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Summer travel is on the horizon and we want you to hit the road in comfort and safety with these NAPPA Award-winning products.
For more product reviews visit nappaawards.com
As you gear up for your summer travels, whether on a road trip or by plane, we have some great NAPPA Award-winning essentials to keep you and your family in style, while staying super comfy.
For more product reviews visit nappaawards.com
The sign read “Mystic Hot Springs” next to a chain that blocked access to a dirt road leading toward the hills in Monroe, Utah. We parked next to a line of tired buses faded from a life on the road and now resting dormant under the incessant sun.
“Next time we can stay in one of those,” I said as I doled out swimsuits, goggles and towels to my husband and kids. I got no answer. I remembered that my sons don’t know what a Grateful Dead bus is, nor how far out it is that you can stay in one.
Meanwhile, my husband was watching a gaggle of peacocks scramble out of some bushes. It was a sign: Our road trip to Utah was about to get a lot weirder.
On top of the hill sits seven bathtubs that capture hot, mineral rich water from the nearby springs. The tubs are engulfed in red-orange mineral deposits, just waiting for a soak. The owner, “Mystic Mike,” a self-described Deadhead, diverts water spilling into the tubs from flowing channels in the mountainous deposits above. The temperature of my tub water was perfect, and the views past my toes looked out onto central Utah’s majestic Sevier Valley.
We eventually moved out of our own separate — and very hippie — paradises and into the large concrete pools below. The scene there had me wondering if we’d stumbled upon a lost Burning Man project. The main pool is connected above to a large, rust colored arch — calcium carbonate deposits gone wild. This is what we have come for — something new to marvel over, an experience we haven’t done, or even heard of, before. As happens with familiarity, our fully-explored backyard destinations — Palm Springs, San Diego and the Central Coast — have lost their magic. Each one is a beloved destination, certainly, but this corner of Utah (which is the same driving distance as the Bay Area from L.A.) is our new chosen flavor.
As tempting as the Grateful Dead buses were, we were Midway bound, a small Swiss-style enclave in the Wasatch Mountains between the better-known resort towns of Sundance and Park City. Aside from what was sure to be stunning scenery, we were heading to another hot-water anomaly: the Crater at Homestead Resort. This beehive-shaped limestone formation is an underground geothermal pool 10,000 years in the making and one of the reasons there is a town here in the first place.
Passing quaint alpine chalets on our way, we pulled up to the expansive, rustic property and immediately saw the looming hump in the ground dwarfing the grand, historic entrance of the Homestead Resort. Coffee and fudge waited for us inside the airy lobby, something I should have expected from a place once known as Schneitter’s Hot Pot resort, which has been honing hospitality for nearly 200 years. As soon as we settled into our modern and roomy farmhouse-style room, we donned our suits.
The Crater is accessed by a door in the side of the hill, which allowed us the convenience of not having to rappel our way down into the pool as earlier visitors have had to do. The evening darkness added a veil of mystery. Steam rushed toward us as we opened the door. We followed a tunnel that led to a spot where visitors can swim, snorkel, take a paddle board yoga class, soak or scuba dive in the only warm water diving destination in the continental U.S. We walked past diving equipment and scuba gear to get to a small dock where we gently let ourselves into the mystifyingly warm and tranquil water.
The next day in nearby Park City, we were belly laughing at the ridiculous ski fashions of the 1980s. “Who would wear that?” my 12-year-old son exclaimed at a pink women’s ensemble on display at the Alf Engen Ski Museum inside Utah Olympic Park, where Utah hosted the 2002 XIX Olympic Winter Games.
His amazement grew at the snowboard evolution display, starting with a snowboard predecessor called the Snurfer. Who knew? Like any good sports venue, Utah Olympic Park is a thrill seeker’s dream. The most adventurous we got was to slip into the bobsled and skeleton equipment in the museum lobby, but the daring are in for a real ride here with a summertime alpine slide course, extreme tubing, extreme zip line, airbag jumping and — for bucket listers — the ability to attempt the bobsled (available summer and winter for riders ages 16+).
