Simone McFarland Travel

Category: Callifornia

  • Riverside, California Travel Guide: Why This Inland Gem Is Perfect for a Weekend Getaway

    Riverside, California Travel Guide: Why This Inland Gem Is Perfect for a Weekend Getaway

    Nestled in the heart of Riverside, this vibrant Inland Southern California city is more than just a place to live—it’s a destination worth exploring. Having called Riverside home since childhood, attending University of California, Riverside, and working for the city itself, I’ve experienced firsthand what makes this community so special.

    Riverside blends rich history, scenic beauty, and a growing food and culture scene, making it an ideal spot for a weekend getaway. Whether you’re strolling through historic neighborhoods, discovering local attractions, or enjoying the laid-back Southern California vibe, Riverside offers something for everyone.

    If you’re looking for a unique, under-the-radar California destination, Riverside deserves a spot on your travel list.

    Downtown Riverside is famous for the Mission Inn Hotel and Spa.  It’s always been an inn and never was a mission.  It was built in 1903. What started out as Glenwood Tavern has grown into an AAA Four Diamond hotel and spa.  Presidents have been married there (Nixon), honeymooned at the hotel (Regan) and just visited.  It’s one of the first places that Arnold visited when he became the Governator of California.

    Adding to the history, are the many large iron bells including one of the oldest bells in Christendom dating back to A.D. 1247. (You can find it in the lobby next to the concierge desk.)

    Many famous writers have stayed at the Inn including Ann Rice who used the setting for her book Angel Time.   Harry Houdini, Amelia Earhart, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Barbra Streisand along with Raquel Welch, Drew Barrymore, Bob Hope and Tears for Fears (whew) are just a few of the celebrities who have stayed here.

    In early September, workers start putting up the more than 4.5 million twinkling lights that will be shining brightly along with 200 animated figurines singing Christmas carols the day after Thanksgiving until early January.  Truly, the place gives Vegas a run for its money and the local utility company loves it. 

    Next door is the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture. The center is focused on the exhibition and study of Chicano art from across the United States. This is a collaborative effort between Cheech Marin, the City of Riverside and Riverside Art Museum. 

    So what else is there to do?  Well, if you’re an early morning riser, I would suggest a walk up Mt. Rubidoux.  You can see the mountain from Downtown and the walk is up but not extremely strenuous.  If someone is dropping you off, you can access the path from the top of 9th Street.  If you need to park, plan on using the parking lot at Ryan Bonaminio Park located at 5000 Tequesquite Ave.  The walk is a total of 3 (or so) miles.

    If you rather take the longer, easier way up, veer to the right when the trail splits.  The trail to the left is shorter but also steeper.  From the top, you can see all of Riverside and on a clear day, the San Gabriel Mountains.

    Also, near the Downtown is Fairmount Park.  The park was designed by the same firm who designed Central Park in New York and you can see similarities with a large lake, boat house, rose garden and trails that meander throughout. 

    If you are planning on a weekend, you might want to see what’s playing at the Fox Theater.  This icon premiered Gone with the Wind in 1939.  Nowadays, you can see people like George Thorogood, Jerry Seinfeld and Mannheim Steamroller.

    There are also three (if you count the Mission Inn Museum) in Downtown.  These in the Riverside Metropolitan Museum and the Riverside Art Museum.  The all have various exhibits and displays.  In Downtown, the architecture is beautiful with building well over 100 years old, including the Riverside Courthouse and churches.

    If you’re a foodie, there are a number of places within walking distance of the Mission Inn to eat including a few within the Inn Duane’s is a high end steakhouse and Los Campanas offers delicious Mexican food along with huge margaritas.  My favorite place by far is Mario’s Place.  It’s across the street on Mission Inn Avenue and offers Italian cuisine.  Their wine list is extensive and I usually just ask the wait staff for their suggestion.  I will often just sit at the bar with a glass of red wine, a Leone salad (named after the founder and to die for) along with calamari, the best I’ve ever had.

    Additionally, there is the local’s bar with music during the weekends- Lake Alice Trading Company (bar food) one block down;, Mezcal Cantina y Cocina (Mexican  and an extensive Tequila list), to the west on the Main Street Mall near 8th Street;  ProAbition (Whiskey, bar food, outdoor seating and weekend music)- go east on the Main Street Mall toward 6th Street.  For breakfast and lunch, I like Simple Simon’s on the Main Street Mall between Mission Inn Ave. and 6th Street.  My standby for eating there is the spinach stuffed croissant and tarragon chicken salad.  Lastly, the Mission Inn also has an expensive but amazing Sunday brunch.  Yum.  Bon Appetit!

