KosherRoadTrip.com

Always bring quarters. On the short list of things to keep in the car for a Sunday road trip, please remember quarters. Besides bottled water, sunscreen, and hats, we also keep quarters. And a small kite. If trunk space permits, please consider a picnic blanket, and some bicycles. But quarters are a priority. Sometimes quarters will allow you to park in good places. About Manhattan Beach: I had heard about a big sand dune that people ran up and down and decided to take a Sunday family road trip to check it out. Tucked into a very cute neighborhood a few miles south of LAX is a small park next to a National Guard center. The park consists of a huge, steep wall of sand and a play area for toddlers. That’s it. While that may not sound like much, it turns out that climbing this sand hill is an invigorating experience, even if you only climb up once. No special clothing or shoes are necessary, just join the many other adults and children making their way to the top. Leg muscles you may have forgotten about are called into action, and at the moment is starts to feel demanding, you’ve made it to the top. Yeay! At the top is quaint little street that leads straight to the ocean. I decided to take the stairs back down the sand dune hill, but my husband ran down and said it had almost the sensation of skiing. We watched some folks go up and down the hill several times for a hearty workout. Just thinking about it right now makes me want to go back.

Continuing south, through the neighborhood, we located Manhattan Beach Blvd., at the end of which is a pier. At the end of the pier is the Roundhouse Aquarium. Here’s where the quarters come in handy. The parking right along the beach requires lots of quarters, every day of the week, and there were plenty of parking spaces, perhaps because not everyone who would have liked to park there had quarters.Don’t be intimidated by the crowds on the pier: they aren’t all going to the aquarium. And yes, you’re in the right place. The first time I saw the little building at the end of the pier, I didn’t know it was the aquarium. I looked up and down the beach and even under the pier wondering where the aquarium was. That little round structure is it. Perhaps because we have come to think of an aquarium as being the size of a theme park, and as expensive, it was hard to imagine that the Roundhouse Aquarium was large enough to contain any fish. For a bite size, and free museum, it’s quite nice. Pop in a pet some sea urchins, cucumbers, and stars. Watch the baby rays and search for the sarcastic fringe head. Consider it an opportunity to focus on a few of the wondrous creatures of the sea.

The colder days being what they are, a strong wind was blowing and there weren’t many people on the beach, so we got the butterfly kite out of the trunk and easily got it into the sky, extending the line all the way. It was a beautiful way to conclude the afternoon outing.
Please note that there is a bike path and a separate footpath running along Manhattan Beach, affording another opportunity to get some exercise and fresh ocean air.Notes:

Sand Dune Park: the corner of 33rd St. and Bell Ave. (left off Rosecrans) Free parking.

Roundhouse Aquarium: end of pier at the end of Manhattan Beach Blvd. Open to public: weekdays 3pm - sunset, Sunday 10am - sunset., Tel: (310) 379-8117, cost: Free. Beach Parking: $1/hour (quarters only)

Sometimes a road trip is right under our noses. Or, at least, some place we pass on our way to another destination.

Such is the case with the Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park, CA. Newbury Park, in case you’ve never heard of it, is near Thousand Oaks. You’ve probably seen the brown California historic landmark sign along the 101. That was actually the inspiration for our stop. I finally decided to make one of those signs we blow past on our way to somewhere else, the destination for a Sunday road trip.

I wasn’t expecting much when I saw the Disneyland-ish exterior of the “Stagecoach Inn,” especially since I’d read that it wasn’t only the façade that was new, but that the entire structure had been rebuilt from scratch in the 1970’s after a fire destroyed what existed of the original inn… This is my great grandmother’s ring. Well, actually, I lost her ring, but I had this one made to look almost exactly like it. No, the Stagecoach Inn has a lot more going for it than a new, but authentic looking structure. The architectural blueprints of the original inn were not in the building at the time of the fire and so this new building is carefully designed to resemble the original. The real appeal, on an historic level, is what the inn contains, because really, it is a museum holding a collection of interesting items from California’s Victorian past.

An enthusiast for small museums, I was pleased to find docents in every room, ready to explain what all the gadgets and photos were about—and there was a lot to explain. One room was devoted to the brief history of the phonograph, with a remarkable collection of actual phonographs, the wax cylinders, and one use only needles. In an age when even DVD’s have become passé, a short lesson on this curious invention of Thomas Edison is itself worth a stop at the museum.

But there is quite a bit more packed into the $4 price of admission. There’s a “cowboy’s” room, done in period furnishings, a room of equipment used for ironing and pressing clothes, and a rooms furnished for the innkeeper’s family, including a Victorian style nursery.

My favorite room is the kitchen. Please ask a lot of questions while you are in there so you can learn about all the fascinating obsolete instruments and utensils that fill the room. The woman who showed this room to us said that she personally remembers having blocks of ice delivered to her apartment in New York when she was a child. She showed us an instrument that was used to scrape a block of ice to make snow cones for the children as a treat. I had seen iceboxes before (which were used before electric refrigerators) and heard of ice being delivered, but I’d never seen this sweet tool for making snow cones. There was also a primitive vacuum cleaner, a stovetop toaster and so much more. This is a picture of kitchen life in America before electricity.

