Just a few minutes’ drive from Park City’s Main Street, the 8,500-foot elevation at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Deer Valley puts you at eye level with mountaintops and ski lifts. Dark woods and a Scandinavian design add to the remote mountain lodge feel, and the rooms here are luxurious—several come with a hot tub on their own private balcony. In the off-season, the resort has easy access to several mountain biking and hiking trails, and relaxation options abound when you return. Lounge at one of two outdoor pools, get a treatment at the 23,000-square-foot spa with Vichy showers, or play the world’s largest Pac-Man game while enjoying a cocktail in the game room. The resort is reopening on July 1.
Stein Eriksen Lodge
A few slopes west, Montage Deer Valley is another luxurious home away from home with five restaurants on-site, complimentary car service to Park City, and a mountain bike valet. If you come back in the winter months, they have an exclusive Veuve Clicquot après-ski yurt. The resort is reopening on July 1.
Currently under construction is the billion-dollar Mayflower Mountain Resort and development, which will have residences and the world’s largest ski beach when it’s complete.
The Veuve Clicquot yurt at Montage Deer Valley
Eat
Although Park City is small, the variety in the dining scene is as impressive as the number of celebrities who visit regularly: high-end sushi, gourmet Mexican, vegan, hip cafés—it’s all here, but be sure to visit one of the classic eateries during your stay.
Start off with a “Goblet of Fire” cinnamon-spiced tea latte or frozen hot chocolate at Atticus Coffee & Teahouse, then browse the collection of used books and quirky literary gifts (they’re open for takeout and outdoor dining). Don’t let Twisted Fern’s strip-mall location on Snow Creek Drive fool you. Inside is a sleek and modern temple to Utah’s produce, fresh fish, and locally raised meats, which chef-owner Adam Ross presents in dishes like a hash with trout fillet, chicken-fried portobello mushrooms, and elk sirloin with cacao glaze. The restaurant is open for dine-in and curbside pick-up Tuesday through Saturday.
A cocktail at High West Distillery
Marc Piscotty
Whiskey fans won’t want to miss tasting the American Prairie Bourbon and line of ryes at High West Distillery & Saloon. Get a flight of their four flagship spirits and pair it with a charcuterie board, bowl of chili, or the popular extra-large pretzels with beer cheese. They have reopened for dine-in only.
For a white-tablecloth dinner, Glitretind Restaurant at Stein Eriksen Lodge has a small-plates menu with several elegant dishes, like roasted quail salad, duck confit beignets, and ahi chowder, and mains of wild game and fish. The wine list is nearly 90 pages long—the restaurant houses 15,000 different wines in its cellar, the largest collection in Utah.
Views from the chair lift
Do
In Deer Valley, take one of three chairlifts to access miles of mountain biking trails, four of which were designed by Gravity Logic, the company that built the famous trails at Whistler Mountain Bike Park.
If you want something a little less intense, ride the Silver Lake Express lift to access the hike up Bald Mountain, which will give you the elevation gain (to almost 12,000 feet after less than two miles) and a clear view of the surrounding Uinta Mountains and alpine lakes that dot the forest below. Or, you can take the Sterling Express lift straight to the top and then hike down to mid-mountain.
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in the April 2020 issue and was sent to press before the mandatory stay-at-home order. The story has been updated to reflect the most current information. Snow Park Amphitheater in Deer Valley is closed, and the Deer Valley Concert Series has been canceled. The Park Silly Sunday Market has been postponed until next summer; several of the market’s vendors are selling their goods online at parksillysundaymarket.com.
From artsy, boutique hotels in New Mexico to a revolutionary restaurant in Baja, explore what’s new in these desert cities around San Diego.
Coachella Valley
Terra Palm Springs, Palm Springs
Serenity-seeking guests (and, presumably, the free-spirited ghosts of naked people) roam this 13-room wellness escape that was once a clothing-optional resort. Opened a year ago, it offers exclusive, 24-hour access to a Himalayan salt sauna, cold plunge pool, and rain room. For food and drink, it’s tonics and juice cleanses, plus poolside bites from Michael Beckman, exec chef of the nearby Workshop Kitchen + Bar.
