My only beach experiences on the Pacific are Washington's lovely unspoiled beaches. I can hardly imagine taking children to play in the waves and make sand castles other than the Gulf of Mexico (in the lower 48). Our beaches are clean with white sand and clear beautiful water. The Pacific can be very ferocious. The Gulf is generally calm waves. It's also good to have a piece of beach that you aren't sharing with 50,000 other people. This only happens for us when Jimmy Buffett comes to town. ;)
Mexico is on my bucket list for sure, but I'm already planning a SoCal trip and we kind of have to hit a beach while we're there. It wouldn't be a proper California vacation without dipping our toes in the water at least once.
I agree. I just haven't even spent time there. I drove through the LA area in the middle of the night...on purpose. I just wanted to get to the other side to head for Tuscon, get on I10 and boogie across the entire USA to get home. I had no Socal interest. I had been up in Northern California for a couple of months. I love it up there. I couldn't make myself get on a plane so I drove a rental. I mean way North, almost to the Oregon border. That is heaven on earth as far as climate....never hot and never cold. Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy The Southern part of California..............you and a few million others.
Manhattan Beach is great. I found it when I went to L.A on vacation years ago. It's just South of Venice and Santa Monica, and it's a helluva lot quieter, more for families. Beware of the water tho, great whites are there, and there has been an attack. But they're very unlikely to beach themselves and eat your sandcastles.
I don't know if you're going to be in the San Diego area, but the Coronado Island and it's beaches are a wonderful spot to visit. Beaches on both sides of the Strand (Ocean side & Bay side) and many shops for the visiting traveler. The area is populated by retired Naval officers and is one of the nicer places in the San Diego area. With the Sub Base nearby, Aircraft Carrier docks, excellent restaurants, the Coronado Hotel and finally the Coronado Bridge ... it's a area/town that can be fun and exciting to visit.
Ooh, that looks gorgeous. As you may have guessed by my previous questions, we've been planning a touristy trip. We have a rental house about midway between Disneyland and Universal Studios and plan to spend the bulk of the trip there, but for the last day or so, we were hoping to get a different house closer to the beach. The price was least extortionate north of the area you mentioned and I already grabbed a house in Torrance for an extra night, so that probably means Manhattan Beach with the whites Righty mentioned or Redondo Beach. I don't know Cali well at all, but I think it's hard to go wrong at any beach there. I may have to go back just to do a beach trip and head up north to the areas TM mentioned or down to Coronado. Gorgeous either way!
Adaydreambeliever 