Posts Tagged ‘california’

California is a big state and when I visited in the past I spent most of my time in LA or South or the San Francisco area. A couple weeks ago though I traveled with some friends from Santa Monica to the Central Coast, specifically Avila Beach (closest big city would be San Luis Obispo which isn’t really BIG compared to California standards). This was my first time to the Central Coast and I had no idea what to expect–except for it being somewhat coastal.

About 3 hours North of LA on “the 5 (I-5 for us non-Californians)” and about 4 hrs South of San Fran on the 5, the Central Coast is a mixture of famous sights, small beach towns and wineries that rival the more known Napa Valley. I only had 3 days in this area and I wanted to make the most of it—and of course, I needed more time.

Hearst Castle

Maybe the most famous of the sights on the Central Coast and all of California is the Hearst Castle named for the newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst who died in 1951. Now a state park the Castle is steeped in history. In its heyday it was supposed to be a “bungalow” for Hearst, but soon got a bit bigger and was visited by the most famous of the time (Lindbergh, Cary Grant, various Presidents). The main house is over 60,000 sqft and has 56 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms. Full of antiques and rare books purchased personally by Hearst, this spot has a constant stream of tourists throughout the year.

If you are like me, famous landmarks are worth a visit, but when the beach is calling—I make it a short visit because, well, the beach is calling.

If you’ve heard of Monterey or Big Sur you have heard of the Central Coast, but if you have heard of Avila Beach then you have heard of the REAL Central Coast. A sleepy beach town popular with fisherman put Avila on the map, but the subsequent building boom and desire to live semi-affordably (to California standards anyway) is what made Avila what it is today: a coffee drinking, dog walking, beach strolling, bike riding, fishing town. To say this town is yuppie would be an understatement–but it is Cali and in comparison to some California towns, Avila is a watered down yuppie and a town I could totally see myself living in. With a main street of tee-shirt and flip flop shops, a general market, Mr. Rick’s Sports bar, the very crowded Joe Mamma Coffee (try the hemp milk creamer) and even a couple small wineries, it takes 6 minutes to walk the “strip” before you are hugging the coastline on your run, walk or bike ride on the way to the famous fishing pier to watch your dinner get caught, buy that fresh caught dinner and walk right up to (if you dare) napping Sea Lions on the dock.

Avila Beach

Avila at sunset

up-close and personal with a hungry pelican on the fishing pier

Tide Pools
About a 30 minute drive from Avila are the Montana de Oro State Park and Tide Pools. Here the coastline is comprised of slippery rock (yeah, I fell on my a*s), snails, crabs, sea anemones, shells and steep sand dunes that can be slid down via sled, cardboard box or the seat of your pants (I saw all three). Like the rest of California (even in the summer), the water is powerful and very cold so if the tide is not out it could be a dangerous, cold meander through these tide pools. I went when the tide was nearly out and bonded quite nicely with a turquoise sea anemone. Did you know if you gently touch one it wraps around your finger and tries to suction you to death? It is a cool feeling. Yeah, and messing with that anemone is probably why I fell.

Trail down to the tide pools

me at the tide pools

overlooking the coastline tide pools and sand dunes

Dive Bars–for Wine
As mentioned, wine from the Central Coast rivals Napa Valley and Sonoma and wineries and vineyards are dotted along the coast at every exit. Many have gorgeous views and picturesque grounds like at this place:

But sadly, sometimes the wine suffers and the view turns out to be the best thing about the winery. If you are a true wine-person, this can be frustrating (if you are like me and can barely tell a Pinot from a Merlot it is not as upsetting) especially when you are in the Central Coast and have gorgeous views anyway. Recently an industrial area of blue and government gray buildings in the town of Lompoc (pronounced “Lom-Poke”) behind the Home Depot has become a popular destination for wine tastings and because the area is, ahem, not so picturesque (and it probably doesn’t help that the Home Depot lumber department is in ear shot) the area was affectionately coined as the “Wine Ghetto.”