Of special interest to girls may be the Victorian bridal gown collection in the foyer and, to children of all ages, the Timber school, next door to the inn. Again, this building is a recent reconstruction of an old school, but is designed to represent a one-room schoolhouse from the 1890’s. The furnishings are authentic, including desks fitted with slots for inkwells and tin lunch pails set in the boys’ coatrooms and girls’ coat rooms, respectively. (For more authentic old school room experience, see the Oak Glen Schoolhouse, mentioned in Jewish Life, Oct. 2006) Make sure to ring the school bell before you leave.

Also on the museum grounds are replicas of a pioneer home, adobe house, a Chumash Indian hut, and a collection of Indian artifacts. I was drawn to the carriage house with its two stagecoaches. While one of the coaches was refurbished for use in some Hollywood films, both are authentic. Take some time to look at the seating arrangements and the wheels and think about people traveling hundreds of miles on unpaved roads without air-conditioning in these horse drawn vehicles. Awesome.

Inexpensive and close by, this is a nice way to spend a couple hours with family and friends on a Sunday afternoon.

Notes:

The Stagecoach Inn Museum, 51 South Ventu Park Rd., Newbury Park, CA 91320, phone: 805-498-9441, www.stagecoachmuseum.org

Hours: Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 4 P.M. for docent-led tours. Entire complex is open Sunday from 1 to 4 P.M.

Congratulations to Benjamin Krombach for winning the scavenger hunt contest (Jewish Life, June 2007). Benjamin’s prize is a $100 gift certificate to the outstanding Tierra Sur restaurant in sunny Oxnard, California. Housed in the Herzog Winery complex, Tierra Sur is perhaps the finest kosher restaurant on the West Coast. Chef Todd Aarons has expanded his menu to make tasty use of the outdoor wood-burning grill, and there is a “wine tasters lunch” option on the menu if you would like to try some suggested wine and food pairings. Despite being an hour away from LA, Tierra Sur was crowded with folks from our neck of the woods on a recent Sunday lunch excursion. See their website for a schedule of music and entertainment programs at the restaurant throughout the year.

Tierra Sur is a great place to stop and eat on the way back into town from a road trip to the north and an amazing example of how vast our kosher restaurant choices have become around here. It may be hard to imagine, but there are actually still Jewish communities in America with no kosher restaurants. It’s true. Then there are the cities with a kosher pizza place and of course the kosher Chinese restaurant, but nothing else! Children growing up in Los Angeles must think it is standard to have a plethora of dining options. You don’t want pizza tonight? How about Yemenite food? How about cheese fondue? How about sushi? How about steak?

Perhaps this is why people often ask me, when I tell them we’re taking a vacation in the middle of nowhere: But What Do You Eat?

It is entirely possible that some people may be disinclined to visit places in America where there are no kosher restaurants because the prospect of dealing with food and no fully equipped kitchen sounds like too much of a balagan to be a vacation.

If you are staying somewhere for more than a day or two, eating only cold food can get tiresome. So what do you do if you are staying somewhere in the country or by the ocean in Maine or on a lake in California and you need to have more than the kosher family version of the MRE (meals ready to eat)—namely, peanut butter and jelly? You need a burner and you need a pot or two. Whether it’s a burner on your relative’s kitchen stove or a camping burner you bring for just such occasions, it really opens the door for food options if you can heat things up. And you need a refrigerator. (Consult your rabbi about making use of a microwave—which can certainly come in handy.)

Folks with experience preparing their own food on vacation will tell you about a particular cooking item they like to use. One friend said she brings an electric fry pan to cook fish. Another said she takes a barbecue and a cooler of meat and they’re set for meals. My favorite cooking accessory is a crock-pot, especially for Shabbos away from home.

With regard to food, you really need to work out your menu in advance; the farther you are from a kosher market, the more menu planning you need to do. Otherwise, you’ll spend an inordinate amount of time driving around and grocery shopping, and that’s no fun on a vacation. So get a big cooler if you’ll need to schlep the meat a long way, and stock up on beef for cholent, cut up chicken, shnitzel, ground beef, hotdogs, kishka, and gefilte fish. Start with meat for however many Shabboses you need to cover, then plan for a couple fleishig meals a week. Make sure you have the means to cook whatever you are buying. That is to say, don’t buy a whole chicken to roast if you don’t have access to a kosher oven. If you are going to be cooking in a non-kosher oven, make sure to have enough aluminum tins and aluminum foil to double wrap your food. Cut up chicken is easy because you can just pour sauce on it, wrap it up, and cook it.

You can cook everything on a burner if you have to. In fact, I just heard a report that someone made Shabbos for a family of seven with one pot while on a camping trip in Alaska. You heard me. One pot. Chicken, yes. Potatoes, yes. Veggies, yes. Challah? If you don’t bring challah with you, then you can usually find kosher pita or matzah at any major grocery store. And don’t forget the grape juice.

