Via | Fall 2019

the heart of wine country

Returning to Napa + Sonoma 28

Food fight: Portland vs. San Francisco 24

Your favorite train rides in the West 14

Is your home safe? page 39

A 30-foot-tall boot, originally designed for Burning Man, adds whimsy to rebuilt Paradise Ridge Winery in Sonoma, Calif. Page 28.

FEATURES

24 Food Fight

Which is the better food city, San Francisco or Portland? Two restaurant critics go head-tohead on fine dining, food trucks, and everything in between. by josh sens and karen brooks

28 From the Ashes

Two years after the fires in Napa and Sonoma, California’s wine country is bouncing back. by josh sens

36 The Family Cruise

Three generations sail through the Greek isles, and everyone gets exactly what they want. by michaela jarvis

DEPARTMENTS

6 To Our Members

Introducing AAA Smart Home, a new service that makes your living space secure and intelligent.

8 Community

Why you need a Real ID, and how to get one. Plus, club news.

11

Smart Life

AAA and the Let’s Talk Self-Driving campaign teach kids about staying safe around autonomous vehicles. Also: when to clear rain gutters.

14

On the Road

Your favorite train rides; North Lake Tahoe’s greatest hits; top rooftop bars; how to travel green; Cabo’s beach hideaway; a golden fall weekend in Grass Valley, Calif.

39 Smart Guide

Tips to keep your home and its contents safe from burglars.

50 Spotlight

Larger-than-life installations on display in Oakland, Calif.; the art of Tim Burton in Las Vegas.

52 #ViaAdventure

Southern Oregon’s leaf-strewed McKee Bridge glows with autumn color in this AAA Member photo.

ON THE COVER

What survived the Wine Country Fires of 2017? L-O-V-E. Page 28.

Cover photograph by David H. Collier

C A M O U F L A G E . A R M O R . I D E N T I T Y .

Now open in English, Español, 繁體中文, Filipino D,,,,v,, ,,, ,,,,,,,,,, , ,, ,,,, ,, ,,,, ,,,,d , ,,, , , , ,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,, , , , , , , ,, , , ,,,,,,,,, ,,,, ,,,,, , ,, ,,,,,,, , ,, ,,,, P,,, , ,,,,, ,,, ,,, ,,,,,,,,,,, ,, ,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,d,,,,, , ,,d ,,,,,,, ,

Editorial

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Dan Miller

MANAGING EDITOR LeeAnne Jones

SENIOR EDITOR Megan McCrea

EVENTS EDITOR Ethan Fletcher

Design + Production

DESIGN DIRECTOR Monica Ewing Jensen

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Amy Mackey

ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Veronica Sooley

PRODUCTION DESIGNER Anita Wong

PHOTO EDITOR Maggie Perkins

Digital

EXECUTIVE DIGITAL PRODUCER Rebecca Harper

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIST Valerie St. John

SOCIAL MEDIA Arthur Ilasco

Advertising

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Ted Welch

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Linda Black, Bruce Colton, Kevin McCaw, Mike Walker

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Natasha Alcalá

ADVERTISING ACCOUNTING William Nocera

2,679,954 COPIES Subscription rate: AAA primary members, $2 (included in dues). Change of address: Allow four weeks’ advance notice. Contact AAA at (800) 922-8228. Manuscripts and photos: Query first; Via assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited material. Reprints from Via: Contents copyrighted 2019 AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah. No part of Via may be reprinted without written permission.

Contact Via Editorial: Address all mail to Via, AAA, P.O. Box 24502, Oakland, CA 94623. viamail@viamagazine.com.

Contact Via Advertising: Address all mail to Via Advertising, AAA, P.O. Box 24502, Oakland, CA 94623. Fax (510) 899-0525.

Via (ISSN 1093-1716) is published quarterly by AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah, 1277 Treat Blvd., Suite 1000, Walnut Creek, CA 94597. Periodicals Postage: Paid at Walnut Creek, CA, and at additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Via, AAA, P.O. Box 24512, Oakland, CA 94623.

For tickets, buy online at A A A .com calacademy, visit your local branch, or call 888 - 890 -2470.

Win This Silicon Valley Dream House or Up to $4 Million in Cash

1 in 30 odds of winning over 2,500 prizes.

ABOUT THE DREAM HOUSE

This custom Saratoga home totals over 4,750 square feet on a 1-acre lot. The home features 5 bedrooms, 5 full and 2 half-baths, library, media room, guest quarters, and a gourmet chef’s kitchen. Located on a quiet street in Saratoga, the home is a short distance from parks, shops and restaurants. Raffle subject to rules and regulations found on SiliconValleyRaffle.com. If fewer than 71,000 tickets are sold the grand prize will become a cash amount equal to half the net proceeds, not to exceed $4 million. This year's Dream House was o ered as the grand prize for the 2016 SV Dream House Raffle. The 2016 grand prize winner, Sridhar Ramareddi, received the alternate cash grand prize, making the home available again for this year's raffle.

ABOUT THE RAFFLE

Tickets are $150 each, 3-packs for $400 each or 5-packs for $550 each. The Grand Prize Winner chooses either the dream house in Saratoga or $4 million in cash. 2,500 total prizes will be given away including cars, vacations, electronics and cash. The odds of winning a prize are now 1 in 30. Individuals who purchase three or more tickets are automatically entered into the Multi-Ticket drawing for a 2019 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe or $50,000.

BENEFITING YBCA

In the past 9 years, your support via the Silicon Valley raffle has raised millions for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA.org). YBCA's mission is to generate culture that moves people, because culture is an essential catalyst for change. From leading edge exhibitions, performances and films, to groundbreaking civic programs, YBCA pursues bold new ways to transform our lives and cities through art. Your support has enabled YBCA to re-imagine what an art center can be, and how it can serve our citizens.

Making your home safer and smarter TO OUR MEMBERS

You already know that AAA can help you stay safe and secure on the road. Now we want to help you stay safe and secure at home, too.

To that end, AAA is launching AAA Smart Home. This service will launch initially in Arizona, and come to your neighborhood in 2020.

AAA Smart Home will install all the security hardware you need: door and window sensors; HD cameras so you can keep an eye on what’s going on when you’re away; smoke and carbon monoxide alarms; and motion and glass-breakage detectors for extra attention in rooms where you keep valuables. Most important, AAA will then provide 24/7 monitoring for all of it.

As the name implies, AAA Smart Home can do more than make your home safer: We can make it more intelligent, too. In addition to all those security sensors, we can install and activate more than 70 different types of home automation devices, such as “smart” doorbells, locks, thermostats, and lights, which can all be controlled remotely using the AAA Smart Home app.

Of course, AAA Smart Home will deliver all this convenience and peace of mind with our legendary Member service and also offer great value. Our team will work with you to figure out what hardware your home needs. You can decide if you want to pay for the hardware up front or in interest-free monthly installments. Monthly monitoring fees start as low as $19.99 with your AAA Membership discount of $5 per month—a great value when you consider that the monthly savings of $5 would cover the annual cost of a Classic Membership.

