iDriveSoCal

If you’re like most ‘car people,’ you already know about  Cars & Coffee events. The phenomenon has steadily gained traction over the years.

So what exactly is Cars & Coffee? Well, it’s what sounds like:  Car lovers and automotive enthusiasts check out cars together while enjoying coffee in the morning. It’s just that simple and, for car people, that glorious too. Cars & Coffee events are run by passionate volunteers who devote countless hours to planning; waking up early on a Saturday or Sunday to organize the day for people they don’t personally know, but who share their same love of cars.

A Cars & Coffee organizer or volunteer rarely gets paid. Perhaps a vendor, selling coffee and donuts, will turn a profit on the day. There are no entry fees for these memorable meet-ups.  And whether you’re showing off your Ferrari, or showing up as a spectator to check out a sweet ’87 Yugo – we’re all just equal lovers of cars.

Cars & Coffee events represent simple, automotive, passion, and are yet another reason Southern California is the automotive capital of the world. They got their start right here in our backyard.

In this iDriveSoCal Podcast, we get the Professor’s top five Cars & Coffee events from across the Southland.

***Transcript***

Recorded July 31, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA

Clinton Quan: It’s really amazing how popular it’s become. And all over Southern California, just on any given weekend, there’s a number of Cars and Coffee.

Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. Tom Smith here with the good Professor, Mr. Clinton Quan. Say hello, Clinton.

Lamborghini Huracan

Clinton Quan: Hi, Tom.

Tom Smith: Hey, hey, hey. The podcast that we’re doing today, we actually just hatched this plan. Cars and Coffee is a lot of things, right. It’s simply Cars and Coffee on a Saturday morning or Sunday morning. Automotive enthusiasts have been getting together in parking lots for years now.

Clinton Quan: Yes.

Mini Mk III

Tom Smith: And it’s really like it’s the older, more responsible, wealthier version of the teenage punk kids that get together on the evenings on the weekends in parking — Probably, somebody is saying parking lots, right.

Clinton Quan: It could be somewhat the same.

Tom Smith: All right. Maybe I’m stretching a little bit. I don’t know. So, Cars and Coffee started right here in Southern California, the concept.

And one of the first podcasts I did was with Barry Meguiar from Meguiar’s Car Care Compounds. And geez, that was a long time ago. But he shared that, you know, he was kind of one of the founding members of the group, and he’s a huge car guy himself. But, obviously, you know-

Clinton Quan: Car crazy.

Porsche 356A 1600 Super

Tom Smith: Yeah, exactly. Car Crazy is a TV and radio show for a while there. But he shared that the — He hung the hat of the real founder and his wife of Cars and Coffee.

I think it was a former PR guy for Ford that was down in OC by him. And I’d have to look at the podcast there, listen to the podcast again to know for sure who the person’s name was. But it started to Crystal Cove, and then it grew from there. And then, it got so big that it dissolved the original down in Irvine, right?

Clinton Quan: Yes, the one in Irvine. It was huge.

Ferrari 488 GTB

Tom Smith: So, another reason why Southern California is the automotive capital of the United States and the world is this is the home of Cars and Coffee. And as Barry so eloquently put it, you know, Cars and Coffee grew to not only a nationwide phenomenon but worldwide. They’re everywhere.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: And, you know, you just Google Cars and Coffee, and you’re going to stumble across a Facebook page or our web page somebody talking about it. And I don’t know if anybody owns the Cars and Coffee. Is there a trademark? Is there a copyright? I didn’t know.

Clinton Quan: I don’t think so.

Tom Smith: It’s a concept, right?

Ferrari F430

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: Cars and Coffee-

Clinton Quan: But it’s really amazing how popular it’s become. And all over Southern California, just on any given weekend, there’s a number of Cars and Coffee.

Tom Smith: Ton of them, still to this day, right?

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Ferrari 328 GTS

Tom Smith: And, actually, namedrop and throw one other celebrity Southern California element, Jerry Seinfeld in his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, right.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: Where is that? On Netflix or something like that. I don’t know.