Instead, we barreled towards Salt Lake City on I-80. Our first stop was Liberty Park, a charming neighborhood near the trendy 9th and 9th intersection, known for bungalow homes, tree-lined streets and plenty of front lawn support for LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter movements. The homey feel and location make the neighborhood the perfect basecamp for exploring this vibrant city. Much like L.A., this is a town of distinct neighborhoods, and we found gems in each: the thickest, smoothest hot chocolate at Hatch Family Chocolates in The Avenues; an enormous and fun-filled park of the same name in Sugar House, and, right at our doorstep in Liberty Park, a delightful children’s bookshop and boutique called The Children’s Hour Bookstore.
In between neighborhood exploring, we visited the Tracy Aviary & Botanical Garden, This is the Place Heritage Park and the renowned Natural History Museum of Utah, all included in the Visit Salt Lake Connect Pass. For us, a two-day pass provided a wonderful value and no-pressure access to the best of the city (16 attractions total, including guided tours of the Utah Olympic Park).
On our final day in Salt Lake City, I learned that there are approximately 54,478 other people in the U.S. who share my surname. This is just a sampling of the zany factoids we discovered at the Family History Library, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This five-floor facility is located just off Temple Square, the spiritual center of the faith. On the ground floor, you’ll find seven “discovery experiences,” such as “Where I Come From” or “My Famous Relatives,” each with an information superpower to explore fascinating custom facts about your ancestors. With the help of a volunteer, we signed up for a free FamilySearch account and were given a device that can hook into an interactive screen at the different stations. Turns out, I am a 10th cousin of the friendly volunteer who had been helping us and eight other individuals who had visited the building that day! I’d have never guessed family history was this interesting, weird or fun.
With a new sense of self, we headed off to see the Great Salt Lake. This is the last remnant of ancient Lake Bonneville, which once covered about a quarter of Utah. On its southern shores stands a remake of the turn-of-the-century-era Saltair resort, now a concert venue for rock bands.
The Great Salt Lake State Park Visitor Center displays pictures of Victorian bathers in front of this ill-fated “Coney Island of the West,” evoking another time altogether. In contrast, we mostly have the gorgeous views to ourselves as we walk the watery shore and look for brine shrimp at the water’s edge. Child of the ’80s? You might know brine shrimp as Sea-Monkeys, those novelty aquarium pets. A good view of them is at the state park visitor center or at the Natural History Museum in the city proper. While we didn’t come home with Sea-Monkeys, I did snag a $12 box of Taffy Town saltwater taffies, made in the area since 1916. Hands down, it was the best saltwater taffy I’ve ever had.
As we drove toward Nevada, the landscape was flat and dry, marked by salt-processing operations, smelting stacks and funky art projects. The 87-foot-tall retro sculpture called “Metaphor: The Tree of Utah” by Swedish sculptor Karl Momen looms at the edge of the Bonneville Salt Flats, where speed freaks top speeds of 600 miles per hour. Here, we could see the curve of the earth under a vast, blinding whiteness, and we wondered: What other unexpected marvels await us?
Elisa Parhad is a travel and lifestyle writer, author and photographer based in L.A.
After two years of pandemic living, many of us are planning our first getaway this summer. But as much as we’re excited about traveling and making fun memories again, we’re a little nervous about different variants we’re still hearing about.
We asked Priya Soni, M.D., a pediatric infectious disease expert at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, how to safely travel this summer.
How can families stay safe on the plane and in airports?
I would say the first and easiest way to stay safe, especially when traveling with unvaccinated children, would be to wear a surgical mask, KN95 or N95 mask, regardless of what the airlines require. This remains the best way to stay safe, especially if transmission of the virus remains high at your destination. While the sub-variant known as BA.2 is impacting parts of Asia and Europe, we have yet to see a similar uptick of BA.2 in the United States. This doesn’t mean it won’t happen. In fact, it likely will. With families traveling more and more for summer, wearing a mask securely during your travels is the most important step to remain safe. High risk areas of transmission remain where people are gathering closer, including during the airport security line, public bathrooms and during the on-boarding/deplaning process. If you’re not actively eating, my recommendation would be to 100 percent keep your mask on to protect yourself and your family.
