California dreaming: A ten-day family trip to the Golden State
Los Angeles, California, by night
The voice on the speaker directs us through the winding, leafy hills of Beverly Hills.
We continue through junctions and intersections, take an immediate right here, a sharp left there. And suddenly we find ourselves awkwardly parked up in a gated, affluent-looking cul-de-sac.
A security guard emerges, stone faced, just as the voice from the app announces that this is the home of Leonardo DiCaprio (a neighbour, as it turns out, of Keanu Reeves).
We’re on our Big Family Holiday (for this writer’s upcoming Big Birthday). It’s a road trip in California that will see us take in Yosemite National Park and San Francisco. But our first stop is LA.
Our first morning was spent exploring the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the nearly 3,000 celebrities granted the honour of a plaque on the strip.
We step our shoes, doll-like in comparison, into the gigantic footprints of Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of many celebrities who moulded their feet and hands into the concrete outside the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Our visit to Griffith Observatory — to see a show in the planetarium and take in a view of the iconic Hollywood sign — is inspired by La La Land and Rebel Without a Cause.
Everything in LA comes back to one thing — the movies and their stars.
That first morning we turn our noses and sneer at the tacky tour buses offering sightseeing trips of celebrity homes.
By day three, however, and 24/7 exposure to Hollywood, our interest is piqued. We wouldn’t join a tasteless celebrity bus though; instead we’d do our own discreet version, paying $8 and downloading an app that would track our route and direct us to the homes of the rich and famous.
And so we find ourselves, on a Tuesday morning, getting run out of a cul-de-sac by Leonardo DiCaprio’s security. Embarrassed, and hanging our heads in shame, we turn the app off.
Instead, we opt for some tourist-friendly options.
Universal Studios tops our list. We begin with Harry Potter. You enter the world of Diagon Alley, the shops open for business.
You pass the Hogwarts Express, and keep walking until you reach the breathtaking castle replica. Inside is the Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey ride, one of Universal’s calling cards, while across the way there’s the Flight of the Hippogriff rollercoaster.
Beyond Harry Potter, there’s The Simpsons, with Moe’s Tavern (bar open for business), Dr Nick Riviera’s clinic (unlicensed for two decades!), and the nuclear plant (two days without an incident). It’s a treasure trove of in-jokes for Simpsons fans.
Jurassic World is another unmissable experience, but be prepared for a soaking in this water ride. Nintendo World is one of the main attractions, with a constant queue of die-hard fans.
The studio tour, though, is everyone’s highlight.
We’re brought behind the scenes to see sets from Psycho to Jaws. There are special effects: In a tunnel, our tram is attacked by a CGI Godzilla created by Peter Jackson.
Later, we’re brought to a subway station and watch it crumble and burn around us as an earthquake hits. It has extra resonance for us, as just minutes earlier our phones warned us of a real life earthquake in the area and to take cover. That’s Hollywood for you.
Universal was one of our LA highlights.
To complete the movie magic, we book a tour of Warner Bros Studios.
Our studio cart brings us to Hennessy St and, suddenly, we are transported to New York. Built in the 1930s, these sets and streets were where James Cagney made his name.
In the 80s, fire exits were built for Annie. Later, real trees were planted at the request of Adam Sandler — who wanted a more authentic streetscape. For winter scenes, our guide tells us, the leaves are hand-plucked from the trees, fake snow is created by potato starch.
We drive through the Warner Bros’ “jungle”, where Jeff Goldblum ran from dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Around the corner is our highlight, the fountain and couch from the opening of Friends.
There’s plenty more for fans of the sitcom: Inside you can pose in the real Central Perk set, on the actual couch the cast sat on. There are replicas of Joey and Chandler’s recliners, Monica’s kitchen.
The Big Bang Theory set is also on site.
The interactive Harry Potter experiences are a highlight. Sit in Harry’s bedroom under the stairs, have your own sorting ceremony and fly a broom on a green screen through the streets of London. It’s breathtaking.
To top it all off, we get to hold a real Oscar: Warners’ win for The Lord of the Rings is on hand for studio tour guests to grasp. (And yes, it really does weigh a tonne.)
We stay in The Garland. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, it’s as though the hotel has stopped in time with its cool, Mad Men-retro interiors.
Everything is on message — from vintage fonts, to kitsch 70s interiors. The Front Yard restaurant is so good it’s consistently booked out by locals.
We opted for food by the pool, as the kids had a sunset swim with movies on a big screen. It’s one of the best hotels this writer has ever checked in to.
Even after years of saving for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday like this, budgets will always be a consideration.
So it’s important to bear in mind that breakfasts are rarely, if ever, included in US hotels and cost an average of $25 per adult.
Most rooms, though, come with a small fridge, or have one available on request. If you have a car, and can access a supermarket, there is the option to eat breakfast in and potentially prep a takeaway lunch.
You can’t experience LA without a trip to the beach. And so, on our final day, we pulled into Santa Monica pier and checked out the amusements and rollercoasters on the waterfront.
We took a 25-minute stroll down the promenade to reach Venice Beach, the kids enthralled as they ate ice cream on the same beach Barbie and Ken roller-skated through. Like I said, it always comes back to the movies in LA.