AAA Smart Home is just one more example of our ongoing commitment to making AAA the Membership you can’t live without. To learn more, go to AAA.com/smarthome.

Thank you for allowing us to serve you. ba.

TIM CONDON, PRESIDENT & CEO

LEFT: JEFF XANDER; RIGHT: JAMES BUETI

ALASKA

HOLLAND AMERICA LINE PRESENTS ON LINE ALASKA

Holland America Line’s innovative On Line Alaska program is a stunning visual presentation that will inform and inspire you about the culture, history and grandeur of Alaska and the Yukon. Presented by regional experts who are eager to share their stories and answer your questions. This fun and informative presentation comes with exclusive incentives for you!

Vi sit A AA.com/goAlaska to RSVP for a n interactive

3 0 -minute On L i n e Alaska event on Tuesday, S eptember 17, 2019 at 6:30pm (P acific Time) .

Time to get your Real ID

Most travelers know the airport routine: Before you enter the security checkpoint, you show your boarding pass and a picture ID. It’s the law—and it’s about to get stricter.

As of Oct. 1, 2020, all states will need to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005, which established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. If you want to board a commercial flight (or enter some federal buildings and military bases) after Oct. 1 next year, you’ll need to present a Real ID card or its equivalent, such as a valid passport or U.S. military identification.

The differences between Real IDs and older forms of identification? The new cards must incorporate new security features and can only be issued after applicants provide documentary proof of their identity. Most states— including California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah—are already issuing Real IDs; Oregon will begin doing so in mid-2020.

Unfortunately, this is one car-related chore you can’t take care of at your local AAA branch. Rather, you must appear in person at your state motor vehicle office. There, you’ll need to provide that proof of identity (such as a birth certificate or passport), evidence of your Social Security number (such as a Social Security card or W-2 form), and two documents attesting to your home address (a rental agreement, utility bill, or something similar); the residential addresses on the latter must all match. To learn more about the requirements, visit dhs.gov/real-id. josh sens

The best gift card

Want to start your holiday shopping early? Consider the gift of a AAA Membership. For $56, you can give a loved one—and yourself—peace of mind knowing that the recipient will never be stranded by the side of the road, stuck with a dead battery, or locked out of the car.

↘

So many ways to save with Hertz

Of all the benefits that come with your AAA Membership, perhaps the most extensive are those you get with Hertz. For starters, AAA Members get up to 20 percent off the base car-rental rate. If you have kids, you don’t need to schlep your own car seat through the airport: Hertz will give you one for free with each rental (a savings of $13.99 per day). You get 10 percent off the price of gas when you prepay for fuel. There’s no charge for adding up to four qualified drivers. (That can save you another $13.50 per day.) Hertz will waive the young-renter fee (which can be up to $29 per day) for AAA Members ages 20 to 24 who meet standard rental requirements. And if you join the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards program, you get one free rental day and never have to wait in the pickup line.

↘ AAA.com/hertz

Smart Life

5 things to do now

As the weather cools, fall for free museums, winning Halloween costumes, and clever car names. But first, clear some leaves.

Clean your gutters. Admire the color-changing autumn leaves for a few days, then get to work. Stay ahead of blockage— and subsequent flooding— by clearing gutter debris at least twice a year: once in fall and once before the rains begin in spring. Need help? Learn about AAA House Manager services at AAA.com/housemanager.

4 3 2 1

Expand your mind. Sept. 21 is Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day, which means free admission to art and cultural institutions across the country. Reserve tickets to visit participating locations, including the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, Calif., and the Tucson Desert Art Museum in Arizona.

Walk your dog. Strike that: Have someone else walk her for you! AAA Members receive a $30 credit when they sign up for Rover, a service that will connect you with trusted local pet sitters and dog walkers. Visit AAA.com/rover.

Name your car. Herbie, Lightning McQueen, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang… a great vehicle deserves a great moniker. If you haven’t yet bestowed one on yours, this is a prime time: Oct. 2 is National Name Your Car Day.

5

Create your disguise. A Halloween costume contest demands a unique getup—but be sure your kid’s ensemble is correctly sized, flame resistant, and free of sharp accessories. For more holiday tips, visit AAA.com/halloweensafety.

leeanne jones

Leaves: friends to autumn admirers, foes to gutters and downspouts.

SMART LIST

Teaching kids about driverless vehicles

It’s a classic bit of advice for kids crossing the street: Make eye contact with drivers, to be sure they see you before you cross. But what do you do when the car itself—and not a human inside—is doing the driving?

That’s one of many puzzling questions raised by the advent of autonomous vehicles (AVs), which are slowly moving from labs and test tracks to public streets. And it’s one that AAA is helping to answer.

these vehicles work and what they can and can’t do.

As part of that initiative, AAA is adding a new activity to its School Safety Lesson Plan to teach children in grades four through six about selfdriving vehicles, how they differ from the human-driven kind, and how to stay safe around them.

For nearly 100 years, the AAA School Safety Patrol has taught kids how to be smart about traveling to and from school. This fall, AAA is joining in efforts to teach them how to make that journey safely in a world that includes self-driving vehicles.

AAA is partnering with Google offshoot Waymo, the National Safety Council, and other organizations in Let’s Talk Self-Driving (letstalkselfdriving.com), a campaign to teach the public about AVs. The goal is to increase awareness of how

AAA is also collaborating with Let’s Talk Self-Driving on a video featuring AAA-trained School Safety Patrollers (students who help peers navigate the streets near schools) talking about AVs.

We’re still years away from the time when self-driving cars, trucks, and buses will dominate our roadways. But for the kids who are in school today, such vehicles will eventually be more ho-hum than gee-whiz. Which makes this an excellent time to start teaching children how to stay safe on the street—even when there’s no human driver to look in the eye.

Been Waiting for Finally Arrived!

On the Road

“Traveling from Southern California to Seattle on the Coast Starlight, my husband and I were amazed by the ocean panoramas, glass-clear lakes, and tumbling waterfalls. At intervals, we sat down to a delicious white-tablecloth meal.” susan lee

MEMBERS’ FAVORITES

Terrific train rides

↘ Go ahead, give in to the locomotive’s siren song. Stunning scenery, old-world glamour, and pure relaxation await.

“If you ride Amtrak’s Empire Builder overnight from Portland to Glacier National Park in Montana during the summer, you can watch the sunset through your window all the way through the Columbia Gorge. The train arrives in the park in the morning, so you have all day to explore.”

linda wilshusen

“The Virginia & Truckee Railroad can take you from Nevada’s state capital, Carson City, to Virginia City, site of the famous Comstock silver strike, climbing 1,000 feet along the way. Outside, you’ll see many old mines and, if you’re lucky, wild mustangs!” bill kohler

“Colorado’s Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad offers views— of the Animas River and the Rocky Mountains—that are inaccessible by highway. It’s especially spectacular in fall, when the aspen trees are turning from green to gold.” stuart bacon

“As a docent at the California State Railroad Museum, I find it difficult to pick the best train. But I love taking Amtrak’s California Zephyr from Sacramento to Reno for a quick getaway. In winter, the Zephyr goes right under the gondola at Tahoe’s Sugar Bowl. It’s incredible.” lee sampson

“It’s hard to imagine any ride that represents the Old West better than the Verde Canyon Railroad in Arizona.