With only a pot and a frying pan you can make just about anything. And even in the middle of nowhere, you can still put together spaghetti and sauce (use the small cans of Hunt’s tomato sauce), vegetable omelet, bagels and cream cheese, rice with stir-fried vegetables. Think outside the tuna can.

You may not have a sister who lives on a farm and has a bounty of fresh peas, kohlrabi, cucumbers, summer squash, green beans, and corn for you (like I do, B”H), but if your vacation is somewhere in the country, there are probably farm stands around where you can find beautiful fruits and vegetables to enjoy.

Whether it’s Chol Hamoed Sukkos or winter break, or next summer, please consider a few pots, a cooler full of meat, maybe a little burner and a good time somewhere out there. May it be a year of blessings, simchas, and appreciation for Hashem’s Creations.

The flavors of the major cities in California are so amazingly different. San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco—all unique in appearance. Santa Barbara, only two hours from Los Angeles, showcases not only the appealing variety of architecture in California: Spanish, craftsman, Victorian—but the best of land and sea as well. An exit off the 101 will take you winding up the hills, past a dazzling array of beautiful homes on your way to what would be a dream of a back yard: The Santa Barbara Botanical Garden.

What a place this is, tucked away in the hills, far from the bustle of the city yet nestled safely within reach of civilization. We have happily visited the botanical garden several times over the years, enjoying the fresh air, the cold shadows of the grand redwoods, and the quiet hum of nature. This year we managed to be at the front gate in time for an official tour of the gardens, lead by an Englishman who shared his enthusiasm for the horticultural variety in the gardens and took our group across the street to a part of the garden we never knew existed. We hiked up a small hill through all sorts of flowers and plants, carefully labeled with little placards and commented upon as we passed by. The view from the top was breathtaking.

“Stand and contemplate the wondrous works of G-d.” (Job 37:14) Everywhere one looks is the beauty of the Creation. It isn’t hard to take pretty pictures in this garden. While I don’t think we’ve visited in the winter, the colors in the spring and summer are delightful, especially against the backdrop of the distant hills and the clear blue sky above. There are long and short paths around the gardens, to saunter along and drink in the delicious, exulted, vibrant green beverage of life. And there is much to experience, from the “fried egg flowers” (matilija poppy), to the beavertail cactus, to the hummingbirds diving and dashing between the blossoms.

It certainly isn’t necessary to have a background in horticulture to appreciate the environment, but the gardens are very informative for those who are interested in learning more. There are different themes within the garden including the Redwood forest (the oldest trees were planted in 1926 and are already quite big), the meadow section, and even a home demonstration garden. There are also some extensive paths along the creek and through the woods for those in search of a hearty nature walk.

When evaluating the feasibility of this outing, please note that there are a few options which make it more accessible than you might think. Some of the paths through the gardens are paved for visitors in wheelchairs or strollers. We carried the baby in a baby backpack, which is a piece of hiking equipment that is sure coming in handy for the kind of off-roading I’m willing to do (especially when I’m not the one wearing the backpack.) Also, there is a nice arrangement of picnic tables and chairs next to the retail nursery where we ate our bag lunches.

On our way out, we stopped in the gift shop and found some nice nature oriented gifts, then wended our way back down the hill, past the beautiful homes and onto the highway.

It was a good day trip.

Notes:

Santa Barbara Botanical Garden: 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara, phone: 805-682-4726, www.sbbg.org

P.S. Don’t forget: your scavenger hunt entry (Jewish Life, June 2007) must be received by Aug. 1, 2007.

One day each year, the “Museums of the Arroyo” in Pasadena host “MOTO Day”, a special day when this network of museums and historic homes is open for free to the public AND free shuttles are provided to transport visitors to all the sights. This year, MOTO Day is on Sunday, May 20, 2007.

There isn’t really time in one day to fully appreciate all the stops on the tour, but over the years I have had the opportunity to dig into most of them. You could put all the locations on a historical time line and start with the earliest, which is the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. There may be some special exhibits and demonstrations there this year in lieu of viewing the permanent collection halls which the museum website says are undergoing extensive preservation efforts. It would probably be best to just ask one of the docents at Heritage Square Museum if they know what’s going on before taking the shuttle over there.

By the way, we park our car at Heritage Square, which is reached by going north on the 110 freeway from downtown Los Angeles and exiting at Avenue 43. You can see the historic houses from the highway so it’s very easy to find the museum. Technically, Heritage Square would be your second stop on the historical location timeline (but since you’re already there…) Heritage Square is a collection of Victorian era houses and buildings which have been rounded up from different locations over the years and brought to the museum grounds to maintain and keep open to the public. Heritage Square not only offers an outside viewing, but an inside look at these beautiful homes as well with period furnishings and docents who are eager to share their knowledge. On the grounds of the park are ongoing demonstrations, reenactments and activities for children such as how to play the old fashioned game of hoop and stick—so don’t be shy!

