Last year we did a road trip to the northeast part of America.  We loved it as we hit many of the major cities like New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.  I remember leaving Oklahoma City in our mini-van and by the time we were to Tulsa, I had been asked, “Are we there yet?” 22 times.  I gave our kids a reality check when I said, “We are driving for 8 more hours, the sun will go down, we will check into a hotel, awake in Indiana, and then drive another 8 hours to Niagara Falls.”  They responded with a blank stare.  You can check that trip out here.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA WITH KIDS

Well, this year we decided to give the west coast some love.  California, baby!!  To minimize the driving, we flew out to California from Oklahoma City and rented a car in San Diego.  California is a huge state, so we knew we still had plenty of driving.  But the key is to break up the drive with great destinations along the way.  Our first stop was Los Angeles.

We left from San Diego early in the morning and got to Los Angeles as fast as we could.  That’s because we knew we weren’t going to stay long because we had to be in Yosemite before dark.  Yes, that’s how we do it.  When we are on vacation, we cram in as many places as we can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQP-Nuc2bPs

I know a popular thing to google when you are in a city is “things to do with kids in that city”.    And there will always be a lot of places and things to do.  But if you aren’t careful, you can find yourself going to the zoo, a museum and a park in a different city.  When that is pretty much what you do in the city that you live in.  However, now you have traveled so many hundreds of miles to basically do the same thing.   So one thing we have learned to make our vacation a true experience is to do something in that city or area that only that place has to offer.  Some of those things may not be the first thing you think of when planning a vacation with kids.  But sometimes your kids need to experience it. 

In L.A., there are many things to do.  Here is a great site to find more things to do.  But since our time in Los Angeles, California with kids was short, we knew there were two things we wanted to do.    And no it wasn’t Disneyland.  Our kids go to Disney World just about every other year.  Normally, that would be a no-brainer.  So first up we wanted to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  And as simple as it was, seeing your favorite famous person’s name on a star is quite entertaining.

This is a picture of my wife with Leslie Nielsen’s star.  All the while in her head she was picturing Liam Neeson.  She doesn’t know Leslie Nielsen.

My kids were finding their favorite famous people as well.

Here’s a street I’m sure most of you know.

The next thing we knew we wanted to do was to see the homes of the stars.  There are many companies offering guided tours.  The one we chose would take us through Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Mulholland Drive and out to see the Hollywood sign.  Depending on the tour you choose, you can see the homes of Michael Jackson, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Taylor Swift just to name a few.   

While we waited on the tour bus, the kids gave us their Oscar-winning speeches at the local gift shop.

After a short wait, we loaded up and we were off to see homes that we will never live in! 

Though the sign was far away, my kids were ecstatic to see it.

The coolest I saw was Sylvester Stallone’s home.  This picture doesn’t do it justice.  

And finally, there was the one that had all of our jaws dropping.   The above is Justin Bieber’s rental home at a whopping $60,000 a month.  Our kids thought that was cheap.  They haven’t really learned the value of money just yet. 

The tour was about 2 hours and it was a little hot.  Also, the tour vehicles have no windows.  So I would recommend going later in the day if possible.  All in all, our kids loved it!  There was much more to come!

Have you done a Hollywood tour?