Casa Palma Hotel & Bungalows, Palm Springs
Opened last year on the historic, two-acre Movie Colony neighborhood property originally built by actor Errol Flynn (it was called the Normandy then), this is a micro-hotel for people who love Taschen books. Casa Palma reimagined the place as a minimalist, veneers-white 33-room escape with pickleball; tennis; and a mountain view bistro serving breakfast, salads, and sandwiches.
“Surfing in the desert” sounds like an absurd ayahuasca notion, but the Coachella Valley already has one wave pool (Palm Springs Surf Club), and, soon, a 5.5-acre surf lagoon will anchor DSRT Surf, an incoming resort at the Desert Willow Golf Courses. Planned for completion in mid-2026, it’ll include a 139-room hotel, 57 luxury villas, and restaurants.
Photo Credit: Patrick Chin
New Mexico
Hotel Willa, Taos
Last spring, the Casetta Group (the same folks who own SD’s Pearl Hotel) resuscitated an old motor lodge in Taos, a longtime beacon for creatives, and named it after Willa Cather (who finished her novel Death Comes to the Archbishop in town). The 51-room Hotel Willa has adobe architecture, an artist residency, a pool with a giant weeping willow nearby, and a seasonal restaurant from husband-and-wife duo chef Johnny Ortiz Concha and artist Maida Branch.
Arrive Albuquerque, Albuquerque
Originally built in 1965 as the Downtowner, a classic, six-story inn on the motel-culture strip of Route 66 in downtown Albuquerque cycled through several identities before last year, when Palisociety reimagined it with the Secret Gallery (featuring modern work from Southwest artists), a cocktail bar, a restaurant, and 137 dog-friendly rooms. Like any good desert road trip hotel, Arrive Albuquerque hotel is a cheeky, midcentury affair centered around an umbrella-shaded pool scene and those strappy ’80s patio loungers.
Courtesy of Leo’s Santa Fe
Leo’s, Santa Fe
After forming Vital Spaces, an org that leased abandoned warehouses and rented them at a low cost to artists, furniture designer Jonathan Boyd launched Leo’s, a no-signage, no-reservations restaurant last August with James Beard Award–winning chef Zakary Pelaccio. It focuses on Thai and Malaysian dishes—catfish sum tum, pork belly with garlic prik phao, fried chicken with tofu-mustard sauce and jiao chili sauce—plus natural wines and inventive cocktails. It promptly landed on Esquire’s Best New Restaurants of 2025.
Arizona
Trailborn Grand Canyon, Williams
Trailborn is the base camp of hotel groups. It’s focused on America’s grand outdoorsy arenas, with spots in the Rockies; the Blue Ridge Mountains; and now, Williams, a mile from the Grand Canyon Railroad Depot. This kitchy, 96-room roadside hotel offers a moody, wood-paneled steakhouse; adventure excursions; free breakfast inside a bustling “camp hall;” and front-row access to the fanfare of Route 66’s centennial celebration this year.
Early this year, Paradise Valley (the mountain-wrapped town neighboring Scottsdale) will welcome the 40-acre Kimpton Miralina, with six pools; more than 400 rooms and villas; and three restaurants, including Hecho Libre, a new Baja-inspired concept from fellow Beard semifinalist Wes Avila (known for Angry Egret Dinette and MXO in Los Angeles).
International Dark Sky Discovery Center, Fountain Hills
As cities grow and stargazing becomes an endangered pastime, an org called International Dark Sky Places works to protect the best areas in the world to behold night skies. One of them is Fountain Hills on the outskirts of Phoenix. This summer, it’ll get even better with a $28 million discovery center featuring a massive telescope, a planetarium, science exhibits, and a stargazing terrace.
Courtesy of Cote Korean Steakhouse
Nevada
Cote Korean Steakhouse, Las Vegas
Cote is the only Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse in the US, an idea from Seoul-born and James Beard nominated chef and restaurateur Simon Kim. Part of The Venetian’s $1.5 billion renovation, it’s a show—18,000 square feet, with stadium seating, VIP skyboxes, a crow’s nest DJ booth, a glowing central bar, 1,200 wine bottles, and the inimitable buzz of energetic impulse spending.
F1 Arcade, Las Vegas
2025 was a big year for Formula 1 racing—the sport celebrated 75 years with a Brad Pitt film (for which Rancho Bernardo–based Sony Electronics created a one-of-a-kind camera that took viewers inside the cockpit), and Caesars Palace welcomed a 21,000-square-foot F1 Arcade where fans can flex their inner Lando Norris with 87 racing simulators.