The third location on the historic timeline would be the Lummis House, which, like Heritage Square, is in Highland Park. Surrounded by a sweet and subtle garden, the Lummis House was built from 1898 to 1910 by a writer named Charles Lummis, who gathered river stones to make his curious little castle.

It is a far cry from the Fenyes Mansion, also built around the turn of the last century. Fully furnished and loaded with artwork, there is a lot to see in this home on “Millionaire’s Row” in Pasadena, but I found the pantry in the kitchen with its old food containers and cooking utensils the most interesting part.

The can’t miss spot on the tour is the Gamble House, which is across the street from the Fenyes mansion/Pasadena Museum of History. The Gamble House is the quintessential example of the American Arts & Crafts style architecture. Built in 1908, everything about it, from the front door to the banisters to the kitchen cabinets, is hand crafted and beautiful—even the walls are made of fine wood. It is a very warm and livable environment.

Finally, on the tour, there is the Los Angeles Police Museum. Frankly, I don’t recall this being on the tour before and consequently I’ve never seen it, but from the looks of the photos on the website, it may be of great interest to the boys in your particular tour group as the museum collection promises antique handcuffs, billy clubs and other necessary tools of law enforcement.

Overall, the stops of the MOTO Day tour would not generally go over well with the pre-school set as the house tours will become very trying to them within thirty seconds, but older children who are accustomed to visiting museums may enjoy it and certainly the demonstrations on the grounds of Heritage Park should be fun.

Notes:
For information on “MOTO DAY” please see: www.museumsofthearroyo.com
Or call: 213-740-8687.
Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St., Los Angeles. Take the 110 North toward Pasadena, exit at Ave. 43
Gamble House: 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, phone: 626-793-3334. The Gamble House is located off the 134 freeway or by taking the 110 N and continuing on to Orange Grove, north of Walnut Ave.

Did you know that Johannesburg and Randsburg are only a few hours drive from Los Angeles? Way out in the dusty desert on the edge of Kern County, gold and silver were discovered in 1895 and, according to legend, the locations were called Johannesburg and Randsburg by men who had mined in South Africa and found it to be bountiful in minerals, like Witwatersrand. Miners, gamblers, and the like poured into Randsburg bringing the population up to 2,500 at the peak of the gold rush. Nice family folk set up just around the bend in the town of Johannesburg. Today, “Jo-burg” as the locals call it, has a population of 176 with a one-room elementary school for the seven children in town. Randsburg has a population of 80.

On a continuing search for the quintessential Old West town, we drove out to Randsburg one recent Sunday and found, at the end of an undulating two-lane highway, a curious place with many of its original buildings. I spoke with the shopkeeper of an antiques store set up in the old town bank about living in such an isolated place (otherwise known as “yehupitz.”) She said that she and her husband had always wanted to retire to Johannesburg and that the townsfolk are very close knit. You had better get along with everyone in a town of only 176 people. The nearest grocery store is in Ridgecrest, which is also where the high school students have to be bused every day. Ridgecrest is about twenty minutes away. Like most ghost towns, Randsburg is primarily a main street with a few residential side streets dotted with little cottages and shacks, sometimes built on the frames of miners’ tents. The term “ghost town” by the way, seems to refer to any old mining town that maintains its original facades. Randsburg, then, is a “living ghost town” with an impressive collection of authentic structures (residents sniff at Calico with its many reconstructed buildings, not to mention the fact that no one actually lives there.) There is a public bathroom in the park next to the town museum, but you will notice lots of outhouses around. That’s right, very little has changed in Randsburg, including the plumbing, and residents still use outhouses. Jo-burg has the indoor bathrooms.

The Randsburg Museum is in a little house and has a few interesting items, including a table set with rocks that look vaguely like different foods. The pictures of the schoolhouses and students who lived there over the years were especially memorable.

A road around the side of a hill leads to Johannesburg, where most of the locals live, and if you want to see some affordable housing in Southern California, there it is. Frankly, there isn’t much to see in Johannesburg, so we continued up highway 395 and cut back on Garlock Road, which passes the “ghost town” of Garlock. When we passed this tiny spot, I began to re-evaluate the source that inspired this trip: a free map I’d picked up touting tourist sites in Kern County. Whenever we visit museums I like to pick up the free literature in order to collect information for future reference. This particular map listed many special attractions and historic landmarks in Kern County, and, well, some of them turned out to be less than the brochures declared. Case in point: the “ghost town of Garlock” which was basically a plaque on some guy’s property.

