Los Angeles
Even though Los Angeles lost its reputation as a paradise of wealth and low unemployment several decades ago, with its chaotic traffic jams stretching for miles and an almost daily smog spreading over the city, the megalopolis of around 17.5 million inhabitants continues to grow inland. As daunting as the incomprehensibility of the “City of Angels” may be, extending over a larger area than some countries in the world, it has a magical draw.
The flair exuded by districts such as Hollywood, Malibu or Santa Monica has started to disintegrate, not least due to the gradual migration of the film industry into the suburbs. However, those who saunter down Sunset Boulevard, see the huge villas of Beverly Hills or are amazed by the splendor of the Disneyland fantasy world will have to admit that here the “American Dream” has partly become reality.
Yosemite National Park
On June 30, 1864, Abraham Lincoln declared the area around Mariposa Grove the nation’s first State Park. Twenty-six years later, Yosemite became a National Park. Unfolding in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, it reveals a dreamy landscape consisting of waterfalls, rock formations, groves of mammoth-sized trees and mountain meadows. Hardly any other national park commands such a broad diversity of natural sights, although none other is also as overrun by tourists.
Yosemite Valley occupies a modest 7 of the total 1,169 square miles. Bridal Veil Falls, at 610 feet, only provides a teaser for America’s highest waterfall, Yosemite Falls, a little further north. Here, the water masses plunge an incredible vertical distance of 2,400 feet. Those with the stamina to climb up to the edge of the gorge will be rewarded with a fantastic view of El Capitan and Half Dome.
Napa Valley – California’s “Wine Country”
California’s “Wine Country” was still at the center of the American Gold Rush 150 years ago. At that time, vineyards were tended only by missionaries residing in Sonoma and San Rafael. Today, Napa Valley is one of the most famous wine-growing regions for Californian table wine and wine tasting. Tours of vineyards are particularly popular activities among tourists. The Winery Robert Mondavi (http://www.robertmondavi.com) in Rutherford, the Clos Pegase Estate (http://www.clospegase.com) and the Sterling Winery in Calistoga (http://www.sterlingvineyards.com) provide good overviews of how wine is produced, and include wine tasting. Some of the West Coast’s most exquisite gourmet restaurants flourished under the spell of the noble grape.
As early as the 19th century, the northern town of Calistoga became a leading health resort under the entrepreneur Sam Brennan. For 150 years, part of this relaxation program has included a mud bath filled with an enriched dark broth of volcanic ash. The hot springs obtain their heat from the nearby Mount St. Helena volcano.
Mendocino and it’s Victorian-style wooden houses
This little town of 1,000 inhabitants was originally a lumbering settlement. In their search for seclusion and inspiration, painters, sculptors and writers discovered this tranquil refuge in the 1950s. The idyllic setting with its Victorian-style wooden houses and the surrounding lush forests has often served as a motif for painters.
Examples can be found at the Mendocino Art Center (45200 Little Lake Street, http://www.mendocinoartcenter.org), where exhibitions and theater performances are held. Old photographs and drawings at the Historical Museum document the town’s history (http://www.mendocinohistory.org). However, the beautiful wooden buildings can also be seen in person: the magnificent Mendocino Hotel (http://www.mendocinohotel.com) and the Ford House on Main Street, dating from 1854, are examples of what artists transposed onto canvas. The adjacent Mendocino Headlands State Park not only protects the village from urbanization, it also provides vacationers with scenic trails through natural forests untouched by tourism (http://www.parks.ca.gov).