Road Trip

If you thought all you needed for a good road trip was a full tank of gas, a great playlist and a good friend, think again. Road trips can get a lot more awesome. Name: Roadtrippers.com and its companion app Available for: iOS What it does: Puts road trip resources, pop culture experiences and foodie suggestions at your fingertips. Use on the road or plan your itinerary in advance. Cost: Free What's hot: I'm a sucker for clean design and an intuitive nav, but there's a lot more here to be excited about.

CINCINNATI — The Angels' season-opening trip to Cincinnati and Texas is doubling as a Josh Hamilton reunion tour. Hamilton, a 31-year-old outfielder who signed a five-year, $125-million deal with the Angels in December, made his major league debut in Great American Ball Park almost exactly six years ago, appearing as a pinch-hitter for the Reds against the Chicago Cubs on April 2, 2007. His first big league hit, a home run at Arizona, came eight days later. Hamilton went on to hit .292 with 19 home runs and 47 runs batted in as a rookie for the Reds, who traded him to Texas for pitcher Edinson Volquez the following winter.

Sometimes it pays to take your own advice. A while back, I wrote about Hertz offering $5-a-day one-way car rentals starting in Arizona. It inspired me to plan a super-cheap spring road trip to ... well, I wasn't sure where. I just knew I wanted to take off and have fun without breaking the bank. By the time I was done, I had covered more than 3,400 miles in two weeks. Here's how I did it: I went to Hertz's website, where it took exactly five minutes to reserve a car at Tucson International Airport (TUS)

It's not a good omen for "The Croods," about a likable family of Paleolithic cave dwellers, when a joke about "the first joke" falls flat. I don't fault the actors. The character voices provided by Nicolas Cage as the Croods' cautious dad, Grug; Emma Stone as Eep, his rebellious teenager, desperate to get out of the cave; Ryan Reynolds as Guy, the outsider who sees the future; Catherine Keener as ever-patient mom Ugga; and Cloris Leachman as cranky Gran are spot on. But "The Croods" was primed for problems before its 3-D characters found themselves right in the middle of the first continental divide.

Gas prices may be rising, but that hasn't dampened Americans' dreams to hit the open road. About 25% of men and 33% of women say they have not driven across the country but “always wanted to,” according to a survey released last week by the travel website Expedia.com. And 41% of Americans and nearly half of men who were surveyed said they've already driven cross country at least once in their lives. The survey of 2,262 adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of Expedia went beyond Americans' automotive bucket lists.

--Madewell, the younger, more relaxed division of retailer J. Crew Group Inc., is going mobile this spring. Think less smartphone and more road trip. The brand, formally a work wear manufacturer in Massachusetts before getting rescued by J. Crew, is taking its denim line on a cross-country summer journey with a retro Airstream trailer. Retailers have been trying to shake up brick-and-mortar stores with more creative spaces such as pop-up shops, specialty stores and now stores on the go. Madewell's Airstream is rolling into Santa Monica Place this Saturday, loaded with stylists, discounts on jeans and a hair-braiding station.

With little more than a suitcase full of clothes, a cellphone and a laptop, I'm embarking on a cross-country road trip Monday from New York to Los Angeles. As an amateur rock musician and enthusiastic consumer of such, music will be my guide. No, scratch that. How about you be my guide? Beyond a rough outline of cities to stop in, I'm relying on you to tell me which sights to see. Send e-mails to mark.milian@latimes.com or, for those on Twitter, www.twitter.com, send to @mmilian.

Arden, the estate of the late actress Helena Modjeska, is open to the public only four days a month, and reservations are needed to visit the home, which was mentioned in the Highway 1 road trip through Orange County's canyons published on Jan. 28. For reservations and information, call (949) 855-2028. Many of the roads in the area around the estate in Modjeska Canyon are private.

An Arizona road trip? Why not? Last winter, a college friend and I visited the Grand Canyon, one of the country's most celebrated treasures. In late April, we decided to return to check out Arizona's northeastern corner, which seemed speckled with less-visited wonders and, I hoped, a few hidden gems. I didn't have grand expectations for our itinerary. After all, what could be as breathtaking as the 6-million-year-old chasm, especially as I had seen it, dusted by snow and illuminated by the last rays of daylight?

