Happy New Year

Seeing as it’s (nearly…) a new year, I’m making a resolution to use this blog more often to share some ideas about things to do and places to go, at different times of year. For the New Year, I have one favorite destination: Ano Nuevo State Reserve, on the coast of California between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. (Ano Nuevo means “New Year” in Spanish, and was named by early explorer Sebastian Vizcaino, who passed by on New Year’s Day way back in 1603.

Along with stunning scenery, and the spouts of gray whales migrating just offshore, Ano Nuevo in winter is home to one of nature’s more bizarre spectacles, as hundreds of humongous northern elephant seals come ashore here to give birth and mate. After spending the summer at sea, every December hordes of male elephant seals arrive here at Ano Nuevo, the seals’ primary onshore rookery, ready to do battle with each other for the right to procreate. It’s an incredible show, the bulls bellowing, barking, and biting at each other to establish dominance; the “alpha male” mates with most of the females, and the rest must wait till next year. Pups conceived the previous year are born in January, and mating goes on through March. During the mating season, ranger-led tours ($5; 800/444-4445) are the only way to see the seals; these tours are very popular, so plan ahead and try to come midweek.

The males reach up to 20 feet head-to-tail, weigh as much as three tons, and have dangling proboscises that inspired their name. These blubbery creatures were hunted almost to extinction for their oil-rich flesh. In 1920, fewer than 100 of the elephant seals were left in the world; their resurgence to a current population of more than 100,000 has proved that protection does work. Thanks to the expanding seal population, there's another elephant seal rookery right along Hwy-1 near Hearst Castle, in Central California.

Back at Ano Nuevo, the 3-mile walk from the parking area to the shore is worth doing at any time of year, since it’s a very pretty scene and some of the seals are resident year-round.

For more on Ano Nuevo, check out the California State Parks website, from which the above picture was borrowed.

Red-Nosed Road Trips

Trying to get myself into the Christmas spirit (and no, I don’t mean egg nog!), I’ve been thinking back to the various annual trips my family would take to go see Santa Claus.  Growing up in Los Angeles, where the Christmas season was signalled by the annual Santa Claus Lane Parade, I remember marching bands marching down Hollywood Boulevard, leading the way for Santa and his sleigh, but what I remember most is the wonderful car driven by Grand Marshal Roy Rogers.  This gigantic, shiny gold stretched-out 1963 Bonneville convertibile was fronted by what I still think is the world’s coolest hood ornament: Longhorn cattle horns, stretching the full width of the grill. So, though I admit my sense of the holidays has more to do with pop culture than with any deep and abiding faith, I still like Christmas  (and Hannukah, and Kwanzaa, and Eid , even Festivus, with its “airing of grievances” and feats of strength.)

With such irreligious thoughts in mind, I’ve trawled through my Road Trip archive and come up with a collection of places and websites to go where you can rediscover the sillier aspects of this annual collision of culture and commerce – and maybe have some fun, too. (And people who decry the “commercialization” of Christmas should know that without holiday shopping, there’d be no Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! )

With so much shopping and cooking and cleaning to be done for the holiday season, taking a road trip may well be the last thing on your mind, but if you (or your little ones…) have a heart set on seeing Red-Nosed Rudolph or Santa Claus, short of flying off to Lapland there are a few fun possibiliities out there (though not as many as there used to be!)

Back in 1946, one of the first  “theme parks” in America took Christmas as its original motif: Santa Claus Land, in the southern Indiana town of Santa Claus (which has been offering a “Santa Claus” postmark at the post office for nearly 100 years). The theme park, now known as Holiday World, is still in business in the warmer months, with some of the biggest and best roller coasters in the world, and themed rides and attractions which play around witth all sorts of all-American events and holidays. (The kiddie rides retain the Santa and Christmas themes, fortunately.)  Another Christmas-themed theme park has kept true to its roots, but alas is also closed at this time of year.  Located outside Great Smokey National Park, in tourist-tacky Cherokee North Carolina, Santa’s Land is home of the “famous” red-nose-reindeer-fronted Rudicoaster. (Which is the source of the kitschy souvenir seen above.)  

Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the Christmas-themed attractions you can actually visit this time of year are located near to established winter resorts and skiing centers, so you can mix a bit of nostalgic roadside Americana in with your snowboarding or skiing Winter Wonderland adventures. Up in New England, there’s a delightful little Santa’s Land along old US-5 in Putney, Vermont, where you can buy Christmas trees and give Santa your  wish list, while up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire check out Santa’s Village, in Jefferson, New Hampshire.  There's also one near Lake Placid, in upstate New York, but I haven't been there (reader reports gratefully received, as always!)