The tracks wind past vast expanses of ranch land, lush cottonwoods, and wild burros en route from Clarkdale to Perkinsville.” dianne echazabal

“Riding the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is truly dramatic, with the staccato of the steam locomotive and the piercing echo of the whistle as the engine climbs Cumbres Pass. This ride, straddling the Colorado–New Mexico state line, is railroading in an unforgettable setting.” mark miter

“Hands down, the West’s best train ride is the Rocky Mountaineer, which runs a route from Vancouver, B.C., to Jasper, Alberta. No picture even comes close to capturing the magnificent landscapes you see from the dome car.” glenn chee

“Three hours north of San Francisco in Mendocino County, the Skunk Train runs through meadows and groves of old-growth redwoods, just as it has since 1885. It’s an experience like no other to hear the chug, chug, chug along the tracks, see the plume of steam above, and watch the beautiful wilderness unfold.” brenda crotts

NEXT QUESTION

What’s your favorite waterfall in the West, and why do you love it?

↘ Email us at otr@viamagazine.com. You may be quoted in a future issue.

The high life

↘ Rooftop bars pair glorious panoramas and delicious sips.

A great bar evokes the Friday feeling: that sense of elation, relaxation, and infinite possibility. And what setting better captures that feeling than a rooftop bar, where you can rise above it all, catch beautiful views, and perhaps get a breath of fresh air? Raise a glass to the West’s top spots to drink in the sights.

● Perched atop the Archer Hotel in downtown Napa, Sky & Vine has just as deep a wine menu as you’d hope for in

Northern California wine country, with 23 varietals available by the glass. Night owls love the Reverse Happy Hour—from 9 p.m. to closing time Sunday through Thursday—when draft beer prices drop to $6 and bar bites such as lobster corn dogs are offered.

● With the dramatic Alaska Range and the Cook Inlet as a backdrop, the rooftop patio at 49th State Brewing Company in Anchorage emphasizes a sense of place. Tip back one of its small-batch brews—maybe a citrusy Solstice IPA or chocolaty McCarthy’s

ESCAPE TO SONOMA COUNTY

There’s never been a better time to experience Sonoma County. Discover acclaimed food and wine festivals, hike among towering redwoods and connect with the land – and with each other.

Ketchum’s Warfield Distillery boasts house-made spirits and rooftop fire pits.

Stout—while noshing on dishes inspired by the Last Frontier, such as the king crab grilled cheese.

● Crowning the white Meier & Frank Building, one of Portland’s early department stores, Departure overlooks Pioneer Courthouse Square. Its spirits menu features a broad array of sakes and whiskeys distilled in Japan, Scotland, and the United States. Mixed drinks include options such as the Varuna, a fragrant mocktail of persimmon, cinnamon, ginger, and pine nut. The interiors—think Space Mountain meets 2001: A Space Odyssey—open on to views of downtown and the Willamette River.

● With popular trivia nights and PBR aplenty, Salt Lake City’s unpretentious Green Pig Pub has become a neighborhood institution. Its dog-friendly

rooftop, which looks out over the City & County Building and the Wasatch Range, makes a comfortable place to spend an afternoon. Snack on house favorites like the Pig-a-delphia cheesesteak, a porcine take on the classic Philly sandwich.

● The Warfield Distillery & Brewery, on Main Street in Ketchum, Idaho, may be oriented upward, with its soaring Bald Mountain vistas, but its menu is firmly grounded in local soil. The kitchen leans on ingredients from nearby purveyors such as Mountain Pride meats. A rotating selection of entrees, among them the fennelcrusted rack of lamb with chard salad and a bone-in tomahawk steak, accompany beer and spirits made on-site.

● Commonwealth, on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, provides a

refreshing break from the sleek megaclubs of the Strip. You can join the young crowd that gathers on the upstairs patio with its sofas, benches, and ample dancing space as you wait for the table you reserved weeks ago in the Laundry Room, a speakeasy within the bar. The small cocktail den, with newspapers on the wall and doors on the ceiling, feels like a secret.

● Hawaii has the ideal weather for an open-air bar, and three-year-old Tchin Tchin, in Honolulu’s Chinatown, takes full advantage of all that sunshine. Lounge outside on its low-key lanai, which features a living wall of ferns in 50 shades of green. You can pair tasty pub grub, such as grilled Taleggio sandwiches and fried shishito peppers, with a sampling of wines: Order as little as a two-ounce sip, and get a bit adventurous.

chaney kwak

5 THINGS WE LOVE

North Lake Tahoe

↘ Sweet shops, epic burritos, and a secret hideaway draw travelers to the lake’s quieter side.

Once a lumber source for the nearby mines, North Lake Tahoe evolved into a ski destination and Rat Pack playground. Today, the area lures visitors with crisp air, clear water, and big views.

1 Built in 1936 by a playboy with a distaste for guests, Thunderbird Lodge

just outside Nevada’s Incline Village is fortified like a castle but looks more like a genteel Tudor home. Whereas much of the area’s history has been replaced or renovated, the lodge preserves a thousand stories in its secret staircases and underground passages. Staffers lead tours from May through October.

2 Tucked among the woodsy cottages on the northwest shore, Fire Sign Cafe in Tahoe City, Calif., is beloved for its brunch. Relax with a board game and a latte in the coffee annex as you wait for a table, then dig into delectable American standards such as the eggs Benedict with a lemony hollandaise sauce.

3 High elevation meets high design just up the road at Alpine Home Furnishings. Inside, South African tonga baskets share space with Navajo-inspired rugs and porcupine quill lamps. Stroll the shop and design your new life.

4 Don’t let the food-truck vibe fool you. Residents drive halfway around the lake to pay cash for tritip burritos with house-made salsa from T’s Mesquite Rotisserie in Incline. Get your meal fresh from the rotating spit, then hit the beach for a lakeside picnic.

5 You needn’t walk far from the Mount Rose summit trailhead, northwest of Incline on Highway 431, to reach a stunning lake overlook, but you’ll want to. Just a few miles up the trail you can soak your feet under Galena Falls, then wade into a meadow of wildflowers.

jeff benson

A 600-foot tunnel runs beneath Thunderbird Lodge.

Chileno Beach, Mexico

Time can pass quickly in Los Cabos, the populous municipality at the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. After all, many pleasures await. You might cabana hop through the ritzy resorts; dance in low-lit nightclubs; or tuck into a high-end tasting menu. But you’ll want to save time for the outdoors, because no trip to Cabo would be complete without experiencing the area’s natural splendors.