Turn your road trip into a laugh fest with this app. Name: Funny Road Trip, http://www.funnyroadtrip.com Available for: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad What it does: Four characters from different parts of the world - Señor Tortilla, McBronx, Sushi Sakura and Emil DaElecktra, the travel robot - ask questions and suggest tasks that can lead to your family telling stories, interacting with what they see along the...

The Lakers (35-32) return home from a three-game road trip to host the Sacramento Kings (23-43) on Sunday night at Staples Center. Kobe Bryant is doubtful after trying to play on Friday in Indiana with a severely sprained ankle, suffered Wednesday in Atlanta.  Bryant played only 12 scoreless minutes against the Pacers but the Lakers were able to pull out a 99-93 win. The Kings might be without center DeMarcus Cousins, who is dealing with...

PHOENIX - Let me tell you about Josh Hamilton's first rocket ship of spring. It isn't a perfect home run. He gets under it a bit more than he would've liked, so it's towering, corpulent, full of cha-cha. At last sighting, it was in geosynchronous orbit with Earth. NBC was about to bounce Brian Williams' evening newscasts off of it, and someone at Palomar was pronouncing it a planet. So no, it wasn't a perfect home run by any means. But it got your attention, all right. It was the kind of celestial event befitting the newest Angel.

AUSTIN, Texas -- “Don't even get me started. That was the greatest thing that happened for geeks ever.” Joss Whedon is debating a moment in the history of the sci-fi TV series “Battlestar Galactica” with cast members from his new film, “Much Ado About Nothing.” Huddled in a booth at the Josephine House, a tiny restaurant in Austin's historic Clarksville neighborhood, the tired but amiable group had been together in tight quarters for...

If you thought all you needed for a good road trip was a full tank of gas, a great playlist and a good friend, think again. Road trips can get a lot more awesome. Name: Roadtrippers.com and its companion app Available for: iOS What it does: Puts road trip resources, pop culture experiences and foodie suggestions at your fingertips. Use on the road or plan your itinerary in advance. Cost: Free What's hot: I'm a sucker for clean design and an intuitive nav, but there's a lot more here to be excited about.

The Lakers finished the Grammy road trip with two wins in four tries, surviving in Charlotte and a solid victory in Brooklyn. The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat were too much to deal with, but the Lakers finished their extended road trip with a 4-3 record. With the All-Star Game this weekend, the Lakers only have two on the schedule. The playoffs are still in range, but the Lakers simply need to win and win often. Overall, the team is still five losses below the cumulative predictions for weeks 1-15 . Tuesday vs. Phoenix Suns The biggest letdown on the seven-game road trip was in Phoenix on Jan. 30. The Lakers completely fell apart in the fourth quarter, giving up 29 points while scoring just 13 in a 92-86 defeat.

"Identity Thief" is a larcenous bit of funny business. It probably should be locked up for its crimes and misdemeanors against moviemaking. But its stars, Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, steal so many laughs from such improbable places that the bumps in this revenge/road trip farce can be mostly forgiven, though not forgotten. Directed by Seth Gordon, the film has the same R-rated tenor of his relatively horrible "Horrible Bosses" and his really dreary "Four Christmases. " More problematic, it has the same difficulty with the connective tissue - anything but the really funny stuff sags or is superfluous.

Here's a way to see more of Costa Rica it at your own pace. The Costa Rica Fly & Drive package from Gate1 Travel starts with a drive from capital city San Jose to Arenal,  known for its volcano and national park of the same name. From there, it's on to visit Monteverde and a cloud forest reserve that has a treetop walkway on suspended bridges and trails. Drives between cities take three to four hours if you follow the recommended itinerary for this self-guided trip.

If you have family coming for the holidays or just want a different ride, Simply Hybrid has a December deal that takes 30% off rentals of its hybrids and energy-efficient cars. The company will even deliver the cars to airports, hotels or other locations for free. The deal: Toyota Prius, Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf and even a plug-in Prius are some of the selections in the compact category. The website provides the models available but doesn't list prices or take reservations; you have to call to get a quote and make a booking.

The Ducks' credibility is soaring, with six wins in eight games and a three-game home sweep of Minnesota, the Kings and once-unbeaten San Jose Sharks in their immediate rear view. "We have to enjoy this now," defenseman Sheldon Souray said after slapping in Monday night's winning goal against the Sharks. "It might not come as smoothly down the road. " "Down the road" starts Wednesday in Colorado, the beginning of a six-game trip in 11 days that includes stops at St. Louis (Saturday)