Page 88 - 2024-2025 Travel Guide to California

Beach offers a vibrant seaside city
center. History buffs gravitate to San
Juan Capistrano’s beautifully pre-
served 18th-century mission, Yorba
Linda’s Richard Nixon Presidential
Library and Museum and the restored
Victorian homes and historic city
centers in Santa Ana and Orange.
The Great Outdoors
The coastline with its world-famous
surf spots (Huntington Beach, the
Wedge at Newport Beach, Trestles in
San Clemente), yacht harbors (New-
port Beach, Dana Point) and
protected areas (Crystal Cove State
Park’s underwater reserve, the wet-
lands of California’s first state beach,
Doheny) are just the beginning of
Orange County’s natural wonders.
Inland canyons and parks teem with
wildlife and hiking and biking trails,
such as Irvine’s 300-acre San Joaquin
Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.
INSIDER’S TIP
HUNTINGTON BEACH VOLLEYBALL, below.
As Orange County’s seat, second-most
populous city and home to JOHN
WAYNE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT,
Santa Ana projects an image more
businesslike than fun. However,
residents treasure their artsy
downtown with its funky galleries,
theaters, folk-art shops and
inexpensive sidewalk cafés. Start a
journey into Santa Ana’s bohemian
side at the 10-block ARTISTS
VILLAGE, anchored by Cal State
Fullerton’s GRAND CENTRAL ART
CENTER with its theater, dance
studios, edgy galleries and artists’
live-work spaces. Just outside, go
gallery-hopping around the SECOND
STREET PROMENADE, which serves
as the village’s leafy, fountain-studded
central courtyard.
For a broader sense of the downtown
arts scene, the first Saturday of the
month brings ARTWALK, when local
galleries open their doors at 6 p.m.
Trees twinkling with lights, street
vendors and corner musicians, and
live arts performances provide a
festive atmosphere for glimpses into
art studios and design workshops.
grandcentralartcenter.com
dtsaartwalk.org
DRIVE TOUR
The most scenic drive, best
attempted on weekdays between
rush hours, follows Highway 1
along the coastline from SAN
CLEMENTE to LONG BEACH.
Stop in the popular towns of
LAGUNA BEACH, NEWPORT
BEACH or HUNTINGTON
BEACH—or all three—for a taste
of the casual, diverse Southern
California beach scene.
Family Fun
Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm are a
given, but don’t overlook Sky Zone Tram-
poline Park in Anaheim and Pretend City
Children’s Museum in Irvine, where kids
go to “work,” collect their pay from ATMs
and buy groceries. Santa Ana’s Discovery
Cube Orange County offers hands-on
science activities, and Dana Point’s
Ocean Institute runs marine science and
history expeditions on a tall ship or a
research vessel.
86 2024-25 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA
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