Clinton Quan: It’s something like that.

Aston Martin DBS Superleggera

Tom Smith: Right, whatever. So, that’s what this podcast is about where Clinton and I kicking around the topic of Cars and Coffeee.

But also as Cars and Coffee started here in Southern California, and, legitimately, it’s yet another reason why Southern California is automotive capital of the United States, automotive capital of the world.

And the good Professor has a handful of top Cars and Coffee events here in So Cal that he’s going to rattle off, and we’re going to touch base on. So, take it away, Professor.

Clinton Quan: Okay. Well, these are some of the five biggest Cars and Coffee events here in Southern California. And the first one I’m going to talk about is the one that I just went to this past Sunday in Santa Barbara, and that previously took place in the community of a Montecito in Santa Barbara.  Santa Barbara Cars and Coffee.

Ferrari 458 Speciale A

And they just relocated to a bigger location, La Cumbre Plaza, in the heart of Santa Barbara. I think the event grew so big that they needed a much larger location, a parking lot at a shopping center.

Tom Smith: And I got a jump in real quick right there because, for regular listeners, you know that our events page is quite full with awesome events.

And the Professor’s always going out to events. We’re covering events constantly of the automotive nature. I don’t know what the solution is yet for the Cars and Coffee events because, as the Professor just pointed out, these are oftentimes so successful.

Some of them start and dissolve in, you know, outlying areas, but, oftentimes, are so successful, they outgrow their initial locations.

Ferrari 488 GTB

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: And then they go somewhere else.

Clinton Quan: Yup.

Tom Smith: And then it goes from a website that is giving all the information to a Facebook page, to what have you.

So, we don’t have a solution for that yet quite honestly because it’s just a lot to track down. And so, there you have it. But as you have interest in going to these Cars and Coffees, just Google them and maybe by the time you Google them, maybe we’ll have a solution.

Rolls-Royce Cullinan Unveiling

You’ll stumble back to iDriveSoCal.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: But nevertheless, that first one was Santa Barbara, right?

Clinton Quan: Santa Barbara Cars and Coffee. And this was my very first time attending the event. And just by going to the event, you can see this is really an event for all types of automotive enthusiasts. There were Ferrari’s. There were hot rods, classic cars, just a variety of vehicles.

Tom Smith: Yup.

McLaren 720S

Clinton Quan: So, it doesn’t matter what type of automotive enthusiast you are. If you love cars, this is where you want to go. You hang out. The owners of the cars, they love talking about their cars. So, it’s a great way to really find out more about the cars and to hear their stories.

Tom Smith: Yeah.

Clinton Quan: And that’s what’s amazing about that.

Tom Smith: And everybody has one.

Ferrari 488 GTB Spider

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: And now, some of them, some of the Cars and Coffees are, you know, Forrest Gump box of chocolates, right? There’s something for everybody in there.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: Maybe that’s not the best analogy. But then, some of them also focus on one genre or another.

Ferrari 488 GTB

Clinton Quan: Yeah. Some are a little bit more focused than others. That’s correct, yes.

Tom Smith: For instance, I’m going to go off, the first — Go off on a tangent here. The first Cars and Coffee that I ever went to, a buddy of mine who, actually, we grew up in the Midwest and moved out to Southern California around the same time.

And then, his company relocated to Plano, Texas. And this is just a few years back. I think 2015. And I went and visited him there, and he brought me to a Cars and Coffee.

As long as I had lived here for, what was it, 10 years, I had never heard of Cars and Coffee. He brought me to my first Cars and Coffee event in Plano, Texas.

And it was crazy. I mean, they had a section of Bugattis, a section of McLarens, a section of — I mean, like, the wealth that was displayed there was insane.

Ferrari 488 GTB

I’ve never seen anything like that. The Concours d’Elegance that you and I went to at Trump International Golf Course years ago was impressive.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: This blew it away by way of value of vehicles. And this was just people that are passionate about cars getting together, which is really, really cool.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: Cars and Coffees are just really cool. Sorry to go off on that tangent. This is your list. Back to the Professor.