The map also highlighted the opal mines in the Red Rock Canyon State Park where visitors, for a small fee, could search around the mines for their own opals. We took Redrock Randsburg Road back to highway 14 and found the ranger’s station in the state park. The ranger gave me a map of the park and showed me where the opal mine was that we could explore, at no charge. It sounded great. Then she asked if we had 4-wheel drive. I said we did, and so off we went. When we turned off the highway onto a sand road and saw signs warning “no OHV” (off road vehicles) and positioned at confusing angles so that I wasn’t sure if the signs were meant for us or not (they weren’t), I should have known this also wasn’t quite what the Kern County tourist map made it out to be. Yes, we had 4-wheel drive, but this road had deep banks of sand, ruts, and pits, and I found myself gripping my car seat and wondering whether we could possibly tip over, or get stuck in the sand. Not surprisingly, we got lost, had to turn around, and head another mile down an even rougher road. By now it was getting late, and I’d had enough of off-roading, so we stopped and had a look around at the rocks all around us. This area is a veritable Toys R’ Us for kids who like to collect rocks and minerals. Opals are found in volcanic rock and there was plenty of that around. We picked up some interesting specimens, but no opals. If you have a vehicle that can handle rough, sandy roads, and you think you would enjoy a few miles of jostling and bouncing, then give it a try and let me know if you find any opals. Considering how hard it was to get there, and that we didn’t see another car the whole time, there are probably lots of opals still there for the finding.

Red Rock Canyon State Park itself is an area of unusual red rock formations and eroded strata that looks like drip castles, so for rock buffs, this is a neat place.
But is it worth five hours of driving to get to there? Well, I would recommend Randsburg to anyone who is intrigued by the Old West and favors that period of American history. This is a small but authentic mining town where gold is still being mined today. Combined with an interest in rocks, this corner of Kern County makes for an out-of-the-ordinary road trip, and if you go during the one full day of Chol Hamoed Pesach, you will likely be the only one eating matzah in this Johannesburg (unless everyone reading this goes.)

Notes:

Randsburg/Johannesburg is about 2 ½ hours from Los Angeles taking the 5 N. to the 14 N, then Redrock Randsburg Road into Randsburg. The Randsburg Museum is only open on weekends, but the antiques shops are open during the week.

Red Rock Canyon State Park is on the 14 N. a little ways past the exit for Redrock Randsburg Road.

See websites for maps at details: www.randsburgcalifornia.com, www.parks.ca.gov, www.desertusa.com.

Always pack water, sunscreen and hats in your car.

If your little sweeties love science then it will be worth the 45 minutes it takes to get to Santa Ana in order to explore the Discovery Science Center. This is a real hands on, kids oriented center with many different exhibits that require interaction. A tornado, simulated using fog and fans, can be manipulated to dissipate and regroup into a twister (I think that’s my favorite.) A large water table filled with sand and flowing water allows visitors to experiment with erosion. A whole area is devoted to simulating and demonstrating the effects of an earthquake. And there’s always a line of kids to experience lying down on the bed of nails. There’s also a climbing wall, and a giant wheel with fog billowing through it to make cloud rings. Upstairs there are exhibits that test strength and skill, like a chair and pulley contraption to see if you can lift yourself, gizmos to test your reaction time and coordination, and some fun with aerodynamics. A section called “Techno Arts” combines lasers, lights, and sounds for creative interaction, and there are exhibits that demonstrate optical illusions.

The activities at the Discovery Center seem best suited to children ages 5 to 13, especially considering some of the special exhibits coming up like “Sesame Street Presents: The Body” and “Bubblefest,” but most of the exhibits are so well done that the whole family will enjoy participating.

Unlike the California Science Center in Exposition Park, the Discovery Center charges admission ($12.95 for adults, $9.95 for kids) so you might want to consider buying a membership ($89 for family) when you go if there is a possibility you will go more than once in a year. As with the Natural History Museum and the L.A. Zoo, getting a membership allows you entrance into a network of neat places around the country, or, in the case of the Discovery Center, around the world– including Israel! It’s a nice indoor activity to jot on the “fun things to do” list.

Notes:

Discovery Science Center, 2500 N. Main St., Santa Ana 92705, phone:714-542-2823, on the internet: http://64.143.71.42/

People talk about our amazing proximity to both the beach and the snowy mountains, but how often do we take advantage of that proximity? Some might even ask, why should we take advantage of that proximity?

Just look at the Tehillim we read in the weekday Pesukei D’zimrah. In Psalm 147 it says: “He Who gives snow like fleece, He scatters frost like ashes. He hurls His ice like crumbs – before His cold, who can stand?”* It’s a glorious thing that we can experience snow and ice first hand, rather than just look at pictures. It really is amazing, when you think about it, that we can enjoy a warm sunny day in the city while less than two hours away fluffy white snow awaits us.

One possibility for sledding is Frazier Park. About 1 ½ hours North on the 5 freeway, Frazier Park is a small town with a treasure chest of snow. Our experience with Frazier Park has been that once you get off the highway and head up the main road that climbs into the mountains, it’s just a matter of stopping somewhere along the way and joining other adventurous sledders on a good hill. One year we found ourselves up in the hills, amongst the fragrant pine trees, a soft snow falling as we sought out clear areas to safely sled. It was, need I say it, freezing cold, and the air had the invigoratingly clean smell of ice and pine. We watched tufts of snow float down from the sky and caught the lacey snowflakes on our mittens. Just thinking about it makes me want to be there. There is an official “snowplay park” called Tait Ranch which is on the Frazier Park Road, only three miles off the highway and $5 per car to enter. Pulling over and wandering between the pine trees is free, however.