Nestled along the coast, not far from Cabo San Lucas, Chileno Beach beckons with sparkling water, gorgeous reefs, and a mellow vibe. Sit a spell, and you might see dolphins and sea turtles swim by. For a closer look, don snorkel gear and head to the shallow reef. Sapphire-blue damselfish and polka-dotted puffer fish hurry past, and neon sea stars cling to rocks below.

If lounging is what you came for, the velvety sand is prime for sunbathing. The occasional fruit vendor might wander through with cut mango and cups of agua fresca. For heartier fare, the nearby Chileno Bay Resort serves fried chicken and fresh-caught tuna on tostadas at its beachfront bar, TnT. —marie salcido

PLANNING A TRIP?

AAA Travel can help you chart a course for your next vacation. Call (888) 890-2470 or visit AAA.com/travel.

TRIP TIP

Travel green

Billions of plastic beverage bottles are sold worldwide each year, and many end up in the ocean. To avoid adding to the problem, travel with a reusable water bottle, and carry your own shopping bag. In hotels, ask the housekeeping staff not to change your towels and linens daily, to save water that would be used to launder them.

High above

Sundance

In 1969, not long after shooting Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Paul Newman, Robert Redford started work on a quiet Utah getaway: Sundance Mountain Resort. Set some 50 miles from Salt Lake City, Sundance is deliberately small and out of the way, and promises vistas as valued as the snow.

Fall is an especially good time to visit, as the resort sits on Alpine Loop, a popular drive featuring vibrant foliage. After exploring the loop, you can circle back to Sundance and ride the chairlift to Ray’s Summit for sweeping views of the Wasatch Range (below). At the top, you might stretch your legs on the 1.7-mile path to Stewart Falls, or take another lift to the resort’s apex, home to Bearclaw Cabin. Outside the cabin’s huge picture windows, you’ll see a tapestry of mountaintops in all directions.

Back at the base, end the day at the Owl Bar. The watering hole is anchored by a rosewood bar that Redford purchased from a saloon in Thermopolis, Wyo., a town where the real Butch and Sundance spent time. Raise a snifter, perhaps of High West Double Rye, to toast the famed outlaws. jeremy pugh

Grass Valley, California

↘ Fall in gold country means harvest celebrations on local farms, revisiting mining history, and prime leaf peeping.

Autumn in Grass Valley is a golden time: By day, Indian summer sunlight burnishes the South Yuba River canyon; by night, cooler temperatures trigger vibrant displays of foliage. Along the historic Main Street, restaurants and cafés showcase local end-of-season bounty.

● Clydesdales, Percherons, and other sturdy breeds pull antique carriages and execute intricate maneuvers at the Draft Horse Classic, Sept. 19–22. The celebration also features a harvest fair and live bluegrass.

● Water flumes were built all over gold country to power hydraulic mining and transport timber. You can follow one such waterway along the flat, wheelchairaccessible Independence Trail West. From the trailhead on Highway 49, walk west to cross Rush Creek on 500-foot-long Flume 28. It’s also a great place for dramatic views of the leaf canopy in its seasonal glory.

● Lazy Dog Chocolateria began as a popular food truck before taking over a gift shop downtown.

There, it dispenses fresh ice cream sandwiches and hand-dipped ice cream bars. Don’t leave without some sea-salt-and-darkchocolate peanut butter cups to munch on later.

● In the erstwhile powerhouse of a 19th-century gold mine, the North Star Mining Museum displays one of the best collections of antique mining equipment in California. The massive 30-foot Pelton wheel—the largest ever made—used waterpower from Wolf Creek to run

rock crushers and stamp mills. Bonus: The sugar maples and sweet gum trees surrounding the museum produce some of the area’s most vivid fall leaves.

● Sourcing from local purveyors such as Cosmic Roots Ranch and FogDog Farm, Watershed at the Owl serves up creative modern cuisine in a historic saloon. Regulars return again and again for the Lardo burger, its grass-fed beefiness enhanced by smoked pork fatback.

melanie haiken

left: Dogwoods and maples brightening Main Street. right: The Lardo burger at Watershed at the Owl.

FOOD

FIGHT

Which is the better food city, San Francisco or Portland? Two restaurant critics go head-to-head on fine dining, food trucks, and everything in between.

SAN FRANCISCO BY JOSH SENS

So you want to pick a food fight with San Francisco? I admire your pluck but question your judgment. You’d stand a better chance at knocking off Steph Curry in a game of one-on-one.

No disrespect to Portland, a lovely city with a finetuned fleet of food trucks and a farm-to-table movement in full bloom. But we’re speaking of a smackdown with San Francisco—not some modest regional culinary presence but a dining destination of global renown.

There’s not a lot of mystery in how that came to be. As they say in real estate, it’s all about location. Breadbasket. Fruit Bowl. Call it what you will, San Francisco sits in the middle of California’s bounty, enjoying ready access to the kind of ingredients most cities must have shipped in by freight. You can hardly swing a leek around these parts without knocking into a seasonal menu on which it shines.

Throw in San Francisco’s cross-cultural currents, and you’ve got a diversity of options unmatched by any city of the same size, and superior to many far larger. A grazing tour, from street tacos in the Mission District to Sri Lankan egg hoppers South of Market to Arabic fava bean ful in the Castro—only space restricts me from going on—calls to mind a potluck at the United Nations, thrown by topflight chefs.

Which still doesn’t do justice to the quality of cooking that you’ll find. As a testament to the local talent, consult the Michelin Guide for San Francisco. Its pages glitter with Gallic approval, including kudos for Atelier Crenn, an elegant showcase of modern California French cuisine and the most recent of seven area restaurants to earn the maximum three-star rating. By comparison, check the Michelin Guide for Portland and… oh, wait… there isn’t one.

Not that San Francisco is beyond reproach. A common complaint is that affordable dining has grown all but obsolete, as much a tech-age casualty as the flip phone. There’s no doubt things have gotten spendy. But bargains abound if you know where to look, like La Taqueria, with its succulent carnitas, crisp around the edges and splashed with tomatoavocado salsa, for under $8, and RT Rotisserie, where $19 gets you a spit-roasted chicken that can feed three or four.

Like the tech sector, San Francisco’s food scene embraces innovation. When whimsy strikes, you can dine at a tapas bar tucked inside a faux storefront (Pawn Shop), or at a rarefied restaurant in a modern art museum that re-creates the masterpieces of the world’s most esteemed chefs (In Situ). Then again, if the tried and true is what you’re after, you can dig into a platter of Dungeness crab at a time-worn establishment on Fisherman’s Wharf (Alioto’s) while gazing at the boats that brought in the shellfish.

In an era of disruption, San Francisco institutions are still thriving. Take Zuni Café, a 40-year-old bistro that became a standard-bearer of farm-to-table cooking decades before farm-to-table was a trend; and Swan Oyster Depot, an intimate seafood joint and raw bar that still does business across the same 18-seat marble counter that anchored the space more than a century ago.

