TRAVEL
SUNDAY MAY 17, 2015
E12
SUN DAY
Beauty in our backyard Seldom-visited Channel Islands and nearby Oxnard are full of wonders
A hiker on Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands looks east toward Anacapa Island. JOANNE DIBONA PHOTOS JOANNE DIBONA • SPECIAL TO THE U-T
I
recall an old college friend of mine, a native of New York City, telling me that he had never visited the Statue of Liberty. I was surprised and slightly put off, thinking it somewhat strange that a city native had never visited a site that attracts millions of visitors annually from around the world. How could he ignore such a magnificent visitor experience right in his own backyard?
Years later, I found myself guilty of doing the same thing — ignoring the beauty in my own backyard. I can’t count the number of times, while traveling with my husband Tony up and down the Southern California coast, that I would gaze out at sea to admire the Channel Islands glistening in the distance. I would inevitably sigh and declare “We really have to visit there someday.” Well, “someday” finally arrived. We had often heard the Channel Islands referred to as the “Galapagos Islands of North America.” Having visited Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands earlier in the year, we
were curious as to whether there was, indeed, a similarity. Our curiosity motivated us, at long last, to plan a Channel Islands visit. After some extensive Internet research, we determined that Oxnard, on the coast 60 miles north of Los Angeles, would be an interesting (and economical) destination in which to begin our adventure. Rumor had it that the city had undergone a dramatic renovation, from its humble beginnings as a purely agricultural community (it produces most of Southern California’s berry crop) to a hip and hap-
SEE ISLANDS • E13
Sea lions lounge on a buoy in Ventura Harbor.
BLOOM COUNTRY: NETHERLANDS’ GARDENS TOP EXPECTATIONS Millions of flowering bulbs create colorful, super-scented scene DOUG OSTER PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/TNS LISSE, NETHERLANDS
As we’re driving toward Keukenhof, the sweet scent of hyacinths drifts through our bus of 26 travelers. Our tour guide thought we might like to see the growing fields filled with blooming bulbs. She was right. No one could believe the seemingly endless rows of flowers, the sights and smells. Think of driving
through field after field of Iowa corn. Now substitute daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and any spring bloomer you can imagine. We all scrambled to get photos through the bus windows. Keukenhof (www. keukenhof.nl) might be the world’s greatest display of spring bulbs. It’s only open for eight short weeks, when the bulbs are at their peak. Luckily, we were left on our own, as our guide pointed in one direction and told us to enjoy the bulbs. I worked my way around the perimeter of the garden, trying to get a better photo of the flower fields separated from the park by a narrow canal. Michelle Nawaz of New York City stood with
Keukenhof displays 7 million blooming bulbs and is only open for eight weeks when the spring flowers are at their peak. DOUG OSTER • PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/TNS her back to the fields as the afternoon light fell perfectly across her face. She meticulously positioned her phone for one amazing selfie. “It’s beautiful,” she says, turning back toward the
carpet of flowers. “The colors are breathtaking.” Keukenhof is a gardener’s paradise, a place to spend at least one full day, although I wished I had longer. Some beds
are massed with the same flowers. When it’s something like hyacinths, the fragrance is remarkable. Since there’s always a breeze in Holland, the scent of flowers was never far away. Other beds offered incredible combinations of bulbs, all blooming in consort. It’s the scale which astounds. One bed that stretched for hundreds of yards had been planted with repeating patterns of white daffodils, pink hyacinths, white anemones and tulips. Behind them ran a parallel bed of orange tulips. The garden is filled with more than 7 million flowering bulbs, including 800 kinds of tulips. The
80-acre park has been putting on the annual display since 1950. There were about 10 of us looking over the gardens together, but I lost my traveling companions as I lagged photographing everything in sight. Finally, I ran into Winnie Ritter, 82, of Monroeville, Pa., who brought three of her daughters with her on the trip. They wanted time in the gift shop, and Ritter wanted time with the magnificent blooms. She never complained as I lay on the ground, stood on benches and stopped to shoot even more pictures. “I’m so glad I got to see this,” Ritter said. “I’m in heaven.”