Most likely overlooked, unless you knew better, this parking lot of single-story metal buildings has become the place to go if you want good wine. Unlike most wineries where you have your tasting, roam the grounds and then responsibly drive to the next vineyard–the Ghetto is a one-stop wine tasting shop with the wineries situated like stores in a cheap strip mall– but, the wine is NOT cheap tasting! Park once–taste all day– but get a car service, please.

One of my favorite “Ghetto” wineries was the Flying Goat. The husband and wife owners were passionate about their wine, had soil samples that the grapes grew from and a very nice 13 year old chocolate lab. Plus– the lady knew all about Jersey. Represent East Coast!

(picture courtesy of centralcoastuncorked.blogspot.com)

Trip Advisor, an essential website for any traveler regardless of your destination, just put out their “Top 25″ list for different regions of the World listing the locations where people say they want to go.

There are some obvious ones like Banff. Banff was voted #1 for Canada and if you haven’t been to Banff stop everything (after you finish reading this post) and book a trip there. Soon. Winter or summer–it doesn’t matter. There were also some interesting choices… Machu Picchu got #3 on the World list below Cape Town and Sydney? Hmmm, yeah… I’m not sure.

Me and Banff

Of course, I have an opinion on all of the rankings, but thats the point — opinon is what generated this survey. Here I choose to focus on the United States top 25 and rate them based on MY opinion.

Trip Advisor’s #1: New York City
Diana’s #1: New York City

NYC over the Hudson

No argument here. I am biased and if you don’t know of my love of this city please refer to my archives or at seenyc.com, the NYC travel site I write for. I love this city. Anything you want to do, want to see, want to eat, want to BE– NYC is the place. THE place.

Trip Advisor #2: Honolulu, Hawaii
Trip Advisor #3: San Francisco
Trip Advisor #4 Las Vegas
Trip Advisor #5 Lahaina, Hawaii (Maui)

Maui

Spoiler alert: Hawaii appears often in this top 25 list, but personally I would have put Lahaina at #2 behind NYC. Honolulu is nice, but the island of Maui offers less tourism and just as much to do.

I’d also put San Fran above Honolulu. What a fab city SF is and if you catch it on a sunny day as I did this past April, you’d be hard pressed finding another city that can beat the vibe SF gives.

Las Vegas. Well, for me, Vegas would be near the end of the list–if it even made the list. I do think everyone needs to see Vegas once, but there are so many cities in this country that deserve a much more serious look than Vegas.

Trip Advisor #6 Kona, HI
Trip Advisor #7 New Orleans
Trip Advisor # 8 San Diego, CA
Trip Advisor #9 Sedona

Wait — stop right there. I am ok with New Orleans being on the list and even in the top 10, and San Diego–I LOVE the La Jolla neighborhood, but for Sedona to rank lower… I’m not sure about that. Maybe its because I recently spent some time in Sedona and perhaps the beauty still has me hypnotized, but this eccentric town with the captivating scenery is easily in my top 5.

Sedona, AZ

Trip Advisor #10 Seattle
Trip Advisor #11 Anchorage, AK
Trip Advisor #12 Chicago
Trip Advisor #13 Boston

Being a Seattle native I can appreciate the beautiful mountains, the surrounding water and abundant supply of fleece jackets, but I still wonder: “Why do people vacation in Seattle?” The weather is TOO unpredictable and the sights to see can be done in a weekend. IF you have a desire to go to the Seattle area, stay for an afternoon and then head to Vancouver, BC. Trust me.

I am ok with the other 3 being in the top 25. Boston though—should be much higher. The history and walkability of the town is addicting.

Trip Advisor #14 Estes Park, CO
Trip Advisor #15 Washington DC
Trip Advisor #16 Poipu, HI (see—I told you Hawaii was on here a lot)
Trip Advisor #17 Orlando, FL

As we get to the bottom half of the list I think the locations are reaching to be part of the top 25 (I am surprised Portland, Or; Santa Cruz, Ca or Boise, Idaho aren’t on the list).

