Page 10 - 2015 Travel Guide to California

>>
EDITOR’S NOTE
There’s Always
Something
Surprising
As the water flowed around the
kayaks, sparks flew. The waters of
Tomales Bay at Point Reyes National
Seashore looked like a skyful of
shooting stars when we stroked with
our paddles or swirled the water with
our fingers. I had seen this before in
Thailand and the Philippines, had
heard about it in Puerto Rico and
Mexico, but until recently, I didn’t
know we had it in California: phos-
phorescent plankton that light up
when disturbed and cast a happy
glow on the evening’s activities.
It was just one in a series of sur-
prises this year that reminded me
how much California has to offer.
Another was, coincidentally, a kayak
tour of McCovey Cove in San Fran-
cisco Bay. I’d booked it months in
advance for a date in October, and
who could have known that we’d be
paddling around AT&T Park a few
hours before Game 5 of the World
Series between the San Francisco
Giants and Kansas City Royals?
Another surprise enlivened a
camping trip in Calaveras Big Trees
State Park, when we arrived late to a
campsite back in the woods and a
large cat rushed across our path. It
stared back at us from the bushes, its
glowing eyes in our headlamp beams
showing the face of a mountain lion
(or maybe a bobcat, we learned later).
And then there was the swimming
hole at Natural Bridges near the Gold
Country town of Angels Camp. I
expected a simple place to cool off in
Coyote Creek, but what we found was
a stupendous cavern of stalactites in
a tunnel the creek has carved through
the karst over millennia. It was like
swimming in an enchanted world.
8 2015 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A
If a multi-decade resident of the
state can be delightfully surprised at
every turn, how about you?
In California, we have easy access
to the ancient natural world of the
giant sequoias, Death Valley National
Park, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite
National Park. We also have access to
all that’s new, in technology, architec-
ture, design, art, theater, opera, music,
film, food, sports, you name it.
We have the Pacific Ocean to play
in and its beaches to comb, the Cen-
tral Valley and its bounty of fruit, nuts
and vegetables to enjoy, desert oases
to bask in, manicured golf courses to
challenge our skills, mountains to ski
down or climb up, some of the best
restaurants in the USA, some of the
world’s finest wines and, of course,
the World Series champions three of
the last five years.
So when you’re looking for sur-
prises in California, you can find a
deserted beach, a theme park for the
kids, a romantic urban adventure, an
escape to a desert or seaside resort. In
these pages we help you get ready,
with profiles of the state’s main
tourism regions, essays on history,
cuisine, museums, theme parks and
many other topics, plus resource
pages with information on visitors
bureaus, driving distances, average
temperatures, California Welcome
Centers and much more.
As you make your plans for a trip
to the Golden State, you’ll have a lot
to look forward to. California offers
a profound richness of experience,
and once you’re here, you can expect
the surprises you encounter to be
happy ones.
—L A R RY H A B EG G E R , Editor
2015 TRAVEL GUIDE TO
CALIFORNIA
PRESIDENT & GROUP
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
ART DIRECTOR
WRITERS
Joseph P. Turkel
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
CALIFORNIA OFFICES
ACCOUNT MANAGERS
CANADIAN OFFICE
Larry Habegger
Judi Scharf
Mark Tzerelshtein
David Armstrong
Christopher P. Baker
Susan Brady (Resources)
Laura Del Rosso
Bill Fink
John Flinn
Don George
Marcy Gordon
Jeff Greenwald
Lenore Greiner
Robert Kaufman
Maribeth Mellin
Laura Ness
Jill K. Robinson
Michael Shapiro
Bonnie Smetts
Lavinia Spalding
Matt Villano
Peter Watts
Jacqueline Yau
Julia Wall
Gloria Mungo
54791 Shoal Creek
La Quinta, CA 92253
1288 Columbus Ave., Suite 292
San Francisco, CA 94133
TEL: 1-888-700-4464 • FAX: 416-497-0871
E-MAIL: tigc@rogers.com
californiatravelguide.travel
Collier C. Granberry
Dexter Taylor
Joe Turkel
The Travel Guide to California is published by
Globelite Travel Marketing Inc., a leading
lifestyle media company and publisher of
The Travel Guides to Canada, The Travel Guide to
Florida, The Travel Guide to California, and
Dreamscapes Travel and Lifestyle Magazine.
Globelite Travel Marketing Inc.
3 Bluffwood Drive
Toronto, Ontario
M2H 3L4
TEL: 416-497-5353, 1-888-700-4464
FAX: 416-497-0871
E-MAIL: tigc@rogers.com
californiatravelguide.travel
No part of this publication can be reproduced or
duplicated without the written permission of
Globelite Travel Marketing Inc. The opinions in this
magazine are those of the writers and do not
necessarily reflect the views of Globelite Travel
Marketing Inc. Publications Mail Agreement
40047932. Contents © copyright 2015
Printed in Canada
ISSN 1926-304X (Print)
ISSN 1927-7245 (Online)
ÉRNE Mc CABE