LA beaches and Alaskan train rides

North America — By Bob Riel on July 21, 2008 at 7:28 am

It’s all too easy sometimes to focus on all of the interesting travel destinations abroad and to miss some of the equally interesting locations in our own country. That point was driven home by two recent travel features in different newspapers.

First, the Boston Globe raved about West Coast beaches in this article. Or, specifically, about Laguna Beach outside of Los Angeles.

Sapphire sky, car windows open, radio blasting top-10 hits from the ’60s. Turning off the freeway from Los Angeles – where the road stretches endless and flat – the hills of Laguna Canyon rise up so green and vibrant I have to take off my sunglasses to see whether the color is real. It is.

Eventually, wildflowers and boulders give way to civilization as houses appear atop sandstone ridges. The air grows cooler and before I can sing another chorus of “California Dreamin’ ” there it is, the great Pacific, wide and muscular and dazzling in the midday sun.

I’m certainly not the first traveler to be seduced by Laguna Beach’s charms. Since the late 1800s this 7-mile stretch of sandy coastline resting below rolling cliffs about 50 miles south of Los Angeles has attracted tourists and travelers, including many artists who made the town their home.

Today, besides the landscape’s raw beauty, and the town’s well-preserved architecture and independent shops, Laguna Beach hosts an arts community that imparts a funky, if upscale, authenticity that’s getting harder to find in a homogenized world.

Then, the Los Angeles Times explored a different region of the country in this story about the wonders of train rides through Alaska.

The Alaska Railroad slices up the middle of the state like a bolt of blue and yellow lightning, into the belly of a place that is camera-ready and bountiful beyond belief.

The rail line begins in the little seaport of Seward, chug-a-lugs up to Anchorage, past Denali National Park and Preserve and finally to Fairbanks, an almost 500-mile jaunt of day trips throughout Alaska’s short, short summer.

Why the train? Because, unless you’re a moose or have moose tendencies, parts of the 49th state are accessible only by rail.

Why the train? Well, does your rental car come with a bartender? Or a fresh-faced young tour guide? The train is also an affordable throwback — comfy, almost clubby, with way more wiggle room than a 737 and none of the flight crew psychosis.