    Lastly, Riverside’s wealth was built in the early 1900s on the Navel Orange and citrus industry when Eliza Tibbets brought three Navel Orange trees from Brazil. For this reason, the Citrus Heritage Park is in Riverside. Can you walk around the park and enjoy the 250 acres of citrus groves.

  • Death Valley National Park: Diverse Landscapes, Scenic Views & Must-See Attractions

    Death Valley National Park: Diverse Landscapes, Scenic Views & Must-See Attractions

    Within Death Valley, California, is the lowest elevation within the U.S. It’s also famous for being the hottest place on earth and driest place in North America. The world record highest air temperature of 134°F (57°C) was recorded at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913.

    With these scorching temperatures, it’s advisable to stay away during the summer or a least make sure you are prepared with plenty of water. And, in the winters, it can be freezing and windy. So why go to this Hell hole?  Because time it right and it can also be gorgeous. The diversity in scenery within Death Valley National Park is hard to beat.  Within the National Park, you can see lavender and turquoise-colored rocks, sweeping sand dunes, a 600-foot crater and views that last forever.  There two main roads that travel through the park form a X, running north and south and if you have a 4-wheel drive or high-profile vehicle, you can access even more areas along the dirt roads. At the same time, please remember, this is a bio diverse area other animals and plants live here and as humans our goal is to leave no trace and take nothing but memories and photos with you.

    When we visited, it was a chilly March weekend and we drove the Corvette, so no off-roading for us but there was still plenty to see our two days here.

    Dante’s View


    This site is actually a little bit of a drive off the main road but still worth visiting.   The way there is curvy and mornings at the peak can be very cold and the windy.  Dante’s View is great for visiting in the morning and as the lookout is near the south end of the Park, looking out toward the north. You can literally see for miles through the valley to the mountains in the north. 

    Artist Drive

    This nine-mile loop road takes you to Artists Palette, which is probably the most Instagrammed location within the National Park.  The pinks, yellows, lavenders, turquoise and baby blue colored rocks form pastel rainbows that weave through the landscape.  These colors come from volcanic deposits rich in compounds such as iron-rich hematite that produce the reds and pinks along with the yellows and golds; manganese creates the lavender and chlorite create the greens.  

    Zabriskie Point

    If you like minimalist photography, this is the place to go.  The mountain ridges just repeat upon themselves making for layers upon layers of the same colors.  Each side from the parkway and short trail is different color.

    Ubehebe Crater Rim

    The Ubehebe Crater was formed 2,000 years ago when magma came into contact with groundwater.  The combination created a steam and gas explosion resulted in this 600-foot crater.  You can hike along the ridge.   

    Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes  

    There are too many places that are best visited at sunrise or sunset in Death Valley and since you only get one of each of these a day, it’s hard to pick.  I knew I wanted to see the shadows build upon the dunes so we toasted the day’s close here as the sun disappeared behind the mountains.  If your goal is the same, make sure you get here early as the mountains will hide the sun long before your phone says sunset occurs.

    Badwater Basin

    This location is the lowest elevation in the United States, 282 feet below sea level.  You can walk along the path of this salt flat and turn around to look at the sign high above that shows sea level.  What is sea level since the ocean’s water is constantly changing you might ask?  According to Nat Geo, because the ocean is one continuous body of water, its surface tends to seek the same level throughout the world. However, winds, currents, river discharges, and variations in gravity and temperature prevent the sea surface from being truly level. In the United States and its territories, local mean sea level is determined by taking hourly measurements of sea levels over a period of 19 years at various locations, and then averaging all of the measurements. 

    Because of its elevation, Badwater Basin will probably be the hottest place you experience in the Park.  Dante’s view will be the coolest at 5,575 ft (1,699 m) above sea level.

    Scotty’s Castle

    Just a note about Scotty’s Castle.  This “Castle” was “Scotty’s” folly in the middle of the desert but you can no longer get to it as the road is closed no matter which side you try to access it from. We wasted a few hours following the GPS just to find out that road was washed out years ago.

    Where to Stay

    There is camping within the Park and a variety of lodging opportunities but they fill up fast. Additionally, the Park is accessible from both California and Arizona.  We stayed at Longstreet Casino and RV Park in Amagosa Valley, AZ.  The rooms were clean and had balconies. Each night, they had entertainment in the bar area.  If you hate cigarette smoke, the bar is not for you but the outside grounds were nice.  Overall, I’d say this place was just okay but provided a good meeting place between AZ and CA.

    Death Valley is certainly worth another visit and I’d like to go camping and off-roading here to explore more of the Park. Additionally, I hear that stargazing on a cloudless, moonless night is fabulous.  Another reason to come back.

