I find this concept fascinating, L.A. Gang Tours expects to open to the public in January, giving tourists a look at the heart of the nation’s gang culture — the birthplace of many of the city’s gangs, including Crips and Bloods, Florencia 13 and 18th Street. For just $65 for an adult you can experience the real South Central L.A.

A bus tour of some of the hardest areas of the city, including decayed public housing, sites of deadly shootouts and streets ravaged by racial unrest. Sound intriguing? This sounds like the type of tour my sociology class would have loved. While it does sound a little controversial, scary, and like a heavy dose of reality, if it’s done right it can be a great thing for the area educating people on the underbelly of society.

Does it make you feel a little better that the proceeds go right back to the community? Profits will be put back into the community through jobs, tours in new areas and loans to inner-city entrepreneurs.

Visit the L.A. Gang Tour’s website for more information and to reserve your spot!

I’m curious to see how the launch of these tours turn out, what do you say? Will you sign up for a tour during your next trip to LA? Very tempting.

For our very last trip together before baby, we headed to Los Angeles for the weekend. A trip we have made together many many times. We both enjoy our trips to LA and they usually come with a purpose. This time it was to see our favorite band who was playing their last show together. Something we both really enjoy in a place we both enjoy. It was a great weekend. But while we were there we started talking about why we come to LA so often and what we really like about this city. We came up with the three following reasons:

1.We love the food. Whether it’s In-N-Out (which we can get in more places than just LA), Tommy’s Original Hamburger (if you love deliciously gross chili burgers- which we do), Portillos (chicago style hotdogs), and various other delicious and restaurants (some actually being real restaurants), we love the food in Southern California. Enough that we would probably make a special trip for it.

2. We love baseball. Do I really need to say more? If you are a reader of this blog you know our goal is to visit every baseball park in the United States, but we can’t get enough of the Dodgers or Dodger Stadium and try to visit it at least once a year.

3. We love the beaches. Although LA beaches are not the best in the world they do offer an eclectic beach experience. They are beautiful in their own right.

I think it makes for an easy get-away for us because it’s close enough that an hour and a half flight is easy, even if it’s just for a day, but yet it’s far away enough to make it a fun experience and feel like we got out of our daily grind for awhile.

What is your favorite place to visit over and over again and why?

According to gocalifornia.com about 24 million people go to Los Angeles, California for vacation every year. I would say I am definitely one of those 24 million, but actually visit the area on average three to four times a year. Usually for one of three purposes, disneyland, a football game, or a baseball game.

This trip was no exception, and was based around the notion of going to a Dodgers game. The plan was to arrive Sunday morning and leave early Monday morning in order to make at least a half day at work.

Of course the first thing that occurred after we picked up our rental car was a visit to In-N-Out. To say I love In-N-Out is an understatement. As a high school student and my first summer as a college student I worked at In-N-Out. What started as an innocent obsession quickly turned into an addiction. I have never gotten sick of their cheeseburgers, fresh cut fries or creamy milkshakes.

Dodger Stadium was just as I remembered it. Blue, old and rustic. Unfortunately we were running a bit late and so we missed the opening pitch and the National Anthem. But we made it to our seats just in time for the first inning. Dodgers fans are some of the best. The people were nice and considerate, unlike the usual stereo-type of LA natives. The game was a short one as the Dodgers killed the Nationals by 2-0. It was fun and of course we were ready with our glove in case a foul ball came our way (we weren’t that lucky). Leaving Dodger stadium we stopped for pictures and made the exhausting hike back to our car.

Following the game, we decided to beach it up at Newport Beach. If you have never been to Newport Beach, it’s an upscale beach southwest of LA proper. I wasn’t expecting for it to be so packed on a Sunday night but parking was definitely a challenge. Too bad we had already eaten dinner because there were a lot of cute little restaurants near the beach. However, being in the mood for desert the balboa bars and the frozen bananas sold by the beach, were seriously tempting. It was perfect weather to walk along the pier and run around the beach, chasing the waves. I was really surprised at how warm the water was! Growing up in Northern California the beaches were always cold. I will definitely be planning a trip to come back and just spend time playing at the beach.

It was a fun quick trip. Definitely what I needed for my exhausted and over worked mentality. The journey reminded me to take time to have fun and not take life so seriously. I recommend a day or weekend getaway to anyone who has gotten lost in their routine.

If you have ever visited San Diego then you know that there is something different about this mildly tempered California metropolis. San Diego, which is located 125 miles south of Los Angeles, is a haven for city-dwellers who want to get away and relax, has miles of sandy beaches, and where the average weather ranges from mid sixties to high seventies all year long. No wonder this is a hot spot for tourists.

Visiting San Diego was something I had been wanting to do for a long time. I had been there once as a kid but didn’t really remember what it was like or didn’t even have clear memories of the visit. So the excitement I felt was a bit of an understatement. We had some issues with our flight- we weren’t able to land in San Diego due to the wind and so we were re-routed to LAX for a couple of hours. Then when we finally managed to get into San Diego, but it was so late that the rental car company was closed. Arghhhh. While it was a rough start, the rest of our trip definitely made up for it.

One of the great things about San Diego is there is so much to do and so much to see. Of course you have SeaWorld which is always an awesome time and the San Diego Zoo however these places can be a little costly but for sure worthwhile. We first ventured to Coronado because we had heard great things about the city. It was cool and fun to see- the hotel is beautiful and looks like it would be a great place to stay and vacation. The beaches are beautiful as well.

Other things I would definitely recommend to do during your visit to San Diego would be to journey to Point Loma, which is a hilly peninsula in the pacific ocean. Point Loma in and of itself has a few things to explore, Old Point Loma Lighthouse is kind of fun and you can actually go in it and see how the keeper lived, a museum, some bunkers from World War two days and some really fun tidal pools that kids (and adults) would love. The view you get of San Diego is breathtaking- but as a warning there is walking uphill associated, although it’s pretty accessible by car. Plus its pretty cheap admittance- about $5 that covers parking and is good for a week.

Gas Lamp Quarter is gorgeous. I would recommend plan to eat at least one dinner in the Gas Lamp Quarter. The small restaurants are a little pricey but it’s romantic and the food is worth the money. We drove a little north and went to mission beach. We rented bikes and rode along the board walk (it was about $30 to rent two bikes for a couple of hours). It’s more of a surf beach that is a lot of fun. It also was gorgeous.

Old Town San Diego is also worth checking out- as is Balboa Park (where San Diego Zoo is located). Also the waterfront is a fun place to explore old ships, and learn about San Diego’s history. Ours was a short weekend trip where we crammed in as much as we could. I would recommend a week long vacation so as you could relax and maybe enjoy a Padres game, SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo and all the great things San Diego has to offer.