April 2008 Archives

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.