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Orange County |
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Orange County
It’s tempting to speak of Orange County communities as a group, as if they’re so homogeneous that you don’t need to distinguish individual cities. Even locals do it. “I’m from Orange County,” people will often say, neglecting to specify which town. This is unfair, as Orange County is made up of distinct communities--although it is true that many of them are variations on the theme of “Mediterranean-flavored laid-back beach town.” No region that both former President Richard Nixon and pop star Gwen Stefani have called home could ever be described as homogenous. Orange County, especially the coast, rewards exploration.
Activities and Attractions:
Most Orange County visitors find that it’s the wealthy beach communities that have the most to offer a luxury traveler. Huntington Beach, also known Surf City, U.S.A., is one such town. (In Orange County, wealth and surfing are not mutually exclusive.) The town, with its three-mile long beach, plays host to the U.S. Open of Surfing every summer. At Christmas, locals decorate their homes and boats with lights; viewed from the water, it’s an unforgettable and uniquely southern Californian holiday treat.
Newport Beach encourages surfers of a different sort—body surfers flock to the swells at The Wedge, at the tip of the Balboa Peninsula. Diners and strollers roam the streets lined with boutiques and quaint Cape Cod-style homes, and everyone enjoys the town’s old-fashioned pier.
Laguna Beach feels something like an exclusive Marin County enclave. Dramatic bluffs back the slightly rugged coast. Downtown, art galleries and boutiques foster a genteel but slightly bohemian vibe. You can purchase art, and, if you visit during a summer evening, you can even see it come to life as actors re-create famous painted scenes during the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters.
The last city on the “Orange Coast” is Dana point, former home to Richard Henry Dana, he of Two Years Before the Mast fame. (That’s his statue presiding over the sparkling, yacht-studded harbor.) Dana himself declared this to be the most beautiful part of the California Coast, a view still shared by everyone from the blueblood owners of all those yachts to the editors of Surfer Magazine, based in Dana Point.
Orange County isn’t just about beaches. There’s plenty inland, as well. The biggest land-locked attraction is Disneyland, in Anaheim. The kingdom of the mouse hardly needs any introduction—if you’ve got kids, you know you will end up there at some point.
Another, somewhat overlooked, theme park is Knott’s Berry Farm in neighboring Buena Park. The little play land with the folksy name packs in a lot of adventure. Kids can pan for real gold and pose for pictures with Snoopy, but they can also splash through white-water rapids and ride a bottomless aerial gondola—these are genuine E-ticket rides.
One other inland sight worth a detour is the Mission San Juan Capistrano. (The fabled swallows make the trip every year.) Consecrated in 1775, it’s still a working church, and as a community worship and performance center, it has a vibrant energy to it.
Insider Tip:
If you want to mark yourself instantly as an outsider, refer to the area as “The O.C.” Locally, Orange County is sometimes shortened to “O.C.,” but you won’t hear the article used. (The TV show of that name, by the way, is filmed in Los Angeles County, so don’t take any of it as your gospel guide to Orange County.)
-Exclusively for Perfect Escapes by Nicole Clausing |
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