Southern California ranks as one of the few places in the world where weather forecasters deliver both surf and snow reports during the same newscast. While surfers can choose from miles of beaches, there is only one resort destination for snow seekers in the know: Big Bear Lake. Surrounded by the San Bernardino Mountain National Forest at an elevation up to 9,000 feet, Big Bear Lake is a mountain resort community within a 100-mile drive from Los Angeles and Palm Springs.

Los Angeles can be a city of over-stimulation - neon and flashing lights mark every nightclub and theater down the strip, car horns honk endlessly, and cell phones are seemingly glued to everyone's ear as they feverishly bark instructions to an assistant. There is a reason that people in the industry frequent salons and yoga centers - LA is the kind of city you occasionally need an escape from. So, go ahead and give yourself a day off to relax, rejuvenate, and give both your mind and your body a rest.

Laguna Niguel is a quiet yet upbeat city located between Mission Viejo and Dana Point. The scenery is beautiful, people are beyond friendly, areas are safe, and it is only a few minutes drive to the pacific ocean. Offering just about everything you could ever want from a city, even if you have a dog. The research has been done and there are many places to take your dog in this great city.

Taking a tour of downtown LA? Having a drink on Skid Row? Seeing where cult poet Charles Bukowski bought his liquor made his home and wrote Post Office? For those of you lurking behind the bushes with your star map in Hollywood or Beverly Hills, this may not be the most appetizing way to spend a Saturday. But if you want to have a little peek of Charles Bukowski's life, then there is a bus tour that will lead you to his favorite haunts.

The allure of Film Noir, those dark downtown thrillers have mesmerized viewers since they began in the 1940's. These steamy, seamy tales of hardboiled P.I.s, of good cops gone bad over a dame and smoldering femme fatales in sinister bars top the list of cult classic favorites.

The Los Angeles and Orange County regions of Southern California are many things: beautiful with enviable climates, laid-back due to the countless lazy beach communities, and buzzing with electricity due to the "industry" (movie-making, that is). They are also vast. To many visitors' dismay, there simply isn't enough time to see all the major sites.