And then there’s Mount Baldy. Mount Baldy really takes the cake because it’s only a 1 hour and 20 minute drive from West LA. You can see it from the highway in the winter, covered in a blanket of snow. The winding drive up the mountain is kind of neat, too. It is pretty apparent where the sledding is. The road splits and there are cars parked up against the snow banks. On the hills nearby, families build snowmen and, of course, try the different sledding runs. A note about when to go to Mount Baldy: better to go during the week. A day when there happens to be no school is perfect. The trouble with going on a Sunday is that loads and loads of people from around LA have the same idea and it can make for an unpleasant experience. During the week, however, it seems to be just a few families with young children who tend to congregate on the sledding hills.

Both Frazier Park and Mount Baldy have weather condition updates online and it’s important to check the weather report plus call before you go to make sure there is enough snow for sledding. Unlike at my Mom’s house where you can look out the window, see your car buried in snow in the driveway and know that anywhere in New England there’s enough snow for sledding, we can’t determine much from looking out the window beyond if it’s raining too hard to brave the highways. We were once caught in a torrential downpour on the way to Frazier Park—I don’t recommend it.

And don’t forget your sled. The ideal sled, I think, is the red plastic toboggan, which doesn’t have any sharp edges and doesn’t require any skill to handle. We found my old standard at a local sporting goods store.

Despite the often clear blue skies, it’s important to wear the proper gear for the snow. This should include boots, heavy socks, a snowsuit or ski pants and a jacket, waterproof mittens or gloves, a hat, and sunscreen. The first time we brought our daughter to the mountains to experience snow, a little bit touched her skin and she screamed—I guess it didn’t feel the way she expected. Her reaction made me think about how we can take things for granted, those of us who grew up with four seasons, not to mention those of us who grew up around woods to explore and animals to see.

Within Tehillim 147, David Hamelech writes of grass on the mountains, of horses, and ravens– things we don’t see in the city. It’s important to get out and experience these things first hand, when possible, and to see to it that our children don’t only know snow from picture books.

*translation from Artscroll’s Klein Edition Women’s Siddur

Notes:

Frazier Park: take the 5 freeway north to the Frazier Park exit, keep going on Frazier Park Road, see: www.shopoutdoors.com/activities.html or http://www.frazmtn.com/fmcoc/snowcond.htm

Mount Baldy: take the 10 freeway east to the Mountain Ave/ Mt. Baldy exit, head north up the mountain. Ph. http://www.mtbaldy.com/

When driving through the desert on the way to somewhere else, there’s a tendency to think the desert is a whole bunch of nothing; miles and miles of dried up earth and brownish plants all around. But then, that’s what makes a place like Calico such a curiosity. How is it that a town was built around a dry and desolate hill in the middle of nothing? How did anyone happen upon this particular hill when there are so many that look just like it in the Mojave desert? Somehow it happened that silver was discovered in 1881 on a crop of hills just north of Barstow and a town was built called Calico. Actually, the main hill of Calico does look a little different than the other hills along the highway; it is mottled red, green and gray from minerals in the ground, hence the name Calico.

Calico is located a mile from the I-15 E., going toward Las Vegas, another mysterious town in the middle of the desert. But, unlike Las Vegas, Calico was only briefly populated with folks who came to work the silver mines. Later, in the early 1900’s due to nearby Borax mining (which we will IY”H discuss in the near future) the town continued, but by 1930, it had gone the way of so many other mining towns around the West. In fact, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce lists eight such mining ghost towns in the Barstow area. Calico is unique among them because it was bought by Walter Knott of Knott’s Berry Farm and turned into the tourist attraction it is today. While five of the buildings are original, the rest are said to be replicas based on old photographs of the town. Frankly, the overall flavor is fairly touristy, especially considering that “Main Street” is heavily paved for your convenience and lined with gift shops. And compared to a remarkably well kept, dynamic, and historically packed town like Tombstone, Arizona, Calico isn’t much.

So the question is, why do I like Calico? Because there really was a small mining town right in that place, in the middle of nowhere. 1200 people lived there at one point, and, as the turn on the Calico & Odessa Railroad illustrates, the area in which these people lived was small and sparse. Looking out across the dusty ground which was once packed with small family homes and is now just a few stones from one foundation, it’s hard to imagine men, women, and children going about their business in such a blazing hot place. We are fortunate to be able to visit the desert in the winter, when the temperature is comfortably cool, but the residents of Calico lived day to day in the unforgiving desert sun. I didn’t find out where the town water came from, but that is a good question. The coolest place to be was deep in the mines, and this can be experienced with a tour of the Maggie Mine. For a small fee you can walk inside and through one of the hills next to the railroad. Throughout the tunnel there are larger rooms visible behind fences where miner mannequins have been set up in mining poses to give one an idea of what it might have looked like to be working in there. Carved into the side of the hill are cave-like homes made by some of the miners. Perhaps these primitive houses offered some respite from the heat, as the mines did. Considering that $86 million in silver was extracted from the Calico area, the desert heat must have been worth the trouble to some.

