My previous winters in Chicago always left me wishing I could be somewhere warm...

A trip to Santa Barbara is not complete without a visit to Stearns Wharf....

Now that I've been here about 2 and a half years, you can take my lessons learned if you want to use the most of your time in Hollywood on where to go and where not to go.

We received a lot of advice about getting to Yosemite early, parking in one of the main lots and then taking the Shuttle, which takes you to just about every popular place, or you can hike from those popular places to where you want to be. This was our plan until my 14-year-old daughter sprained her ankle literally two days before our trip and ended up on crutches.  Our plans for hiking now had to be adjusted to Plan B: driving and parking as close to the sights as possible.

Heisler Park in Laguna Beach, California is a perfect stop along the Pacific Coast Highway. It's a perfect mix of tropical and wild beach. If you want to truly appreciate how beautiful a beach can be, visit it early in the spring, after a rare Southern California dark and cloudy sky. Any beach can look appealing in bright sunshine and blue skies. For the wanderer that seeks raw and wild beauty where ocean touches the land, this is where you go.

We arrived at LAX to start our adventures through the good and the bad...