1-800-WXBRIEF will get you in touch with a weather briefer who will also give you NOTAM info. You can find out a lot of information for your trip. You will find ATC en route very helpful and I would suggest that you always ask for a VFR flight following (or Class Charlie Services) whenever you fly in California, it's a busy airspace and ATC will help cut down your workload as well as give you some peace of mind.
Page Arizona is a destination which I found particularly nice. You can fly around Catalina Island and Sedona but both of these landings are not permitted in ADP aircraft due to the high accident rate at both of these airports. You must do the McCarran (las Vegas) landing, it's especially good at night if you are current with night and instrument flying. The desert can be disorientating on a dark night compared to the brightness of Las Vegas! Visit the Venitian in Las Vegas and book a hotel on the internet before you go, it's much cheaper!
A 180 Archer will be fine although you will find that on the Big Bear check out that 180 hp is woefully inadequate at such an altitude especially in a downdraught.
I would in any event suggest that you have a GPS with you as SECONDARY means of navigation, as you say there are a lot of restricted areas in California and at the moment, the Yanks seem to have lost their sense of humour about airspace infringements. As you say, you can fly through MOA's although I prefer to avoid them if they are "hot" it's just that F14's seem to travel so fast! Another suggestion is that you avoid flying West in the LA basin at around sunset. The combination of haze, low sun and canopy scratches can make life somewhat tiresome!
Last time I was there, N8086J was about the nicest Archer to fly.