Betsy's California Travel Blog

Did you like telling ghost stories as a kid? Enjoy a good scary movie? California and the west are full of ghosts and haunted houses, and our ghost tour guide highlights a few of the favorites from my travel around the state.

More Spooky California Travel: Haunted Places - Haunted Hotels

Of all the theme park Halloween celebrations in California, we like Halloween at Disneyland the best. When Disneyland gets dressed up for a holiday, they pull out all their best, and California's Disneyland has new duds this year, making it all the better. If you live in southern California or plan to travel there during the month of October, it's a fun time to visit.

More: Disneyland at Christmas - Disneyland Vacation Planner

Looking for something different to do in San Francisco after dark? Our favorite, tongue-in-cheek tour is the San Francisco Vampire Tour Join 127-year-old vampiress Mina Harker on a evening tour of San Francisco's Nob Hill, for a peek under the streets and behind the curtains of some of the area's most important sights.

Not only does the approaching Halloween holiday make this a good time to go on this tour, but the evening weather is also better this time of year than in summer. Reserve in advance if you want to go near Halloween, the tour sometimes sells out.

The USS Midway Museum, sits on the San Diego waterfront, between the cruise ship terminal and Seaport Village.

A big ship may not immediately seem like a high tech attraction, but it's a great place for the intellectually curious. On board the USS Midway, you can learn about life on a Navy ship and how planes land and take off from an aircraft carrier. Visitors can tour many of the USS Midway working areas and see more than 15 restored aircraft. Volunteer docents, many who either served on the USS Midway or are former Navy pilots, provide live talks about the catapult and other operations.

If you ask me (or my husband the engineer), the California Science Center is one of the West's best science museums. It's roomy, offers a wide variety of exhibits on timely topics and provides some interesting insights into things scientific.

Unlike similar institutions in other locations, this place has enough hands-on exhibits to go around, and even on a busy day you don't have to wait long to try any of them. They also rely more on interesting science than gee-whiz gadgets or computer-aided graphics, and have an exceptional life sciences section. And to top it all off, admission is free.

San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation will be the only U.S. stop for the exhibit Leonardo: 500 Years Into the Future, from September 27, 2008 to January 4, 2009.

Whether or not you're an engineer or a scientist, you'll be dazzled by the creativity and ingenuity of Leonardo da Vinci and his contemporaries. The exhibit includes drawings, sculptures and life-sized models created from the original notebooks of the Renaissance artist-engineers.

Like most exhibits of this magnitude, we expect interest and attendance to be highest at the beginning and end of its run, as well as during the holidays.

The B&B Inn at La Jolla is a favorite of many guests, close enough to downtown to walk and the lovely old house makes it easy to pretend you live there. It's clean, cozy and nicely situated just outside the busy part of town, on a residential street and across from the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Read our Review

From a visitor's point of view, one of the best things to happen in southern Marin County this year was the completed renovation at old Fort Baker. The result will make you glad no one got in a hurry trying to figure out what to do with the old fort after it closed in 1985.

Cavallo Point, The Lodge at the Golden Gate surrounds the old parade grounds, with some rooms and the public areas occupying renovated historic buildings. Surrounding those and so nicely integrated into the environment that you may not even notice them at first are more rooms, designed to take advantage of unparalleled views of the Golden Gate Bridge and with full attention to preserving the environment.

Besides the hotel, they've just opened one of the nicest spas we've seen, housed in an open, airy building and offering a signature massage that's beyond relaxing.

Read Our Reviews of the hotel and spa.

Conde Nast Traveler magazine placed the Oceana Santa Monica on their 2008 "Hot List" and we agree. This converted apartment building sits just across the street from a beautiful bluff-top walk overlooking Santa Monica Beach. Located in a quiet neighborhood, it's a refuge from the busy tourist scene, with modern-yet-comfortable decor and a pretty swimming pool. It's especially popular with families who want a little room to spread out in the spacious rooms.

Read Our Review

Enough of the captive animals. How about a quick look at some of California's wildlife?