Southern California is lame in my opinion but it depends on what you're into. The area you're talking about is very busy and congested. You could eat up hours just trying to get to your destination. But if you want ocean and beaches, SoCal is the spot.
If you want to see the Hoover dam, I would recommend two things. If you fly into Phoenix, rent a car, and do the drive to Vegas the scenery is amazing, and you pass over Hoover damn on the way, just about 30 minutes outside of vegas.
The other option is helicopter. My wife and I did a copter ride from Vegas airport out over the Hoover damn, Grand Canyon / Horseshoe Bend, and that was really cool.
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