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2013 TRAVEL GUIDE TO P RE S I DE NT & GRO U P P U B LI S HE R P U B LI S HE R California's Embarrassment of Riches One weekend last October I looked out my window from my perch on San Francisco's Telegraph Hill to see the bay below filled with sails glittering in the sun like confetti. Here and there a ferry slid quietly past while an excursion vessel headed for the Golden Gate to show its guests the fabled bridge up close. The Jeremiah O'Brien, a gray Liberty Ship from World War II, idled in the distance on a rare sailing, waiting for the Blue Angels to appear in the sky. It was one of those weekends when I had to pinch myself. There was so much to do that decisions were hard to come by. It was Fleet Week in San Francisco, the annual celebration of the city's mutual love affair with the U.S. Navy, and the ships were berthed all along the waterfront. The Blue Angels had already practiced for two days and were about to begin two more days of air shows over the water. But that wasn't all the action on the bay. The America's Cup World Series regatta was also underway, a precursor to the America's Cup championship that's scheduled for September. On land, the San Francisco Giants baseball team had a playoff game with the Cincinnati Reds that evening, and the next day the 49ers NFL squad was taking on the Buffalo Bills. If that wasn't enough, the three-day, completely free, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival was blazing away in Golden Gate Park, a beloved annual musical event sponsored by the late financier Warren Hellman. What was I to do with all these choices? The thought reminded me of what we face every day here in California. We have so many options, so many places 6 2 0 13 travel guide to c al ifo r n i a E DI TO R E XE C U TI V E E DI TO R A R T D I R E C TO R WRITERS and activities to visit and pursue that we sometimes forget how lucky we are. We can surf, ski, golf, hike, cycle, stroll, beachcomb, relax, wine and dine almost anywhere. We have some of the grandest landscape in the world (Yosemite, Lake Tahoe), some of the finest cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles), some of the best museums (LA's Getty, SF's MOMA and California Academy of Sciences), some of the most inspired performing arts (SF Opera, LA's Mark Taper Forum) and of course some of the world's finest wines (not to mention the World Series champions two of the last three years!). The list truly goes on and on. Do you want a deserted beach, a theme park for the kids, a romantic urban adventure, an escape to the desert or a mountain peak? In these pages we help you prepare yourself, with profiles of the state's main tourism regions, essays on history, cuisine, museums, theme parks and many other topics, plus nine resource pages with information on hotels, car rental agencies, average temperatures, California Welcome Centers and much more. The only choice you need to make now is to come. Once you're here, deciding what to do will sort itself out, because whatever you choose, you can't go wrong. — L a rry H a b eg g er , Editor C I RC U LATI O N MA N AGE R D I R E C TO R O F F I N A N C E Joseph P. Turkel Joan Ioannou-Fong Larry Habegger Judi Scharf Robin Terra David Armstrong Susan Brady (Resources) Laura Del Rosso Bill Fink John Flinn Don George Marcy Gordon Lenore Greiner Robert Kaufman Maribeth Mellin Jill K. Robinson Jan Rodricks Michael Shapiro Bonnie Smetts Lavinia Spalding Matt Villano Peter Watts Jacqueline Yau Y.J. Zhu Judy Zimola Julia Wall Gloria Mungo A DV E RTI S I NG S A LE S 225 Crossroads Blvd. Suite 323 Carmel, California 93921 TEL: 831-250-6960 FAX: 831-250-6961 E-MAIL: California@ifgmarketing.com californiatravelguide.travel A CCO U N T M A N A G E R S Joan Ioannou-Fong Collier C. Granberry Marshall Rubin Dexter Taylor The Travel Guide to California is published by Globelite Travel Marketing Inc., a leading lifestyle media company and publisher of The Travel Guides to Canada, The Travel Guide to Florida, The Travel Guide to California, and Dreamscapes Travel and Lifestyle Magazine. CO R P O R AT E O F F I C E Globelite Travel Marketing Inc. 3 Bluffwood Drive Toronto, Ontario M2H 3L4 TEL: 416-497-5353, 1-888-700-4464 FAX: 416-497-0871 E-MAIL: tigc@rogers.com californiatravelguide.travel No part of this publication can be reproduced or duplicated without the written permission of Globelite Travel Marketing Inc. The opinions in this magazine are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Globelite Travel Marketing Inc. Publications Mail Agreement 40047932. Contents © copyright 2013 Printed in Canada ISSN 1926-304X (Print) ISSN 1927-7245 (Online)