On the road: a new collection to take along

Verlyn Klinkenborg, author and New York Times editorial writer, digs into the American Earth anthology at Book Forum. From Henry David Thoreau, writing from Concord in 1837, to book editor Bill McKibben, writing from the Yosemite backcountry last year, American Earth is a collection of essays, speeches, and poems about nature and the environment. More than a hundred writers contributed. Klinkenborg enthuses:

This is an anthology, then, of the writing that gets produced when reasonable men and women fight off the extremes of protest and despair to which they’ve been driven by the devastation of this planet. That makes this a practical-minded collection, commendably light on the vaporous spirituality, the blank stare, found in so much nature writing. This is literature for a cause, a cookbook for getting something done, a partial archive of the documents that shaped ecological awareness as we know it.

Keep reading here.

[via Jacket Copy]

Summer travel tips: Car-free Santa Barbara

Cruising to Santa Barbara for the weekend always sounds wondrous (the beaches! the biking! the hurricane margaritas at the Palace Grill! Those zoo giraffes that eat right from your hand!). But then there’s the inevitable freeway to face on Friday afternoon (or any afternoon, really). Someone hiccups in a car just up ahead on the101 freeway and suddenly you’re stopped dead somewhere below Thousand Oaks and can’t seem to get rolling again. So you crawl through the bumper-to-bumper mess in Camarillo and then noodle your way around the stop-and-start gridlock near Oxnard.

By the time you finally spy the landmark Big Yellow House on the hill at Summerland, your easy two-hour getaway has morphed into nearly four hours—and counting—of traffic hell.

Memo to self: Next time, take the train.

Santa Barbara is an ideal destination for a car-free escape, especially with gas prices at record highs this summer. “One of the great pleasures in life,” says Ralph Festig, president of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, “is being on the train and watching the traffic on the 101 as you go past.”

My book Great Escapes: Southern California includes a chapter exploring an easy car-free getaway to the Central Coast. You can board the train at Union Station in Los Angeles (there are numerous suburban stops, too) and step off two 2 hours and 36 minutes later at the Santa Barbara station on State Street, the city’s main drag. Hotels, restaurants, shopping, the beach, and amazing farmers’ markets are just steps away.

Santa Barbara’s Car-Free Project even offers discounts to visitors who leave their cars at home — deals on Amtrak fares, hotels, and attractions such as wine-country tours in the comfort of a biodiesel-powered Mercedes van. You can request a handy (and free) info pack from Santa Barbara’s Car-Free Project here. Also be sure to visit Green Santa Barbara, too.

Taste of Santa Barbara

Today’s LA Times Travel Section is devoted to Santa Barbara getaways and includes my story on Laurence Hauben’s delightful Market Forays.Hauben is a French-born chef, part-time orchard farmer, former director of the local farmers market and current leader of Slow Food Santa Barbara. A few times a month, she also plays tour guide.

A day with Laurence is a day spent shopping for crab or lobster or rockfish right off the fishing boats at the Santa Barbara Harbor, browsing downtown’s ultimate farmers’ market, then cooking a delectable five-course feast together. This is a unique way to experience Santa Barbara’s bounty and just an all-around great day for a single traveler, couple, or small group of friends.

Read my story here.

And you’ll find more details here.

Also check out the Times’ handy guide to Santa Barbara hotels, restaurants and fun stuff to do.