Driving to Las Vegas from San Diego.

[caz]

We are driving from San Diego to Las Vegas with out 3 children in August.Any tips of places to see or visit or stop at on the way ?

 

[ScooterL]

Mostly it's a very boring drive through the southern California suburbs and the desert!

There's outlet malls and stuff at Barstow Station (usually lots of traffic there, too!). In Baker, you can see the World's Largest Thermometer and stop at the Mad Greek for date shakes. I think there's still some kid-friendly stuff at State Line, but I'm not sure about that.

Oh, there's Calico Ghost Town, too - that might be interesting if you get there early enough that it's not too hot.

 

[caz]

Thanks for the reply I am a bit dissappointed as I thought there would be plenty to see on the way but maybe it will all seem very exciting to my British eyes ?

 

[xmlguy]

There's plenty to see on the way, if you're willing to divert off Interstate Highway 15 for part of the way.

You are going right through the greater Los Angeles Area, and you could easily see the Getty Museum, Gene Autry Museum, La Brea Tar pits, Mission San Juan Capistrano, or any of the LA tourist spots, Disneyland/Cal Adventure (of course), Universal, Knotts Berry Farm, Magic Mountain.
There's Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead.
There's the San Bernardino County Museum:
http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/museum/exhibits/exhibits.htm
There's Palm Springs and the Aerial Tram
There's Temecula Wine Country.
There's any beach from LA, OC, or San Diego.
There's Griffith Park.
There's the Wild Animal Park in Escondido (nope - it's not in San Diego City).
There's Mount Palomar Observatory.
There's Ontario Mills Mall, Victoria Gardens, Bass Pro Shops.
Wanna Parachute Jump? You can do that on the way.
Wanna Balloon Ride? You can do that on the way.
Boating, Fishing, Hunting, Skiing (water & snow), Sporting (baseball, basketball, golf, football (American & European), hockey, skating, gymnastics). Big Bear has an olympic training facility, and is a training home to gold medalists. The Little League World Series is played in North San Bernardino.

That's just off the top of my head.

 

[endy]

XMLGUY - thats a lot of great ideas. We do the drive every summer & may have to make time to do/see something on your list.

We've stopped at Calico a couple times. If it's hot on the highway it will be even hotter in the ghost town. I didn't want to leave the underground area. We did the little train ride and all the shops, very hot inside.

Now I have a question since you seem knowledgable about the area. Somewhere along the dessert there is an old waterpark. Was it ever opened? Or did it get built & run out of money?
We always think it would've been a good place to stop. It just seems so foreign, the lake and all sitting in the sand & heat.

 

[xmlguy]

XMLGUY - thats a lot of great ideas. We do the drive every summer & may have to make time to do/see something on your list.

We've stopped at Calico a couple times. If it's hot on the highway it will be even hotter in the ghost town. I didn't want to leave the underground area. We did the little train ride and all the shops, very hot inside.

Now I have a question since you seem knowledgable about the area. Somewhere along the dessert there is an old waterpark. Was it ever opened? Or did it get built & run out of money?
We always think it would've been a good place to stop. It just seems so foreign, the lake and all sitting in the sand & heat.

Glad you found the ideas helpful!

Yes, I know about the waterpark first hand, as I have been to the park when it was operating. As far as I know, it was the FIRST waterpark of its type, with high speed slides. It's Lake Dolores, and you can find the wikipedia article about it here:

Lake Dolores

The main water slide was really fast, like 60mph fast at the base. It was so fast that it could easily rip a bathing suit off, which caused much hilarity and embarrassment when it happened. That was part of the fun. You had to use an air mattress or bodyboard to literally skim across the nearly the entire width of the lake.

Raging Waters is a huge waterpark, and it's rated #3 in the nation by the Travel Channel. It's only about 15 minute drive from Highway 15.

Glen Helen Regional Park is right on Highway 15, right at the fork for Highway 215.

http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/PARKS/glen.htm

It is very affordable, has a water park, swimming, boat rentals, fishing, picnicing, and other activities.

 

[xmlguy]

There is also a great museum of art and Egyptology at Cal State University, San Bernardino.

http://rvf-artmuseum.csusb.edu/

This is a hidden gem that I'll bet nobody here has heard about.

I've been to the British Museum, the Louvres, the Berlin museum of Egyptology, and other world-class museums, and I can say that this museum is absolutely worth seeing. It may not have huge stoneworks of the big museums, but it has a large and interesting collection of artifacts, presented with great care. The San Bernardino County Museum is also worth seeing, although I haven't been there in a while. This reminds me that I need to revisit them both.

 

[endy]

xmlguy
Thanks for the links to Lake Dolores. Interesting stuff. I had no idea it's been around for 40+ years. Sounds like it was a pretty interesting place back in it's day.

 

[caz]

There's plenty to see on the way, if you're willing to divert off Interstate Highway 15 for part of the way.

You are going right through the greater Los Angeles Area, and you could easily see the Getty Museum, Gene Autry Museum, La Brea Tar pits, Mission San Juan Capistrano, or any of the LA tourist spots, Disneyland/Cal Adventure (of course), Universal, Knotts Berry Farm, Magic Mountain.
There's Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead.
There's the San Bernardino County Museum:
http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/museum/exhibits/exhibits.htm
There's Palm Springs and the Aerial Tram
There's Temecula Wine Country.
There's any beach from LA, OC, or San Diego.
There's Griffith Park.
There's the Wild Animal Park in Escondido (nope - it's not in San Diego City).
There's Mount Palomar Observatory.
There's Ontario Mills Mall, Victoria Gardens, Bass Pro Shops.
Wanna Parachute Jump? You can do that on the way.
Wanna Balloon Ride? You can do that on the way.
Boating, Fishing, Hunting, Skiing (water & snow), Sporting (baseball, basketball, golf, football (American & European), hockey, skating, gymnastics). Big Bear has an olympic training facility, and is a training home to gold medalists. The Little League World Series is played in North San Bernardino.

That's just off the top of my head.

Wow great ideas thanks