Clinton Quan: Okay. The next one on my list is Westlake GT, and that takes place at a car dealership, Maserati, Bentley, Rolls Royce. And I believe there’s going to be one this coming Saturday, and they’re actually unveiling the new Rolls Royce SUV at this event.

Tom Smith: The Rolls-Royce SUV?

Clinton Quan: Yes.

Tom Smith: Which I’m sure will have a price point that’s well within everyone’s reach.

Clinton Quan: Yeah. I don’t know anything about it, but, yeah, I’m sure it’s going to be around $300,000 to $400,000.

Tom Smith: Yeah, lots of money.

Clinton Quan: Somewhere in that price range if I were to guess.

Tom Smith: But so, that’s the other thing about it, if we’re selling you on a Cars and Coffee events. And, again, we’re not paid to pitch Cars and Coffee events at all. But if we are, know that they move around from time to time location-wise. But then also because, usually, they’re organized by people that are just volunteering, right-

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: …because they love cars. But, then, also, oftentimes, it changes dates. So, hey, you know, it’s every other Saturday, or if it’s every Sunday, or what have you. So, there’s little inconsistencies there too.

But that’s the cool thing of it, right? It’s just people that have it in their blood that get together like, “Yeah, let’s do this. This is cool.”

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: So, sorry. So, that’s number two.

Clinton Quan: Number three, moving down along the coast, Malibu Cars and Coffee. And that one starts early in the morning. I think they do that twice a month. It’s from — I believe, it starts at 7:00.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Ferrari 365 GTB/4

Clinton Quan: So, for a lot of people, that would be quite a drive out to Malibu.

Tom Smith: Yeah.

Clinton Quan: And you’d have to get up really early.

Tom Smith: But you know what, PCH is so crazy – that you kinda got to do it that way.  You know. And personally-

Clinton Quan: That’s a great reason to go out a scenic drive on PCH early in the morning.

Tom Smith: And, personally, I mean, I’d rather go knock it out, you know, early because then you still have, you know, have a beautiful family whatever. You still have the weekend-day to do whatever, so.

Clinton Quan: Yup. Number four is Sunset GT. And that’s in-

Tom Smith: The Professor’s got to keep talking to his microphone. He’s looking down at his notes.

Clinton Quan: Was.

Tom Smith: The few times that you never need notes for anything. You always have everything off the top of your head. And for this, you need notes. Really?

Clinton Quan: Yeah. I’m trying to remember where I put-

Tom Smith: Give him the mic.

Lamborghini Huracan Performante

Quan: Keep these Cars and Coffee on my list.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Clinton Quan: Sunset GT. And this is in West Hollywood Sunset Plaza.

Tom Smith: Okay. And that’s got to be — I haven’t been to that one. That’s got to be a cool one.

Clinton Quan: Yes. And this one definitely focuses on exotics and sports cars, for sure.

Tom Smith: Sure.

Clinton Quan: Yes.

Tom Smith: And pretty people, right.

McLaren 570S

Clinton Quan: Yeah. I think this one starts a little bit later in the day. I think it’s more like 9:00 to 11:00. So, it’s a little bit more reasonable.

Tom Smith: Yeah. And all the partiers are just coming out of the bars at sunset, love the after parties like, “All right. All right. Let’s go. Let’s go to the Cars and Coffee now. Cars and bloody marys.” No drinking and driving, folks.

Clinton Quan: And then, you can go out for a nice brunch right afterwards.

Tom Smith: Yeah, there you go.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: What else?

Clinton Quan: And then, number five is a big, big one. It is Supercar Sunday, which is every Sunday. And that takes place in the San Fernando Valley in Woodland Hills at Westfield Promenade.

Tom Smith: Supercar Sunday.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: So, I mean-

Clinton Quan: This is one of the biggest ones, for sure.

Tom Smith: Is it all-

Clinton Quan: It is everything, everything.

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante

Tom Smith: How can you call Supercar Sunday if I can’t bring my Ford F-150 Raptor?

