By Christine Richard, Sunset features editor

I like cocktails. It seems like, in the past year, restaurants have stepped it up a notch. Or perhaps I’ve wandered away from wine. Some of my favorites are

The Southern Exposure  junipero gin, fresh mint, lime juice, celery juice, touch of sugar
at Alembic in San Francisco

Gaby de Lys gin, orgeat, absinthe, bitters
at Mystery location in San Francisco; it's too crowded over here already and it used to be my neighborhood haunt. So sorry, but no. You have to find the Gaby de Lys on your own.

Almond smoked sea salt, toasted almond, tequila at Aziza in San Francisco

Corpse Reviver #2, Carter Beats the Devil (Serious kitsch; building is fabulous deco)
at Flora (no Web site) in Oakland, 510/286-0100

Joie de Veev Veev acai infused vodka, acai juice, fresh lime juice with a cinnamon sugar rim
at West in Hotel Angeleno in Los Angeles. The view is pretty fantastic too

Keep the creative cocktails coming (but it would be nice if they weren’t $15 for a splash).

Happy long weekend.

by MacKenzie Geidt, Sunset assistant travel editor

I've been hearing about this weekend's big Slow Food Nation events for weeks now, but I just haven't been swayed by all the PR hype....until yesterday afternoon when I got to experience a bit of "slow" for myself in San Francisco.  I guess I have jury duty to thank for getting me out to the Victory Garden outside City Hall.  After getting dismissed from the jury (I'm rarely impartial), I stumbled on this incredible garden right across the street from the courthouse (that's me and my trusty red bag loving the lettuce beds).

I'm not the biggest garden enthusiast (I doubt the garden editors would approve of the fake plants in my apartment, tasteful as they are) but I was flat-out astounded by this project.  Such a huge array of edibles, with such cool geometrical design.  And right in the middle of San Francisco's Civic Center, where I normally encounter pan-handlers, not parsley.  I guess I had to see it for myself to get excited about it.  Just check out this corn taking over City Hall!

Talk about bounty!  Cucumber, leeks, lettuce, basil, tomatoes, oregano, Hopi blue corn, parsley, thyme, kale, bok choi, strawberries, lavender, Mexican sunflowers ...

And I got to brush up on my Spanish vocabulary with each plant label. (The Chinese is beyond my ability but it's still cool-looking.)

The garden went up on July 12th with the help of volunteers, many from Sunset, one of the event's partners (the plants obviously weren't started from seed or we'd all be scared of a mutant takeover).  My absolute favorite part of this project is that each Thursday's harvest has been donated entirely to the San Francisco Food Bank, making it a genuine Victory Garden, not just for show.  This food is being eaten by people who need it! 

So now I know that it's not just hype and I'm finally excited!  Seeing is believing!  Definitely want to hit one of the events: Taste Workshops, demos at the Green Kitchen, Food for Thought lectures (on cool stuff like how climate change affects our food system), Slow Dinners, Slow Journeys guided trips (to wine country and local farms), and obviously the truly impressive Victory Garden!  Check out the event schedule to find out what's going on.  And check out the Slow Food Nation website for tickets!

By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

Last month, I was up in Glen Ellen, California for a friend's wedding and stumbled upon one of my new favorite stops in Wine Country: Jack London Village. A low-key little row of all that's good in this world:
Cheese. Chocolate. Olive oil. Wine. All within steps of each other.

Like, I'm talking, literally two steps apart you've got:

Raymond Cheese Mongers: A nothing-fancy closet-sized shop filled with glorious, artisanal cheese made from cow's, goat's, and sheep's milk. Can't get there—don't worry, you can shop online!

Figone Olive Oil: Next, sample Mission-Manzanillo, Tuscan blend, and citrus olive oils produced right here in Glen Ellen. Got 500 lbs of your own olives? You're invited to press 'em at their village mill in November and December. (For more on making your own olive oil, see our One-block Diet blog. I'm a proud member of Sunset's Team Olive.)

Wine Country Chocolates: Then move on to chocolate. Handmade truffles infused with everything from cabernet sauvignon and port to apricot and fresh orange.

Eric Ross Winery A red barn-of-a-tasting room across the road with a rooster logo and crisp viogniers and rich pinot noirs.

And don't forget lunch: Olive and Vine makes some damn fine sandwiches—which you can enjoy on a shady picnic table, out back by the creek. I had a simple, but outstanding, house-roasted turkey served on toasted wholewheat spread with a zingy citrus-habenero mustard, topped with bacon and one of the juiciest tomatoes I've ever had—trucked in from the farm mere minutes before slicing.

