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We'll be moving to OC from the mid-west next month. Given that the cost of living will be significantly higher, I'm looking for low cost entertainment. Residents, please share your ideas. Everything from parks, beaches, happy hours, discount nights, etc.
The beaches in SoCal are undeniably some of the best in the country. Parking is an issue, but it's not uber expensive (I pay around $6 for 3 hours at my favorite beach).
Hiking, picnic, or just play in the stream at Silverado Canyon. You do need to by a Cleveland National Forest pass. Day passes are $5.
Holy Jim waterfall trail. Again you need a pass for that location. You can get the passes at most sporting goods stores.
Whiting Ranch park. There is a great trail here called red rock canyon. They also have mountain biking trails. I think that it is free.
BEAch - free. Just pay for parking. There are five beaches that we like to take our kids to:
1. Tidepool beach near Laguna. THis is just north of Laguna Beach. You have to climb down switchbacks to get to the beach and you want ot go at low tide. It is a rocky beach and the rocks retain tidepools that will have lots of marine life in them. Sea Cucumbers, sea slugs, sea stars, fish those plant things that move (anemone or something like that)and sometimes octopi. Just look, please do nto touch them, it is easy to kill them and then your kids would feel terrible. You have to stand really still and stare in and watch for movement. The Octopi will always hide under rocks.
2. Corona Del Mar Beach. This is a family beach with gentle waves. Teens stay away becuase of the lack of stores and the prevalence of families. There is a rock formation at one end od the beach with a small cave in it. It is pretty neat. There are fire pits ont he beach here.
3. Balboa Beach. A crazy busy beach with a lot of shops, resturuants, and rental places. you can rent bikes, boogie boards, skates, umbrellas. Teh fun zone area on the bay has a ferris wheel, merry go round, some other rides and arcades. There is a ferry boat that goes between Balboa villiage and Balboa Island. There are tour boats and boat rentals in the bay. There is a pier with a hambugur joint out near the end of it (Rubies). You can readily spend a 12 hour day here for $25 if you bring your own toys, food and water and never get bored.
4. Laguna Beach. This is a nice seaside town with loads of art galleries and other neat shops. It has a picturesque beach right in town. Food is expensive. Parking is difficult to find. Also Laguna Beach is the local of choice for much of Orange County's gay population so if that bothers you or your children, you may have a problem here. You will definitely see gay couples strolling about and usually some are being frisky.
5. Dog Beach. This is in Huntington Beach almost to Newport. You park along Coast HIghway. This is a beach where you are allowed to let your dog run free. Even if you do nto have a dog, it is a neat place to go and see all of the other people's dogs frolicking in the surf. It is a good place to see lots of different breeds of dogs. Most owners do a good job of cleaning up their pet's wastes.
There are a lot of great free public parks around as well. There are so many, that I cnanot really single any one out as better than others. Every community has several parks. Most have spectacular play equipment.
THere is a park in Irvine called Mud Park. Kids go and play in big pits of mud, and they have various mud based things for them to do. I cannot rememebr if it costs anything.
Irvine park is nice because it has a petting farm. and an equestrian center.
The Santa Ana Zoo is a very nice and inexpensive small zoo. They have a lot of monkeys that are fun to watch. IN the summer, you can ride on an elephant for about $5 each.
Discovery science center (Santa Ana). This is a typical hands on science museum for kids. It is not super cheap. I cannot remember the price.
"THe Block" in Orange. This is an outdoor mall it has a large skate park that is entertaining to wathc the skae boarders and skaters practice their tricks. There is a movie theater here too.
For day trips, it is neat to go out to Lancaster/Gorman are when the poppies are blooming. Imagine millions of poppies covering hundreds of acres. It is really neat to see. There is nto a lot else to do out there. You can visit an abandoned silver mine and I think that there is a ghost town there somewhere.
Big Bear Lake. Up in the mountains is a place called Big Bear. There is a very nice fresh water lake there with a nice beach. In the winter, you cna go skiing there. The skiing is mediochre, but fnie for kids.
Joshua Tree National Monument. A huge park with bizzarre rock formations. It looks like you went ot mars. You cna climb on the various rock formations, explore small caves or just drive/hike around. This is a long trip. 4 hours or so.
Palm Springs Tram. There is a very long tram ride from just outside Palm Springs to the top of the moountain. You can ride up hike around a little and then ride back down. The tram ride is the real draw. Not cheap for a group.
La Jolla. La Jolla is a nice seaside town near San Diego. The beach is usually covered with Sea Lions and you cna walk up close to them. You cna touch them, but they may bite if you do. There is also a really neat sea cave taht you can go into for a few dollars.
It is no longer safe to go to Tijuana or Rosarito Beach Mexico. I would not recomment taking kids there except maybe on a mission trip in a large group.
Fashion Island. This is a nice outdoor mall in Newport Beach. It has a lot of neat fountains, a farm market and it is just a neat pace to hang out, especially at Christmas.
I want to second Irvine Park. In addition to the cheap zoo (I think it was like $2/person to get in), there's also a little train that my kids love riding, and there's bicycle rentals (they have cool surreys that fit 2 adults and 2 kids) and pony rides.
There's a park in Northwood in Irvine called Fort Northwood that is a big playground that looks like a big fort/castle. It was my favorite park to go to as a kid.
There's Pretend City in Irvine, though it's $10/person, but my kids love it. We actually bought an annual pass, it covers 4 people per visit and was $200, so after 5 visits it has paid for itself, and we've only lived here about 3 weeks now, and we've gone twice.
I like to shop and people watch, so I like going to Irvine Spectrum. It's a big outdoor mall. They have tons of shops, restaurants and a huge movie theatre with an IMAX.
They also a ferris wheel, carousel and little train. I think they're all only $2/person (not sure, we've only done the carousel so far, and that was only $2/person).