There are many cool cities in the US, ones with shorter flight times than the 11-hour long haul to LA, but we didn’t book New York because we wanted to experience a national park. And so we chose LA as a gateway to Yosemite.
THE national park is in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our base is a cabin at The Redwoods in Yosemite (from €536 for a two-night stay minimum) in picturesque Wawona. It has every homely comfort, floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the forest views, and vast decking for afternoon lounging.
Quirky and quaint, The Market, stocked full of every supply we could need, is a stone’s throw away.
Lit by fairy lights, with a handmade sign and resident cat sitting atop the cash register, this is as far away from home as we can possibly imagine.
The warning signs for mountain lions and the bear-resistant trash cans only add to the otherworldliness. We are warned not to leave food out, even in our cars, if we want to keep bears at bay.
Just a 10-minute walk from the cabin is Chilnualna Falls. At home, this would be a destination in itself. Here, it earns a minor mention on Yosemite maps; there are other sweeping landmarks to appreciate.
Back in the car, as we round the corner to famed Tunnel View, we catch our breaths. Yosemite is renowned for its breathtaking natural beauty, majestic granite cliffs, and towering waterfalls.
The iconic vista of Bridalveil Fall, along with the towering El Capitan and Half Dome, is like nothing we’ve seen before. The queues for parking and teaming tourists take from the experience, but we discover quieter viewpoints further down the road.
To really appreciate it, we booked the Floor Valley Tour, a two-hour trip that took us from to El Captain to Bridalveil Fall.
The next day, there was more awe and wonder as we trekked to the Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias. With 500 mature giant sequoia trees, the oldest is thought to be more than 3,000 years in age.
The most famous is the Grizzly Giant, one of the largest trees in the Mariposa Grove and, at an estimated age of 2,700 years, one of the oldest living sequoia.
The California Tunnel Tree, so vast you can walk through it, is the prime photo opportunity, and a chance to get up close with these miracles of nature. You’ll feel the elevation gains as you walk — at points you are nearly 6,000ft up — but it’s worth every step.
The daredevils in our family signed up for white water rafting, the 10-year-old’s fear turning to exhilaration as she manoeuvred the waves of melted snow.
Last stop on our California road trip was San Francisco. Our multi-city option with Aer Lingus allowed us to fly into LA and out of San Francisco, our fare costing more or less the same as return flights to LA.
A rental car, coming in at $1400 (around €1,204) took us the five hours from LA to Yosemite, and the four hours from there to our final destination: San Francisco.
It is only on these quieter, rural roads running from national parks to big cities that we see any hint of political change. A lone Trump 2024 poster remains emblazoned on a farm property.
Beyond that, in this Democrat state, there is no talk of Washington DC. It is a country transformed, but in this state, on this trip, with no trace of the fires or protests that have so desperately impacted LA, it feels like the California of my J1 three decades earlier.
In San Francisco, on this our last stop, we drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, and spend a sun-soaked morning meandering through the vast Golden Gate Park to Haight-Ashbury.
We wander from one vintage shop to the next. Later, we weave our way down Lombard St, the “crookedest” street in the world, and stop to admire the “Painted Ladies” — otherwise known as “Postcard Row” — a strip of colourful Victorian houses on Steiner St (not too far, in fact, from the home where Robin Williams played the nanny in Mrs Doubtfire).
We stay at Hotel Caza on Fisherman’s Wharf. The swimming pool and games room — think pool tables and giant Jenga — are a reprieve for the kids from city life, and provide sufficient recharge to face the crowds again for a stroll along the promenade to the sea lions on Pier 39.
After an earthquake hit the city in 1989, the sea lions made it their base and remain here to this day.
The next morning, we visit Alcatraz. The visit to the one-time prison ticks a few boxes, beginning with a boat ride that takes in the stunning seascape and city skyline. Alcatraz also sits on a national park, so there’s natural wildlife to appreciate.
Then there’s the jail itself. An exceptional audio tour, narrated by inmates and wardens, takes us deep inside prison life, and tells us the stories of elaborate escape attempts. It’s a holiday highlight.
Later, we ride the cable cars. The wind in their hair, the kids hold onto the bars as we make our way on the tracks through the hills of San Francisco.
We jump off at Chinatown, and stumble upon the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. We write notes to each other and watch as our messages are put inside our very own fortune cookies, made right before our eyes.
As we race outside to crack them open, we see we are in good company — a framed photo shows Gordon Ramsay was a recent customer too.
From there, we grab a table a few blocks away at House of Nanking for the best Asian meal of our lives. And again, our holiday comes full circle.
There, beaming down at us from framed photos on the walls, is our LA friend Keanu Reeves. Turns out he’s a regular. There’s just no escaping Hollywood in California.
Later, we find ourselves driving by the house from sitcom Full House. We take in the sign on the gate: “Private home — please be respectful and quiet.”
This time, we keep on driving on our Californian road trip. Leo, we’ve learned our lesson.
- For more information on holidaying in California, see visitcalifornia.com
- Aer Lingus flies direct from LA and San Francisco daily. aerlingus.com
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
