CALIFORNIA IS NOT FOR THE INDECISIVE. YOU’LL AWAKE EACH morning too overwhelmed by the choices:
? The vineyards, the mountains, the desert, or the beach? Should you spend the day surfing, hiking, and cycling? Or shopping, club-hopping, and celebrity-watching? No matter how bad your wanderlust, you are sure to quench it here, in what might be the greatest of the United States.
• Let’s start with the national parks. There’s Yosemite. Sequoia. Kings Canyon. Channel Islands. Death Valley. If time allows for only one, pick Joshua Tree, if for no reason than it has the best soundtrack (U2’s 1987 album, of course). Here, the Colorado Desert collides with the Mojave Desert, exploding in creosote bush, ocotillo, cholla cactus, and fan palm oases, as well as the park’s quirky namesake. No two Joshua trees look alike: in clumps, they resemble dysfunctional family portraits. To get here from Los Angeles, pack hiking boots and plenty of water and drive east 140 miles.
• For another arboreal excursion, venture to the coastal hills of Northern California, where thousand-year-old redwood trees reach into the clouds. Here in the Headwaters Forest, a twenty-three-year-old woman named Julia Butterfly Hill climbed up one named “Luna” in 1997 to protest logging and clear-cutting by Pacific Lumber Company. She didn’t come down for 738 days, during which she became a powerful voice in the environmental movement. Luna got attacked by a chain-saw soon after the sit-in ended, but Julia managed to save a 2.9-acre buffer zone around her. Catch a glimpse of her from Highway 101 near the Stafford exit.
• To fully appreciate California’s phenomenal landscapes, cruise down State Route 1 (a.k.a. Highway 1) with the sunroof open and the music blasting. This 549-mile road follows the rugged coastline from San Juan Capistrano to Leggett, passing Orange County, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. Big Sur is the most popular stretch, with knock-out Pacific vistas at every turn.
“My girlfriends and I drive the coast when we need to sort out our lives, careers, boy drama, etc. You can pull over and pop down to a beach or to a cute cafe in Half Moon Bay, or you can just drive,” says Neda Farzan, who once logged in 40,000 cross-country miles as a documentary historian for The Odyssey: U.S. Trek. “For a Californian, it is also a rite of passage. I took my cousin on a Highway 1 drive for her seventeenth birthday so she would know that the freedom of the open road is there for the taking.”
• There are infinitely many ways to pass the day in San Francisco: gorging sourdough bread at Boudin’s, strolling across Golden Gate Bridge, hopping cable cars at random. But don’t miss the Mission District, home to a thriving arts scene and Latino community (check out the murals on Balmy and Clarion Alleys). Load up on some locally-grown, organic goodies at Bi-Rite on 18th Street between Dolores and Guerrero—or a burrito anywhere on Mission Street—and then hit the funky shops.
Looking to reignite your sex life or improve upon your self-love techniques? Stop by Good Vibrations on 603 Valencia Street at 17th Street. Opened by pioneering sex therapist Joani Blank in 1977, this worker-owned cooperative sells novelty gifts like “Our First Bondage Kit” as well as high-end products like Yva, a $1,500 splash-proof, ergonomically designed, 18-karat gold-plate vibrator/objet d’art that can last up to seven hours. Then walk a few blocks to 826 Valencia Street to stock up on spy glasses, eye patches, or a message-in-a-bottle. That’s right: author Dave Eggers (of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius fame) opened a writing center for students age eight to eighteen here that moonlights as a pirate supply store. Go ahead and buy that $100 limited edition glass eye book set; all proceeds go back to the kids.
Surely you’re now in the mood for a new tattoo—and what luck: Black & Blue Tattoo is right on 381 Guerrero Street at 14th Street. Owned and operated by women, it won the Guardian’s “Best of the Bay” Readers Poll in 2005. If needles frighten you, head instead to the women-only osento on 955 Valencia Street. Housed in a white Victorian, it features a 104-degree hot tub, a cold plunge pool, wet and dry sauna, and wooden deck. Then take the BART across the bay to Oakland to watch the sun set over Lake Merritt, a saltwater lagoon/wildlife refuge with a gritty, urban skyline. Sit on a bench and take in the vibrant peoplescape: African-American youth, Ukrainian grandmothers, Cambodian lovers, Guatemalan families.
• Top off your Golden State adventures with a tour of its wineries. The Benziger Winery in Sonoma practices a holistic farming technique called biodynamics that integrates their vineyards with the surrounding ecology. Take a forty-five-minute tour of their estate—which includes gardens and wildlife sanctuaries—on a tram pulled by a tractor, then try a glass of their famous Fumé Blanc. Benziger Family Winery is located at 1883 London Ranch Road in Glen Ellen.
While Sonoma and Napa Valley are the best known wine regions, they are by no means the only ones. Kathy Joseph opened Fiddlehead Cellars in Santa Barbara County to “capture the pure essence” of her two favorite grape varietals: Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. She and her “FiddleChix” now produce 5,000 cases a year in their “Lompoc Wine Ghetto” at 1597 East Chestnut Avenue in Lompoc. Call ahead to arrange a tasting. Twelve miles north of Fort Bragg along the Mendocino Coast, Sally Ottoson runs a winery called Pacific Star. Enjoy a complimentary tasting inside her barrel cellar, then relax on the outdoor picnic tables with a bottle of Petite Sirah. (If the season is right, a gray whale brigade might pass by.) Other women-owned vineyards in California include: Kathryn Kennedy Winery, La Sirena Wine, Tres Sabores, Selene, and Lane Tanner.
Another woman who has contributed to the state of California grapes is Dolores Huerta. Along with Cesar Chavez, she led the massive grape boycotts of the 1960s in an attempt to educate the public about the abhorrent treatment of migrant workers as well as the rampant use of pesticides. (A cofounder of United Farm Workers, she also raised 11 children, mostly as a single mom!) The Dolores Huerta Foundation still rallies on behalf of farmworkers from its headquarters in Bakersfield. Get a feel for her legacy (and that of other Chicano leaders) by strolling through San Diego’s Chicano Park, where brilliant outdoor murals adorn the pylons holding up the Coronado Bridge. The Latino community gathers here every April 22 (or the weekend closest to it) to celebrate the many battles endured in keeping bulldozers out of the park.