  • Explore Burbank: Film Studios, Vintage Finds & Celebrity Hotspots

    Explore Burbank: Film Studios, Vintage Finds & Celebrity Hotspots

    With the pandemic ending in the U.S., a lot of us are itching to get out and travel, including me. As we plan for our next trip, we thought we’d try one without ever leaving home so we donned some big sunglasses and an oversized sun hat, put down the top of the Miata and took off to see the sites in Burbank, my current home town.

    As far as home towns to travel in, Burbank’s a fun one to visit, even if you’re there almost every day. 

    Burbank is the media capital of the world.  As Hollywood’s backlot, the city is home to the world’s largest media studios, the Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros., Netflix’s Animation, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network along with hundreds of smaller studios.   And, right next door is Universal Studios.  It’s been said that almost every American-made film has made its way through Burbank somehow, either through film, sound, music or editing.

    In the beginning, almost a hundred years ago, the talkies began with pop up filming happening all around town.  Mary Pickford, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart were seen around town.  And, the closing scene in Casablanca was filmed at the Hollywood Burbank Airport. During the years, movies such as Back to the Future, Argo, La La Land and Apollo 13 were all filmed within the streets of Burbank.  This doesn’t include the thousands of television shows filmed and still being filmed.  Prior to COVID, Burbank was issuing around 1,600 film permits each year and this doesn’t include studio filming. 

    Staying in Burbank makes sense if you want to see Los Angeles.  The Hollywood- Burbank Airport is smaller than LAX and a lot faster. I can leave my office and be walking up to the gate in less than 20 minutes and that includes parking. 

    We started our staycation in Downtown.  Artelice Patisserie (117 N. San Fernando Blvd.) has recently opened and they create beautiful, single or shareable desserts for the Oscars along with incredible croissants and macarons.  I’ve been looking for a reason to splurge on the calories and this is the perfect reason.  For breakfast, I ordered a Persian Princess croissant filled with orange and rose flavors.  I expected it to be good but that first bite, ooo la la, it was eyes roll back into my head, delicious.

    Next up was driving through town looking at places where movie scenes were filmed and comparing them to the film clip at that location.  The iconic Back to the Future scene where Marty McFly hops on his skateboard and grabs on to the back of the truck was filmed at a Burbank Burger King.  I have driven by this Burger King many times but never realized that it was THAT “Burger King.”  From there, we also visited Larry’s Chili Dog, used as a backdrop for The Office and serving scrumptious looking hot dogs. We stopped in the Ugly Mug right next door to check it out as they have great reviews from coffee drinkers followed by Handy Market where He’s Just Not That In to You filmed was next.  They have a huge butcher shop in the store.  And, I had to drive by The Wonder Years house.  Last stop had to be Warner Bros. gate 2 where the Blazing Saddles scene with them riding out the horses was filmed. Here are just some of the film sites within Burbank. 

    Burbank has four famous coffee shop restaurants that are stuck in the 50’s and they all serve large portions when you are craving comfort food.  I’ve been to them all and it’s like going back in time, which means they are often used for films set in the 50s.  These include:

    1. Frank’s Coffee Shop where Larry Crowne and CSI was filmed.
    2. Tallyrand, the subject of an episode of Huell Howser
    3. Lancers, which is in the same parking lot as Burger King
    4. Bob’s Big Boy where Heat was filmed and the Beatles once ate in the booth on the right before you go into the back area.  There used to be a sign but someone keep stealing it.  Every Friday night, they have a classic car show where people just show up to talk, grab a bite and show off their cars
    5. Burbank Airport was the site of the last scene from the Casa Blanca

    There are a few boutique hotels in Burbank and two of these have a very retro style.  For a full list, go to Visit Burbank. For our staycation, we selected the Safari Inn.  It was built in 1955 and hosted a slew of shows including Apollo 13, True Romance, Lethal Weapon 3, Parenthood, The Closer, Coach Carter, the Partridge Family, Six Feet Under, Desperate Housewives and more. I love the drive-under-the-patio entrance and the neon sign.  The rooms have been fully updated are nice.  I had packed a cooler of gin and tonic mixings, which we drank by the pool as we took photos. The next hotel on my staycation list is the Tangerine, another retro-style hotel in Burbank.

    Our last stop of the day was dinner at the Smoke House.  I love this restaurant for its romantic connection with film along with its food and service.  Many movies have been film here including La la Land and Argo and the walls are filled with photos of famous people who have eaten here.  Both Jay Leno and George Clooney use to hang out after filming on the Warner Bros. lot across the street and Clooney named his production company after the Smoke House. 

    While we didn’t get to everything in Burbank on our staycation, here are some other ideas if your visiting.

