 Nudity is allowed from the parking lot to the beach A nude beach in Santa Cruz seems fitting, given the area's tolerant, bohemian lifestyle. Just six miles north of the city, the private Red, White and Blue Beach has been the choice of Bay area naturists for more than 30 years. And, because the area is privately owned, visitors are welcome to cook, play and even park their cars in the buff. Recreation options at Red, White and Blue Beach include volleyball, whale watching (in the spring) and overnight camping.
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 In the 1930s and 1940s Catalina, just 22 miles from Los Angeles, was a romantic getaway for couples who ferried to Avalon for an evening of dancing to big bands in the harborside Art-Deco Grand Casino Ballroom. And by Southern California standards, remarkably little has changed since then. Today's ferries are faster, but the small village of Avalon, surrounded by an amphitheater-like backdrop of steep hills, has never outgrown its charm. There are still the tight clusters of quaint old cottages on the handful of streets; the beachfront shops and restaurants; and the landmark Chimes Tower, ...
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 Mexico In 1940, author John Steinbeck and his marine biologist friend, Ed Ricketts, journeyed into the seldom-visited Gulf of California to begin a Baja collecting expedition that was later immortalized in the book The Log from the Sea of Cortez. And what makes Baja’s many islands magical is that now, six decades after Steinbeck’s visit, they remain virtually unchanged.
Which is why these remote, mostly uninhabited islands have become a prime destination for adventurous travelers looking for that rare combination of desert and blue sea.
Not all of isles bordering the 800-mile-long peninsula a...
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