Out West, in wonderful Manitou Springs, at the foot of Pike’s Peak, look for Santa's North Pole Workshop. I would have ended my Christmas wish list with a pointer toward my all-time favorite Santa, the one who used to live on Santa Claus Lane, right on the beach below Santa Barbara, California, but he was evicted in 2005,  to make way for a  “Cape Cod Themed” retail experience.  It’s enough to make anyone nostalgic, isn’t it?  Anyway, 'tis the season to be jolly, so

Ho ho ho… Merry Christmas!

Recommended Readings

Feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of the coming holidays?  Need some help finding the perfect gift for that friend or family member who loves exploring the intriguing sights, sounds and tastes of the good ol’  USA?  Me too!... Of course, I hope you’ll give all your loved ones a copy of my new! all color!!  truly nifty Road Trip USA , but if you want some more ideas for the perfect gift, here are a dozen or so of my favorite road-related books, all just a click or two away.



American Diner: Then and Now, by Richard J. S. Gutman. Lushly illustrated, encyclopedic history of that great American roadside institution, from its humble beginnings in the lunch wagons of the late 1880s to the streamlined stainless-steel models so beloved by art directors everywhere.

Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back, by Jane Holtz Kay. An enthusiastic and informative account of how cars, and the commuter culture they’ve spawned, have sapped the strength of the nation’s communities. Not as histrionic as the title might make you think, this is an engaging and insightful book that aims to help us cut down on the eight billion annual hours Americans spend stuck in traffic.

Baseball Vacations, by Bruce Adams and Margaret Engel. Enjoyable and informative travel guide detailing the best minor and major league baseball parks in the country, with details on the teams and well-chosen suggestions of places to eat and sleep in 75 different cities and towns; professional teams are included. Baseball fanatics should also pick up a copy of the annual Baseball America Directory, which gives details of every major and minor league, professional and semi-pro team in the U.S. and Canada.

Blue Highways: A Journey Into America, by William Least Heat Moon. One of the best-selling travel books ever written, this intensely personal yet openhearted tale traces the path of a part-Indian, part-time English teacher who travels the back roads “in search of places where change did not mean ruin and where time and men and deeds connected.”

Colossus of Roads: Myth and Symbol along the American Highway, by Karal Ann Marling. If you’re interested in the stories behind America’s many roadside giants--Paul Bunyan statues, super-sized fruits and vegetables, and myriad concrete dinosaurs--you’ll love this informative and funny study. Packed with pictures but a little lacking in details on how to find these giant figures in the flesh, it’s bound to inspire more than a few road trip detours.

Confederates in the Attic, by Tony Horowitz.  Much more than the title implies, this energetic romp of a book explores the many, often contradictory, layers of meaning carried by our historic sites, monuments and celebrations.  

Elvis Presley Boulevard: From Sea to Shining Sea, Almost, by Mark Winegardner. An energetic mix of road trip journal and coming-of-age autobiography, this short book recounts a summer-long tour around the southern and central United States. The Elvis obsession hinted at by the title is only a small part of the book, which looks at many of the odder corners of America.

Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Street and Highways, by Roger M. Knutson. Lighthearted look at that under-studied ecosystem, the highway. Besides being a helpful guide to identifying the sundry dead objects along the roadside, the book also details the natural life and habitats of the unfortunate road-killed creatures.

Great Plains, by Ian Frazier. In-depth, top-to-bottom study of the wide-open land where the buffalo roamed, tracing historical themes like water, cowboys, and Indians, while capturing the contemporary scene.

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America, by Bill Bryson. Iowa-born British expat transplant returns to America in search of material for his sarcastic commentary on contemporary life. Hilariously funny in parts, mean-spirited in others, and packed with trivial truths about life in the land of liberty.

On the Road, by Jack Kerouac.  This wild ramble of a road story inspired a generation or two to hightail it along America’s highways in the tracks of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty. Fascinating for its adventures, and for Kerouac’s depictions of pre-Interstate America, when cars were still exciting and steam trains still rode the rails.

Out West: American Journey Along the Lewis and Clark Trail, by Dayton Duncan. The best travel book since Blue Highways, this marvelous tale retraces the route blazed by the Corps of Discovery on their epic adventure. With a combination of concise history lessons, captivating storytelling, and wry humor, Duncan vividly points out what has and hasn’t changed in the 200-odd years since the captains first trekked across the country and back.

Roadfood,
by Jane and Michael Stern. The latest version of the cross-country
compendium of All-American diners, drive-ins, lobster shacks, and BBQ
stands, put together by road food experts and Gourmet magazine
correspondents.

Roadside America, by Doug Kirby et al. The best guidebook to the wackiest and weirdest attractions along the Great American Roadside. Organized by theme rather than by location, but still an entertaining and agreeable travel companion.  For updates, check their website: roadsideamerica.com

Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck. Rambling around “this monster of a land” in his camper Rocinante, accompanied only by his eponymous French poodle, Steinbeck returns to his California haunts from self-imposed exile in New York to find that, even if you can’t go home again, there are many intriguing things along the way. One of my favorite books, period.

Happy Holidaze!