Second, now that the second SARS-CoV-2 booster has been approved for adults over 50 years old, I would highly recommend that you get one prior to any travel. This booster dose can be given as soon as four to six months since your last booster. This additional fourth dose may be the difference between you falling ill and getting hospitalized during your travels and/or having to potentially quarantine at your travel destination. It is important to remember that those that received Johnson and Johnson initially may be boosted with an mRNA vaccination — either Moderna or Pfizer, and that this is recommended. Many folks suggest waiting to get the second booster until the fall when COVID may be circulating at higher rates, but I say if you’re a high-risk individual that’s tolerated the prior doses well and are traveling soon, why take the risk of exposure and potential complications? Get the second booster now.
And how should families navigate COVID testing before, during and after travel?
COVID-19 testing has become increasingly streamlined with the robust ability to rapid antigen test at home. If you’re going to visit a high-risk individual that is immunocompromised, like a grandparent in another state, my suggestion would be to obtain antigen testing to perform the date you travel and prior to spending time with the person or persons. Please remember to only use antigen tests that are authorized by the FDA.
Testing rules for out-of-country travel depend on the destination and are easily accessible via the U.S. government website. I would advise to check in with this resource and plan for COVID tests while abroad appropriately. Many countries do require travelers to be PCR negative upon arrival. These tests can often be completed in the airport but will need to be scheduled and coordinated ahead of time.
Additionally, if you contract COVID-19 now or after travels, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has provided a helpful resource called the “Quarantine and Isolation Calculator” to help determine steps to prevent spread.
What health & wellness questions are keeping you up at night? Send your questions to elena.epstein@laparent.com and we’ll ask the experts.
I’ve joked with friends that it took a global pandemic for me to finally get around to fulfilling two beloved childhood dreams — becoming an author and visiting Paris. In the belly of that humor, as in the belly of long-held dreams, is some wistfulness, some self-admonishing and existential questions: What took you so long? And what is the purpose of writing and traveling in a world rife with plague and war?
During my trip to Paris in February, I came across words from one of the world’s greatest thinkers and authors — James Baldwin — that helped me put these nagging questions to rest.
The Baldwin quote was printed on an oversized placard propped inside a street-facing window of Shakespeare & Company bookstore. I’d read the quote before, but there was something about taking rapid COVID tests at a pharmacie, showing my vaccine card everywhere I went and masking while 5,600 miles away from home that caused Baldwin’s words to (as the kids say) “hit different.”
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read,” said Baldwin, who lived in Paris for a time. “It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.”
Books were my travel portals as a child, and in reading Baldwin’s words, I was overcome with emotion and gratitude. It was the writing and publishing of my first book that had brought me to Paris. I was there as part of a book event at The American Library in Paris, curated by my longtime friend Patrick Banks, founder of The Californien. Malika Ali Harding, a multitalented American artist and writer based in Amsterdam (I taught her son freshman English when they lived in L.A.!), served as my interlocutor during our author talk. It was a book dream even my girl self had not thought to dream up. I gazed at the rows of books holding up the wall behind my speaker’s table and felt my knees tremble with wonder. “A great library contains the diary of the human culture and its spirit,” Diane Ratican writes in “Why LA, Pourquoi Paris,” a travel book in which she compares these two great cities.
Looking back at Baldwin’s quote, you can easily interchange the word “books” with “travel.” Travel — if we let it, if we move “beyond the postcard,” as Patrick says — carries the ability to connect us with “all the people who are alive” — dissolving borders, prejudices, misconceptions and even language barriers. In February, the streets of Paris were quiet. Tourism was still languishing, and I could hear the worry in the voices of my taxi drivers and some merchants with whom I was able to — in my very, very broken French and their better English — communicate.
Outside my book event and dining with new and old friends who are ex-pats, I walked and walked and walked. Along the Seine, to the Eiffel Tower, to gardens and bookstores and parks. I ate a warm baguette and sipped a cappuccino in soft rain. Gawked at hundreds-year-old buildings, bridges, sculptures. Yes, the pandemic was — and is — still alive and kicking, but in this old city life felt a little more stable for a time. In her book, next to drawings juxtaposing the Watts Towers with the Eiffel Tower, Ratican quotes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “I call architecture frozen music.”
I think of this quote when I remember the man playing his violin in the courtyard at the Louvre, how the walls contained his sound of music, catching us pedestrians in its orb.
As summer approaches, where are you and your family thinking of traveling? What music will you create? Whose heartbreak will you seek to better understand? In what earthly delights will you partake?
