Donna Wares - Great Escapes: Southern California

DEDICATION
For Gaby and Eben

We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please contact Editor, The Countryman Press, P.O. Box 748, Woodstock, Vermont 05091, or e-mail .

Copyright 2008 by Donna Wares

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages.

ISBN 978-0-88150-779-9

Maps by Paul Woodward, 2008 The Countryman Press
Book design by Bodenweber Design
Text composition by Chelsea Cloeter
Cover photos Rick Rickman

Published by The Countryman Press
P.O. Box 748
Woodstock, Vermont 05091

Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10110

Printed in the United States of America

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My heartfelt thanks go to Pico Iyer, T. Jefferson Parker, Judith Freeman, Veronique de Turenne, Trina Turk, D. J. Waldie, Val Cohen, and Robert Smaus for sharing their worlds and words with me. I also am indebted to Rick Rickman, who squeezed in time amid his own nonstop travels to create the beautiful photographs that grace the cover of this book.

When I first started thinking about writing about my favorite Southern California road trips, two of my best-traveled friends stepped up, as they always do, and offered their tips, tidbits, and encouragement. I am so grateful to Robert Helgeson and Maj Harmon. I would go anywhere with them.

I found many helpful, gracious guides during my journeys around Southern California and I appreciate everyone who offered their time and expertise. Special thanks to Laura and Byron Allen, Joe Boyd, Paddy Calistro, Kate Cohen, Topy Fiske, Mike Goulding, David Kipen, and my intrepid aunt, Loretta Dubois, for their insights and assistance. I also am grateful to Jennifer Thompson and Susan Barnett for their capable help on deadline and my editor, Kim Grant, for suggesting that I write this book and offering her invaluable guidance along the way.

Finally, I want to thank my husband and best friend, Ed, and my children, Gaby and Eben, for making so many of these road trips into such memorable adventures.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Southern California is the heart and the home of the California Dream, and part of experiencing it lies in exploring all that we expect from it: the broad, warm beaches, the cachet of the Hollywood studios, the glitz of Rodeo Drive, the crack of bat and ball at one of the best classic ballparks in America, Dodger Stadium. Finding and imbibing the familiar California icons is easy and fun, no instruction manuals required.

But its the unexpected that really makes SoCal so cool. Theres no other place like it in the world. Within two hours drive, just about any landscape or adventure or culture you can imagine is, quite literally, in reachif you take a bit of time to explore.

Slip into the bracing crystalline waters of a wild island that feels more like another country than a part of LA County, as you share secluded coves with schools of bright, teeming fish. Sink your toes into the deep ivory shag of a retro hideaway in the new/old Palm Springs. Take a spin through verdant wine country where grapes grow plump and fragrant along a cool and shady country road, then, just next door, glimpse the gleaming coats and thick manes of grazing thoroughbreds at one of the regions top horse farms. Exotic adventures await as well, as close as the steaming bowls of pho in Orange Countys Little Saigon, or Saturday-morning treks through the spice markets of Little India. Or how about a SoCal novelty: seasons. The Endless Summers grab most of the attention here, but the areas mountain retreats offer four real, changing seasons, where fall comes as crisp and golden as a New England afternoon, and, if you know where to look, gentle llamas will haul your picnic lunch through the hillsides.

In the pages that follow, youll find an album of exceptional Southern California road trips, from San Diego to the Gaviota Coast, from Catalina Island to the Mojave desert. These are places to relax and reinvigorate your creative spirit, even ifespecially ifyou dont have time to take a two-week vacation. These slices of SoCal are ideally suited to short, special trips you can savor in luscious bites, like the apples and blueberries youll pick along the way. You can always find a free afternoon to roam an urban garden oasis, cant you? Or to channel your inner fighter pilot as you barrel-roll over the Pacific? Perhaps you need to set aside a Sunday to go Sideways along the back roads of the Santa Ynez Valley, in search of that perfect, earthy glass of pinot. Or plan a long, lazy weekend in a beach town perched atop ocean cliffs that rival anything the Riviera has to offer.

Throughout this guide youll also find suggestions for books to browse before you go or to take along for the road, so youll have such California writers as Raymond Chandler, Joan Didion, Pico Iyer, Kem Nunn, Susan Straight, and the real-life Gidget as your literary tour guides. What could be better than experiencing Laguna Beach through the eyes of crime novelist T. Jefferson Parker and his classic Laguna Heat? Youll also love journeying along Californias Central Coast while devouring Thomas Steinbecks Down to a Soundless Sea, a collection of stories based on the tales John Steinbecks son heard around the family dinner table growing up. The books will come in handy because a number of the nature hideaways youre about to discover are purposely lacking in televisions and telephones, and even while visiting those destinations with poolside Wi-Fi, you may prefer to power down and stick with the quiet pleasures of the printed page. Part of experiencing these glorious escapes is escaping from yourself, and from the constant press of time, work, and worry.... So unplug, unwind, and let these magic moments unfold as only SoCal can offer them.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Great Escapes: Southern California is divided into five roughly themed (and somewhat arbitrary) sections: Surf, Summits, Sand, Sidewalks, and Splashes. Each section features a different set of getaways offering a broad range of experiences for different times of year, with one important common feature: All the destinations are a reasonably short distance from Los Angeles. Many are spots that Ive returned to over and over again during the 20 years Ive lived in Southern California. Quite a few, howeversuch as the Rankin Ranch in the Tehachapi Mountainsare places Ive always meant to visit and finally got around to exploring while researching this book. And a few destinations are worlds I thought I knew well, only to find that they had dramatically changed (for the better, in the case of downtown Los Angeles) in my absence.

This guidebook is meant to be a taste of Southern Californias often surprising delights; its more quirky than encyclopedic. The book skews toward wild spaces where you can escape the daily grind, even for a few hours, though there are numerous urban retreats and sanctuaries in some unexpected places. The accommodations, restaurants, and attractions I highlight often have a hometown flavor or significance and include assorted hole-in-the-wall establishments beloved by the locals; most travelers have no trouble finding the shopping malls, Holiday Inns, and chain restaurants on their own, so this book spends little time on them. I tried to provide a range of moderately priced suggestions and camping options, too, though I confess to injecting occasional splurges. Sometimes you just need to blow the budget and check into someplace fabulous.