    Warner Bros. Tour:  This tour is currently stopped due to COVID but hopefully, will soon return as they’ve just built a new tour center that hasn’t been used yet.  You get to see sets, enter studios and spend time in the museum.  The Friends fountain really isn’t in New York, it’s here along with the set from Gilmore Girls and Big Bang Theory. I’ve been on the tour three times and it’s always fun.

    Universal Studios: They have reopened to California residents and have limited attendance.  Universal is adjacent to Burbank.

    Horseback riding:  Yes, you can ride horses in the middle of LA into Griffith Park and from the LA side, you can ride up to the Hollywood sign.

    Vintage Shopping: In Magnolia Park, there are a number of vintage and eclectic shops, some sell clothing that has been previously used on film sets.  Also, here, is world famous Porto’s restaurant that offers delectable desserts and Cuban food. And, Morphe with reasonably priced make up and brushes.

    Downtown Dining:  Downtown Burbank has all types of food offerings.  The City has also installed an 8’ bronze Batman statue and many murals that are perfect selfie spots. The Burbank Town Center and one of the top three AMC theaters in the world is also here.

    There are two more DC Superhero statues that have been added since this initial post. They are Wonder Women in front of the Warner Bros. Tour Center and Green Lantern at the Empire Center.

  •  Four Great Los Angeles Waterfall Hikes

     Four Great Los Angeles Waterfall Hikes

    Who would expect to find scenic hiking trails with waterfalls in the desert landscapes of Los Angeles County? While many falls slow to a trickle during dry months, winter rains and El Niño seasons can transform these hikes into stunning destinations with flowing water that often lasts into spring. If you’re searching for the best waterfall hikes near Los Angeles, especially after rainfall, these trails are definitely worth exploring.

    Note: Whenever we hike, I check the conditions on the All Trails app first to see if conditions have changed before we start off.

    Monrovia Canyon Falls, Monrovia

    Length: 3 miles out and back Effort: easy Climb: 311 feet

    Parking in Park: $6 for the shortest hike, park  in the most upper lot

    Picnicking and BBQs available/Bathrooms

    Dogs: on leash

    On this hike, you will enjoy the many trees and heavy vegetation along the path following the adjacent stream.  The Canyon is beautiful.  There is one area where the path becomes narrow for people passing each other but there is room to stand to the side if you plan for it.  At the end is a beautiful waterfall.  We have gone twice in June and the water was still running.  The hike is popular so plan on other people and pups along the route.  The second time we grilled some hotdogs in the park and a bear showed up not 25 yards from us to dig into trash left by other picnickers.  He wasn’t threating and didn’t appear afraid or agitated by people but to be on the safe side, we called the rangers and packed up. 

    Eaton Canyon Falls, Monrovia

    Length: 3.5 miles out and back Effort: easy Climb:436 feet

    Parking: Park along side of the road

    Dogs: on leash

    The waterfall here awesome for Southern California’s desert.  The hike is easy and there are multiple trails in the area so follow the map.  The trail is fairly flat and is a favorite of people in the area so plan on having others hiking with you.   You also cross the river multiple times but there are stepping stones to keep you out of the water.  I always wear my hiking sandals as I’m a klutz and its better for me to walk through than jump from rock to rock. –Besides then you can get into the water at the end without having to trudge back in wet tennies. 

    Millard Canyon Falls, Pasadena

    Length: 2.6 miles out and back Effort: easy Climb:564 feet

    Parking in Park: Parking along side of the road; In lot needs a permit and is limited.  We used our National Park Pass.  You can also purchase one there.  Do it or you will be ticketed.

    Dogs: on leash

    This is an easy walk and you cross the stream (A California river lol).  The trail is highly shaded and beautiful.  At the end, you’ll be rewarded with a lovely waterfall that cascades gracefully along green plants and moss.  We went in the early spring.  Parking is tight so its recommended to get there early.  From this same trailhead area, you can also reach Bronson Caves.

    Escondido Falls, Malibu

    Length: 3.7 miles out and back Effort: easy Climb: 626feet

    Parking: Park along side of the road or in lot is $8.  

    Dogs: on leash

    This hike gets crowded so if you don’t want to hike a long way from your parking spot to the trailhead, get their early.  Also have patience as its located right off Pacific Coast Highway and you may need to park here.  The hike is easy and pretty.  Parts of Malibu Canyon burned in 2018 but with the rains of 2019, vegetation is returning and the wildflowers along with the butterflies were beautiful.  At the end you’ll find the waterfall and its worth the time and effort to see.

    Have fun, obey the rules, leave no trace behind.

Simone McFarland Travel

A travel blog focused on education and inspiration, featuring stunning photography and insightful stories to ignite wanderlust.