You get the picture: San Francisco makes room for both constancy and change. The space between is one of the city’s greatest strengths—between, say, the classic Cantonese joints of Chinatown and the high-end cooking of Mister Jiu’s; or the red-sauce haunts of North Beach and the market-driven menu at Roman-inspired Che Fico, which Bon Appétit named among the 10 best new restaurants in the United States.

This spring, Che Fico sprouted an artful wine bar and salumeria. But at this point, it feels a bit like piling on. In the interest of fairness, I suggest we find some other matter to squabble over. Portland takes great pride in its many bridges. Shall we see how they stack up against the Golden Gate?

josh sens is the longtime restaurant critic for San Francisco magazine and coauthor, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet? The Cooking & Partying Handbook.

opposite page, clockwise from top left: Calamari grigliata at Che Fico Alimentari, roast duck from Mister Jiu’s, Alioto’s cioppino with a Fisherman’s Wharf view, and a Sri Lankan egg hopper from 1601 Bar & Kitchen—all served in San Francisco; Burrata with honeycomb at Gumba, Aviary’s braised venison and foie gras hum bao, soft serve–soaked French toast at Canard, and Cloudforest’s hot chocolate—all from Portland.

Atelier Crenn.

PORTLAND

BY KAREN BROOKS

Looking for the highest of high-end dining, delivered with militaristic precision and  Mind of a Chef  amusements? Let me say up front: San Francisco owns this space, with enough Michelin stars to supply a planetarium. Portland? We have no stars. Zippo. Bubkes. Then again, the guide’s famed inspectors have never dared to critique the “People’s Republic of Portland” and its scrappy food scene.

And you know what? We’re proud of it. Portland is the anti-Michelin city. We willfully reject traditional fine dining. We don’t have the bucks, the egos, or frankly the outfits to support star-chef temples. Go ahead and celebrate your bill-inflating, rent-spiking tech economy. Diners here invest in passion and crazy idealists—people with a point of view, hell-bent on making every bite count.

Fine dining in Portland is Langbaan, a cozy hideout featuring Thai tasting menus, complete with adventurous, herbzinging dishes rarely seen stateside and a dinner-party vibe. The door is a fake bookcase; yank the arm on the mounted meat grinder and you’re in—a sly wink at Portland’s love of meat and quirk. Cost is $95 a person. Compare this to a meal at San Francisco’s Saison. I’ll let you do the math.

In Portland, no idea is off the table. Dishes live on their own terms, crafted for pure audacious pleasure. That can mean French toast presoaked in soft-serve ice cream at the French American diner Canard, or a swaggering foie gras hum bao (steam bun) etched in hoisin caramel at Aviary. And while San Francisco has world-class wine lists, only one of us has Sardine Head. This “natural wine dive bar” is built around zero pretension, affordable discoveries, and a whole new way of ordering, based entirely on the owner’s weirdly astute tasting notes—as in, “I’ll have a bottle of the ‘cured meat, pepper, and rose petals.’ ” Everyone speaks the same language; never has the playing field been more leveled, or more fun.

Prime farm ingredients as a calling card? We’ll call it a draw. But we’ll fight you over who rules the brewing space. The craft beer revolution started here, and carefully considered suds still spill out of every inch of the city—playful breweries (Breakside), nerdy pubs (Baerlic), swanky all-Oregon tap houses (Loyal Legion), bottle shops with label lists long enough for a Library of Congress number (Belmont Station), and yes, a walk-up gluten-free beer window (Moonshrimp). Even the airport has growlers of IPA steps away from the gates. They don’t call us “Beervana” for nothing.

Third-wave coffee? San Francisco has way more shops, but Portland kills it on innovation. Dozens of small-batch roasters exist within city limits, each with a different point of brew. That includes Courier Coffee Roasters, where perfectionism (and Japanese shave ice) is an art form, and Cloudforest, which makes the exquisite chocolate in your mocha or hot chocolate, bean to bar, right in the back.

But the city’s maverick mind-set is best expressed in its famed street-food scene. No place puts it together like Portland’s pavement gourmets, for the sheer number of experimenters, the artisanal spirit, the little-known cuisines, from Guam to Ghana. Look for them all around the city, clustered into colorful food pods with fire pits and strung lights. At Wild North, budget-minded connoisseurs hunker down with seasonal delights like fire-roasted beets with bourbon wild mushrooms. How good is the brisket at Matt’s BBQ truck? Lone Star State pit authority Daniel Vaughn calls it “truly spectacular; some of the best outside of Texas.” Meanwhile, over at the Whale pod, you can listen to piped-in NPR while eating Gumba’s house-made Burrata.

So adjust your dial. We’re a live-to-eat, punching-aboveour-weight, “We Did It Our Way” food city. Any doubts are erased at Ox, where the coup de grâce on a clam chowder is smoked marrow in a bone the size of a Grecian pillar; you scrape its soft, sinful center right into the bowl. That’s why seen-it-all food critics like the Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema named Portland the No. 1 food city in the country, edging out San Francisco by a nose. There’s a spirit here, a plucky enthusiasm, a near-parody level of local pride. Sietsema felt it, as have so many before him. It’s contagious. Once you’ve tasted Portland’s essence, there’s no going back. ●

karen brooks is Portland Monthly ’s food critic and a recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award.

Wild North.

Ashes

Two years after the fires in Napa and Sonoma, California’s wine country is bouncing back.

by josh sens photography by david h . collier

Nearly two years later, it sounds like a folktale: how one man saved cheetahs, giraffes, and other animals from an inferno, with little more than his wits and a garden hose.

Tall and hale at 78, with a neatly trimmed white beard and a blunt but amiable manner, Peter Lang insists he’s no hero.

“There was nothing else I could have done,” he says.

But he did have a choice just after 10 p.m. on October 8, 2017, when he and his wife, Nancy, were jolted awake in their Sonoma County home, about an hour north of San Francisco. The ridge behind them was burning. Wildfires were raging across wine country, conflagrations that would eventually claim more lives and property than any previous fires in California history.

Nancy jumped into her car with the couple’s three dogs, Peter got in his truck, and they hustled toward Safari West, the 400-acre private wildlife preserve the Langs run in the scrub oak–dotted foothills of Santa Rosa. There, more than 1,000 animals, in their enclosures and pastures, were directly in the fire’s path.

Through a night that glowed like an eerie orange sunrise, Nancy helped evacuate guests while Peter defended the property. When fire licked close to the giraffe barn, he used a forklift to move a pile of fence posts that could have served as kindling. When flames cornered a group of

nyala antelope, he herded the largest male to a space that wasn’t immediately threatened so the rest would follow. Using a network of garden hoses, he doused the ground wherever it was needed most and stamped out embers with his boots.

