Some people actually go away for Memorial Day weekend. Traditionally, my family has stayed home to attend picnics and the annual Memorial Day commemorative service held at Bellevue Cemetary in Ontario. Several of my family members are buried at that lovely old cemetary and my stepfather plays in the Chaffey Community Show Band during the services.

But if you're aching for a getaway on the first three-day-weekend of the warm season, why not consider San Diego? The Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego is offering a fabulous Memorial Day week special: book two nights and get the third free, or stay longer and receive every third night free. This offer is good for a stay between May 23-May 29 and get this: No extra charge for pets (usually $30 per day).

The Manchester Grand Hyatt is on the Gaslamp Quarter's waterfront, right next to Seaport Village. It offers family activities such as ping-pong, foosball, tennis, basketball, and a huge waterfront pool desk. (The VIPs from the Red Bull Air races watched last week's race through San Diego Bay from the Manchester Grand pool deck.)

Another perfect Memorial Day getaway is Catalina Island. You can go from port to port on the Catalina Express in just about an hour. Check out the Catalina Island visitor's website for specials on passage and accommodation packages.

The weekend after Memorial Day I'll be attending Catalina's Catalina Flying Fish Festival. This is a first time event, celebrating the legendary flying fish that migrate to the waters around Catalina through the summer months. These long, slender fish put on shows for viewers--particularly at night when a light is flashed on the water.

The festival opens on Thursday night with A Taste of Avalon and continues with all kinds of fun and family friendly activities throughout the weekend. You can go for just a day on the speedy Catalina Express or stay for the weekend. Check out the website for a complete schedule of activities and accommodation options.

Maybe you want to head up to the mountains? Summer season kicks off in North Lake Tahoe Memorial Day Weekend with the 2nd Annual Opening Day at the Lake. This four-day special event begins Friday, May 23 and is comprised of festivities along the West Shore. Travelers attending Opening Day at the Lake can get an event passport stamped to qualify for numerous prizes and gift certificates. A complete list of Opening Day activities is here, while lodging and travel tips can be found on the North Lake Tahoe visitor's site.

Do you have ideas or traditions for celebrating Memorial Day? Share them with us in the comment section below.

I am at a magical place. A place called Sanctuary.

After a week of deadlines I decided to take a few days away from home to work on my book and spend some time with my husby who was taking refresher training in Mesa, Ariz. I've heard about the Sanctuary in Paradise Valley, a small suburb of Phoenix, so I decided to visit while BassMan was doing his training on the other side of the valley.

The Sanctuary on Cameback Mountain could not be more appropriately named. Set at northside base of Camelback Mountain, the resort blends into the hillsiden so completely, you can't even see it from the base. Guarding over the Sanctuary is the rock formation called The Praying Monk. This is one of the most beautifully situated, spiritually named and soulfully inspiring places I've ever been.

I'll be writing more about The Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain in an upcoming edition of the Press-Enterprise travel section. Watch for it. Until then, you may view more photos of The Sanctuary in my Facebook album. You don't need to join Facebook to view them, simply click here.

Where is the most inspiring place you've ever stayed? What made it so special to you? Click the COMMENTS button below and share it.

Read this week's feature about Bakersfield here.

Greetings from Mexico. This is my first trip to the Caribbean side of Mexico. Blue skies and azure waters meet on a horizon of bliss here on the Yucatan Penninsula. Photos capture only a quarter of the incredible beauty of this seacoast.

My trip began with two days in Riviera Maya at Barcelo Maya, an all-inclusive resort that pampers guests from the minute they check in. Imagine a cruise ship on land. Restaurants, beach activities, 24-hour room service, shows and clubs are included in the rate.

Riviera Maya is the southern coast of the penninsula, which faces the Caribbean. Its clear, blue water changes from sunrise to sunset, a deep blue at the horizon, blending to a brilliant turquoise at the shore.

The white sand of Cancun was next on my itinerary. Spoiled by the all-inclusive simplicity of Barcelo Maya Palace, I moved on to another all-inclusive resort in Cancun. Beach Palace is in the center of the hotel zone on the slender finger of land that juts out from the city and extends south. Sipping a drink from the rooftop Skybar of the Beach Palace and watching the sunset is better than a Calgon bath.

Speaking of Calgon baths. My room at Beach Palace has a two-person jacuzzi tub and they give you a generous bottle of bubbly stuff to make it happen. This is honeymoon heaven.

Both of the resorts in which I stayed are perfect for those special getaways, family vacations, destination weddings, or off-site meetings. Check out these websites for more information.

Barcelo Maya
For weddings or other groups, contact Michael Karr

Palace Resorts
For weddings or other groups, contact Kevin Edmunds

I was talking with friends last week about dream vacations; where they would go, what they would do and why.

One friend said a schooner cruise through the South Pacific, spending days in private lagoons, dining on catch-of-the-day and sipping tropical drinks that don't need a blender.

Another friend said they'd always wanted to explore the Australian Outback with a Crocodile Dundee-type guide.