Clinton Quan: Well, they allow everything in there.

Tom Smith: Yeah?

Clinton Quan: It’s a huge parking lot. And then, once a month, I believe, it would be the first Sunday of every month, they have a theme. It might be Ferrari it could be Lamborghini, it could be hot rods.

Tom Smith: But they still have everything, they just have a section for those?

Clinton Quan: Yes. They just have more Ferraris.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Clinton Quan: More Lamborghinis.

Tom Smith: All right.

Clinton Quan: But yeah, you can still bring whatever you drive.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: So, Cars and Coffee events, yet another reason that Southern California is the automotive capital of the US and world. And those are some of the recommended events per the good Professor. And rattle off those top five again.

Clinton Quan: Well, we got Santa Barbara Cars and Coffee.

Tom Smith: Santa Barbara.

Clinton Quan: Westlake GT, Malibu Cars and Coffee, Sunset GT, and Supercar Sunday.

Tom Smith: So, just Google it or maybe we’ll have it on the iDriveSoCal events page. I’m not sure. We’ll figure it out, or at the very least, I think, we’ll have it in the summary of this post. We’ll have links to-

Clinton Quan: Yes.

Tom Smith: … hopefully their websites, or their Facebook pages, or whatever they have.

Classic Jaguar

Clinton Quan: Either the website or their Facebook page, correct.

Tom Smith: Okay. Anything else before we wrap it up, Professor?

Clinton Quan: I think that’s it. Most the ones I mentioned there, more in the North LA region, Conejo Valley or Santa Barbara. But there is so many of them there.

Tom Smith: They’re everywhere.

Clinton Quan: There is Corona Cars and Coffee. There’s a number of them, obviously, in Orange County.

Tom Smith: And the original one that started at Crystal Cove, then migrated to Irvine.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: And bounced around there for a while. But then, it got so big. I think in 2015 it disbanded.

Jaguar F-Type SVR

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: And they planned on disbanding it because it was getting so big, but they disbanded it a week early because it got so big. That second to the last week, they’re like, “We can’t do this anymore.” And it’s not the organizers. It was literally law enforcement saying, “This is out of control.”

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: People were coming. Thousands of people were coming. It’s clogging up the road.

Clinton Quan: I remember going one time, and I was blown away by how many people were there.

Tom Smith: I’m bummed that I never saw them before.

Clinton Quan: Yeah. It was incredible. It was insane to see that many people out there at 7:00 in the morning-

Tom Smith: Yeah.

Clinton Quan: … just to go to a parking lot to see cars.

Tom Smith: Yeah. Well, I mean-

Clinton Quan: That will just tell you how big the car culture here is-

Tom Smith: Yeah.

Clinton Quan: … in Southern California.

Jaguar XKE

Tom Smith: And then, that disbanded and kind of broken to two, or maybe even three, right. There’s there’s, I think-

Clinton Quan: There’s a number of them, yeah.

Tom Smith: There’s a Mission Viejo now, and then there’s one at the OC Fairgrounds. And then, I think, there’s another one down in San Clemente.

Clinton Quan: San Clemente at the outlets.

Tom Smith: Yeah.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: So, they’re everywhere, Cars and Coffee events. Hey, good, clean, fun, right?

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: Get up, you know. For some people, that’s church, right?

Clinton Quan: Yes.

Tom Smith: All right. Excellent. Professor, thanks as always. Always fun talking cars with you, my friend.

Clinton Quan: Yes.

Tom Smith: And look forward to the next time that we have the opportunity to do it. For now, I’m Tom Smith. This is iDriveSoCal. Thanks as always for listening.

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.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”43″ gal_title=”iDSC106″]

***Transcript***

Recorded July 11, 2018, 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. If you’re going to tour the Hearst Castle though, you really want to make sure that you make reservations well in advance. And the reason why we always say to plan your travels the season before-

Tom Smith: Right.

Doug Shupe: … is because you’ll always find last minute places to go.

Tom Smith: Yeah. That’s always a part of it.