When morning broke, the earth was scorched. Small structures and fences were toppled, the netting on an aviary singed. Nearby, the Langs’ home lay in ruins. But not a single animal had been harmed.

Just over a month later, around Thanksgiving, Safari West reopened for visitors. Four months after that, guests were once again bunking in luxury tent cabins and embarking on safaris for close-up encounters with the menagerie of mostly African species. Today, with the anniversary of the wildfires approaching, there’s little sign—aside from a smattering of blackened tree trunks—that life at the preserve had ever been threatened.

In that respect, Safari West’s trial by fire reflects the fortunes of a region that, when faced with nature’s fury, showed its own best nature in response.

clockwise from top: The vines at Pagani Ranch, some of the oldest in the Napa Valley, survived the fires; next to Bald Mountain Trail at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, reminders of the fires remain; a young visitor at the reopened Safari West feeds the giraffes.

“The morning after the fires, Nancy and I immediately agreed that any days spent bemoaning our fate were wasted, that our energy would be focused on moving forward and rebuilding,” Lang says.

Of course, there’s no minimizing the devastation. Sparked by electrical wires and propelled by swirling winds, the constellation of blazes collectively referred to as the Wine Country Fires rampaged for more than three weeks across seven Northern California counties, stretching hundreds of miles from the hearts of Napa and Sonoma to the northern reaches of the Mendocino coast. Forty-four people died, and almost 200 others were hospitalized. Nearly 9,000 homes and businesses were lost to the flames. The economic toll was estimated at over $14 billion. The emotional costs were immeasurable.

Like other major conflagrations that have burned in Northern California since the fall of 2017, including the Carr Fire near Redding the summer of 2018, and the Camp Fire, which tore through Butte County at the foot of the Sierra a few months later, the Wine Country Fires left marks that won’t soon fade or be forgotten. But in the months that followed, even hard-hit areas began to bounce back.

Nature on the rebound

That revitalization owes much to human efforts like the Langs’. But the land itself has also played a healing role. State parks across the region, a number of which were singed, have all reopened, though some areas remain off-limits.

“The fires were a terrible human tragedy,” says Caitlin Cornwall, a planning and partnerships adviser with the Sonoma Ecology Center, a nonprofit whose mission includes the stewardship of Sonoma’s open spaces. “But they were not necessarily a natural disaster.”

It’s a sunny afternoon, and we’re hiking through a sylvan stretch of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, a 4,500-acre quilt of grassland, chaparral, and forest draped across the Mayacamas Mountains between the Sonoma and Napa valleys. On either side of the trail, the charred limbs of oak and manzanita trees are ghostly reminders of what transpired here. But what’s just as notable is how little other scarring there is to see.

The idea of destruction by fire doesn’t really exist in nature. It’s all going to come back. “ ”

In Napa County, the fires burned mostly 0n the forested hillsides, leaving the heavily visited tourist corridor down on the valley floor largely unscathed. No hotels burned. Several wineries were severely damaged, but most weren’t and reopened within days.

West of Napa, in Sonoma County, where the fires unleashed their greatest wrath and reduced entire subdivisions to rubble, the aftereffects are still dramatic. Early estimates suggest that since July 2018, more than 2,000 people have opted to leave the county—the greatest exodus from any one county in the state in that time.

But the extent of the rebuilding is striking, too. Though three Sonoma County hotels were destroyed, the opening of new ones and the expansion of others has brought the area’s guest room count to more than 6,000—roughly the same as its prefire total. Several restaurants in Santa Rosa burned, but two—Sweet T’s, a popular Southern-style place, and Willi’s Wine Bar, a much-lauded local haunt— have since reopened (though Sweet T’s had to relocate to nearby Windsor).

The area is slowly but surely returning as the wine country that travelers from around the world know and love.

On the first night of the wildfires, Sugarloaf staffers and some 50 campers were forced to flee the grounds. They escaped by way of Adobe Canyon Road, a narrow, winding route that’s the only way in and out of the park. Many of the houses along the road would not survive the night.

The flames were fickle. By October 12, when the local fires began to wane, the park’s visitor center was still standing, but vast swaths of vegetation had burned, the lush terrain turned stark and lunar.

Before long, though, it started looking terrestrial again. Within weeks, bulbs and grasses were growing from the scorched ground. Spring of 2018 saw spectacular blooms of wildflowers. Oak, bay, buckeye, and madrone trees that appeared dead immediately after the fire were in fact alive. Heat might have killed many of them above ground, but their root systems survived and sprouted offshoots, green saplings growing in the shadow of browned limbs.

Similar cycles played out in other open spaces around the region. The broad path of what looked at first like total destruction was soon in the process of regenerating. For some, the beauty of it was hard to square with the immediate aftermath of the fire.

“There were people who said they felt conflicted about coming out to enjoy the wildflowers because their friends’ houses had burned,” Cornwall says. A soft-spoken woman, she acknowledges that she can grieve for the human suffering the fires caused even while she’s inspired and encouraged by the resilience of the natural world.

“They’re really different things,” Cornwall says. “People refer to property being destroyed. But the idea of destruction by fire doesn’t really exist in nature. It’s all going to come back.”

clockwise from top left: Watusi cattle take a break at Safari West; burned chaparral at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park contrasts with untouched oak woodland beyond; rows of chardonnay grapes line Nagasawa Vineyard at Paradise Ridge.

Love survives

In many areas affected by the fires, the damage was indeed widespread. But watching the coverage from afar, you’d have thought that the entire region lay in ruins.

“People everywhere saw these terrible images from the fire,” says Rene Byck, the co-owner of Paradise Ridge Winery. “But the farther you were from here, the worse you thought things were. People thought, ‘Sonoma County’s gone.’ But we’re still very much here.”

whose parents built the winery in 1994—toured the property and confirmed his fears: The winemaking building was gone, as were the tasting room and event center, three homes, and several smaller structures.

Another of the winery’s showpieces survived: a sculpture garden in a meadow at the heart of the decimated grounds, featuring a number of large installations. For years, the Byck family had kept the sculpture garden open and free to the public. They made it available gratis for local nonprofit fund-raising events. Weddings had been held there, as well as countless happy impromptu gatherings.

On Byck’s morning-after visit, the meadow smoldered. Fire-felled trees were strewed across it. But the artwork was still standing, most notably a 12-foot-tall steel sculpture spelling out l-o-v-e.

The image of love among the ruins went viral. Spotlighted in press coverage near and far, that sculpture became a symbol of the wine country’s strength.

Across the region, the fires summoned a renewed spirit of community. Neighbors opened their doors for one another. Restaurants and hotels offered food and shelter to displaced families and first responders. For Rene Byck and his family, it was like something out of a Frank Capra film: Long recognized for their generosity, they were bombarded with donations and good wishes.

In October 2018, on the first anniversary of the fires, the Bycks pulled permits to break ground on a new tasting room and visitor center. It is slated for a ribbon cutting this fall.