My dream trip, I told them, would be a wining and dining trip through Italy, stopping to view the artwork of the masters in all of the cities from Milan to Rome. My trip would include a private viewing of my all-time marble-carved crush, The David (Michelangelo).

Where would you go if you could win your dream trip? Tick the COMMENTS button and tell us here.

I grew up hearing the late California anchorman Jerry Dunphy begin his daily newscast with the slogan, "From the desert to the sea, to all of California, a good evening." My adventures on the freeways and backroads of California gave me great respect for the diversity of geography and culture of California. I learned how much California had to offer from attending public schools in the pre-proposition-13 years. Field trips were plentiful and took us to such places as Olveras Street in L.A. for Cinco de Mayo, viewing priceless antiquities at the original J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu. We heard the LA Philharmonic at The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and explored marine life in the tidepools of Laguna's Crescent Cove.

Inland Valley residents often boast of our impressive radius of adventure within an hour (or so, we say, depending on traffic). We have beaches for sunbathing, surfing, dog-walking. We keep our snow in the mountains (where it belongs), easily reachable for skiing, snowboarding, and other snowplay. When it's raining here in the valley, a short trip across the Cabazon Pass into the Cochella Valley provides blue skies and sunshine for golf and tennis.

World class performances at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, or the legendary Hollywood Bowl are a short jog on the freeway. We can have courtside seats at Staples Center or sit behind home base at two different baseball stadiums only an hour (or so) away. We may not have a professional American football team within our radius, but we have British footballer David Beckham playing soccer with the L.A. Galaxy.

The beaches of Orange County, the culture of Los Angeles, and the wildlife of the mountains and desert were pieces of a mosaic that pictured a certain California lifestyle connected by freeways. The only place I remember going as a child that didn't require a freeway hop was the long trek to San Diego. For those Inland Valley residents who remember the days before I-15 brought San Diego within an hour (or so), San Diego was accessible from the Inland Valley only through old state route 395. It could take two or even three hours from Riverside to San Diego on Old Highway 395, a two-lane route that climbed and crawled through the hills and valleys.

Back then San Diego was a naval port city with a famous zoo. There was no Sea World, no convention center, no Seaport Village or Harbor Island. You saw naval ships moored in the harbor, not cruise ships. The Gaslamp District was just another downtown grid of businesses and there was no Petco Park overlooking the harbor.

The transformation of San Diego is as spectacular as the freeway connection of north and south. From the October opening of its newest luxury resort, The Grand Del Mar in North County, to the legendary Hotel Del Coronado in the south, to camping on the sand in tents or RVs, San Diego is freeway close, San Diego has retained that "getaway" mentality for Inland Valley residents.

I love a getaway. In next Sunday's Press-Enterprise you'll read about one of my favorite weekender locations about an hour (or so) south on the 15--San Diego.

Be sure to check out this week's travel feature from the Sunday Press-Enterprise: Road to Baja.

As a child growing up in the Inland Valley, we could get just about anywhere by freeway in an hour (or so). My stepfather kept our old cars running in tip-top shape for weekending away from the everyday sidewalks of suburbia. When you don't have the money for tickets to Disneyland or even nosebleed seats at Angel Stadium, you get creative. Back then, gas was cheap.

We took rides in the car just to see what was out there. Sometimes we'd jump into our old International Scout, hop onto I-10, chug over Kellogg Hill and wind up at The Hat, the original sandwich stand in Alhambra where they made the best pastrami dips. My sisters and I would share a Pastrami Dip sandwich and dare each other to eat the hot yellow peppers. Another time my little sister asked my stepfather if freeways went on forever. His response was to load us into the car and head onto the 91 toward the Beach Cities, merging south on the 55 and following it to the freeway's end at the beginning of Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa. The lesson on that trip was that freeways don't go on forever, but good memories do.

From hair-raising rides up the switchbacks on Mt. Baldy, to picnicking at San Jacinto's Hurkey Creek, to four-wheeling in the old Scout through Tahquitz Canyon and afoot up the creek to the falls, our weekends were full of adventure. Adventures like these laid the foundation for my love of travel.

I've been serenaded beachside in Puerto Vallarta, pushed a baby carriage across Kintai Bridge in Japan, shopped for bargains in Seoul, Korea, wandered the misty moors of Wuthering Heights Yorkshire, watched bald eagles soaring over Chesapeake Bay, and have seen places the little girl in me only dreamed about those many freeway trips past. I've touched ancient castle walls and I've slept in brand new hotel room beds. I am a lover of history and still a proponent of sustainable growth. Freeways are more than a means of travel to me, they're a metaphor of my life.

So anyway. Welcome to Inland Traveler. Stop in and share with me the beautiful places, friendly faces, and all of the traces that make life interesting.

Do you have a favorite freeway story? I'd love to hear it, please share it here by clicking the COMMENT button below. Feel free to contact me at CarolynBurnsBass (@) gmail.com or visit my website at www.CarolynBurnsBass.com.