Olive and Vine just so happened to cater that wedding, too. Yum.

by Matthew Jaffe, Sunset Senior Writer

As Joel Stein points out in his upcoming article on Malibu in September’s Sunset, this is a town that doesn’t reveal its secrets easily. Drive Pacific Coast Highway, and other than the ocean views, you might wonder what all the fuss is about.

When it comes to Malibu, you hear about stars, surfers, and fires—often in the same story. What you don’t usually hear about are places like Solstice Canyon, a Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area property just off of PCH. I  went back out to Solstice Canyon after it reopened following the 4,901-acre Corral Fire last November and rediscovered a spot that is one of the most Malibu of places even as it defies most of our preconceptions of just what Malibu is supposed to be.

For one thing, there’s no beach. Solstice is a tight canyon with a namesake creek (now being restored in the hope of bringing back its steelhead population) that flows beneath a forest of alder, oak, and sycamore. Many of the trees were charred in the fire but new growth is springing from blackened limbs and trunks.

The canyon has a verdant quality that especially in summer and fall makes it a prime alternative to hikes on the sun-blasted slopes elsewhere in Malibu. And yep, the beach is awfully nice, but a coastal canyon has its own charms.  Put it this way: Solstice was an appealing enough spot that back in 1865 Don Mateo Keller, the onetime owner of Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit who had 13,000 acres or so to choose from, decided to build his home here. (For anyone interested in some ancient, pre-Bottle Shock California wine history, Keller was a pioneer in the industry and helped introduce the state’s vintages in the eastern U.S.)

Keller’s stone cabin still survives but the canyon’s big draw is a bit farther up. Tropical Terrace was designed by celebrated African-American architect Paul R. Williams. Built in 1952, the house incorporated its modern stylings into the canyon’s natural setting. Trees, boulders, cascades, and gardens were all part of the property’s design.

Tropical Terrace’s owners, the Roberts Family, also built a replica of the Shrine of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. No matter.

The shrine survived but the house was destroyed by—what else—a fire in 1982. What you see today are ruins that combine Mid-Century Modern touches, including vintage appliances, with a layer of jungle-like vegetation to create a setting that is equal parts Mad Men and Apocalypse Now.

In case you’re wondering, I didn’t see any celebs up in Solstice Canyon unless this one guy who kind of looked like a guy whose name I can’t remember turned out to be the guy who I thought he might be. So if you’re looking for stars, head over to Carbon Beach. But if you want to see another side of Malibu, this is the place to go.

By Amy Wolf, Sunset travel editor

You've got to wonder what it is about a town that can produce not one, not two, not three, but four Olympic runners at a time. And a small town at that. Mammoth Lakes, in California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada, proudly claims Ian Dobson and Jen Rhines, both 5,000-meter runners at this year’s Games, plus four-time Olympic marathoner Deena Kastor, and, most exciting of all, Ryan Hall, the new men’s marathon phenom, who’s about to find out whether he’s the world’s greatest in this Sunday’s Olympic men’s marathon.

Is it something in the water?

Well, there is the fact that Mammoth is at 7,000 feet, roughly the same elevation as the part of Kenya where some of the world’s fastest runners live and train. And then there's the small-town pride that has motivated the town to run a million miles collectively in honor of homeboy Ryan Hall (part of an admirable initiative called the Lighthouse Project) and to post "Run, Ryan, Run!" signs all over the town.

But I’ll go out on a limb and say that I think this convergence of great runners must be mostly a result of the Eastern Sierra's unbelievable beauty. Consider this: the first time Hall got a notion to run, he put on his shoes and ran 15 miles around Big Bear Lake with his dad. Think he would have run 15 miles for his very first long run if he’d lived in a suburban strip mall town? I doubt it.

I grew up in Marin County, running on Mt. Tamalpais, and I’m certain that my early exposure to those trails is what turned me into an avid and lifelong runner. I feel blessed to have grown up thinking of exercise as a fun thing to do, not a chore. All because there’s nowhere I’d rather be than a quiet mountain trail shaded by redwoods, or up high breathing in the maple syrup-y scent of manzanita and looking down at the fog bank below. That’s the closest I get to religion. Give me my Sunday run and I’ll be fine.