Colorado is great regardless of the city and I think I would have chosen Boulder for the top 25, but Estes Park is only an hour away and with 345+ sunny days a year how can you NOT want to live visit there? Ski, hike, shop, swim. Colorado is like Seattle, but less natural water and MUCH more sun.

Washington DC is great. History is #1 here but if you escape to the Georgetown area you really get a taste of DC–and in a good way.

Lincoln Memorial in DC

Orlando.
Apparently the top 25 for Trip Advisor was voted on by parents. Yes, Orlando is fun and I say that as a non-parent. But it is all Disney and while Disney is fun, Orlando IS Disney and that only goes so far.

Trip Advisor # 18 Big Sur, CA
Trip Advisor #19 Bar Harbor, Maine
Trip Advisor #20 Carmel, CA
Trip Advisor #21 Destin, FL

Two in California and Destin is a great getaway. My brother and sister-in-law in Dallas love the driving distance and white sand beaches–so I can see why Destin made the list. And Maine is neat. Just neat. Bar Harbor has been a top vacation spot since the 19th century.

Trip Advisor #22 Savannah, GA
Trip Advisor #23 Gatlinburg, TN
Trip Advisor #24 Miami Beach, FL
Trip Advisor #25 Myrtle Beach, SC

I was happy to see the South represented in the top 25. Savannah and Gatlinburg are NOT to be missed. Here you can get a taste of the real south. Grits anyone?
Miami Beach and Myrtle Beach are known more for their name than the place/experiences, but nonetheless, they do belong in the top 25. You can’t really go wrong with any city that has “beach” in the name.

Whether you agree or not with my comments, below is my ranking of the top 25 (using only cities on Trip Advisor’s top 25).
Let it be known that there are some major cities missing that would be on my Top 25–some I mentioned above but others are Austin, TX, Missoula, MT, Princeton, NJ and Key West.

Diana’s Top 25
1. New York City
2. Lahaina, HI
3. San Francisco
4. Sedona, AZ
5. New Orleans, LA

6. Boston, MA
7. Chicago, IL
8. San Diego, CA
9. Washington DC
10. Honolulu, HI

11. Savannah, GA
12. Estes Park, CO
13. Poipu, HI
14. Kona, HI
15. Big Sur, CA

16. Anchorage, AK
17. Bar Harbor, Maine
18. Destin, FL
19. Carmel, CA
20. Gatlinburg, TN

21. Miami Beach, FL
22. Myrtle Beach, SC
23. Seattle, WA
24. Orlando, FL
25. Las Vegas, NV

Tell me — what are your top cities in the US? Where am I wrong? Where am I right?

I have the benefit of having a great relationship with both of my siblings. My sister, two years younger than I, stays busy as the mother of two young children and my brother Grant, four years younger than me, is single and back a few years ago when we were both single and more crazy carefree, we would take weekend trips together out of our hometown of Seattle. We camped the woods in Eastern Washington (where he, when setting up our tents, suffered massive mosquito bites in that spot on your back that shows when your pants ride down a little and your coat rides up); we sang the Rice-a-Roni song as we rode the trolly to eat the best kung pow chicken EVER in San Francisco’s Chinatown and medicated our upset stomachs with salt water taffy on the beaches of Santa Cruz after riding the oldest wooden roller-coaster in the US; we hiked deep into the back country of Lake Tahoe sleeping on .99 cent pool floaties and keeping an eye out for bears that were especially thick that year. There were other trips too and all were awesome in their own way, but the trip that tops the list was when we went to Palm Springs, CA–but not for the reasons you may think.

Palm Springs, is in the desert of California and known for its super hot temperatures (in the summer it can get to 120), multiple golf courses and tons of resorts with pools bigger than many of the hotel rooms. Grant, through a frequent flier miles program he belonged to, had a 4 day hotel stay at a 5 star resort in the Palm Desert area. We were so there.