Be safe and curious.
Cassandra
Cassandra Lane is Editor in Chief of L.A. Parent.
By Cassandra Lane
After our virtual workouts in the evenings, a few gym pals and I like to hang out in the Zoom-verse to catch up on each other’s lives. Before the pandemic, we had worked out together in the flesh for years, so we cherish these moments of chitchat as our sweat begins to evaporate.
During a recent chat, Deborah caught us up on her birthday celebration. She and some girlfriends had flown together to Los Cabos. None of the rest of us had been on a plane since the pandemic. We leaned closer to our screens, hanging on her every word as though she were detailing a trip to the moon.
Deborah described how the airline did not sell the middle seats on her flight and the extra precautions her hotel took to help guests stay physically distant from anyone outside their own party. The hotel also disinfected – from spraying guests’ shoes with disinfectant each time they returned to the hotel to having them enter through a newly sectioned-off, disinfected pathway emitting a light spray.
Her experience felt worlds away from my stay in Los Cabos just a year ago. I was poised to write about that trip for L.A. Parent’s spring Beyond L.A. issue, but COVID-19 halted all travel coverage – and it shut down the resort I called home for those few luxurious days. Paradisus Los Cabos had just made multimillion dollar renovations and launched a campaign, “Embrace Your Nature,” that centered around luxury with a focus on appreciating nature, practicing sustainability and indulging the senses.
After hearing Deborah’s story about her trip, I reached out to Paradisus and learned that they had just reopened. Restaurants and other businesses were also opening or planning to open in this southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula where the Sea of Cortés meets the Pacific Ocean.
If you feel comfortable taking the 2½-hour flight, there are plenty of socially distanced outdoor activities to enjoy: snorkeling, horseback riding, scuba diving, golf, fishing and kayaking to name a few. In addition, I was happy to learn that some of the delights I enjoyed last November are back up and running.
Last year, the only masks I saw were the carved wooden masks for sale at a booth in San José del Cabo. If you make the trip anytime over these next several months, you’ll want to pack a stack of face masks to comply with hotel and other businesses’ regulations.
Sprawled across 18½ acres, Paradisus Los Cabos lines one of the area’s few swimmable beaches. With the glittering Sea of Cortés as the backdrop, we enjoyed sunrises and sunsets, morning yoga, dancing, swimming in one of the resort’s pools and meals prepared by a variety of chefs whose menus sound like poetry.
A hook-to-table menu, for instance, described cooking with water as an act of “union and harmony. Cooking in a liquid is the way to obtain the most intense, hidden and complex flavors and aromas from the most humble ingredients.” On the menu: shrimp aguachile, Santo Domingo oysters and chocolate clam in an apple mignonette sauce. The earth menu, in contrast, represented “stability between water and fire. It’s what transforms the vineyards to wine, barley seeds to beer, cabbage to sauerkraut, milk to cheese…” Menu options included sweet potato and agave, beet and anise, corn and butter with asparagus and edamame.
The resort boasts 350 guestrooms, 28 of which are sea-view swim-up suites. It is part of Paradisus by Meliá, the luxury all-inclusive resort brand owned and operated by Spanish hotel chain Meliá Hotels International.
Paradisus is following the company’s Stay Safe with Meliá program, which includes a partnership with Bureau Veritas, a company leader in inspection, certification and testing to ensure the Meliá Hotels International system is achieving the “highest standards in the management of preventative measures to combat COVID-19 in its hotels worldwide.”
In addition to facility modifications to reduce direct interaction and maintain hygiene standards, safety measures include temperature checks of all guests upon arrival, COVID-19 amenities kits with a mask, gloves and hydroalcoholic gel and strictly enforcing social distancing at restaurants, pools and entertainment activities.
While focused on safety, the resort has also expanded its upgraded luxury experiences to include guests with families. The Reserve, previously known as Royal Service and Family Concierge, offers personalized concierge services, private check-in and check-out, individual assistance with priority reservations for activities and restaurants and private pool and beach club access with customized services. Expansive luxury suites include special amenities such as personalized turn-down service, cookies and milk for kids and in-room video game setup along with access to private kids’ facilities.
