December 2009

San Diego – The three biggest attractions in town offer a variety of activities during the month. LEGOLAND celebrates its Holiday Block Party beginning December 19 and running through the 31^st. Thousands of LEGOS are used to create a 30-ft. tall Christmas tree decorated with hundreds of ornaments, plus a life-size LEGO rendition of Santa and his reindeer. For more information, log onto www.legoland.com and don’t forget to consider LEGOS for holiday gifts.

SeaWorld San Diego’s Holiday Celebration returns December 5 – 6, 12 – 13 and 19 – 31. Festivities include Clyde and Seamore's Night Before Christmas and a special Shamu show, featuring live choirs and musical soloists. Extra winter entertainment includes carolers, musicians, ice-skating, “The Polar Express 4-D Experience” and the lighting of SeaWorld's 320-ft. Holiday Tree of Lights. Check it out online at www.seaworld.com.

Beginning December 19 and through the month, the San Diego Zoo’s Jungle Bells features large light displays of elephants spraying water, monkeys playing in the trees, peacocks, lemurs and a condor taking flight. Special holiday entertainment will be the emphasis at shops and concessions within the park. To find out more, go to www.sandiegozoo.org.

Solvang – During December, the “Danish Capital of America” will be transformed into a Scandinavian-style Christmas Village to celebrate its annual Julefest Celebration. This year’s theme is “Village of Music.” It will showcase concerts, holiday musicals, street singers and caroling in Solvang Park’s Gazebo. All events are free. For detailed information concerning events and a 2009 Julefest Program visit www.SolvangUSA.com or call the Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-468-6765 or 1-805-688-6144.

Truckee – Timely snowfall and cold temperatures mean that ski season will be early this year. Four chair lifts at Northstar-at-Tahoe ski runs will be open throughout December. The resort was recently ranked among the top 10 resorts by the readers of Transworld SNOWboarding and among the top 20 in the US by a SKI Magazine reader poll. For the latest snow conditions, upcoming events and updates, visit www.NorthstarAtTahoe.com or call 1-530-562-1330. To honor service men and women, they are offering active duty military personnel free skiing or riding on Sundays. Nordic skiers and snowshoers can enjoy the region’s solitude by heading to Donner Memorial State Park, Royal Gorge or a number of other backcountry trails. Contact the Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce at 1-530-587-2757 or visit www.truckee.com for more information.

Travel Gift Idea – Consider creating a Shutterfly Photo Book with your favorite travel pictures. Shutterfly’s new “Simple Path” automatically generates a book for you using the uploaded shots. It also includes a Storyboard tool which helps select the best layout for a group of jpegs, thus cutting down on the time it takes to assemble the images. For more information, log on to www.shutterfly.com.

Safe travels, happy holidays and enjoy the journey…

Howard Hian

www.Travels-with-Hian.com

Thanks to the various websites for information and photos. Before you go please check details, dates, rates and availability; some restrictions may apply. Photo credit to Solvang USA and Truckee Donner CoC.

2010

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