The resort was crazy nice. I cannot, to this day, believe the layout of the pool area. The outdoor bars that kept us laughing about old times late into the night and the trails surrounding the golf course that I ran each morning before the delectable breakfast buffet became second nature in just a day’s time and I dreaded the thought of leaving. Thinking we were cool in our brand new rental orange Jeep convertible we put on our tropical attire and headed to Tommy Bahama’s restaurant in downtown Palm Springs. I don’t have enough hands to count the Bentleys and Maseratis I saw — the main avenue was the kind of place that would rival Rodeo Drive or Champ Elysees in Paris and in other words, a place where an orange Jeep didn’t really fit in. Dinner was fabulous though and the energy from large amounts of money undoubtably changing hands the high end shops was contagious–almost enough to make me want to buy one of those hand stitched handbags that cost more than my rent.

As nice as it was to see sun, it was hot there–so hot. Living in Seattle resulted in us being waterlogged and having low Vitamin D deficiency so the idea of hot temperatures to dry us out were appealing but on our third day it hit 125 and that was a bit oppressive; even the pool couldn’t offer relief. We decided to head up the highway to see what we could find (the excuse I gave to my brother to get us to the rumored outlet stores I had heard about).

About 45 minutes down the highway we witnessed the thing that we knew would be the highlight of our trip–a memory we’d fondly recall and retell in the years to come. “The resort, my awesome tan, downtown Palm Desert — even deals I may find at the outlets are not going to be what we remember most about this trip” (this was an actual quote from me to my brother). “Instead” , I continued epically, “we’ll remember the dinosaurs“.

These Cabazon Dinosaurs are actually part of a rest stop/gas station and they stick out like, well, like dinosaurs in the middle of the desert. You may have seen them before in the classic film ‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’ when Pee-Wee hid out in them. They were built over 30 years ago and reportedly get 12 million visitors a year!

The T-Rex has a museum inside and you can be like Pee-Wee and hang out in the mouth and look out through the teeth. The Brontosaurus has a gift shop inside but sadly–no Pee-Wee memorabilia (WHAT?) They are seriously missing out on some FOR SURE t-shirt sales…

We didn’t stay for long, just long enough to take some photos, quote some lines from Pee-Wee and marvel at the fact that we actually saw this iconic spot from the highway. It was so cool — even cooler than the sweet deals I got at the North Face outlet.

It is that time of year again; the flowers have bloomed, the birds are singing and the sun warms your t-shirt wearing arms. Its time to pack your blankets, your wine & cheese and hop in the car to begin your road trip to the nearest (or furthest) Shakespeare festival to enjoy theatre at its best!

Now stop your internal nay-saying and hear me out.
Even if you were not an English major (as I was), Shakespeare has appealing qualities to everyone, well- except maybe my mom. When she helped me study my lines for the very amateur Shakespeare plays I took part in during my undergrad I remember her saying multiple times “how can anyone understand this”?

In retrospect, my response to her then of “Mom! It’s not that hard! Just help me!” didn’t add her to the number of Shakespeare fans out there. Since my future career of theatre has gone the way of Hamlet’s father and my frustration of one not understanding “the craft of the language” has subsided, I can see how the complexity of the language can seem as approachable as snuggling a hedgehog.

Of course, one could buy cliff notes or watch the many movies that have been made from the plays (and I have to say, Mel Gibson’s Hamlet is not bad), but I suggest instead to try taking in a live show in a true festival format. In my opinion, seeing the actors express the words make them easier to grasp and gives an unanticipated appreciation of this old language full of modern day messages.

Nearly every major city in the US and Canada have a Shakespeare Festival–as well as in Europe, but here are the ones that make the top of my list:

1. The Globe Theatre, London, England
The original Globe Theater was opened in the 1570′s and here, Shakespeare got his start. After a few tragedies, namely the Bubonic Plague, a demolishing fire, the English Civil War and finally the destruction of the Globe (and theaters in general) by the Puritans, The Globe laid dormant for 350 years before a man named Sam Wanamaker had it rebuilt in the early 1990′s.

