Fractured California Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yosemite National Park

Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Yosemite is breathtakingly beautiful. It has a huge central valley, spectacular waterfalls, redwood groves, hundreds of miles of hiking trails, and even an elegant old hotel, the Ahwahnee, which features the best breakfast I've ever eaten in the loveliest dining room I've ever eaten in. (It's a huge room with a 25 or 30-foot ceiling whose beams are decorated with Native American designs.

It has huge windows that look out onto a beautiful alpine meadow.)

Answer: Los Angeles

I grew up there, but I don't love it. Still, L.A. has wonderful beaches, restaurants, hilly canyons, art galleries, movie and TV studios, and museums. People from every world culture live there. The smog is less visible these days, due to California's strict air pollution laws.

When I was in elementary school I used to come home each day with that queasy feeling you get when you swim in a chlorinated swimming pool for too long. I was lucky to grow up in a lovely little canyon neighborhood called Beverly Glen that connected West L.A. with the San Fernando Valley.

It has winding lanes with names like Chrysanthemum, Tupelo, Oletha, and Basil. We had our own Play Group, a yearly Art Fair, and lots of quirky neighbors (artists, UCLA professors, and so on).

Answer: Santa Barbara

BTW: barre is a ballet term for the bar that dancers use to help them do their stretches and so on. Santa Barbara is a small, pretty coastal town about two hours north of L.A. I went to college there in the 1970s. There's a mission there, and much of the architecture is Mexican.

It's pretty touristy, but charming and a great place to relax. The whole town smells good--like flowers, ocean breeze, eucalyptus, and beach tar. I attended the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. If you are an aspiring writer, artist, or scientist, it's a great place to go.

It's small, and not as touchy feely as it sounds. As an undergraduate, you can concentrate on your major (take small seminars instead of huge lecture classes). It has a website you can check out.

Answer: San Diego

Quite near the Mexican border, San Diego has a world-famous zoo. There are beautiful beaches there. Funtrivia editor crisw adds: "I live in San Diego County--home of smog, traffic, right-wing politicians, corrupt City Council, environmental destruction--but also lovely mountains, quiet back roads, a huge diversity of species, chaparral and phainopeplas!"

Answer: Carmel

A pretty, little tourist town near Monterey and Big Sur. I find it a little crowded, but if you like walking and shopping and pretty beaches, it's a lovely spot. Honeymooners used to go there, but I'm not sure if they do now. Believe it or not, October is a good month in which to visit Carmel--it's sunny and bright there, then, and sometimes it's a bit less crowded.

There's a gorgeous but expensive golf course nearby (at Pebble Beach) if you're into golfing.

Answer: Death Valley

Death Valley lies in central-eastern California. In 1849 a party of 30 gold seekers looking for a shortcut tried to cross this valley. When only 18 survived, one of them gave the treacherous region its name. In 1917, for 43 consecutive days in July and August, the temperature rose to over 120 degrees Fahrenheit, or 48 degrees Celsius. On one July day in 1913, the mercury rose to 134 degrees Fahrenheit, or almost 57 degrees Celsius! Still, many avid hikers love to visit this region.

Answer: Monterey

Steinbeck country. Don't miss the Monterey Aquarium--it's great for kids, especially. This coastal town is near Big Sur and Carmel.

Answer: Sonoma County

This county is north of San Francisco. It's bordered by Marin, Napa, Lake, and Mendocino Counties. Sonoma features lovely beaches and zillions of wineries nestled in pretty valleys. Fabulous world-class restaurants. Hot springs. A great place to relax. (Can be HOT in summer, though, so I recommend spring or fall if you're planning a trip there.)

Answer: Calistoga

This is a lovely little town in Napa County. It's not known for wineries, but for hot springs. I usually stay there around New Year's Day when the weather is cold and rainy, but the hot mineral pools are inviting and steamy. I recommend the Calistoga Spa, but there are many other nice places to stay there. Calistoga is near St.

Helena, which is home to one of my favorite restaurants, Tra Vigne. My other favorite, Mustards, is between Oakville and Yountville (on the way back to Berkeley). Calistoga is nestled in a pretty valley.

Its name is a combination of California and Saratoga Springs (a hot springs town in New York).

Answer: San Fernando Valley

Having grown up over the hill from it, I myself do not care for the San Fernando Valley, but many of its residents love it. In the early 1900s it was filled with orchards and horse farms, but today it's a grid of long, long, long, straight 4-6 lane roads, strip malls, ugly apartment buildings, and ranch houses, mixed in with movie and TV studios.

This is where the "Valley girl" accent originated. I love Dupar's coffee shop in Studio City and Hamburger Hamlet in Sherman Oaks. If you love the Valley, tell me why and I'll include your comment here.

Answer: San Francisco

If you've never visited San Francisco, you should. It's truly one of the prettiest cities in the world. For a small city, it has a large number of parks; the biggest one is of course Golden Gate Park, which features a botanical garden, an art museum, and an aquarium/natural history museum complete with penguins.

There are beautiful restored Victorian homes, hills everywhere, an exciting downtown, and lovely little neighborhoods, each with its own character. (The Castro is mostly gay, the Mission is largely Hispanic, Portrero Hill and Noe Valley residents are mostly wealthy yuppies.) The Haight is still there, too, and still has a somewhat counterculture tinge, though it's been upscaled quite a bit. I recommend going to the top of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the Embarcadero.

There's a revolving restaurant there that will show you much of downtown and the Bay Bridge, too. Of course SF has some of the best restaurants in the world. I recommend a little one on Portrero Hill called Aperto. You could also try the Zuni Cafe (on Market) if you want to spend a lot of money. If you like quaint B & B's, try the Albion House Inn on Gough Street, which even has a room, the Joplin room, in which Janis Joplin once slept.

Answer: Mendocino

Mendocino is both a county and a town on Northern California's coastline. There is lots of fog and rain there, but when the sun comes out, it's gorgeous. There are dramatic cliffs, lovely beaches, and pristine wooded hills and rivers. Redwood trees grow in river valleys that lead to the sea.

The town of Mendocino is a lovely spot to visit--it's small and quaint but has fabulous restaurants.

Answer: Berkeley

My hometown centers around the large, pretty University of California campus. Behind the campus rise a long stretch of wooded hills known as Tilden Park. One part of North Berkeley is called "the Gourmet Ghetto." That's where Chez Panisse is located; run by Alice Waters, it's the birthplace of California cuisine (modified French cooking that relies on fresh local seasonal foods).

Many of the elegant old homes in Berkeley are covered with dark wood shingles. We have mild weather here all year round, although it does rain a lot during the winter and springtime.

Answer: Malibu

Malibu lies north of Santa Monica on the Southern California coastline. It's an ultra-upscale community of beach houses and horse ranches. Many movie and TV stars own homes there.

Answer: Palm Springs

This desert community is located in south-east California. It boasts many resort hotels and retirement villages. Thanks for taking this quiz. If you have interesting or quirky information to add about any of these places, please send it to me and I'll add it in.