Page 85 - 2023-2024 Travel Guide to California

DRIVE TOUR
RIM OF THE WORLD SCENIC
BYWAY: This 107-mile scenic
drive begins on State Highway
138 just west of I-15 at the
MORMON ROCK FIRE
STATION. Travel east on 138 to
the CAJON PASS OVERLOOK
for breathtaking views, then
east to SILVERWOOD LAKE
and the Mojave River basin. 138 merges with 18 along the rim of the San
Bernardino forest and provides sweeping vistas of San Bernardino,
Redlands and the Los Angeles Basin. At BIG BEAR LAKE DAM, follow the
road around Big Bear Lake to MILL CREEK RANGER STATION. This tour
can be done in four hours.
MISSION INN HOTEL AND SPA, Riverside, opposite; Residential Ontario, below.
of Spanish and Moorish architecture,
adorned with priceless Italian and Spanish
treasures.
The San Bernardino County Museum in
the Hall of History explores local history
by exhibiting a covered wagon that crossed
the Mojave Desert from Salt Lake City.
Other halls include biodiversity, earth
sciences as well as desert gardens and
native plant gardens.
Family Fun
The fun begins with rides on the locomo-
tives and trolleys of the Southern
California Railway Museum in Perris. At
Tom’s Farms in Corona, kids can mine for
emeralds and rubies, ride a pony, or board
the 1800s steam train. In the summertime
heat, take cool water rides on the Alpine
Slide’s twisting curves at the Magic Moun-
tain Recreation Area in Big Bear Lake.
INSIDER’S TIP
Settled in the 1840s, Louis
Robidoux’s Jurupa Rancho
property eventually became a
city park, the MT. RUBIDOUX
TRAIL AND MEMORIAL PARK.
West of downtown Riverside,
this local favorite is some 3.5
miles of paved trail ascending
the 1,332-foot-high mountain
amid historical plaques. The
climb, lined with spring
wildflowers or views of the
snow-dusted San Bernardino
Mountains in winter, rewards
hikers with expansive Riverside
valley views.
riversideca.gov/park_rec/
facilities-parks/mt-rubidoux
2023-24 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA 83