Southern California boasts extremely mild winters, which is why many people choose to live there. Temperatures rarely drop below freezing and the weather rarely gets worse than the odd rainy day or two. Yet Southern California still has excellent access to many traditional winter activities, and it's often easier to go outdoors without the oppressive heat of summertime to deal with. Los Angeles prides itself on being the entertainment capital of the world, which means that there are always interesting things to do.
One of Southern California's most beloved traditions takes place every January 1 in the city of Pasadena. The Rose Parade features hundreds of floats, marching bands and equestrian units marching down Colorado Blvd. to the cheers of crowds and a television audience just getting up from their New Year's revelries. Later that afternoon, the Rose Bowl game ("The Granddaddy of Them All") takes place in the nearby stadium. The Rose Bowl traditionally featured the Big Ten Champion playing the PAC Ten Champion, but the advent of the BCS system has allowed other teams to play as well. Watching the parade in person usually means camping out on the route overnight, while tickets to the Rose Bowl are usually available through outlets like Ticketmaster or alumni associations of the various schools involved.
Big Bear, Arrowhead and other mountain areas receive a great deal of snowfall in the winter, which facilitates a huge number of traditional winter activities. Southern California residents can drive up to the mountains and go sledding or skiing, build a snowman or visit the reindeer in Santa's Village. It delivers the best parts of winter (the fun) without the worst parts (the freezing temperatures, cabin fever and unique joy of digging your driveway out of a snowbank). At the end of the day, they simply drive home. Mountain resorts are about 2 to 3 hours away, and the truly adventurous can head up to Sierra Nevada towns like Mammoth (about 6 to 7 hours away) for some world-class skiing.
Tourists pack Southern California's amusement parks in the summertime, and Christmas can be nearly as bad. But from January through the middle of March, things quiet down considerably, and locals love to visit places like Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios without suffering through the long waits in line. The downside is that the parks rarely offer any special amenities like new parades or fireworks, and when they do, they're usually confined to weekends. But discounts for local residents run rampant during the winter months and the ability to go on every ride you want without a long wait in line makes the comparative lack of frills easy to endure.