Today, Shakespeare’s Globe is THE Shakespeare festival to attend and their 2010 schedule is packed with some of the Bard’s greatest hits.
With the gorgeous setting, the history and the nearby sights of London–this festival is hard to beat.

Plus, you can buy these cool mugs at the gift shop.

2010 Schedule
Macbeth until June 27, 2010
Henry VIII thru August 21, 2010
Henry IV Part 1 (my favorite) from June 6- October 2, 2010
Henry IV Part 2 from July 3- October 3, 2010
The Merry Wives of Windsor August 14-October 2, 2010

2. Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Oregon
When I was last in Ashland, a town near the border of California, for this festival, 2 friends and I camped at the local campground. Camping is always fun and it saved us quite a bit of money as the bed-n-breakfasts and hotels here can get pricey and fill up quickly. The campground was great and truly added to the wonderful memories I have of Ashland.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has always been known for having cutting edge plays showing alongside the most popular Shakespeare plays in their 3 theaters.

This year ‘Hamlet’ is featured and the last time it was featured here was 10 years ago (when I was there)!

‘Henry IV, Part 1′ must be a big one this year because its showing here too (as well as in London) and other than ‘The Merchant of Venice’ and ‘Twelfth Night’, the rest of the line-up is non-Shakespeare. Here are my recommendations playing through the end of October (and ‘Hamlet’ also playing through the end of October, is a given):
‘Pride and Prejudice’
Ruined

After seeing some shows and strolling amongst the other Shakespeare buffs in Ashland– drive just 90 miles away and see the truly take-your-breath-away vision of Crater Lake. The blue in this picture has not been doctored. The lake is seriously that blue.

3. Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival, Santa Cruz, CA

Ahhhh, Santa Cruz: my favorite city in Cali. Close to San Francisco, but such a beach town with awesome surfing waves, boardwalk amusement parks (with the country’s OLDEST working wood roller-coaster) and a very cool Shakespeare Festival!

the author & her brother with the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk in the background

Although a short season and with only three plays each summer, the festival on the campus of University of California at Santa Cruz (“UCSC”) is quite popular and always sells out. My favorite showing here was the classic ‘Romeo and Juliet” played out in the UCSC outdoor theatre surrounded by a canopy of evergreen trees and complete with 2 story stage so you could really see Juliet searching for “Romeo, Romeo…” as intended, from her second story balcony.

photo of the outdoor theatre during a showing of Julius Caesar in 2009. courtesy R.R. Jones

The 2010 Festival Season runs from July 20 – August 29 and the shows featured this year are:
Love’s Labour Lost
Othello
and The Lion in Winter (a non-Shakespeare play)

4. Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Stratford, Ontario

My Aunt, a University English Professor, travels to Stratford each year from the West Coast for this Festival— known as the most popular in all of North America.

For more than 50 years, this festival has provided, according to their website, “stimulating, thought-provoking productions of Shakespeare’s plays, to examine other plays from the classical repertoire, and to foster and support the development of Canadian theatre practitioners”.

Stratford is just outside of Toronto and aside from reaching here by train or plane, the festival has round trip bus rides for just $30 Canadian from Toronto to the Festival.

The festival here runs from April through October (but check individual plays for their running time). There are a dozen plays this year and including Peter Pan that has an emphasis on an all-ages audience and Evita, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (both running through October), the key Shakespeare plays are:

‘As You Like It’ through Oct 31, 2010
‘The Tempest” June 11- September 12, 2010
‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ July 12-September 19, 2010

See the entire playbill here.

Hopefully you can get to one of these festivals or many of the others that are going on around the country this summer!
Have any Shakespeare recommendations? Please leave a comment and let me know!