Welcome to OC Weekly’s third annual Summer Travel Guide! This year, we came up with a road-trip theme and attempted to focus on places within driving distance of Orange County. But then we realized that would rule out Catalina, one of the best local getaways in Southern California. And then our maniac theater critic Joel Beers decided he wanted to fly to someplace literally on fire, so suddenly Hawaii’s Big Island became part of the package. In these pages, you will find a plethora of beautiful photographs and well-curated essays by our diverse team of writers. Each story will expertly guide you out of Orange County in every conceivable direction, from desert hideaways and rural retreats to the wineries and gustatory delights of coastal California, from Phoenix and Tuscon to Park City and beyond. Enjoy the read—and then get lost!
CHOOSE YOUR DESTINATION:
• Austin, Texas. By Nate Jackson
• Deep Creek Hot Springs. By Mary Carreon
• Vintage Las Vegas. By Taylor Hamby
• Salinas and Monterey. By Dave Barton
• Phoenix, Arizona. By Matt Coker
• Santa Barbara. By Nick Schou
• Santa Ynez Valley. By Anne Marie Panoringan
• Lake Tahoe. By Matt Coker
• Tucson, Arizona. By Patrice Marsters
• Utah. By Aimee Murillo
• Las Vegas museums. By Aimee Murillo
• Encinitas. By Lisa Black
• Catalina. By Cynthia Rebolledo
• Hawaii. By Joel Beers
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).