Autumn Road Trips | iDSC106

Autumn Road Trips - From SoCal to your Seasonal Bliss Nothing compares to a Southern California road trip as the seasons change. There's so much to see - from San Simeon and Hearst Castle in the north, to the former gold mining town of Julian in the south. Slide through Idyllwild to catch the fall foliage and fish the lakes in the San Jacinto Mountains. Hear the details of those spots, and more in this iDSC Podcast. ***Transcript*** Recording date – July 11, 2018 at in Los Angeles, CA Doug Shupe: San Simeon is a great destination to take a road trip to, you know, and enjoy the Hearst Castle. Julian is nestled about 6000 feet in the Laguna Mountains. It's about 40 miles northeast of San Diego. It's a former gold mining town. Another destination that people may not think of is Idyllwild. It's about maybe 40 minutes outside of Palm Springs up in the mountains, a couple of lakes to go fishing Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of this fine United States, Southern California. Tom Smith here with Doug Shupe, Senior Public Affairs Specialist from the Auto Club of Southern California, also known as AAA. Doug, thanks again for joining me. Doug Shupe: Hi, Tom. Thanks for having me. Tom Smith: The topic du jour is road trips, getting out there on the road that we love to do here in Southern California, and actually enjoying a trip, getting out of dodge . Now, Doug and I, this is where we're recording this in mid-July. And the idea really is to plan everything a few months out, right? Doug Shupe: Yeah, the season ahead. Tom Smith: The next season. Yeah, the season ahead. So, what we're going to focus on up in here is the fall season road trip. So, you're in Southern California, and you want to hit the road. You want to get out there on the open road. Where do we want to go as Southern Californians outside of the obvious Vegas? Doug Shupe: Yeah. Let's find some new destiny. Tom Smith: Yeah. Maybe I'm speaking from my own perspective now that I'm a new dad. You know, that Vegas road trip doesn't happen six times a year anymore. What do you have for us? Doug Shupe: Well, you know, San Simeon is a great destination to take a road trip to, you know, and enjoy the Hearst Castle, roughly the halfway point between San Francisco and LA. Tom Smith: Yeah. Doug Shupe: You know, a lot of important imported treasures from around the world there that you can see. Tom Smith: Now, you're talking about at Hearst Castle? Doug Shupe: At Hearst Castle. Tom Smith: Right. Doug Shupe: Yup, yup. The model for Mansion Xanadu and Orson Welles' movie, Citizen Kane. It's a great destination to check out. It's run by California State Parks. And there are actually four separate tours that you can go on. And if you're in the area, and you have the time, you can see the castle on an evening tour perhaps. Tom Smith: Yeah. Doug Shupe: So, that's a great idea to check out. Tom Smith: Now, I told you before we started this recording that I was going to be listening and participating in this podcast from a consumer's perspective because there's a lot of road trips that I haven't done. I've been in Southern California for about 13 years, 14 years now. That, actually, is one that I have done. Doug Shupe: You have done this one, great. Tom Smith: I know I've done one or two, but the times that my wife and I have done that trip, it was on the tail end of Paso Robles, Templeton Wine Tasting, up around those parts. Was that something that you were going to lead into? Doug Shupe: Yeah. Obviously, you have some great wine tasting there.