California - December LA/SF area trip itinerary (suggestions/critics welcome)

My gf & I are planning a visit to CA this Dec. We've come up with a brief itinerary as follows. We are in our late 20s, like outdoor activities (beach/national parks), although unfortunately Dec. is prob not the best season for either beach or national parks. My gf is more a foodie than I am, but we both would love to hear about good restaurants recommendations as well.

12/14/2011 Arrive LAX: 11pm
12/15/2011 Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Bowl, Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, Walk of Fame, Beverly Hill, Santa Monica (Venice Beach, Third Street Promenade), Chinatown
12/16/2011 Santa Barbara (Stearns Wharf, Chase Palm Park), Malibu (Zuma Beach), Huntington beach, Laguna beach
12/17/2011 La Jolla (La Jolla Cove), Mission Beach, Old town, Balboa Park, Gaslamp
12/18/2011 Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, LAX->SFO at night
12/19/2011 Union Square, "MoMA, Lombard Street", Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate
12/20/2011 Santa Cruz, Monterey - Baths at Esalen at night (is this worth going?)
12/21/2011 Carmel, Big Sur
12/22/2011 Sausalito, Nappa Valley or Sonoma
12/23/2011 Squaw Valley skiing
12/24/2011 Heavenly skiing, SFO->JFK 11pm

We'll prob have a rental car except the day in SF (12/19).

We live in Manhattan, so not particular keen to seeing big cities, although still want to checkout spots like Alcatraz & Hollywood. Any suggestions where I shall stay longer or what places are not really worth visiting? Is it worth spending 2 days along Monterey to Big Sur area?

We are both avid skiers as well, never been to Lake Tahoe, plan to do 2 days skiing, is Squaw Valley & Heavenly the best bet?

Thank you in advance.

Get a map of California. Make a list of what you want to do in roughly south to north order. Fly into LA, drive straight to San Diego, then proceed north. DRIVING up the coast, don't fly(the time taken to drop off rental car, fly, pick one up, etc. is wasted particularly if you want to see Santa Barbara and Big Sur), - then you can see:

Anza Borrego (althoguh Dec isn't best time, nothing is usually blooming)
La Jolla, Laguna, LA, Malibu, Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz in S to N order as you head up to San Francisco. Then Napa or Sonoma, then Tahoe.

Try to fly out of Reno, beign on the road trying to get to SFO from Tahoe on xmas eve sounds like a night mare.

12/16 is a bit too much IMO. You're planning on driving from Hollywood to Santa Barbara on a Friday morning, and then going all the way back South to Orange County through Malibu?

12/18 is also too ambitious IMO. I would not plan on driving out to Anza Borrego and then driving all the way back to LAX to catch a flight to SFO.

12/15 is planned okay.

If you're intent on getting down to the San Diego area, skip Santa Barbara on the 16th, and just head South to the Orange County destinations.

To give an idea of distance invovled-

LAX- Santa Barbara 100 miles
SB- Big Sur 200 miles
Big Sur to San Francisco- 150 miles

Given this, why back track to LA from SB, fly to SF, then backtrack to Big Sur, when you can just head north, and see some nice scenery along the way.

To give an idea of distance invovled-

LAX- Santa Barbara 100 miles
SB- Big Sur 200 miles
Big Sur to San Francisco- 150 miles

Given this, why back track to LA from SB, fly to SF, then backtrack to Big Sur, when you can just head north, and see some nice scenery along the way.

I'm fully aware of the distances. The reason I plan to do this is:

1. LAX -> SFO is basically free to me because of BA's stopover rule.
2. one way rental is much more expensive
3. don't plan to rent a car on the 1st day of SF, i.e. will save one day rental

also, seems ppl are generally saying the road from SB to big sur is not that exciting... but i could be completely wrong..

O.k. Let's consider several other issues with this itinerary...

1) I'd agree that you do much better flying into San Diego than LAX & doing the trip as a South to North run than this silly scuttling back and forth... Since every time you cross the LA basin, you are apt to lose to lose half a day to traffic. If you *have* to fly into LAX, plan your trip South to San Diego first...

2) I'd give Anza Borago a pass, because outside of wild flower season (early spring) or hiking some of the remote palm canyons, it's just a lot of fairly barren & scrub covered hills.

3) San Diego & Los Angeles *both* require a car to get around town in anything like a convenient fashion. Santa Barbara for exploring in town really does not. (see www.santabarbaracarfree.org (http://www.santabarbaracarfree.org/)) You can do a real lovely day in SB from LAvia Amtrak's Surfliner....and leave the driving to them. Of course, that close to the holiday, remember to reserve your Amtrak seats. Getting back and forth from LAX to Union Station is easy w/ the FlyAway bus ... And heading up there, you might check if you can drop your rental car at BUR airport (make sure the rental agency you go w/ has a BUR office), which has an Amtrak station roughly 200 yards from the car rental drop-off.

4) Have a backup plan for your ski weekend. Why? Because while it's only 2.5 hours by road from Napa to Squaw Valley in summer... I-80 through Donner Pass can turn into an impassible or barely passable obstacle in a snowstorm (4-8 hours)...and if there is snow on I-80, the CHP will require chains....which won't be provided with your rental car from the San Francisco Bay Area which sees snow maybe every other decade or so. Additionally, I'd check that you can even GET a single or two night rental in those ski areas, as since on a holiday period, most of them go to 3 night minimums.

5) Rather than go "big name" skiing, I'd suggest something very different...
Go Ski Yosemite at Badger Pass Ski Area. No, you won't be skiing insane double black diamond slopes, but you also won't be fighting crazy crowds of college break posers either....and it will let you know what skiing small friendly 1950s, 60s, & 70s ski areas used to be like. And Yosemite Valley in Winter is pretty awesome. Go ice skating in the shadow of Half Dome, and you've got the ideal outdoor counterpart to the Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center.

Good suggestion. They are saying the Sierras may get more snow this year than last, which is crazy, given the amount of snow they got last year. We went up to Mammoth on New Year's Day for a week and it was chains required a good deal of the way up and in town for most of the week as well.

I'm fully aware of the distances.

We don't "do" distances in Southern California. :p

5 miles somewhere can take the same time as 100 miles elsewhere. As it applies to your trip, here is an example. On 12/16 is you are staying in Los Angeles, it could very easily take 2 hours to get to the destinations in Orange County. The drive from Orange County to Santa Barbara could easily take 4+ hours. You want to do as little backtracking as possible.

I'll second the idea of getting to San Diego and driving north along the coast. Also definitely do some research on rental car discount promos and coupons. The savings can amount to hundreds for such a trip.

... the road from SB to big sur is not that exciting... but i could be completely wrong..
Yep. Completely wrong. The central coast is some of the most beautiful driving in the country. And the part up and over Big Sur to Point Lobos and Carmel is THE best.