When most people think of Catalina Island, the bustling village of Avalon first comes to mind. That’s the Mediterranean-style “city” (by Catalina standards) with shops, restaurants, boutique hotels and funky bars such as Luau Larry’s with its Wiki Wacker cocktail, all of which make it a very popular tourist spot for people throughout Southern California. Well, gentlemen, there is another part of this island 26 miles across the Pacific Ocean from Los Angeles that is ideal for a men’s getaway for a weekend or mid-week escape. It’s Two Harbors.

We were on-board for Carnival Panorama's naming ceremony and to welcome her to Long Beach. This is the first new ship to be homeported on the west coast in more than 20 years and so this is an exciting time for guys looking for an awesome ocean-going getaway without having to sacrifice by flying to Florida or sailing on an older ship. Carnival Panorama will be offering 6, 7 and 8-day cruises year-round from Long Beach to the Mexican Riviera.

I love casinos, they are pure marketing and designed to offer experiences that break out of the ordinary limits of good taste and reality. In recent years, signature cocktails and ridiculous culinary concoctions are one of the big ways to draw people's attention so it should be no surprise that our friends at Southern California's San Manuel Casino are once again one-upping the guys in Vegas with their new High Limits lounge and $10,000 signature cocktail the Rare and Fine.

San Manuel has long been a leader at delivering a premium gaming experience to Southern California, including their Asian-inspired gaming room - Lotus 8 Palace where you could find slots and table games not found in many other casinos in the area. Lotus 8 even had a noodle menu, and Asian beer as well as sake. What San Manuel was missing though is a really good Asian restaurant and that's why they created Hong Bao Kitchen!

I'm generally not a big fan of Halloween fright fests. To be completely honest, my preferred level of scary is closer to Disney than McKamey Manor. So when my wife suggested we head up to Knott's Scary Farm I went along thinking this was simply a fun, laidback excuse to visit the park in the dark. After all, the name was "not scary"... right? What I found though was a truly awesome experience that was extremely fun on multiple levels and while an adult-only experience, didn't make me wet myself in fear.

I think most of us have heard of a grape stomp - whether it is a memory from an old TV show like I Love Lucy or an email from a local winery inviting you to compete, it's a fun way to spend a late summer or fall afternoon with friends. I attended my first grape stomp as a guest of South Coast Winery in Temecula last week and it was an eye-opening experience. Not just for me - but for many of the competitors too. What seems like an easy task is actually way more complicated... if you want to win!

In the past few years, it seems like virtually every casino in Southern California has transformed from a gambling hall to a full-on "Vegas-style Resort". Ironically, one of the largest casinos in the country, San Manuel Casino is among the last to embrace this trend (though they have their own hotel resort opening next year). Instead, they have what superficially seems like just another business hotel set in a commercial development. Looks can be deceiving though and Bear Springs Hotel is a fabulous property for anyone looking for a guy weekend getaway where they can do off-roading during the day and hit the tables at night. 

Casinos are an interesting place to visit. They are designed as a wonderland of fabulous experiences designed to get you to loosen up and spend as much money as you can in pursuit of riches. Increasingly though, the goal isn't just having you walk out with money... but instead feeling like you had an amazing experience. For a moment in time, you aren't a plumber or middle-management guy at a marketing agency. Tonight you are an international playboy dining on fabulous food, drinking spirits from the toppest of shelves, and maybe even dropping a chunk of change on that table you think is lucky. While most high-limit lounges are purposely segregated from the rest of the floor and guarded to keep the riff-raff out, The Vault Gaming and Provisions at San Manuel Casino brings that excitement and opens it up to anyone who might want to test their luck.

Compared to other parts of the country, Southern California doesn't really have a lot of great places to escape to on weekends. Truthfully there's amazing terrain all around us but really very few destinations that I can see wanting to escape to vs just doing day trips. While I've been to Palm Springs several times now, there's another answer that's even closer - Lake Arrowhead. It's quite literally a world apart and while it shares a similar elevation and crisp clean mountain air as Big Bear... it's a completely different experience.

Today we're talking with Australia roots rock artist, Hamish Anderson about one of his favorite cities - Los Angeles. 

Los Angeles isn't like most cities. Typically in places like New York, Chicago, Denver etc. you have a central city but Los Angeles is a collection of cities spread out over a vast area. That allows for some really cool smaller destinations to explore and one of these that is often overlooked - but shouldn't be - is San Pedro. Despite the shadow that neighboring Long Beach casts, San Pedro has a surprising amount of fun ideas for a father and son weekend getaway. Let's explore some of the stuff you won't want to miss!

Any time of year is a great time to visit Disneyland but Fall and especially Halloween is an extra special time of year here. The park is all dressed up and there's some awesome new treats each year plus a few unique attractions that are only available for a few short months before it goes into full "Holiday" mode. Disneyland gave us a couple passes to check out the fun, so we stopped by the park and did a quick walk through of a few different areas that you won't want to miss. Let's check it out!

Our culture has graduated from man caves to mancations, and many guys are tying in their bro travel to sports. But it's gone far beyond a double header or a weekend snagging two NASCAR series at the same track. Now it's multiple events at multiple venues, and baseball has proven to be a perfect sport for it.

When planning your next beach vacation, you might have your heart set on a hotel by the water but here's an alternative - Staybridge Suites. During our #MenWhoBlog trip earlier this year, we stayed here and it was the perfect home base for an awesome guys getaway in Torrance, California.

The Toyota history museum in Torrance is closed.

While Detroit may be known as "Motor City", Los Angeles is absolutely a Car Kingdom with the US Headquarters for numerous Asian manufactures including Mazda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, and Honda. Because of this, it shouldn't be surprising that there are some amazing automotive museums in Southern California that chronicle this perspective of automotive history. We recently got invited to visit the Toyota USA Automobile Museum in Torrance and I learned a lot about the impact that Toyota had on the American industry as well as just how integrated Toyota is in the US industry and how it got there.

We're heading to Drai's Beachclub / Drai's Nightclub at The Cromwell next week, so we'll have more on this incredible club and one of the newer resorts on the strip. However, if you want to combine the high-energy EDM scene with an awesome cruise on one of my favorite ships (Carnival Inspiration) then you gotta check out The Groove Cruise. It's not for everyone, but this quote from the website about sums it up: "There’s no 2am curfew on this vessel! With nightly after-hours going into the early afternoon, there is no better way to leave the world behind."

Want a chance to win one of two prize packages - 2 tickets to the California Beer Festival on Sept. 7 in San Dimas?

Keep reading for more information on how to win...