Visitors to the new facility will be encouraged to make reservations. “Given a chance to step back and take stock, it was clear that we can provide a better experience if we’re not surprised by a big group just dropping by,” Byck says.

The fires were like that. They gave people a chance to reassess. Some decided that the price of rebuilding was too high. Others redoubled their commitment to the region. State legislators now favor controlled burns and other long-tabled fire-mitigation measures, though it’s still uncertain how or when such practices will go into effect.

More immediate have been the personal reactions, and those mostly boil down to shifts in perspective.

“Losing the material stuff, that’s been hard,” Byck says. “But what really gets me emotional about this entire experience are all the little gestures of kindness we’ve received along the way. There’s a sense that we’re all in this together, and it’s a big part of what makes me want to be back up and running, and even stronger than before.” ●

josh sens also writes for Golf, San Francisco, and Men’s Journal magazines.

Cruise The Family

by michaela jarvis

As our ship sailed south toward Greece the first morning of our cruise, my husband and I realized we were getting a little vacation from parenting. It’s not that we’d left our 14-year-old daughter at home. Rather, she was settling into a separate stateroom with my motherin-law at the other end of the ship. As the rocky slopes of a Montenegro bay slid by on either side and warm Adriatic breezes stirred the air, we relaxed in a room all our own.

For the duration of our cruise, Grandma would help out with our parental duties. That included giving the stink eye to a boy my daughter met on board, who soon learned he had better not bring her back to her cabin past curfew. When not playing the capable-of-murder chaperone, Grandma shared room-service snacks with her young cabinmate, and the two of them traded tips on books and makeup. It was like a multiday, multigenerational sleepover.

In Montenegro, as we strolled the storybook town of Kotor, we found our daughter was being bird-dogged by

Three generations sail through the Greek isles, and everyone gets what they want.

her young Romeo. He kept popping up in the tiled piazzas and from behind pots of bright-red geraniums. My daughter finally managed to explain to him that this was a family day. Grandma shot him one of her looks.

Back on board, we found that the cruise offered something for each of us. My husband could spend hours in a deck chair with his eyes closed behind his book. I enjoyed salsa dancing on a roomy dance floor in the lounge. Our daughter could hang out at the pool with a group of kids her age. And Grandma got to dress up for dinner in the formal dining room and think back longingly to a time when people didn’t go out in public in their pajamas. And it seems others have discovered the same: A recent forecast by the Cruise Lines International Association named multigenerational cruising one of the top industry trends for 2019.

Grandma did in fact look elegant at our dinner table, which we shared every night with two Italian families. “Tell your grandma she looks beautiful,” the Italians told my

daughter. (We’d been living in Italy for three years, so she could translate.) “Tell your grandma she has pretty eyes.” I don’t know whether my mother-in-law was more charmed by their compliments or by her granddaughter’s language skills.

On Cephalonia we ate grilled octopus, then my daughter and I headed out to shop. My husband stayed behind; he considers recreational shopping a symptom of moral failure. Grandma, not in the market just then for a tie-dyed sundress or sassy T-shirt, was happy to linger at our lunch table and have some time alone with her son.

After touring Athens the next day, we headed to Mykonos, our last stop. We’d planned on a beach day. My husband, my daughter, and I were excited, but Grandma opted out. The three of us took a bus through hills studded with white stucco houses to a sugar-sand beach on the south side of the island. There, my daughter swam with her friends from the ship in crystal-blue water, while Mom and Dad basked on a king-size chaise and ate grilled fish.

Back on board, Grandma had spent the day reading and getting a massage. She was happy and rested; we were happy and exhausted. None of us felt like we’d missed out.

It was, in its way, the perfect family vacation. How else could the four of us explore a series of richly exotic destinations, indulge in activities we each loved to do, eat what we each wanted, and then fall into comfy beds, our belongings close at hand, at the end of the day? It worked out great for everyone—except, perhaps, for Romeo. ●

michaela jarvis has also written for the Washington Post and Newsday.

clockwise from left: A cruise ship docks in Mykonos; old and young share quality time; activities can include doing very little.

Smart Guide

→ How to make your home safer

Want to protect your house from intruders? Here are 16 ways to do it.

Burglars are, among other things, experts at quickly identifying and assessing the security of your house; that’s their job. Research suggests that if prowlers think it will take more than five minutes to break into a residence, they’ll move on to another one. The key to making yours safer is to add multiple layers of security, from the edge of the yard to inside your closets.

by dan miller

Smart Guide

1. Make sure that exterior doors are sturdy. All outside doors—not just the front—should be made of metal or thick hardwood, and all should have sturdy frames. (Frames without enough support around the strike plate are easy to break with a sharp kick.) Security consultant Michael Silva recommends installing heavy-duty strike plates in all exterior door frames, and fastening those plates to the frame with screws that are long enough to reach into the surrounding wall studs. Install security studs on doors with exterior hinges. From a security perspective, doors with glass components are like windows; see tip 8.

3. Use your locks. You’d be amazed at how many people leave their windows and doors unlocked. In San Francisco, nearly 50 percent of daytime burglaries involve entry through unlocked doors and windows. Lock everything when you’re away, even windows on upper stories. Speaking of which: Don’t leave ladders outside or in an easily accessible garden shed. If you have exterior “climbers”— pipes and the like—replace them or install security barriers.

4. Add more locks. If a burglar makes it into your house, he or she will make a beeline for the places where valuables are most commonly hidden. Consider protecting rooms and closets where you store yours by installing additional dead bolts on interior doors. (As with exterior doors, these locks will only be effective if you use them.) Rooms protected with such interior security can also double as safe rooms in case of intrusions when you’re at home.

Don’t leave a key outside. Prowlers know that many people stash spare keys outside, and they know the most common hiding spots. Instead, leave a set of keys with a trusted neighbor. If you must leave them outdoors, use a combination lockbox attached to something strong.

Install good locks. Thieves can spot weak locks right away, so install the best ones you can on all exterior doors. The locksets (the mechanisms that keep doorknobs from turning) and the dead bolts that came with your house might not be as robust as they should be. As Furlishous Wyatt from San Francisco’s SF Safe program puts it, “You don’t want to protect stuff worth thousands of dollars with a $9 lock.” To play it safe, have a locksmith inspect and upgrade your locks as needed.

LEFT: DAVID PAPAZIAN / SHUTTERSTOCK;

RIGHT: ADVENTURE_PHOTO / ISTOCK

Make it hard to case your house. Keep shrubs and trees cut back so that the entire front of your house can be seen from the street. In particular, be careful that none of your plants block possible points of entry; all windows and doors should be clearly visible. You should be able to see through any front fencing; solid privacy fences provide excellent cover for burglars.

7. Don’t advertise long absences. If you’ll be gone for a while, ask a trusted neighbor to pick up deliveries daily, roll out the trash bins, and periodically move your car. Don’t ask a friend who lives far away; he or she might come by once the day after you leave and again the day before you come back: “It’s just human nature,” says Wyatt. Mark Demler of AAA Smart Home suggests checking with your security company before you leave to be sure it has up-to-date contact information. And don’t post vacation photos to social media until you get back.