Doug Shupe: But you’re going to pay a higher price.

Tom Smith: Yeah.

Doug Shupe: And you may not have the availability that you would have when you’re planning fall travel in the summer.

Tom Smith: Right.

Doug Shupe: So, even though, you know, summer vacations, in the middle of your summer vacations, it’s hard to think about where you’re going to go on your next vacation, but you probably should sit down, take 5-10 minutes, you know, talk about, “Okay. Hey, where should we go in the fall-”

Tom Smith: Sure.

Doug Shupe: … if you get that break.

Tom Smith: So, San Simeon and Hearst Castle, in combination with a wine tasting trip over Paso, Templeton is a good possibility. What else do you have there?

Doug Shupe: Julian’s a great destination.

Tom Smith: Now, what’s Julian?

Doug Shupe: 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. You can tour defunct mine tunnels. You can ride through town in a horse-drawn-

Tom Smith: Safely?

Doug Shupe: Yeah. Horse-drawn buggy.

Tom Smith: Defunct? Wait a minute, defunct?

Doug Shupe: It’s a gold mine tunnel, yeah, you can tour.

Tom Smith: Gold mine?

Doug Shupe: Yes, gold mine town there-

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: … in Julian, California. They’ve got a great little antiquey old-time downtown area where you can find antiques and shop for various country style items.

Tom Smith: What is this town called again?

Doug Shupe: Julian.

Tom Smith: How do you spell that?

Doug Shupe: Julian, J-U-L-I-A-N.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: And you’ve got a great number of bed and breakfasts. So, this could be a great romantic destination, you know, if you want to find somewhere in the fall to go.

Tom Smith: So, you’re not going to… This isn’t a place where you’re going to find your Ritz, and your Four Seasons, or your hotels.

Doug Shupe: You’re going to have a lot of more smaller boutique type places here.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: And so, it’s a great halfway stop if you’re visiting the nearby Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which, of course, in the springtime-

Tom Smith: Okay. You’re a-

Doug Shupe: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in the springtime is an awesome destination for the wildflowers-

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: … and poppies. So, it’s a great destination. And about two years ago, they had a super bloom, which was just amazing because of all of the rain that we had-

Tom Smith: All right.

Doug Shupe: … during the winter a couple of years ago. So, that’s a great … The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a nice place to go for wildflower viewing-

Tom Smith: Now, that’s-

Doug Shupe: …in the spring.

Tom Smith: That’s in spring, and that’s in combination with going to Julian.

Doug Shupe: Julian.

Tom Smith: But so, Julian’s an old mining.

Doug Shupe: Mining town, yep.

Tom Smith: All right.

Doug Shupe: And so, you know, you could do both. You just won’t see the wildflowers there at the Desert State Park. But, still, you know, visiting the desert in the fall, any time of year, it’s going to be a different experience each season you go. So, it might be nice to be able do both when you go to Julian.

Tom Smith: Now, Julian is where again?

Doug Shupe: It’s about 40 miles northeast of San Diego.

Tom Smith: Northeast of San Diego.

Doug Shupe: San Diego. So, it’s out kind of in the desert area. And what’s great about it is if you want, you could do like kind of a combination. Do a San Diego day, and then head up to Julian for a night.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: So, that’s in the Laguna Mountains. And so, that’s a great destination. You know, the kids might enjoy the horse-drawn carriages. It’s a great little romantic destination, as I said. One thing that would be awesome for the kids is the Grand Canyon Railway.

Tom Smith: Grand Canyon Railway.

Doug Shupe: Grand Canyon Railway from its previous years of transporting ore through the wild west, to the present day tours to the Grand Canyon, the railway, it really does … It’s an enchanting journey.

Tom Smith: So, you’re driving through the railway.

Doug Shupe: You’re driving to Williams, Arizona. So, from Southern California, you could simply take Interstate Highway 40 to Williams, Arizona. And the Grand Canyon Railway departs each day from the historic Williams Depot, which is located at the south end of the rail line.

