Going to an Angel game

This past weekend, my sister had free tickets to a Los Angeles Angels baseball game, so I tagged along. Of all the sporting events around the city going to a basball game is the most affordable. If you go to a Los Angeles Lakers game tickets can run you $50-100 each. For a baseball game, tickets can be low as under $10 each, and the seats are decent too.

But where they really get you is the price for food and snacks. It was a noon game for us, so we ate lunch at the park. The cost for a hot dog was $4.50 and drinks were $4.00. So you spend around $30 for food. Souvenirs and t-shirts were decently priced. I saw some shirts at the gift stores going for only $10.

If you are looking for a family outing for less than $100, check out a baseball game. And if you go during a promotional day, you can also get a free gift too. Every Friday night game is also followed by a fireworks show.

Pala Indian gaming casino/buffet review

The week before Father’s Day, my sister and I took our dad to the Pala Indian gaming casino for brunch and gambling. Located only an hour and a half a way from Los Angeles in the city of Temecula, it is a close alternative to Las Vegas. We arrived early on a Sunday morning. We left the house at 7:30 a.m. and got there a little after 9.

We had bruch at the new Pala Choices buffet. The regular price for the brunch is $17.99, but if you have a player’s club card, it was only $13.59. We signed up for one since it is free. The buffet had everything including snow crab legs, raw oysters, a steak station, a crepe station. They even had a Coldstone type ice cream station. This was just morning brunch. I can’t imagine what kind of food they have for dinner. And for only ~$14, it was better than a lot of other Las Vegas buffets. We were super full after. 

Both my dad and sister faired well on the slots too. Both were up $500 each before losing a little. However I lost, but I did not bring too much money, so it really did not matter. On our way back we also stopped by the Lake Eisinore Outlets to do some shopping. So the next time you have a gambling itch, check out Pala. I highly recommend this casino and buffet.

Visiting Los Angeles on a budget Pt.1

Many people think visiting Los Angeles is expensive, but it is not all true. On this blog, I will start a new series on visiting Los Angeles on a budget. This will be my first post. If you look around the web, you can surely find some free events around town. This month the Queen Mary of Long Beach is offering free admission to California residents. So if you are visiting from say Northern California, you can get in for free, just show proof of residency at the admission booth.

We decided to take advantage of this opportunity. I have not been to the Queen Mary since probably elementary school. We went on my off Friday to avoid the weekend crowds. Too bad it was rainning and cold that day. You can take the self guided tour of the Queen Mary. You can visit the engine room and all the decks. We stayed indoor walked around some and finished the tour in less than an hour. There is not really much interesting things to see, but since it was free I can’t hardly complain. It is really hard taking Brandon there because we had to carry him. It would of been too much of an inconvenience taking his stroller to the ship.

It is hard to imagine how the Queen Mary dwarfs to the cruise ships now. The Carnival ship was docked next to it. It looked huge compared to the Queen Mary.

The only thing we had to pay for was parking. Since we left in under an hour, it only costed us $3. There are plenty of restaurants in nearby Shoreline Drive if you are planning a visit. The Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific is also there.