GSR Arena, Reno
When built in the 1970s as the MGM Grand, the Grand Sierra Resort was one of the biggest hotels in the world with over 1,000 rooms. Almost 50 years later, it’s nearly doubled its occupancy and is undergoing a billion dollar upgrade. The star will be the $435 million, 10,000-seat GSR Arena, which broke ground in September. Once completed (hopefully in fall 2027), it’ll be home to the University of Nevada men’s basketball team.
Courtesy of Dendric Estate
Utah
Dendric Estate, Kamas
Utah’s High West Distillery was a groundbreaker, the first legal distillery in Utah when it opened in 2006. Now High West’s master distiller Brendan Coyle has left to open his dream project with his wife, Carly. They purchased 20 acres in Kamas Valley at the foothills of the Uinta mountain range, where they’re growing high elevation apples and flipping them into bone-dry boozy cider with Dendric Estate. You can tour the estate or wait for the onsite tasting room, planned for 2027.
The Inn at Sundance Mountain Resort, Sundance
In 2020, Robert Redford sold his famed, conservationist-minded mountain ski resort to Broadreach Capital Partners and Cedar Capital Partners, who promised to keep his “build some, preserve more” vision going. Since, it’s earned a Michelin Key. This month, The Inn at Sundance Mountain Resort—a 63-room, ski-in/ski-out inn—opens with views of the 12,000-foot Mount Timpanagos. Perched right out front, the Outlaw Express chair lift takes you to the Mandan summit in seven minutes (getting there used to take 20). There’s a wrap-around porch, relaxation pools, a sauna, outdoor showers, and a cold plunge at The Springs.
Canopy by Hilton Deer Valley East Village, Park City
Four years after hosting the Winter Olympics, famed ski-only resort Deer Valley is undergoing a massive expansion of its East Village, including eight new hotels (the Grand Hyatt is already there, and the Four Seasons and others are incoming). Scheduled to open this summer, Canopy will be Hilton’s 180-room, ski-in/ ski-out property with après-ski and rooftop lounges. Deer Valley has also added 2,000 additional acres of skiable slopes, 100 new runs, and 10 new chairlifts.
Baja
Diego, Valle de Guadalupe
In the 2010s, Ensenada-born chef Diego Hernández was a headliner in the food-culture revolution in Valle de Guadalupe with Corazón de Tierra—named number 30 in the 2018 “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list. It closed in 2020 (damn pandemic!). Last January, he returned with an eponymous 40-seat restaurant, Diego, inside Valle’s Museo de La Vid y El Vino, relying on onsite gardens and in-house butchery to prepare seasonal, multi-course tasting menus and à la carte dishes nodding to his Corazón roots.
Kadún, Cabo San Lucas
Over the years, the trend in Cabo resorts has been to get away from the action with secluded beachfront hideouts. Well, not all who travel to Cabo want to be tucked away. Last October, Mexico Grand Hotels (known for elaborate luxury resorts like Marina Fiesta and El Encanto) opened a smaller but still opulent thing: Kadún, a 110-room hotel with a rooftop pool and sundeck. It’s within walking distance to the Cabo Marina (the Vegas of Baja’s southern tip) and Medano Beach (one of the only swimmable beaches in Cabo).
Courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line
Ensenada Bay Village, Ensenada
Carnival Cruise Line has a vested interest in building up the ports it parks in. It’s established spots in Grand Turk, Roatan, and Cozumel, and its next elaborate disembarkment project is a $26 million beachside playground in Ensenada, planned for completion in 2027. Expect a sort of Pinocchio’s Island isthmus packed with zip lines, dune buggy rides, river rides, an adult pool, thermal springs, a spa, and wine and cheese pairings from Valle de Guadalupe (the wine region is 15 minutes inland).
Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.
Amelia Rodriguez is a writer and journalist and winner of the San Diego Press Club's 2023 Rising Star Award and 2024 Best of Show Award, she’s also covered music, food, arts and culture, fashion, and design for Rolling Stone, Palm Springs Life, and other national and regional publications. After work, you can find her hunting down San Diego’s best pastries and maintaining her five-year Duolingo streak.