Tom Smith: Okay. So, how long? We’re leaving from downtown LA. How long it was going to take us to get to-

Doug Shupe: Well, depending on traffic.

Tom Smith: We’re going to go when it’s not traffic.

Doug Shupe: Yeah, you’re going to try to avoid traffic.

Tom Smith: Yeah, we’re going to try. Yeah.

Doug Shupe: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you want to plan ahead. You’re going to plan a nice little road trip to get out there.

Tom Smith: Right.

Doug Shupe: But the great thing about it is there are various packages where you can actually do a day train trip, or you could even plan to stay overnight at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams.

Tom Smith: So, but I’m driving to Williams.

Doug Shupe: Driving to Williams.

Tom Smith: To get on the train.

Doug Shupe: To get on the train.

Tom Smith: How long of a drive is that going to be?

Doug Shupe: About a seven-hour drive to Williams. So, it’s a good significant long road trip. But then, once you get there, you’re going to be in the comforts of the rail cars.

Tom Smith: So, are you getting … Can you get a sleeper car?

Doug Shupe: They have multiple packages, and it’s not so much sleeper cars as it is you’ll go through to the Grand Canyon, and then you return, and you stay in the Grand Canyon Hotel, which is right there in Williams. And in the fall, what’s great about this destination is you can ride what’s called the pumpkin patch train. And in the fall, you can take this train, and actually go to a very secret pumpkin patch that’s only accessible by the train. Take the kids, and go and pick your pumpkins out. This adventure has very much a-

Tom Smith: And that’s actually where Charlie Brown and Lucy are.

Doug Shupe: You’re right, yeah.

Tom Smith: And Charlie Brown gets to kick the football.

Doug Shupe: It seems like out of that cartoon.

Tom Smith: Right?

Doug Shupe: It does, yeah. And then, this adventure has very much like a fall festival-like atmosphere. I mean, there are arts and crafts. And parents and kids are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes on the train. A lot of family photo opportunities. There are haunted train cars. And then, there’s even the hay bale mazes that the kids can go through as well.

Tom Smith: Okay. So, we’re driving seven hours to Williams.

Doug Shupe: Williams, Arizona.

Tom Smith: Williams, Arizona. And there, were hopping on a train-

Doug Shupe: On the train to go to the Grand Canyon.

Tom Smith: … for a little day trip to and from wherever.

Doug Shupe: With the south-

Tom Smith: Within the Grand Canyon.

Doug Shupe: Yup.

Tom Smith: But then, we stay. We’re staying back in Williams.

Doug Shupe: Williams, right.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: And so, you know, there are multiple packages. Now, specifically, the pumpkin patch train is in October.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: So, you really want to … If you’re looking for that great fall milling-

Tom Smith: Yeah, it could be a cool one.

Doug Shupe: … that’s a great October destination.

Tom Smith: So, if I want to go to Williams, Arizona and maybe spend a day there, I’m literally at the edge, and in the Grand Canyon. So, if I want to go deeper into the Grand Canyon from there, that’s a good starting point from Southern California.

Doug Shupe: It’s a great starting point, right. Yup.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: And you can also just hop on the train. And then, the train is really great because-

Tom Smith: Does the train actually go somewhere where you can actually-

Doug Shupe: It does. It actually goes to the rim. So, you can actually sit in the train. And what’s great about it is it’s got these like glass ceilings. And you just got beautiful panoramic views.

You have a lot of just really enchanting tales from the crew that talks about the Wild West days.

There’s music. And really, the musicians really help bring the old west back to life for those passengers on that train. So then, if you, of course, book that train in October, then you get that real nice Halloween fall feeling as well.

Tom Smith: Okay. So we have San Simeon, along with Paso, Templeton. We have the Williams, Arizona for the Grand Canyon. What else do we have for road trips in the fall from here about Southern California?

Doug Shupe: Lake Tahoe’s a nice place in the fall as well.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: Maybe not as busy as in the summer months.

Tom Smith: Sure.

Doug Shupe: But it’s a great destination, of course. It’s a year-round-

Tom Smith: Or not as busy as winter, right, for skiing.