I haven't yet made it to Mammoth but after reading about Hall and his hometown in the August 11–18 issue of the New Yorker, I’m ready to go check it out.

What’s your favorite place to run? Do tell…

By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

Wow, it’s so nice to know that people out there feel as strongly about milkshakes as I do! We got a slew of responses from my opinionated post last month. Thought I’d spread the milkshake love and share just a few of our readers' favorite cold slurps from around the West:

Fields, Oregon (Population of this ranching town is only 8—well, 10 if you count the 2 part-time residents)

But it’s worth a stop on your next drive through southeasten Oregon—for a real, hard-scoop, vanilla bean shake. We’ve heard their coffee milkshake—with a dash of caramel and chocolate is a real treat, too. Especially after a hot day in the Great Basin Desert.

Garden City, Utah
Can’t beat LeBeau’s Drive-In on beautiful Bear Lake. Made with fresh raspberries!

Los Gatos, California
Happy Hounds Hotdogs apparently has the world’s best rootbeer float. Oo, that’s close to Sunset—will have to give it a try!

Boise, Idaho
Moons’ Kitchen Cafe. Fortunately new owners haven’t messed with this “best-ever milkshake"

Michael from Capitola, California says he’s never disappointed with Dairy Queen.
Yeah, I know all about those “Blizzards,” mixed with Oreos, M&Ms, whatever you want... They're not bad—as a last resort!  Michael, expand your milkshake horizons!

Meanwhile, I like this guy: Eric, from Kalama, WA, who says he goes out of his way for a fresh berry shake from the Burger Bar.  “Worth a stop on every trip (both ways) from Sea-Tac to Portland. In fact, I arrange my flights to and from Minneapolis so that I'll be driving through Kalama around lunch or dinner time. Crazy?” 

Not in my mind.

Haven't chimed in yet? Tell us about your favorite milkshake!

by MacKenzie Geidt, Sunset assistant travel editor

Some people think of Tahoe and get an immediate hankering to SKI.  I think of Tahoe and I want to SWIM!  I'd forego those alpine slopes any day for a refreshing summer plunge, and I got my chance last weekend on Tahoe's North Shore at North Tahoe Beach (part of the King's Beach stretch at the intersection of Hwys 28 and 267).  Here's a supreme spot to throw down your towel:

\

And just in case you need a reminder why Tahoe is so superior, here's a couple fun facts I learned:
Depth: Tahoe is the 2nd deepest lake in the entire U.S!  (apparently Crater Lake in Oregon takes 1st)
Clarity: Crystal clear!  70 ft. deep water clarity
Water temperature: 65-70 degrees F near the surface in August and September...pretty near perfect

Got a favorite Tahoe swimming spot?  Other stellar swimming lakes?  Do tell!

By Amy Wolf, Sunset travel editor

Quiz time. Question: A Sunset pig is a) a Sunset Magazine editor who eats too much food from the test kitchen, b) a lyric in a Joni Mitchell song, or c) a book about travel.

Answer: all of the above.

My point: Kiss the Sunset Pig (Penguin Canada, 2006), a travel memoir by Canadian author Laurie Gough, is worth reading—especially if you didn’t get to do any exotic trips this summer, thanks to gas and airline prices and the economy. It’ll make you feel like you have.

As a travel editor, I’m the first to admit that travel writing is dominated by a whole lot of garbage. Too many travel writers chronicle exactly what happened with painfully tedious detail, or use their writing as an excuse for self-indulgent navel gazing. Gough avoids both of these pitfalls by taking the reader on a virtual journey that has a distinct end point, and sharing a lifetime worth of travel memories along the way. She has a destination in mind (California), but, as is the case with every great trip, the journey is what counts.

Driving an old, beat up car named Marcia, Gough makes her way solo from Canada toward California, the place of her dreams, reflecting along all the while on her many past adventures—floating down the Yukon River, getting high as a kite in Sumatra, almost drowning in a boat off Indonesia, attempting to teach English in Seoul, Korea. As these memories intertwine with her road trip adventures of the moment—washing her hair in a casino bathroom in Vegas, almost breaking down in the middle of the Nevada desert—she keeps asking herself why she’s still such a drifter, why she can’t just settle down and find a home for herself.