An ice climber scales Provo Canyon’s Stairway to Heaven section outside of Provo, Utah
Visit Utah
Right now, Provo is probably a sweltering 90 degrees, typical for August and not the kind of Fahrenheit cities boast about on Instagram. But travel is a planner’s game, and for fall getaways, Allegiant Airlines has a new direct route from San Diego to Provo—a first for each city. There are already flights from SAN to Salt Lake City, but this one brings San Diegans straight to its sister city 45 minutes down the road, best-known for hiking, a thriving craft soda scene, and Brigham Young University.
Visitors who stay in town are treated to an almost comical bevy of natural wonders. The subterranean alterna-verse that is Timpanogos Cave National Monument connects three cave systems, twisting and turning underneath a 12,000-foot peak by the same name. It’s the second-tallest in the Wasatch mountain range east of Provo. Provo Canyon features some of the state’s best ice climbing during winter months, like the aptly named Stairway to Heaven section. A thousand feet of vertical rock covered in ice serves as a tangible reminder of gravity as climbers inch ever closer to the sky kingdom.
As for other mountaineering activities, they make wall posters and entire movies about the skiing in Provo. With 450 acres of groomed terrain winding below Mt. Timpanogos, Sundance is just 12 miles outside town, as are many other world-class mountains and resorts. There’s plenty of hiking, whether the moderate and popular Y Mountain (which gives a sprawling birdseye-view of Utah Valley and the BYU campus) or Provo Peak via the Slide Canyon trail in Uinta National Forest a bit further.
After an active day, it’s possible to find a stiff drink at restaurants like Black Sheep Cafe, as well as dives like City Limits Tavern, but Provo’s a dream for the sober-curious crowd and sugar fixers. An estimated 80-90 percent of the population is Mormon (who don’t typically drink much alcohol), so Provo is peppered with noncaffeinated soda joints serving a rainbow of flavored options. Try local chain Sodalicious, Station 22, which boasts an entire wall devoted to tonics from across the globe, or The Wash, which is open late and serves creative diner food like mochi waffles and loaded fries plus a full menu of specialty booze-free sodas, floats, and sugary concoctions.
For those looking to use Provo as a base camp for wilderness exploration, this direct flight gets San Diegans even closer to Utah’s outdoor action. Provo is further south than SLC, delivering adventurers to the state’s famous desert shrines, like Goblin Valley National Park and Arches National Park, which are both a few hours’ drive from Provo’s airport.
Jackie is a long-time freelance journalist covering cannabis, food/restaurants, travel, labor, wine, spirits, arts & culture, design, and other topics. Her work has been selected twice for Best American Travel Writing, and she has won a variety of national and local awards for her writing and reporting.
Everyone has their go-to ski destination. Here's what's new on the mountains of California, Utah, and Colorado. Mother Nature, bring on the snow.
Snowboarder at Kirkwood
Kirkwood
California
Take flight! Skip the six-hour drive to Mammoth and book a quick 90-minute plane ride instead. The seasonal Alaska Airlines flight to the popular ski destination kicks off December 19 and runs through April 13. With evening flights Monday–Sunday and morning flights on Saturday, it makes taking that last run down the mountain as easy as the bunny slopes. alaskaair.com
Mammoth Mountain is always swarming with cool kids, but this season it may have some competition with the reopening of June Mountain on December 13. Mammoth’s neighboring resort, with a summit of 10,090 feet and 35 trails, of which 35 percent are considered beginner, is offering free lift tickets to kids 12 and under all season long. junemountain.com
January is National Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month. First-timers aged eight and up visiting Snow Summit and Bear Mountain can get free rentals throughout the month (except January 1–5 and 18–20) when you buy a lesson online, starting at $70. For advanced riders, the Red Bull Plaza at Bear Mountain has SoCal’s only superpipe, and was ranked No. 3 out of the U.S.’s top parks by TransWorld SNOWBoarding. In town at Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Lake Brewing opens this month.
Utah
Snowbird is installing Utah’s only new chairlift, a detachable quad that’ll reduce ride times by 50 percent. Also being cut in half are lift ticket prices at Snowbird and Alta for the day of arrival at Salt Lake International Airport (pre-register at alta.com or snowbird.com).
Brighton Resort will open a girls-only terrain park, with design help from free-skier Grete Eliassen, Burton, and Red Bull.
Watch the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup, taking place at Deer Valley Resort (January 8–11) and the U.S. Grand Prix at Park City Mountain Resort (January 17–19).