Doug Shupe: Right, exactly. Yeah. So, it’s a year-round resort. But, you know, it’s just a nice place to go. And, of course, that’s not as far as some of the other destinations out there. The lake, of course, itself is a huge draw. Another destination that people may not think of is Idyllwild.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: That’s a nice little town. As you’re heading out toward Palm Springs-

Tom Smith: Okay.

Doug Shupe: You can visit Idyllwild. It’s about maybe 40 minutes outside of Palm Springs up in the mountains, a couple of lakes to go fishing. But, there, you might see some more fall foliage. It’s also one of these towns where you have like a town square right there in the middle and the top of the mountains.

Tom Smith: Sure.

Doug Shupe: A lot of great little bed and breakfast, little restaurants right there. It’s a relatively small town, but it’s a fun thing to do, especially if you have children that want to experience the outdoors.

Tom Smith: So, Lake Tahoe, that’s another six or seven-hour drive.

Doug Shupe: It is. That’s a longer drive. So, you want to stay a little closer-

Tom Smith: Okay. So, that’s a couple of nights, at least, I think.

Doug Shupe: Absolutely, yup.

Tom Smith: Idyllwild, I mean-

Doug Shupe: Idyllwild could be a day trip.

Tom Smith: Yeah, or a nice overnight, one night.

Doug Shupe: But if you can plan ahead, get an awesome overnight trip. Yeah, plan ahead and spend the night up there in Idyllwild.

Tom Smith: Yeah, perfect.

Doug Shupe: It’s a great destination.

Tom Smith: Personally, I’m not really want to do six or seven hours of driving just for one night. I want to go for two or three nights.

Doug Shupe: You want to go. Yeah, maximize that weekend.

Tom Smith: But in Idyllwild, that’s something that you could probably do one night, and feel pretty good about it.

Doug Shupe: For sure, yeah.

Tom Smith: Two nights, really relax. Okay. What else?

Doug Shupe: Another destination, you know, if you want to continue on, you maybe do one night in Idyllwild, and go down into Palm Springs. Of course, a lot of people go to Palm Springs.

Tom Smith: Sure.

Doug Shupe: But that’s kind of when you’re-

Tom Smith: In the fall though, that’s when their season starts peaking up.

Doug Shupe: Right, that’s when it starts to get a little bit busier. But also, when the temperatures are more bearable.

Tom Smith: Right.

Doug Shupe: So, if you’ve kind of avoided it for the summertime, you know, right around early October, mid-October, might be a good time to go out there to Palm Springs.

Tom Smith: But then, that’s … When they get busy, when temperatures are more mild, that’s when you have just to go out to eat, or rent, get a hotel room, you’re competing with tourists-

Doug Shupe: Absolutely.

Tom Smith: … from all around, not just Southern California. So, rates are-

Doug Shupe: Nationally.

Tom Smith: … quite a bit more.

Doug Shupe: Right. So, what you really want to do is definitely plan ahead if you’re planning a Palm Springs trip in the fall.

Tom Smith: Okay. What else? That’s it?

Doug Shupe: That’s about it. Yeah, that’s about it. I just picked a few of them.

Tom Smith: Hey, those are good ones. Those are good ones. So, Doug, rattle off these potential road trips for us, if you would please.

Doug Shupe: Yeah. So, just recap, some great places for the fall.

Tom Smith: Yeah, just a recap of what we just covered.

Doug Shupe: You know, San Simeon, the town of Julian. Check out that old mine, gold mining town. And then, we have, of course, Williams, Arizona. A little bit of a longer trip. Lake Tahoe, Idyllwild, and then Palm Springs, of course, when the temperatures are cooling off, but, of course, the crowds may be picking up.

Tom Smith: All right, fantastic. Doug, always a pleasure. Thank you so much. Doug Shupe, Senior Public Affairs Specialist from the Auto Club of Southern California, a.k.a. AAA. For iDriveSoCal, I’m Tom Smith. Thank you for listening.