Other attractions include a craft shop where children can decorate their own ceramic medallion necklaces and a shop with old-fashioned clothes to dress up in and take a sepia toned family photo. Then there’s the “mystery shack,” a house in which the interior is a collection of optical illusions. I hear tell of an old west “shootout” that happens on Sundays, but we didn’t see any action while we were there so it’s probably a good idea to call first if your visit requires some cowboy gun-slinging.

Calico is only two hours from Los Angeles and worth the trip. I liked it so much I look forward to going again soon—but only in the winter, of course.

Ice Skating in Pershing Square

It’s that time of year again, when the park and recreation department transforms Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles into a winter wonderland, of sorts. From now until January 15, 2007, an ice skating rink is set up with skates for rent in all sizes. It’s really neat to skate on a little rink in the middle of the big city, getting a view of city life while gliding across the ice. Don’t miss it.

Notes:

Calico Ghost Town, Yermo, CA 92398, phone: 1-760-254-2122
www.calicotown.com
open daily 8am – dusk (5pm.)
admission: adult $6, child (6-15) $3, child 5-under FREE

Pershing Square Ice Skating:
532 S. Olive St. (parking garage underneath, for a fee)
cost: $6 per half hour skating session
$2 skate rental
www.laparks.org/pershingsquare/doi.htm

What is autumn without fresh from the orchard apples? When summer is officially over and the weather cools off, the call of crunchy tart apples drifts down from the mountains and beckons city dwellers to enjoy the freshest of fruit.

You may recall last year’s Kosher Road Trip to Julian, a small mining town three hours away which remains the premier spot for autumn apples. But there does happen to be a gathering of orchards closer to the Los Angeles area. Oak Glen, just down the 10 E. Freeway, takes half the time to reach (not more than an hour and a half) and, like Julian, offers a wonderful variety of apples.

Apples require a certain crispy climate in order to thrive, and the mystery of Oak Glen is how a place surrounded by desert and not that high up in the hills could have such a different climate. On the Sunday we went, recently, a dark grey cloud was looming over the tops of the hills and, as we began a walk on the Los Rios Wildlands Conservancy trail, rain burst from one section of the sky and poured down on us. Yet the sun was shining and the sky was blue most everywhere we looked. The trail looked promising, though, so we hope to continue on it another day.

Meanwhile, down the road just a bit is the Oak Glen School House Museum, a tiny school with one classroom built in 1927 for the handful of children in Oak Glen. This charming stone building, surrounded by trees and grass (and sometimes bears that wander through) was in use until 1965, and apparently had only one teacher for all the grammar school grade levels of the children in attendance. The volunteer museum guide showed us around and shared some cute stories passed down by local families of children sneaking out of the detention room, or hiding the sauerkraut, which sometimes appeared in the school hot lunch, so they wouldn’t have to eat it. The most interesting artifacts to me were the “Rules for Teachers” posted on the walls. Prior to building the stone school, there was a little wooden school built in 1888 to service the community, and some of the rules posted date back to 1872. Some of the requirements for the one room schoolteacher read: “Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s session. Women are forbidden to wear skirts slit to expose the ankles, men cannot have shirt sleeves ‘unlinked and rolled.’” Women teachers were also warned, “not to loiter downtown in ice cream stores” among other things. Perhaps even more eye opening is a copy of the 1899-1901 Eighth grade grammar school examination which asks students questions in physiology, geography, and several other subjects including the requests to: “Make a diagram of the stomach. Locate therein the openings into the stomach, and name them,” and “Name the countries of South America with the capital cities,” and “A note, face $250, interest 1 per cent, per month dated Nov. 1, 1898, due Sept. 10, 1899. Find bank discount on March 4, 1899, at 8 per cent per annum.” Makes you think.

The museum guide showed us the ground breaking indoor toilet with a rope to pull and flush, then rang the school bell for us as we left (and that’s a real bell, not the electronic timed ring schools have now.)

Back over at Los Rios, a small band was playing folk music as we checked out what apples were available in the store. Surprisingly, we didn’t encounter any honey, the natural companion to apples. In Julian there is an array of honeys which are naturally flavored by the flowers the bees collect pollen from. No local honey here, but there were some red delicious apples and very aromatic pears for sale. We then headed over to Snowline Orchards, which I had found in the past to be an excellent source for apples in terms of variety and quality. Even though we had come early in the season and not all the varieties were yet ready, Snowline did not disappoint. We gathered up bags of braeburn, macintosh, gravenstein, lura red, Ozark gold—the latter two were recommended to me for baking—and then we headed home.