Learn skating techniques at the official training ground of winter Olympians in Park City. The Waldorf Astoria Park City offers private ice-skating and speed-skating lessons with a U.S. national speed-skating team member. South Korea 2018, anyone? parkcitywaldorfastoria.com
For an après-ski cocktail in a cozy setting, head to Park City’s Washington School House. The former school turned luxury boutique hotel is très chic. washingtonschoolhouse.com
Colorado
Kimpton’s Sky Hotel in Aspen finished its facelift—’70s ski-lodge chic—just in time for this ski season. With refreshed rooms, a newly designed outdoor area complete with a 24-hour heated pool, and the revamped restaurant and lounge called 39 Degrees, the Sky Hotel is primed for a wintery vacay. Plus, it’s steps from Aspen Mountain’s challenging and picturesque landscape. theskyhotel.com
With six top spots to hit the slaopes in Colorado, picking just one mountain to master can be difficult. Opt for The Epic Pass instead and gain unlimited, unrestricted skiing and riding all season long at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and Eldora in Colorado. The Epic Pass is also accepted at Canyons in Park City, Utah; Heavenly, Northstar, and Kirkwood in Tahoe, California; Afton Alps in Minnesota, and Mt. Brighton in Michigan. Plus, Epic Pass holders receive five free days at Verbier, Switzerland, and five free days at Arlberg, Austria. Epic Pass is $689 for adults and $359 for children ages 5–12. epicpass.com
Stake Chophouse & Bar isn’t your average steakhouse. Blue Bridge Hospitality’s Coronado outpost is a modern interpretation of a big-city steakhouse nestled in the heart of the small coastal community. The team at Stake has reimagined the whole steakhouse experience. By prioritizing a seasonal farm-to-table sourcing philosophy, a personalized guest experience, and unique service touches, like a formal steak presentation and a bespoke knife selection process, Stake distinguishes itself in a sea of steakhouses.
Exceptional steaks, including Wagyu from Japan, Australia, and the U.S., and fresh seafood flown in daily form the core of Stake’s culinary identity. The menu features a five-course omakase-style steak experience highlighting house favorites, plus an array of cuts, and classic steakhouse staples—think a wedge salad, baked potato, or pasta carbonara—refined for a contemporary palate without losing their traditional appeal. Stake focuses on seasonal sourcing from the region’s best family farms and specialty purveyors, and incorporates intentionally unexpected touches to create something truly unique.
“I challenge our chefs and myself to take it a step further in sourcing,” says Chef Ronnie Schwandt. “It’s important to us to highlight different farms, unique one-off farms—whether it’s cattle, strawberries, a local fisherman or from anywhere in the United States, we’re always trying to find that niche.”
Beyond the menu, Stake emphasizes outstanding service, says Vinny Spatafore, Director of Hospitality Operations. Staff maintains detailed notes, allowing them to remember guests by name, recall previous orders such as a favorite martini (also memorable for the customer since it’s served in an extra tall, distinctly-shaped glass), and celebrate special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.
“When you have those points of topic that you remember about a guest, they appreciate that,” he says. “Our servers are really good with that—we have a couple servers who have been here since the beginning and they’ll remember somebody from years ago, their name, their kids’ names, where they live. I’m really thankful to have a great front of house staff.”
Award-winning wines, rare whiskeys, special events, and a complementary black car service that provides transportation for guests throughout Coronado add to Stake’s appeal.
Schwandt stresses that Stake offers more than a meal; they aim to give patrons something unforgettable.
“It starts when you walk up the stairs and are greeted by the hostess—that sets the tone for the night. Then you’re greeted by a server, who may know you by name, and can guide you through the menu and curate as they get to know you,” says Schwandt. “Most people leave kind of blown away; they leave feeling like they just had an experience. That’s the goal, right? Whether you’re serving smash burgers or high-end steak, you want somebody to leave thinking, Wow, that was awesome.”
When three nations and 16 cities come together to host the FIFA World Cup 2026, the scale stops feeling like a tournament and starts feeling like geography. A continent becomes the stage as borders soften into corridors. And Southern California—shaped by migration, sport, entertainment, and constant movement—sits inside that landscape with all eyes on it.
San Diego and Los Angeles have always felt connected. Hop on the Pacific Surfliner, and the trip unfolds in one continuous stretch of coastline, passing beach towns, neighborhoods, and city centers.