It's always fun to drive up to LA and walk up and down Melrose or hang out in Westwood or in Santa Monica (at least I enjoyed that in high school and college).
Balboa Park in San Diego (not to be confused with Balboa Beach in Orange County, which is also awesome) is worth the drive. Tons of museums there, and it's just beautiful.
There's Downtown Disney (Anaheim). Parking is free for the 1st 3 hrs. If you eat at one of the restaurants, they'll validate your ticket so you can stay longer. They've got live music in the evening and you can see Disneyland's nightly fireworks show from there too.
The Wedge (Newport Bch). There's some crazy waves and you can watch the bodyboarders who dare to ride. Because of the way that beach was formed, the waves are dangerous. DH's good friend became paralyzed from riding there a couple years ago.
Irvine. If you search their website, you can find very reasonable family camping trips. Some are just 1-2 nights. They provide the itinerary. You'll find info on the mud park that a pp posted.
Bill Barber Park in Irvine (cross streets Harvard & Barranca) - huge playground area. Good place for a 2 hour visit w/ kids 6 and under.
La Habra Childrens museum - First Saturday of the month is Target sponsored free admission. Target does target free days at other museums in the area as well.
Ride the Coastliner to San Diego for a day trip.
There is a small aquarium in San Pedro at Cabrillo beach. As the name implies it is at the beach as well. Admission is $5. You can then take a $1 ride on an old style electric trolley to a small maritime museum in san pedro. Bonus: The drive thru the port of LA on the way is gaurnteed to fascinate any man or boy in the car. Lots of big ships, trucks, cranes, etc. doing their thing. Very cool.
Newport Dunes does outdoor movies on many summer saturday nites. Cost is $10 to park.
Orange County fair in the summer is fun and only if expensive if a parent can't tell their kid "no".
Many cities and even some of the larger HOA's have free outdoor concerts, plays or movies in the summer. Check around your neighborhood.
If you go to the wedge in Newport, be very careful and stay well back from the water. A few years ago, two teen grils were walking along the sand (not even in the water) and a rogue wave swept them out. One was never found. When we lived in Balboa, it seemed like there was an ambulance at the wedge every day in the summer.
I body surfed there once in a moment of extreme stupidity. It is a really fun place to body surf, but really dangerous. Even if you know what you are doing, you can easily be injured, paralyzed or killed. I got only a few scratches and bumps from one mishap and I really did have a blast, but it is not worth the risk. Stay away from the water at the Wedge. Even if there are only small waves. The girl who got swept away was there on a day with small waves, except the really big one that washed them out to sea.
Santa Ana also has two museums for kids. One is the Kidseum which is part of the Bower Museum (but in a seperate building). THere is also another museum that is in a historical home that was moved to a park and they have historical costumes and allow kids to dress up. I really do not know what else is there or exactly where it is (Cabrillo Park comes to mind, but I may be completely wrong). I never went there, but my kids did and they loved it.
Second the summer park events as a great idea. Look in the paper, there is always somethig going on somewhere. Movies in pocket parks are common. Neighborhood street fairs and festivals are somewhat common, a group called Shakespeare in the park does performances in various parks. Hart Park in Orange has live bands every (Thursday or Friday I think, maybe it is Wednesay).
If you are anywhere near Disneyland at night you can see the fireworks for free.
The orange county fair is neat if you skip the part with rides and booths and just go look at the giant pigs or the bizzarre looking chickens.
There is a waterpark in Irvine (or did they close that when I was not looking?). It is not too expensive, but you need to take antibiotics before going there.
A nice walking place is along the back bay of Newport. THe back bay is marshy and there are a lot of neat birds to see there.
You can also take your bicycles and ride the Santa Ana River trail all the way to Huntington beach, or go the the way all the way out to green river.
Old Town Orange is a nice place to walk around. Have malts at Watsons pharmacy/soda shop, look at antiques, sit by the fountain in the circle. Sounds a bit lame, but even our kids enjoyed this once in a while.
Orange has an international street fair on Labor Day weekend. I do not like it much, but our kids always want to go. It is really crowded and lots of drunk people doing stupid things. However they do have some really good bands and all kinds of food and treat booths that support local chriteis and sports teams.
Another great free event is we often went as a family to help out at soup kitchens or other charities. It is really great family time and helps others as well. A great learning experience for your kids. WE started bringing ours at about age 8. If they can wield a broom or a rag, they cna help out. Some suggestions: Friendly Center in Orange. Second Harvest (I think in Fullerton), There is a group in Santa Ana that I think is called "Mary's Kitchen" or something like that and another place in Western Santa Ana where they have a building that serves about 100 people a day outside. Surprisingly, our kids really enjoyed helping out with me and they actually met some very nice and interesting people who came in to eat. One of my daughters sat and talked with one homeless lady for two hours. Afterwards she said that this was the most interesting person that she had ever met. I think that they are mostly in Santa Ana, Orange Fullerton and Anaheim. You do not find soup kitchens in Cota De Caza, Mission Viejo, or Newport Beach. It is best to call and schedule a time to help. Sometimes they get too many volunteers, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Be prepared to do anything, pack boxes, serve food, wash dishes, clean up, sweep, set up, provide directions etc. Do not bring a lot of money or wear a lot of jewlry or your best clothing. You may find yourself deciding to give away whatever you have including possibly your shoes. Some of us went home barefoot more than once.
I don't like leaving the house for entertainment. I am an anti-social person. The internet provides the best entertainment; arguing/debating on different forums, watching youtube, reading blogs etc.
No need to leave the house. For other entertainment just watch dvd's.
I don't like doing things like biking, hiking, going the OC fair, going to the zoo etc. Those things are just NOT fun for me.
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