  TIME Pacific Standard Time NEIGHBORING STATES Oregon Nevada Arizona REGION Pacific States Whale Watching in California Each winter California welcomes the return of its official marine mammal, the gray whale, and many California State parks and beaches offer programs and locations for viewing the migrating whales. Many California destinations celebrate with special festivals. • Cabrillo National Monument Whale-Watch Weekend (January) at the end of Point Loma in San Diego. • Birch Aquarium's Whale Adventures (December - March) on the La Jolla shoreline. • West Marin's Whales, Wildlife and Wildflowers Festival (January - April) on Point Reyes National Seashore. • Ventura Harbor Village Annual Whale Celebration (February - March) at Ventura, with Channel Islands National Park or "America's Galapagos" just 14 miles offshore. • Cabrillo Marine Aquarium's Whale Celebration (February) at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. • Santa Cruz Migration Festival, Natural Bridges State Park (February) along the Central Coast of California. • Oxnard's Celebration of the Whales/ Whale Watching Excursions (January - March) includes whale-watching excursions to the Channel Islands National Park. • And annual festivals at Dana Point (one of Southern California’s largest seafaring celebrations); Mendocino; Fort Bragg; and Santa Barbara. |
 CALIFORNIA OFFERS COOL SHOPPING Many holidaymakers head to California with one thing on their minds: for cool shopping spots and the unique gifts and products made in the Golden State. CALIFORNIA HOTELS With its historic downtown districts, star-studded avenues including Melrose, premium outlets in the Napa Valley, and some of the country's largest malls such as the Beverly Center, California makes shopping easy and fun. Visual arts are paramount in Mendocino County, so it's natural that many residents and visitors choose art-related gifts when they shop the historic Village of Mendocino, ranked in the top ten of best art towns by USA Today. Here many small galleries feature nationally known artists as well as up and comers. Other unique North Coast gifts include the works of Sebastopol's Aletha Soule whose collectable glazed pottery highlights the landscape of Sonoma County. There's also Catstudio in Petaluma, which offers hand-embroidered, heirloom-collectible pillows. In the Gold Country, historic Main Street in Placerville provides a unique shopping experience with its art galleries, boutiques and dining establishments. The Bennett Gallery is a must see with its abstract and human figure sculptures created by world-renowned identical twins Bob and Tom Bennett whose work is cast in bronze. Headquartered in Sacramento, Blue Diamond Growers is considered the world's largest nut tree processing and marketing company, and provides California-made products including its smokehouse and honey roasted almonds. In Los Angeles County, Old Pasadena is a shopaholic's paradise with its 22-block shopping/entertainment area filled with 200 trendy boutiques, national retailers, antiques stores, galleries, restaurants and clubs. There's also Paseo Colorado nearby, which is a three-block, open-air urban village. Take-homes include Huntington Rose Tea laced with pink rose petals, hibiscus and rose hips, available at the Huntington Library, and E. Waldo Ward & Son gourmet jams, jellies, marmalade, fruit spreads and fruit butters. For antiques, downtown Riverside, the Inland Empire, offers a 10-block radius of European to American treasures, one of the largest antique districts in the region. The Mission Galleria with its 35,000-square-feet of antiques and collectibles and Maria's Antiques with its unique family heirlooms are not to be missed. Big Bear Lake, located just two hours from most Southland cities, offers boutiques not found in urban shopping areas including Big Bear Mountain Trading Company, Mine Shaft Minerals and more. In the Central Coast, Castroville, dubbed the "artichoke capital of the world," produces 95 percent of the nation's artichokes thanks to the fertile soil and fog-shrouded mornings. For more than 50 years, Pezzini Farms have been growing artichokes. They also offer cookbooks, dips and sauces, as well as gift packages. There's also Earthbound Farm, the world's largest grower of organic produce, where visitors can take home kitchen gadgets, cookbooks and more. In Santa Barbara shoppers take to State Street, where the open-air paseos and arcades nestled along pedestrian-friendly corridors offer an eclectic mix of shops and one-of-a-kind treasures. Gilroy is home to more than 145 premium outlets including Versace, Polo, Anne Klein and more. The Desert Hills Premium Outlets, located 20 minutes west of Palm Springs in Cabazon, has more than 130 outlet stores with impressive savings at Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, Escada, Gucci, MaxMara, Giorgio Armani, Prada and Tod's. Siskiyou County, in the Shasta Cascade region, is home to many entrepreneurs producing everything from essential oils, soaps to gourmet food items and collectibles. The two most unusual shops are the Tulegoose Pillow Factory, the only producers of wild waterfowl down pillows and comforters, and Butte Valley Saddle Company where President Reagan had his saddle made by world-famous craftsman Conrad Koppenhafer. Experience the unique character of San Francisco Bay Area's Union Square District, where the best names in fashion, dining and theater have resided for more than 100 years. Today, Union Square is reborn. It's the obvious place to meet, enjoy coffee or just let the world go by. In nearby Santa Cruz County, shoppers will find everything from gifts made by local artisans to surfboards to fresh salt-water taffy. For a taste of the Old West, visit the High Sierra's Commercial Row in downtown Truckee. For an extensive line of beauty products, shoppers love The Pharmacy, and Truckee Shoe Company for clogs, Tevas and Columbia boots. There's also the Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City and the new Village at Squaw Valley in Olympic Valley. Both San Diego County and Orange County have no shortage of shopping venues. A must for every shopper are visits to the Gaslamp Quarter, Fashion Valley Center, Horton Plaza, Viejas Outlet Center, as well as Fashion Island and Brea Mall. CALIFORNIA HOTELS PHOTO: Horton Plaza, San Diego – Photo courtesy Robert Holmes/ California Tourism |
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