<p>How would you route this trip? We will be driving from the PNW this summer, and don't have a huge time issue. I know visiting colleges in summer isn't the greatest, but that is what we have to work with right now. We have been to the area on vacation, so don't really need to do much sightseeing, except I still haven't gotten to see the Getty, so that should get thrown in there, and any other fun suggestions that we may have missed. Ideas on where to stay while visiting certain colleges would be welcome, also; thrifty is good, and I'm not too picky as long as its clean.</p>
<p>U of San Diego
CMC/Pomona
Chapman
U of Redlands
Loyola Marymount
USC
Occidental
Getty Museum (for mom)</p>
<p>Even with traffic, none of those (except maybe USD) is more than two hours from any of the others, and most are a lot closer than that. If you have a car, you can visit two a day without problems if you want, or you can stretch it out more, or do two some days but not others. This isn’t a routing problem, really. Find someplace to stay – Glendale/Pasadena area is probably most central, but things are close enough that you don’t have to pick “most central” – and pick what to do when. I would think LMU and USC would work on the same day, or LMU/Getty. If you were staying near Pasadena, you could do Occidental and any other LA- area college the same day. You could do Redlands or Chapman on your way to San Diego, or both and get to San Diego later, or one on the way back. It probably makes sense to spend a night or two in San Diego.</p>
<p>How about this as a stake in the ground?:</p>
<p>Day 1 – Drive to Glendale area
Day 2 – Occidental and USC (in any order). Nice contrast location and size.
Day 3 – Getty and LMU (in any order)
Day 4 – Claremont Colleges
Day 5 – Redlands or Chapman and drive to San Diego
Day 6 – USD, then go back to the one of Redlands or Chapman you haven’t seen
Day 7 – Drive home</p>
<p>When we visit USC, we usually stay at the Vagabond Inn. It’s a motel, not a hotel, but it’s clean. the best thing is, it’s walking distance (and safe walk) to campus, so you don’t have to deal with parking. There’s a hotel across the street from USC also, I think a Radisson but don’t remember.</p>
<p>Q While returning from a weekend in Los Angeles recently, I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic on Interstate 5 for half an hour near Buttonwillow, where northbound travel was reduced to one lane for several miles. Now, half an hour isn’t too bad, but it got me to thinking about what that stretch of highway would be like on Memorial Day weekend, so I checked the DOT website and found this lane restriction will remain 24/7 until October. You might want to post a notice so people are aware of what traffic will be like on that section of I-5. "… We got a call from friends of ours headed back to L.A., telling us about how long it took them going from Patterson to the Grapevine (four hours!) on I-5. I went to the Caltrans road info website, and it said that southbound traffic had been reduced to one lane five miles north of Highway 58 in Kern County due to construction. Can you shed any light on what’s going on? We’re headed down to L.A. next month and need to decide whether to go another way.</p>
<p>Eric Wampler, Michael Singer and more</p>
<p>A You may want to consider taking Highway 101. Caltrans is making pavement repairs in two locations and the lane closures will be in place this holiday weekend. One project runs from north of the Grapevine Creek Bridge near Lebec Road to the L.A.-Kern County line for about 4.5 miles. The concrete is being replaced in the far right truck lane and outside shoulder for both northbound and
southbound lanes. Panels and grinding work will also be done where needed in other lanes. This $16 million project is expected to be completed in spring 2013. Similar work near Highway 58 will last until Halloween.</p>
<p>Its you’re going to the Getty, you should make time to visit UCLA (unless you definitely have no intention of applying there or something) - its a great campus, and pretty much across the street from the Getty (ok ok a few blocks down Sepulveda and then Sunset, but still very close :))</p>
travel up I-5 into Orange County, taking you to the city of Orange
2. Chapman
Now take the 57 freeway north until you get to I-10. Go east a few miles to Foothill Bl.
3. CMC/Pomona
Continue east on I-10 out to Redlands.
