Out with the Old, In with the New Year

Stay safe, and when the storms have passed and it's okay to travel, venture out to these three places where you can get your fill of art, culture, park space, and botanicals, with nearby shelter as backup.

Week: 01.11.2023
Regions: Southern CA

Good Will Huntington

Visit the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in Pasedena

Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens
Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in Pasadena
Trying to get your fill of art and culture can be tricky. Do you visit the science center, an art museum, or some botanical gardens? Visit all three at Huntington Library, a sprawling Pasadena-area estate that includes 120 acres of botanical beauty ranging from jungle to desert to Japanese and Chinese gardens with bridges, patios, and waterfalls.
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Grand Central Circuit

Urban Hike With Art and Food Highlights in Los Angeles

Urban art and food hike in Los Angeles
Go on a 2.5-mile urban hike in Los Angeles that has it all: the beautiful Aoyama Tree, amazing murals, the Angels Flight funicular, and a stop at LA's vibrant food arcade, Grand Central Market.
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Pierce Scribes

Pay Your Repsects to Literary Greats in a tiny LA Memorial Park

Los Angeles Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park
A writer’s words can last forever, but where do the writers themselves go to be immortalized? LA’s Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park is the final resting spot for many great authors (and movie stars). A stroll around the hidden 2.5-acre park lets you pay your respects to lit greats.
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Trending Stories NorCal

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  1. Can't Top This

    San Francisco’s Presidio was already a fantastic place to hang out for the afternoon, a beautiful site within the largest urban national park in the United States (the Golden Gate National Recreation Area). And Presidio Tunnel Tops is like a cherry on top. Make that two cherries on top, with the newly opened (July 2025) Outpost Meadow, a 1.5-acre green space located at Old Mason Street across from the Crissy Field Marsh in the Presidio.

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  2. This Is Paradise

    Granite mountain-scape, superb sunset views, crystal lakes, and shoreline campsites … the trip to Paradise Lake in Tahoe National Forest lives up to its idyllic name.

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  3. Aloha from California

    Say Aloha without leaving California with a 7-mile out-and-back hiking adventure to Lake Aloha in El Dorado National Forest. You can also camp here, a premier place for stargazing.

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  4. Sequoia Re-opens Crystal Cave

    Step inside Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park's hidden world by visiting the newly re-opened Crystal Cave—the only cave in the parks open to the public. Closed for four years, this rare marble karst cavern is welcoming visitors once again, but only through the summer season!

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Trending Stories SoCal

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  1. Hot As (Bumpass) Hell

    So you like going to all the hot spots when you visit places? Well, in Lassen Volcanic National Park there’s a place so hot it gets downright steamy. Bumpass Hell is the largest hydrothermal area in the park, with sputtering mud pots, sulfur vents, and boiling pools. It’s California’s Yellowstone. But it only opens in summer through fall.

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  2. Underground Garden

    Looking to escape the summer heat? Head to Fresno and discover its cool secret: the Forestiere Underground Gardens–an enchanting garden and architecture oasis like no other.

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  3. Oh Ryan

    Sure, it’s those whimsical trees that give Joshua Tree National Park its marquee billing; but this beautiful landscape also has surrounding mountains and its night sky—one of the darkest in Southern California and designated an International Dark Sky Park. Joshua Tree has four allowable stargazing parking lots, and a newly opened haven for spending the night nearby...

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  4. Easiest Best Hike in the World

    Choose the easiest and most view-rewarding hike in Yosemite. Okay, we’ll go first: the combination of hiking to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point. Both of these lookouts are within a couple miles of each other on Glacier Point Road

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