Traveling from San Diego, everything still feels slightly suspended as the Pacific Surfliner follows the coast north with ocean on one side and a slow suburban blur on the other. San Diego stays in exhale. Los Angeles is already building toward something louder.
This summer, Los Angeles will host eight matches of the FIFA World Cup at Los Angeles Stadium, including the US Men’s National Team opener on June 11, while the region stretches into 39 days of programming across stadiums, parks, transit hubs, beaches, and neighborhoods. Instead of one massive fan hub, Los Angeles is embracing a citywide celebration, with fan zones spread across its entirety.
But this pattern has been rehearsed here for decades. In 1994, Southern California became one of the defining stages of the World Cup, when matches at the Rose Bowl placed global attention on the region and turned local stadiums into international landmarks, confirming its ability to hold the world at scale.
What distinguishes Southern California is not just infrastructure, but cultural permeability. Fashion, music, film, art, and sport constantly overlap here, creating an environment where identity is flexible and always in motion. From the Venice boardwalk, where skate culture shaped modern street style, to global soccer stars rubbing shoulders with Hollywood celebs, to authentic Spanish cuisine moving up and down the I-5 corridor, everything circulates.
The World Cup is not introducing anything new here, it’s showing up for the summer and showing out, revealing what this city has always known about itself. What follows is a look at the fan zones and how Los Angeles turns itself into a city-wide stage for the tournament, one neighborhood at a time.
Courtesy of Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board
Los Angeles Union Station
As the heart of Los Angeles, Union Station is an official Fan Zone June 25-28 during the World Cup, but in practice it never really stops being one.
It is the city’s circulation point, its meeting ground, its pressure valve. Commuters, travelers, match-day crowds, and everyday Angelenos all move through the same space, and everything mixes, overlaps, and scales in real time. In a way, this is where the World Cup stops arriving in Los Angeles and starts moving through it.
The Pacific Surfliner from San Diego to Los Angeles makes that shift feel almost too easy. No stress or gridlock anxiety, just a straight line up the coastline with ocean on one side and everything slowly becoming more built on the other. It’s one of the rare ways into LA that doesn’t feel like arrival as friction. You can sit with a laptop, watch the Pacific drift past, grab coffee from the café car, and let the city come to you in pieces.
That’s the beauty of arriving at Union Station. Instead of feeling like you’re on the edge of the city, you’re immediately surrounded by it. And, inside, the station already reads like a World Cup nerve center: banners, movement, multilingual energy, the sense that something global is about to funnel through this exact point. The Heart of the City Fan Zone only sharpens that feeling, with simultaneous match screens, DJ sets, meet and greets, and immersive activations built around marquee games like USA vs. Türkiye.
ROW DTLA feels like the first exhale after arrival. A converted industrial campus turned creative district where restaurants, retail, and open-air courtyards form a self-contained ecosystem. If you’re looking for the perfect first meal in LA, make it lunch at Pizzeria Bianco. The thin-crust pizza is reason enough to go, but the space leaves just as much of an impression.
What I liked most about ROW DTLA is how quickly it resets you after the train. One minute you are stepping off at Union Station, and the next you are in a space that feels like its own version of LA, a city inside a city with some of the most curated shopping I’ve ever seen.
Bodega hides itself behind a convenience-store front, a sneaker and streetwear space disguised as something ordinary, like LA refusing to make anything feel too obvious. The whole campus moves like that, part retail, part gallery, part neighborhood you are only temporarily inside.
Isabella Dallas is a freelance writer for San Diego Magazine and the Arts and Culture Editor at The Daily Aztec in her final year at San Diego State University. She previously worked as an editorial intern for SDM, but when she’s not writing, you can find her trying the best coffee spots in SD, devouring the latest rom-coms, and indulging in anything and everything pop culture.
Mad Libs. License plate bingo. The “quiet game,” a universal parent savior. Long live Slug Bug, where kids with zero self-control punched each other in the arm every time they saw a VW Bug in the wild—an activity no doubt invented by some Volkswagen marketing intern who now quietly runs the world. A family that cruises together bruises together.
So many threats to pull the car over and leave unruly progeny on the side road for good. GenXers are such baddies because our parents actually followed through. But we tracked those boomers down—or just walked into the wilderness and formed angsty flannel bands. We survived.