4. U of Redlands
Double back the other way, but take the 210 instead of the 10, as it turns into the 134 just before Eagle Rock
5. Occidental
Now take the 110 Pasadena Fwy south and stay on it as it turns into the Harbor Fwy. Right after you cross I-10 you will arrive at
6. USC
Take surface streets north back up to I-10, head west until you get to the 405 fwy, then a few miles south
7. Loyola Marymount
Get back on the 405 headed north. Right after you pass UCLA (between Sunset and Wilshire) you will get to Getty Drive.
8. Getty Museum</p>
<p>Leave some time to visit the beach in Southern cal - either in the LA area or San Diego (or points in between). It’s quite different from the beaches in the PNW. In the LA area you could go to the beaches around Santa Monica or Venice or others. Most of the beach areas in San Diego are pretty nice.</p>
<p>There are also all the other tourist things to do like the amusement parks, San Diego Zoo/Sea World, etc. to maybe help break up the activities a bit because day after day of touring campuses can old pretty quickly - especially for the kid who’ll go there (even if that makes no sense) and even more especially for any younger siblings.</p>
<p>Perhaps we should inquire of the OP WHICH Getty Museum she is planning to visit. We’re assuming she means the newer of the two but be aware there’s also the Getty Villa out towards Malibu.</p>
<p>If you plan a visit to the Getty Museum after 5:30, the parking is free (otherwise $15 but there’s no museum entry fee.) .Since you’ll be coming in the summer, you’d still have the chance to see the city views from there, which can be striking in good weather. From the Getty Villa, you can get striking views of the ocean and coast.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions, you guys are great! appreciate the routing ideas and motel suggestions, along with some fun stuff. I will use this as my basis for research. </p>
<p>I wanted to go to the LA Getty, didn’t know there were two. As to UCLA, S definitely won’t be applying to any OOS publics, so we won’t be adding it to the list, but it will be fun to take a quick look, as they are one of our sports rivals.</p>
<p>For USD, you might check hotels in Mission Valley, Old Town, or else search for the cheapest chain hotels like Motel 6, etc. but summertime hotel prices in San Diego are expensive! USD is right near the I-5 and I-8 freeway intersection but that’s also a rather pricey area of town. You might need to stay at a hotel farther away. Look for hotels in these areas: Murphy Canyon, Clairemont, San Diego State area, basically further east than USD. Or, you could contact USD and see if they offer any over nights for free. How many are traveling?</p>
But if your budget can afford more than that (I stayed at a motel 6 once in my life - never again), in addition to the hotels in Hotel Circle, which are all pretty close to USD, there are nicer, but more expensive, hotels right on San Diego Bay or right on Mission Bay that’ll make you feel like you’re on vacation. If you’ll only use it for a bed at night it’s not worth it but if you have time to use the pools, wander around, etc. you might like to stay at one of them. If you have frequent flyer/hotel points you might be able to use some of them.</p>
<p>The San Diego Bay ones (Marriot, Hyatt, Hilton, etc.) are right on the bay walking distance to the bay with an old aircraft carrier that’s now a museum, Seaport Village (somewhat touristy shopping), restaurants, Gaslamp district (more restaurants), etc. There are less expensive ones in this same general area but not right on the bay.</p>
<p>The Mission Bay ones are right on that bay - Paridise Point Resort, Hilton Mission Bay, Hyatt Regency, Catamaran, and others.</p>
<p>All of these including the many hotels in Hotel Circle are pretty close to USD, downtown, SD bay, Mission bay, Old Town (which has some Mexican restaurants you should try), Sea World, Balboa Park (with the zoo and museums), the beach (Mission Beach, Coronado, others), etc.</p>
<p>WARNING: Major Los Angeles Freeway closure July 15-17 Weekend
