Getting the flavor of ... The beauty of Half Moon Bay

The beauty of Half Moon Bay

Cruising along the Pacific Coast Highway, you could almost miss Half Moon Bay if you didn’t know any better, said Ann Tatko-Peterson in the Contra Costa, Calif., Times. Yet Californians have been wise to the coastal city’s “wealth of beaches, big waves, and blankets of fog” for years. Situated 25 miles south of San Francisco, the city is “home to one of California’s most diverse tide pools,” the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. Coralline algae, Pacific sea stars, and red rock crabs lurk in colorful pools at the ends of “cypress tree–lined” trails. Hike the upper trail to ocean bluffs to take in the spectacular views of the Pacific blue and “watch the seals haul out with their pups.” The sights don’t stop at the coast. A thorough exploration of downtown, with its cafes, antiques stores, and specialty shops, “could fill a day all by itself.” Dine on Pasta Moon’s “butternut squash and mascarpone ravioli,” then enjoy a game of bocce ball and a glass of Sangiovese at La Nebbia Winery.

Contact: Half-moon-bay.ca.us

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Crossing the Cumberland Gap

Like Ellis Island, the Cumberland Gap is an “icon in the settling of America,” said Nancy Kriplen in The New York Times. From 1775 to 1810, roughly 300,000 settlers traversed this “V-shaped notch” in the Appalachian Mountains, right about where Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. Much of the passageway has been covered by highway in recent years, but the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park has re-created an approximation, for travelers who want to walk in their ancestors’ footsteps. Starting on the Kentucky side,I hiked along the Wilderness Road Trail—named after a route blazed by Daniel Boone. The oak leaves created a “carpet of deep copper red in the woods,” and my hiking boots crunched the dried leaves as I walked. It was quiet, but I imagined the “unstoppable river of men, women, children, and of packhorses loaded with salt, gunpowder, bedding, skillets, and seed” that once took this same path.

Contact: Nps.gov/cuga