So far I’ve baked two apple pies with streusel topping, a pear crisp, and some apple muffins. The macintosh are for eating straight and are crunchy and tart the way I remember from apple picking in Massachusetts.

Apple season is brief and can vary slightly depending on the weather, but when you get that vague sense that autumn is in the air, the apples are at their best. So whether it’s Julian or Oak Glen, please go and enjoy some California apples. You can even pick your own.

Notes:

The simplest directions to Oak Glen: take 10 E. to Oak Glen Rd. exit, drive into the hills
General information: www.oakglen.net
Snowline Orchards: 39400 Oak Glen Road Yucaipa, CA 92399, (909) 797-3415 snow-line.com, apples about $7 per big bag (call for availability)
Oak Glen School House Museum, 11911 S Oak Glen Rd., phone: 909-797-1691, open Sunday (except in Dec. or rainy days), admission free (donations welcome)
The Wildlands Conservancy at Los Rios Rancho, 39611 Oak Glen Rd., open Sunday 9am-4:30pm, admission free.

Is the Monterey Bay Aquarium really the best aquarium? It’s nearly a six hour drive from Los Angeles to find out, so one really has to wonder, considering that the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is right down the road, if driving to another aquarium is worth an overnight trip. The question you have to ask yourself is: How much do I like fish?

Now that I think about it, most of the creatures we’re interested in seeing at the aquarium are not actually fish. We really enjoy all of the extraordinary creatures at any aquarium. It is amazing to observe the diversity of Creation.

The funny thing is, when we arrived in Monterey, everyone, even people at the aquarium, told us we had to do the “17 Mile Drive.” We did, but first things first.
Monterey is a quaint, ocean side town which has a lot of cute shops in the downtown area and along legendary Cannery Row. There is a wide variety of lodging available including hotels and motels, cottages with full kitchens (which is what we stayed in) and Victorian inns along Lighthouse Ave. While we visited during the off season, it was clear that Monterey really blossoms in the summer with bike and kayak rentals and the beach crowd—but for those of us who like to take a walk in sweater weather, winter is just right.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium, situated at one end of Cannery Row, is the San Diego Zoo of marine life. There are many different environments to feature the various fish and aquatic creatures on display, including a lively otter tank and a rocky shore with simulated waves crashing over it. A glass dome makes it possible to stand under the crashing waves, and this is so entertaining it’s hard to pry everyone away to see the rest of the aquarium. Near the entrance to the aquarium are electronic information boards listing the feeding times for some of the major exhibits including the giant kelp forest and the penguins. All the “feeding shows” are made informative by knowledgeable guides who share facts about the animals and take questions from the moderately sized audiences. One interesting item we learned about the penguin exhibit is that some of the penguins are actually guests from an aquarium in New Orleans, which was evacuated due to hurricane Katrina.

What’s particularly impressive about the Monterey Aquarium is the excellent condition everything is in, including interactive areas for small children. Virtually everything is in pristine, working order and the atmosphere is open and comfortable.

For those who like to pet the tiny sea creatures there are touch tanks with starfish, rays, anemones and crabs. Other favorite exhibits were the orange octopus, which happened to be clinging to the glass so we could get a good look at him, and the strange giant swimming pancake called the sunfish. Perhaps the most unusual exhibit is “Jellies: Living Art.” With lighting, frames and mirrors, a variety of jellyfish are displayed, just being themselves, but with all kinds of artistic enhancements to their surroundings to showcase their curious beauty. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

Having been to the Boston aquarium, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and the Long Beach aquarium, I think the Monterey Aquarium is the best for overall appeal. While Monterey doesn’t have any of the large mammals i.e., dolphins and sea lions, as some of the other aquariums do, Monterey successfully displays the fish and animals it does have in a clean and contemporary setting.

After seeing everything we could at the aquarium, we headed out to the 17 Mile Drive, hoping to take the tour before sunset. We stopped for directions twice before finding the entrance, paid the $8 to drive down the private road through sparkling green forests, enormous estates, and the Pebble Beach golf course to stop at several different lookout points along the ocean shore. Fortunately, we had binoculars with us to have a better look at the wildlife, and a camera to capture one beautiful image after the next. What sounded like kind of a nap—“17 Mile Drive—zzzzz….” turned out to be a very memorable part of the trip.

It seems like an obvious travel tip, but it bears repeating: ask the locals what sights are worth visiting. Ask the other tourists, too. One of the families we spoke to at the aquarium was from our community right here in LA. They also recommended the 17 Mile drive. Thanks for the tip.

Notes:
Monterey Bay Aquarium, 886 Cannery Row, Monterey, California 93940,
phone: 831-548-4888, http://www.mbayaq.org/vi/ admission: Adult $21.95, Senior (65+) $19.95, Student (13 thru 17 or college ID) $19.95, Child (3 thru 12) $12.95, Child (Under 3) Free, Disabled $12.95

17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, CA 93953 car entry: $8.