There were no downloaded movies back then. No seatback entertainment. Just a mythical road, a few bug-gutty windows, and the fast-moving summer world beyond. Seatbelts ignored, hot air whipping a frenzy of hair and beef-stick child scent.
Very few chaoses match being trapped in a moving car with your entire bloodline. It’s unimaginable, but we kinda liked it.
The road trip was always about endurance, discovery, adventure, creativity, and memory. Somewhere between gas station hot dogs, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and musty motels with coin-operated vibrating beds—the bored between moments of mutual expedition sealed our love of the long distance car ride.
To respark road lust, we’ve put together a coastal California run up the 101 and Highway 1. The state’s famed road trip siblings, with ocean on one side and possibility in every direction. We analyzed what’s incoming, just-arrived, compelling, or a classic in need of a reminder in almost every county along the way—the kind of places we’d drag our family (or dog or best friend) to.
We start our trip just outside San Diego County lines and work our way through San Francisco. Because, by then, it’s time to turn the car around and do it all again.
The road is still the main character.
Photo Credit: @Tanveerbadal
Laguna Beach
A 90-minute drive from downtown San Diego, Laguna Beach is home to serene coves, big-deal art events, miles of hiking trails, and the greatest number of beachfront hotels in California. Among the latter is the newly revamped icon, Surf & Sand Laguna Beach. Along with tweaks to the guestrooms, pool, and onsite Splashes restaurant, the remodel includes a new spa, Aquaterra. Wake up to ocean views, then get outside: Go tide pooling at Shaw’s Cove, or descend to Thousand Steps Beach and spend the day stretched out with a salacious summer read. For dinner, get fancy at the upscale (no swimwear allowed!) Studio Mediterranean at the Montage Laguna Beach hotel. Led by Greek chef Dennis Efthymiou, it serves feta-, phyllo-, and fish-forward cuisine inspired by his heritage.
Newport Beach
Head another 15 minutes up the road to Newport, an unlikely destination for adrenaline junkies both relatively tame (family-friendly thrill rides at the Balboa Fun Zone amusement park) and willing to risk life and limb (30-foot waves at the Wedge surf break). It’s also increasingly a killer place to eat, with Luke’s, of international Maine-lobster-roll fame, having recently opened locations in town. James Beard Award winner Tyson Cole just opened his sleek omakase and sushi restaurant Uchi this year. Once you’re stuffed, lay your head at Bay Shores Peninsula Hotel, a midcentury-inspired, 25-room boutique resort overlooking the sea. Watch the waves from beside the hotel’s rooftop fire pits, or paddle out on surfboards provided free for guests.
Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach has been an icon of California surf culture since the 1910s thanks to Hawaiian Olympic swimmer Duke Kahanamoku. Surfers still chase waves near his old haunts, including the Huntington Beach Pier, where the aptly named Huntington’s on the Pier is scheduled to arrive this fall in the location of the old Ruby’s Diner (RIP, Ruby). It’ll serve seafood, obviously, plus livestreamed videos of groms wiping out just a few feet away. Sports here don’t always require wetsuits: Mini-golf bar Playground is equipped with the obvious, as well as arcade and pinball games. Or bypass physical exertion en masse at the new Holistic Lounge at Hyatt Regency. It’s packed with newfandangled healing tech that uses light, heat, and electromagnetic fields to allegedly repair stressed skin and muscles tired from lifting mojitos.
Amelia Rodriguez is a writer and journalist and winner of the San Diego Press Club's 2023 Rising Star Award and 2024 Best of Show Award, she’s also covered music, food, arts and culture, fashion, and design for Rolling Stone, Palm Springs Life, and other national and regional publications. After work, you can find her hunting down San Diego’s best pastries and maintaining her five-year Duolingo streak.
While glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agents have been used to treat Type 2 diabetes for more than 20 years, their recent emergence as weight-loss wonder drugs marked a new frontier in medicine. But their effectiveness has left some patients wondering what to do once they’ve reached their goal. Stopping the medication could mean regaining some, if not all, of the weight. A Scripps Clinic internal medicine physician recently conducted a small study of whether GLP-1 patients who had reached their goal weight could maintain that weight by taking their regularly prescribed injection every other week instead of weekly. Spoiler alert: 30 of 34 patients did. Read more about the study here and what that may mean as pharmaceutical companies roll out oral GLP-1s.
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