The resort’s Kids Zone is temporarily closed. However, staff members host outdoor activities with a weekly schedule available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for ages 4-12. All the activities have limited capacity and are available on a first come, first served basis. Some offerings include painting and milkshakes, family beach bonfires, outdoor movies, storytelling under the stars and even disco and fitness training for kids.
One of our favorite evenings during my stay was a sunset tour on a yacht to The Arch, or “El Arco,” a distinctive rock formation at the southern tip of Cabo San Lucas. Adrian, the captain of the yacht, let me have a stint at the wheel while he playfully turned to leave the top deck. El Arco stands three stories tall and was formed from natural erosion. It is adjacent to Lovers Beach on the Sea of Cortés side and Divorce Beach on the rougher Pacific Ocean side.
We stayed where the water was calmer and the sea lions poked in and out of its depths.
The next morning, back on the shores at Paradisus, we were delighted to participate in a turtle release program that the resort hosts each November. We sat on the sand as organizers explained the turtle protection process. The Sea of Cortés and Baja California peninsula are home to five species of sea turtles; hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback, green turtle and olive ridley – all of which are endangered. Paradisus Los Cabos and local grassroots organizations partnered to protect the sea turtles.
After the talk, we met the turtle hatchlings, using a glove to choose one each and walk a few feet from the mouth of the sea. “Let them go now, but stay back,” our guide yelled over the sound of the waves rushing in. We watched with bated breath as our tiny turtles, led by instinct, scrambled toward the sea, many of them getting washed back up on shore and having to try again. A long line of us volunteers collectively cheered the turtles on until not one of their little bodies was visible on the sand.
Supporting local artists and artisans is just as important to me as doing my part in helping protect an area’s natural environment. Paradisus introduced us to several artisans, including Proyecto Beatriz, a collaborative platform that was born to honor the work of the late Beatriz Carrehga, who started helping artisans in vulnerable communities of Guerrero 17 years ago. I bought a beautiful basket-woven notebook covering and a basket with a lid to keep our Thanksgiving bread warm.
More local introductions included Espíritu Lauro artisanal mezcal, which has been made in Palenque for the last 100 years, and small black clay mezcal glasses crafted by Gustavo Calderón, an artisan of San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca. And in San José del Cabo, I bought a malachite and sterling silver necklace from the exuberant Juan Gonzalez Vega at Paco’s Jewelry and Design, which also sells leather goods family members of all ages will enjoy.
For film art, November is the month of the annual Los Cabos International Film Festival, which draws a global crowd and showcases films from emerging and established filmmakers. This year, the festival will take place Nov. 11-15.
Good food and poetry go together like milk and honey. In one day, we toured three farms, sampling tasting menus and sipping cocktails and mocktails. We visited ACRE, a 25-acre, palm-forest farm resort, which has treehouses, organic farms, private event spaces, an award-winning bar and restaurant and even a pet adoption program (I came so close to adopting a puppy!). We also toured Flora Farms, a 25-acre farm in the foothills of the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains in San José del Cabo, home to a quaint campus that includes Flora’s Field Kitchen, a grocery, clothing and craft shops, gardens and even a few chickens scooting around.
Our last stop was Los Tamarindos, a 17-acre organic farm located five minutes from downtown San José del Cabo. Here, executive chef and owner Enrique Silva has developed a culinary experience that presents Mexican-Mediterranean cuisine paired with the freshest ingredients from his crops and riches offered by the Sea of Cortés. The restaurant is housed in a beautiful and rustic brick farmhouse built in 1888 and overlooking the “mixology garden.” Silva walked us through the fields, pointing out produce and how they use it in the kitchen.
That night, after a mind-blowing tasting menu at the resort’s Gastrobar, we sat under the soft light of a chandelier and listened to live poetry. Tania Langarica, a philosophy student and author, performed her poem “No Hay Manantiales en la Carne” in Spanish and English. The poem is about “letting go of the things that harm you, that make you feel earthly beaten,” Langarica says. “There’s no infinite running through the flesh, just through the soul. Be present, embrace the things that matter, embrace your nature.”
Reflecting on her poem and Los Cabos today, in a world that is so different from the way it was 12 short months ago, is, indeed, balm to the soul.
Cassandra Lane is Editor in Chief of L.A. Parent