Pay attention to windows. Like doors, windows should have sturdy frames and strong locks. The original locks on older windows may not be supersecure, so consider supplementing them with add-on hardware. If you’re really worried about intrusions, you can install windows with laminated, tempered, or reinforced glass; retrofit yours with security window film; or install grates. Be sure that the latter have quick-release mechanisms, in case of fire.

9. Get an alarm—and use it. Invest in an alarm system that’s monitored around the clock and alerts the police in the event of an intrusion. Like locks, alarms do no good if you don’t use them. Arm the system even when you leave for a short errand: Most burglaries take less than 10 minutes. When everyone is home for the evening, use your system’s night mode, which turns off the interior motion sensors but leaves perimeter sensors on. Added bonus: A homesecurity system may qualify you for an insurance discount.

10. Outsmart false alarms. Some homeowners refrain from using their security systems for fear of setting off false alarms. There are easy fixes for the two most common causes of such errors.

● Modern motion sensors are designed to ignore pets. But if yours are large (over 85 pounds), keep them out of areas covered by those detectors or have your alarm company adjust the system.

● Periodically dust around motion sensors to prevent alarms triggered by cobwebs, dust bunnies, and spiders.

Smart Guide

Make your lights smarter. You might use those old analog timers to turn your lights on and off when you’re away. If you do, you should deploy a lot of them—on multiple lights around the house (including exterior ones, if possible) as well as on audio and video equipment.

The idea is to convince an observer that actual humans are home. If you have a smart-home system such as a Google Nest product and the smart lightbulbs that work with it, program it to control your lights on a natural, varied schedule. (AAA Members get discounts on select Google Nest smart-home products; see AAA.com/nest.)

Illuminate the outside.

Wyatt recommends combining constant lighting (porch lights and the like) with motion-sensor lighting, particularly around the sides and back of the house. When installing exterior lights, be careful not to create dark spots in the yard or along walls, where prowlers can hide.

13. Secure the garage. As with other exterior doors, your garage door should not have any breakable glass or clear panels. If you use a home security service, ask about installing a tilt sensor on that door to detect intrusions. And don’t forget about the door that leads from the garage into your house; it should be just as secure as any exterior door.

Consider a safe. A good safe can provide that extra level of security for your most valuable belongings. Look for a model that protects against both burglary and fire. Many fire safes will do a fine job of protecting against flames but wouldn’t last five seconds against a determined thief. Michael Silva recommends looking for models certified as UL Listed. If you aren’t willing to invest in a safe, at least consider storing valuables in places that burglars are less likely to look—such as under the kitchen sink in an old cleaning-products box.

LEFT: KARAMYSH / SHUTTERSTOCK;

15

Add security cameras. Having an alarm system is good, but having an alarm system plus surveillance cameras is better. And, no, that video doorbell at the front door isn’t enough. Ideally, you’d have multiple cameras around the house, with video feeds stored online. While you’re adding cameras, do your local law-enforcement officials a solid and point one toward the street; if a crime happens nearby, the footage could help investigators.

16. Do a home inventory. Should the worst happen and someone makes off with your valuables, you’ll need a complete list of them for the police and your insurance company. To be prepared, compile a thorough home inventory, listing all your major possessions. It should include the make, model, and serial number of each asset. Another smart move: Take out all AAA Members get discounts of up to 10 percent on AAA Home Insurance, and up to 25 percent on

your valuables from wherever you store them, then walk around the house with your phone, and capture video of everything. (This is particularly useful for items like sets of silver, which consist of lots of individual pieces.) Then store both the list document and the video on a portable hard drive somewhere off-site.

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38. Redding Convention and Visitors Bureau

39. Sequoia/Kings Canyon

40. Skunk Train—Mendocino Railway

41. Sonoma County Tourism Bureau

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43. Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau

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Spotlight

OCT. 12–FEB. 16

Straight from the playa

Each August a makeshift city of mesmerizing art and participatory self-expression emerges in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. This cultural sensation is on display in No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man at the Oakland Museum of California, which showcases the fest’s huge installations, many by local artists, plus photos and costumes.

OCT. 22–DEC. 8

What’s the buzz?

With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, Jesus Christ Superstar was an instant hit when it debuted on Broadway after its 1970 album launch. Relive the magic at the 50th anniversary production, a fresh take on the rock opera depicting Jesus’ final week on earth. Catch it in San Jose (Oct. 22–27), Las Vegas (Nov. 5–10), Denver (Nov. 26–Dec. 1), and Tucson, Ariz. (Dec. 3–8).

THROUGH MAY 2020

↓ Ultimate car show

Whether they’re flying, time traveling, or just going really fast, the modes of transport conjured in movies and TV shows are often as fantastic as the plots. Hollywood Dream Machines: Vehicles of Science

Fiction and Fantasy at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles boasts 40-plus sci-fi rides, including two Batmobiles and the DeLorean from Back to the Future (below).

OCT. 15–FEB. 15, 2020 Neon dreams

Tim Burton is best known for his oddball and macabre films, including Beetlejuice and Alice in Wonderland. His other visual art talents are spotlighted at Lost Vegas: Tim Burton @ The Neon Museum. Some 15 of his fantastic large-scale sculptures and illustrations intermingle with the illuminating collection at this popular Las Vegas draw.

SEPT. 4–15

← Rocket man

Don’t miss a final in-concert opportunity to sing along to classics such as “Tiny Dancer,” “Crocodile Rock,” and “Candle in the Wind” with the legend himself, Elton John, as one of the world’s top-selling musical artists continues his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. Stops include Salt Lake City (Sept. 4), Las Vegas (Sept. 6–7), Anaheim, Calif. (Sept. 10–11), and San Francisco (Sept. 13, 15).

To be considered for the Spring 2020 issue, event notices must be received by Dec. 1. Send details to viamagazineevents@ gmail.com or Events Editor, Via, AAA, P.O. Box 24502, Oakland, CA 94623.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: FOLDHAUS, SHRUMEN LUMEN, 2016, PHOTO BY RON BLUNT; PETERSEN AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM AND TED 7; BEN GIBSON

A walk in the woods

Of the 450 covered bridges that once traversed the rushing rivers and trickling creeks of Oregon, only about 50 remain. McKee Bridge, perched 45 feet above Applegate River, is the highest of the historic spans. AAA Member Sue Newman, who took the photo, calls this spot a half hour southwest of Medford one of her favorite places to catch fall color. “There are maples right around it and other deciduous trees that turn golden,” says her husband and photography partner Jay Newman. “Plus, it’s got great afternoon light.” Now open only to pedestrians, the bridge was refurbished just in time for its centennial celebration in 2017.

Share your adventure

Post an original photo from a recent trip on Facebook or Instagram using #ViaAdventure. Your image may be published in print, or online at AAA.com/via.