The antidote to her problems, she thinks, will be California, a place that holds a magnetic draw on her, the one place where she can picture herself settling down and staying. The way she writes about California would be reason enough to pick up the book. In California, she writes, “One afternoon you could be driving through a grove of redwoods and the same day pass beneath a canopy of eucalyptus trees and their cool menthol scent permeates the air along the winding road for miles. When you exit the canopy you may find yourself facing the intimate shock of the ocean, aquamarine, eternal and crashing, and you think you’ve arrived at the edge of your senses because here, after all the magnificent sites of the West, is finally the place where nature’s combination of land, sky, water, weather, vegetation and space is perfect. Egrets, pelicans, monarchs, coyotes and bobcats grace the land and sky while far off somewhere is always the sound of a lone seabird. In California, you always feel as if you’re meandering through a canyon deep in secrets of another life that could be yours.”

With that kind of love of the West, Gough should be reading Sunset Magazine.

And you should read Kiss the Sunset Pig.

The September issue of Sunset will be on newsstands next week. Here’s a peek at one page from our new Weekend guide: We’re calling it Insider Tips. In it, experts share their local scoops.

To read this month’s tips for your area—from the Northwest and Northern California to Southern California, the Southwest, and the Mountain region—scroll down. Have some tips of your own? Post a comment below.

Seattle local and dog expert Lisa Wogan, with Renzo (a Husky mix) and Lulu (a Lab mix). Photograph by Annie Marie Musselman

NORTHWEST

Expert: Lisa Wogan, pets columnist for Seattle’s nwsource.com and author of Dog Park Wisdom
Field of study: Fun outings with Fido

Best places to play: Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA ($1 parking fee; 6046 W. Lake Sammamish Pkwy. N.E.; 206/205-3661). Cougar and Squak Mountains in the Issaquah Alps of Issaquah, WA.

Fave dog-friendly getaways: Dog Bark Park Inn in Cottonwood, ID (open through Oct 31; $92; 208/962-3647). Crystalwood Lodge near Klamath Falls, OR ($152 through Sep 14, $122 after; 866/381-2322). Alexis Hotel in Seattle (from $279; 888/850-1155).

Where to get a drink with your dog: Portland’s three Lucky Labrador Brewing Company locations.

Go-to dog treat: Himalayan Dog Chews (from $7.50).

Dog coats for cold days: Zentek Clothing (from $98; 206/784-5038).

San Francisco resident turned mountain man John Muir Laws (yep, real name). Photograph by David Fenton

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Expert: John Muir Laws, who spent six years compiling The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada

Field of study: Sierra wildlife

Best places to see wildlife: Catch migrating hummingbirds in the Mokelumne Wilderness (209/258-8606), south of Lake Tahoe; try the family-friendly 5-mile round-trip hike to Winnemucca Lake from the Carson Pass trailhead (on State 88, east of Kirkwood). And spot marmots and pikas—which are like high-elevation rabbits—at Yosemite’s Olmsted Point ($20 per car).

Must-haves in your pack: A pair of Pentax Papilio 8.5x21 binoculars, duct tape (for blisters), a sunhat, and plenty of water.

Great post-hike spots: A soak in Travertine Hot Springs, near Bridgeport (free; on Jack Sawyer Rd.; 760/872-5000). Or fish tacos from Tioga Toomey's Whoa Nellie Deli ($$; open through late Oct; in Tioga Gas Mart, 22 Vista Point Dr., Lee Vining; 760/647-1088), at the Mobil station at the east end of Tioga Pass.

Bay Area bird-watching: Shorebirds, or “peeps,” at Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District facility (300 Smith Rand Rd., San Rafael).

Best bookstore: Green Apple Books & Music (506 Clement St., San Francisco; 415/387-2272).

At his Los Angeles wine shop, Christian Navarro fields some outrageous requests—like shipping 24 bottles of 1982 Château Pétrus ($4,500 each) to a director filming in Prague. Photograph by Joe Schmelzer

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Expert: Christian Navarro, sommelier to the stars and partner in Westwood’s Wally’s Wine & Spirits

Field of study: L.A.’s vino scene

His favorite L.A. wine bars: A.O.C. ($$$$; 8022 W. Third St.; 323/653-6359) and Lou ($$; closed Sun; 724 N. Vine St.; 323/962-6369).

L.A. restaurants with great wine lists: Providence ($$$$; 5955 Melrose Ave.; 323/460-4170) and Capo ($$$$; closed Sun–Mon; 1810 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica; 310/394-5550).

The best place to pop a cork for a special evening: The Hollywood Bowl, where you can sit outside on a warm, breezy night, listen to great music, and open a bottle of wine.

