Forget the stereotypes, there’s a lot more to California than you think.
Sun, sea, sand … snow? Blame it on the Beach Boys but this wasn’t quite the California I was expecting. Startling whiteness, pine tree branches heavy with snow and that eerie early morning quiet is waiting on the other side of my thick bedroom curtains.
I step out onto the balcony of my Tenaya Lodge room to breathe in the cool crisp air and the thick snow crunches underfoot. Beyond, the peaks of Yosemite are hidden in fog. It’s so postcard perfect, it looks staged.
Many elements of this wintry trip could have come straight out of a brochure. Take the picturesque city of Santa Rosa, a stop on the long drive from San Francisco airport through Sonoma county up to Yosemite National Park. Like much of California, the Spanish influence is unmistakeable, particularly in heritage-protected neighbourhoods, and Railroad Square, the town centre, is filled with charming restaurants and shops.
These Californians know how to live. The chef of Petite Syrah (www.syrahbistro.com) specialises in slow-cooked, seasonal fare and what better way to while away a wintry night than with a wine tasting at Cellars of Sonoma (www.cellarsofsonoma.com), which was set up to showcase boutique local wineries.
These Californians
know how to live.
The road from Santa Rosa to Yosemite winds through rolling Napa countryside. Sprawling estates, like Francis Ford Coppola’s, look down on to vast vineyards. We cross into the next county and stop briefly in Mariposa, a former mining town turned quaint tourist attraction. And then it’s up a steep road through darkening forest to Tenaya Lodge (www.tenayalodge.com).
The warm foyer of this classic all-American lodge has soaring stone ceilings and a fire crackling in the hearth. A quick tour takes in four restaurants, indoor and outdoor pools, an ice-skating rink and Ascent, a sparkling new spa.
The next morning’s unexpected thick snow calls for snow chains before we can enter Yosemite Park (www.yosemitepark.com) by car. We pass the time at the Victorian-style Wawona Hotel, sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows and reading up on its history.
Yosemite Valley’s landmark peaks like El Capitan and Cathedral Rocks, with their dustings of snow, cloud halos and unexpected waterfalls, are breathtaking. White meadows stretch for miles towards soaring pine forests.
In summer, activities such as rafting, hiking and rock climbing are on offer, but it is more majestic in the cold. We stop for lunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel. This luxury hotel seems incongruously placed in the centre of a national park, but it was built in the 1920s to attract rich patrons to the area in the hope of persuading them to support environmental issues. The stone and timber six-storey hotel is appropriately grand.
The only element missing from this all-American trip is a dose of retail therapy. The next day’s long drive heads towards San Jose, and its famous Santana Row, home for everything from Gucci to H&M, Salvatore Ferragamo to Urban Outfitters. After a few hours, I’m content to leave California with heavy luggage and a camera stick full of postcard-perfect pictures.
For information, visit www.visitcalifornia.com
Published in Vogue Australia October 2011