The main north/south artery, the I-405 (San Diego Fwy) will be closed for an entire weekend from a bit north of I-10 (Santa Monica Fwy) to the US 101 (Ventura Fwy) in order to demolish the Mulholland Overpass Bridge. Closures are predicted start about 10pm on Friday 15 July and the freeway is scheduled to reopen at 5 am on Monday 18 July. Traffic through the Sepulveda Pass will be rerouted onto the 2 lane (each direction) Sepulveda Blvd for the entire period (yes, that is 10 lanes into 4). No one in their right minds wants to be anywhere within 5 miles of this area that weekend. The LA Getty museum (fabulous place to visit [Visit</a> the Getty](<a href=“http://www.getty.edu/visit/]Visit”>Visit Our Museums - Locations, Exhibitions, Highlights | Getty) ) is perched in the hills overlooking the scene of the upcoming disaster and would have a fabulous view of the catastrophe, but will be next to impossible to get to at that time. </p>
<p>Traffic does not take a holiday, does it? That info will help us decide when to go, for sure. I agree on the Motel 6, also. I can’t do that anymore. There are only two of us, me and the boy. I like the idea of having a central location in LA (maybe Glendale/Pasadena), see most of the colleges and the museum, then spend a few days at one of those nicer hotels in San Diego, see USD, and have some down time in that wonderful city. When we get our dates set, I will try my luck on Priceline; I have gotten some good deals from them, even in the summer.</p>
<p>You might also want to check out when Comic-con (comic book convention) is in San DIego. The whole area sells out for the few days that it is in town.</p>
<p>In Claremont, the Doubletree is right down the street from the Claremont Colleges–very convenient and a nice place. Not the absolute cheapest, but nice, and convenient.</p>
<p>Oh, good; I just got back and can spill what I know:</p>
<p>The older Getty VILLA [Getty</a> Villa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Villa]Getty”>Getty Villa - Wikipedia) is a Roman style courtyard home, with a world-class collection of Greek and Roman art. Online Reservations, by date and hour, must be made in advance due to a cap on total # visitors per hour to keep viewing enjoyable in a relatively small sized art gallery. Look into that aspect now if it’s important to you to get inside. This was Getty;s home… or one of them.</p>
<p>The newer Getty CENTER is somewhat closer in to the center/downtown of LA. Getty Center was a more recent gift from Getty for the people of LA to enjoy. [Getty</a> Center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Center]Getty”>Getty Center - Wikipedia) Richard Meier and Partners’ remarkable architecture was eye-popping. It highlights the ample grounds and sculptural botanical gardens, too. Allow time to park a car ($15/carload) and board the free tram uphill to begin your visit, unless you’d rather hike up. Once there, several buildings hold large permanent exhibitions with focus on specific times in the history of art(see their website). Personally, and I’m well-versed in French Impressionist/post-Impressionist art, the 3 Gaugin paintings there, plus Van Gogh’s “Irises” [Irises</a> (Getty Museum)](<a href=“http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=947]Irises”>http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=947) made my day. Their Cezanne? Meh. There are also changing special new exhibitions curated by the museum itself. When I was there last week, the specials included “Paris” (furniture and grooming objects concerning how French royalty got all dressed up), a photographic one-person show and other surprises. They were preparing for an evening outdoor jazz concert, too. </p>
<p>Traffic, especially from L.A. to Orange (for Chapman), is worth checking before you depart. It can range from a 45-minute trip to 2 hours, depending on rush hour traffic, construction and impomptu breakdowns by other cars. My S there consults the internet each time before he traverses those 2 points. I think he used the sites linked above in Posts #8 and #9.</p>
<p>“Rush hour” around LA surprised me by its intensity and duration; he calls it “rush hour” between 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., LOL. Also, unlike eastern cities where “rush hour” means everybody -into-the-center each morning and the opposite each evening, LA seemed to me to be going in all directions throughout “rush hour.” But I was a neophyte with LA traffic; experienced it for the first time last week from a tight backseat in S’s two-door car!</p>