Longtime Santa Fe local Pauline Kenny recommends traveling to and staying in one place to really absorb your destination. Photograph by Jen Judge

SOUTHWEST

Expert: Pauline Kenny, founder of slowtrav.com

Field of study: “Slow travel” in the Southwest and beyond

Close-to-home escapes in Santa Fe: Views from Dorothy Stewart Trail (505/955-2102); the Museum of International Folk Art, on Museum Hill (closed Mon after Sep 1; 505/476-1200); and Ten Thousand Waves Spa & Resort (from $20; 505/992-5025).

Southwest hikes she loves: Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument ($5 per vehicle; 505/761-8700), southwest of Santa Fe. Near Taos, Carson National Forest (575/758-6200), on the road to Angel Fire. And Saguaro National Park ($10 per vehicle; 520/733-5158) in Tucson.

Favorite places for a long weekend: The Red Rocks area in Sedona, Arizona. And in Colorado, Boulder’s Briar Rose Bed and Breakfast (from $149, including organic breakfast; 888/786-8440), hiking in the Flatirons, and Ouray’s Wiesbaden Hot Springs Spa & Lodgings (rooms from $129, treatments from $15; 970/325-4347).

When he's not in the kitchen at one of his acclaimed Boulder restaurants, chef Matthew Jansen is on his bicycle. Photograph by Jenifer Harrington

MOUNTAIN REGION

Expert: Matthew Jansen, chef at Boulder’s Mateo Restaurant Provençal and Radda Tratoria

Fields of study: Cycling—and replacing those spent calories

Best road-bike routes for seeing Colorado’s autumn foliage: Independence Pass in Aspen. Also, Left Hand Canyon and Sunshine Canyon, both right in Boulder’s backyard.

Where to grab a post-ride treat: Amante Coffee ($; several Boulder locations), for a cold Moretti on tap or a scoop of gelato and espresso. Also, try the patio at Zolo Grill ($$; 2525 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder; 303/449-0444), for Coin-style margaritas.

Best local kitchen-supply shop: Peppercorn (1235 Pearl St., Boulder; 303/449-5847).

Top spots for a good meal (besides Jansen’s Mateo and Radda, of course—see below): Frasca Food and Wine ($$$$; closed Sun; 1738 Pearl St., Boulder; 303/442-6966); Cache Cache ($$$$; 205 S. Mill St., Aspen; 970/925-3835); and Osteria Marco on Larimer Square ($; 1453 Larimer St., Denver; 303/534-5855).

His own restaurants: Mateo Restaurant Provençal ($$; closed Sun; 1837 Pearl St., Boulder; 303/443-7766) and Radda Tratoria ($; 1265 Alpine Ave., Boulder; 303/442-6100).

by Margaret Sloan, Sunset production coordinator

Our collective family fantasy of swimming in romantic tropical pools along Maui’s famous Road to Hana was dashed by the time we got to the 10 mile marker. Secret waterfalls are evidently no longer secret, are difficult to reach for the less agile in our group, and trails that might lead to a pristine jungle pool are blocked by “Trespassers will be prosecuted” signs. With 27 more long miles to Hana, we were all afraid this was going to be a long—although admittedly beautiful—drive, with no place to experience the tropical landscape.

But having been disappointed at the 10 mile marker, we were cheered a half mile farther down the road.

Garden of Eden! View waterfalls! Picnic under fruit trees! Restrooms! The signs promised. We pulled in.

This is no cheesy tourist trap; the Garden of Eden Arboretum and Botanical Garden is the heart’s work of Alan Bradbury, arborist and landscape designer. 2 miles of trails wind through the perfectly manicured 26 acres, past tropical plants that are labeled with names and short squibs of information about the plants, and handcrafted rain shelters. And even the ultra-cool teenagers in the family were stunned by views of the vast Pacific Ocean and—best of all—the rock that starred in the opening scenes of Jurassic Park.

It’s a long drive  to Hana, but we spent several hours exploring the Garden of Eden and lunching in a rain shelter at the top of a hill, basking in the fresh trade winds. We ran out of time to check out the gallery of locally created art and the resident bird show (macaws and cockatoo) but the gardens were beauty enough. $10 per person, $5 for ages 12 and under; Open daily, 8 a.m.–3 p.m.; 10600 Hana Highway (on Highway 360, between mile marker 10 and 11); mauigardenofeden.com or 808/572-9899.