Road trip itinerary from LA

[TopGolfer]

Hi my DH and I have flights booked into and out of LA next February for a 9 night duration. We were originally going to go on a cruise but are now thinking of mixing things up and travelling to a few different places for perhaps three nights in each place. Any suggestions for itinerary, ideally I’d like some chill time but this could consist of half a day at a spa or hotel pool every few days or of one of the places to be an R&R destination.
We have a budget of 3-4K for accommodation, prices are crazy over there at the moment and we’ll need a lot of spending money.

Manhattan Beach. Your typical boardwalk style seaside town a short drive from LAX. A friend suggested we went there straight off our flight, and it was a great place to decompress and gear ourselves up for the freeway madness.

I’ve done both road trips mentioned above; Madonna Inn/Hearst Castle/Santa Barbara/Monterey and up to SF. I’d definitely do open jaw though to fly back from SF.

Last trip, we did San Diego (stayed in La Jolla), Burbank ( for Universal Studios), Palm Springs and finished off in Santa Monica.