night for free at 35 California hotels
October 21, 2009 5:59am
Buy two, get one free. That’s the idea behind the Third Night Free offer at 35 California hotels run by Joie de Vivre, a boutique chain based in San Francisco. Launched to promote the company’s new “Joie of Life” micro-site that focuses on social networking, the deal isn’t being advertised on the chain’s main website. But you can book it there anyway — if you know the code.
The deal is worth hunting up because Joie de Vivre runs a lot of fun and well-located hotels in a range of prices, such as San Francisco’s Hotel Rex and Hotel Vitale, Hotel Angeleno in Los Angeles and Hotel Erwin at Venice Beach. The 411:
Deal: Pretty straightforward. You book a room for three nights in a row, and the third night is free. There are two ways to get the deal: You can book it through the Third Night Free section of the Joie of Life micro-site or go to the regular Joie de Vivre website and enter the code “JOIE” in the “Promo Code” window when making a reservation. The micro-site lists the participating hotels, with nightly rates that start at $79 to $459, depending on the hotel.
Sonoma: Visit wine country after grape crush rush for $75 rooms
October 19, 2009 8:27am
Yes, fall is the season for grape-picking, grape-crushing and festival-hopping in Napa Valley and nearby Sonoma. But lag a little and you may find yourself with better bargains on accommodations. At Sonoma Creek Inn, a budget hotel a couple miles northeast of downtown Sonoma, prices decrease come November.
Deal: The “Stay Longer, Dream More” package at this hotel includes, for $75 per night (pre-tax and based on double occupancy), a queen room and wine-tasting passes for local wineries. Plus, if a better room is available upon check in, you can get an upgrade to the best available room.
That must at least partly cover the “dream more” component of the package title because guests who “stay longer” — as in, stay two nights instead of one — get a package rate of $72.50 per night.
Rooms under a “last minute” special, on right now for stays this week, cost $99 per night, so this late-fall/winter rate is over 20% less than that current offer. The wineries for which you’ll receive tasting passes vary, and tasting fees vary by winery. But you might get passes to, for example, Ravenswood, where tastings run $10-$15, and Paradise Ridge, which charges a $10 fee. Read the rest of this entry »
Fall foliage: Aspen aglow near Big Bear
October 17, 2009 6:00am
The fall foliage around Big Bear is exploding, courtesy of heavy snows a year ago. Meanwhile, a grove of aspen 30 minutes from town is expected to peak this weekend.
Dan Mckernan of the Big Bear Lake Resort Assn. says the grove is the only one in Southern California and a favorite of local hikers. Note that the final leg of the drive from town takes you on a forest road that is not particularly friendly to low-slung sports cars or low-riders. Family sedans should by OK, if you take it slowly.
Once there, you’ll think you are in Colorado, rather than two hours from Los Angeles. Also on display in area day hikes are oak, cottonwood and ferns. Timing the color peak in the area is always tricky, Mckernan says. Peak colors usually last only a week or two. Don’t forget your forest day pass ($5) before leaving town.
Halloween: Family-friendly haunt at Calico Ghost Town, near Barstow
October 16, 2009 2:10pm
Where better to rustle up old ghosts than a ghost town. The erstwhile silver-mining destination of Calico, six miles northeast of Barstow, is hosting its annual Ghost Haunt for two weekends beginning Oct. 23.
The ghost town — which was developed in 1881, booming till 1896 and deserted by 1904 — is a year-round attraction for its 19th century mining-camp sites, some original and others reconstructed. But this bit of the Old West apparently gets even more spirited for Ghost Haunt, when the attraction is set to inspire excited spooks and shivers from Halloween aficionados of all ages.
Family-friendly features include a haunted mine and a ride in a real coffin, as well as activities like trick-or-treating, costume and coloring contests, pumpkin carving, panning for gold in “bloody” water and a reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” Read the rest of this entry »
